Need Help Buying GPU to Pair with AMD A10 5800k [~$450 CDN Max]

Newto · Jun 9, 2015

BUDGET RANGE: I don't want to pass $450 CDN after rebates, and I'm hoping to find something without passing into $400.

USAGE: Used for gaming. I play all sorts of games, but would love to be able to bump up the textures to high (maybe this is just wishful thinking). Currently I can play Skyrim on Medium and get up to 60fps in dark areas and average 45-50fps outdoors or in action. I'm wondering if I'll see a performance jump in games like Skyrim, Fallout 3, Minecraft with shaders, Penumbra, Alien: Isolation and what kind of current games I could play with acceptable FPS. I have no problem bumping down graphics settings in FPS games, as I'm pretty used to it.

CURRENT GPU AND POWER SUPPLY: AMD A10-5800k on a Gigabyte GA-F2A78M-HD2 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard, using a Rosewill Capstone 450W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply. Also using the case's fans. Case is a Rosewill Redbone U3 ATX Mid Tower. 2x4GB of G.Skill Ripjaws X Series DDR3-1866 Memory

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Newegg.ca

PARTS PREFERENCES: I would like to move to the EVGA cards in order to eventually upgrade my mobo and CPU to Intel. Also PhysX would be another reason.

OVERCLOCKING: No.. Too unknowledgeable..

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1080 and 1280x720

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I want to go with something that will run the games I play at higher settings and a higher FPS. If 60 at lowest is a possibility within the budget, that is what I would aim for. I was aiming for the EVGA GeForce GTX 960 4GB FTW ACX 2.0 in order to get a free game out of EVGA while the promotion lasts, although this is definitely not a must if there's something else with better performance for cheaper.

I've also been reading that the 2GB version is not that much of a difference from the 4GB version, but is it not better to just go with more for the sake of un-optimized games that need higher VRAM?

senseijtitus · Jun 9, 2015

Nvidia Option: GTX 760
AMD Option: R9 270x

Anything above these, there is a chance of bottle necking.

madmatt30 · Jun 9, 2015

He did mention a future upgrade to Intel though - in that respect the gtx 960 or r9 280x are the lowest performing cards id go for.

You may well be limited to less than 60fps in cpu intensive moments but your games will sure look far prettier while doing it.

senseijtitus · Jun 9, 2015

But that would be good for future. Not for this processor. There is a very very good change that GTX 960 or r9 280x would bottlenect the CPU.

Newto · Jun 9, 2015

senseijtitus :

Sorry, just had to read up about bottlenecking because I'm still a PC noob. Would there be less bottlenecking if I overclock my A10 5800k? I can try and get someone more knowledgeable to do it for me.
If you don't mind me asking, what would the cheapest solutions be for a new mobo and CPU to keep up with the GTX 960?

senseijtitus · Jun 9, 2015

The cheapest solution would be an AMD FX6300 + Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3 Revision6 Mobo. Those two would be good enough to handle a GTX 960 without any problem.

In Amazon.com, a combo of both will cost around $161.44.

Here is the link.

http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-DDR3-Micro-Motherboard-GA-78LMT-USB3/dp/B009FC3YJ8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1433870785&sr=8-1&keywords=GIGABYTE+GA-78LMT-USB3+++Combo

madmatt30 · Jun 9, 2015

You're currently running the integrated graphics I'm assuming.
Boot a game up - drop all the graphics settings to the lowest quality you can.

Have a quick play through.
Whatever lows fps-wise you get at these settings will be entirely down to the CPU limiting the GPU.

What a 970 will do is allow you to max graphics settings at 1080p & at its absolute worst case scenario you will get the same minimums on that game as you get at low settings with your current setup.

Just because a midrange CPU is not an ideal pairing with a top tier card doesn't mean you shouldn't consider it. It depends on your expectations - you're never going to hit 100fps but if you're a sensible fellow & set vsync on to 60fps it will give a very good gaming experience at extremely high quality settings.

madmatt30 · Jun 9, 2015

For a 960 you dont even need to consider replacing your CPU/mb - the 960 is midrange - it'll be a fairly matched pairing.

A 6300 would be underwhelming as an upgrade - sure its slighty better for gaming but not worth an outlay of $160 - anything short of an haswell i5 will be fairly insignificant & not good value for money.

Newto · Jun 9, 2015

madmatt30 :

senseijtitus :

Interesting combo.. If I could sell my mobo and CPU for a good price, I could consider this.

Thanks for the suggestion!

senseijtitus · Jun 9, 2015

You are most welcome. Don't be fooled by the price that combo is pretty good. I had used it with an old GTX 560. It does pretty well with most of the games I played in. + handled 3D modeling & rendering without much issues. It is not a high end CPU or MOBO. But will work just well enough.

Newto · Jun 9, 2015

madmatt30 :

Awesome points. I will definitely try the low settings test when I get home in a few hours. Say I go with the 970 4gb and am ok with being below 100fps (would I ever be getting between 60-100 at points?)... What would be the next reasonable step in your opinion? Go Intel? Stick with AMD? I know this pretty much comes down to budget... I'm pretty ok with what I'm getting now, however, It would be great to actually get up to 100fps by the end of the year.

senseijtitus · Jun 9, 2015

I would say wait for the next generation of CPUs from both Intel & AMD then check for reviews and choose the best from there. AMD and Intel are both going for a new architecture as far as I know. So there would be definitely something for us consumers to look up to. Till then, keep pooling up enough $ for the future upgrade.

madmatt30 · Jun 9, 2015

I don't know what screen you're running - assuming its a 60htz panel then anything above 60fps is just wasteful & will make the GPU run hotter & harder for no reason.
A 60htz screen is only capable of physically displaying a max of 60fps .
A game running at 120fps on a 60htz screen is using twice the processing power & simply displaying the exact same image for twice as long.

I run vsyncnd at 60fps on my 970 because its sensible.
Anything above that is for bragging rights only & somewhat stupid IMO.
I don't care that my 970 rarely gets above 65% usage - it sits below 60c 90% of the time while will massively prolong its lifespan.

Of course ignore the above if you are in fact running a 100htz + display ,but to be entirely honest to get the most out of one of those displays you'd be looking at a fairly heavily over clocked haswell i5 minimum.

Newto · Jun 9, 2015

senseijtitus :

Yeah, unfortunately the Canadian dollar is pretty terrible right now, so everything just seems out of reach.
I'm pretty much looking for 60fps minimum/better graphics and trying to stay low budget, which I understand is not very easy/possible?.

What kind of games were you playing on the FX6300/GTX 560 combo?

It's kind of down to planning for an upgrade using as little money as possible right now. If the 960 4gb is better for a future, better build and won't drop my frames down to under 10fps on my current build, I think I could live with that until upgrading my mobo and cpu.

Getting into custom PC's was one of the best and worst things I could have done to myself!

Newto · Jun 9, 2015

madmatt30 :

Good points. I do have a 60hz monitor and just some crappy 4:3 Dell monitor that is definitely not 60hz..
I probably should have mentioned this somewhere in the original post, but I have been streaming my games via OBS on this single PC setup and have been getting some good frames while streaming in certain games. Others, the framerate drops by quite a bit. The reason I asked (again, PC noob, so sorry if this is a dumb question) is because I was wondering if running more FPS than 60 would give more "headroom" for the FPS to drop once I start streaming?

If I'm thinking about the 960, I assume it will make my CPU run a lot higher, making it a lot harder to stream, so I would be looking into just streaming my desktop from a laptop that I've used before.

But thanks for explaining all this.. I'm learning so much!

senseijtitus · Jun 10, 2015

Newto :

The games I was playing were Shadow Of Mordor, Black Ops 2, Witcher2(Did not play much as I did not like the games story line), Crisis 1, 2 & 3(Playing all the tree like 4th or 5th time). Some RTS Games. I Did not measure the FPS as I am more concerned with in play performance rather than measuring the games fps when in the game.

madmatt30 · Jun 10, 2015

https://youtu.be/TWRtA17FxNg

The channel above has a lot of game benches with a 860k ,8gb 1600 ram & either gtx 960 /r 9 280 cards.

Your system with a 960 is going to be very very similar performance wise

Need Help Buying GPU to Pair with AMD A10 5800k [~$450 CDN Max]

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