Upgrading GPU From 6870 1GB

midnightblue · Nov 30, 2015

Hi I'm just looking for some advice on upgrading my current radeon HD 6870 1gb to something a bit better while staying in the $200usd or less price range. Right now my GPU is maxing out on memory and stuttering in some games at 1080p. My fx4100 at 4.2ghz is nearing its EOL but the games that I play are not new releases say the 2008/2013 era or so. Plus my CPU load is not maxing out like my GPU is currently, so for the time being upgrading the GPU I think would be a nice improvement till I get a new motherboard & CPU. I've been out of the PC scene for a while so I'm not sure what card would give me my best value thanks.

How would getting a fx6300 that are currently on sale for around $80 and a used HD7950 for around $100 work? I'm really thinking that might be the best of both worlds for my usage currently.

My PC specs are
Fx4100 at 4.2ghz
8Gb of ram at 1333mhz
HD6870 1Gb at 1080p
650w psu bronze +80 not sure on brand will check later

Darkseiders · Nov 30, 2015

The r9 380 4gb would be plenty for that. I would recommend the sapphire model of that card.

midnightblue · Nov 30, 2015

Darkseiders :

Would my fx4100 be holding back the R9 380 much or only if I start paling CPU intensive games?

Darkseiders · Nov 30, 2015

Only if you start playing cpu intensive games, but the cpu should be next. an fx6300 or 8320 would be a good upgrade if you keep the mobo, an i5-4460 if you get a new mobo.

RobCrezz · Nov 30, 2015

I would go for the GTX 950 unless you plan to move to an intel platform.

NightAntilli · Nov 30, 2015

R9 380 is the best card you can get in that price range. What is your power supply?

Your CPU is not the greatest anymore. I'd suggest either overclocking it if your motherboard allows this. Another option is getting an FX-6300 / FX-8320 depending on what motherboard you have. The FX-41xx/61xx/81xx have huge performance issues that the FX-43xx/63xx/83xx resolved (partially). But that would mean going over your budget. Switching to Intel is another option which will also cost you more money.

midnightblue · Nov 30, 2015

NightAntilli :

My power supply is a 650w I forgot the brand but it was well reviewed and +80 bronze certified. My fx4100 is already oc'ed to 4.2ghz from 3.8ghz. My motherboard is quite old and only supports the 95w FX cpus not the 125w ones so the fx6300 would be my only option. I plan on upgrading to a new motherboard down the road but for the time being I'm stuck with my current build.

jeffredo · Nov 30, 2015

With an aging, weaker CPU you'd probably be better off with a GTX 960. Nvidia drivers have less CPU overheard (usage) vs. Catalyst. Regardless, a GTX 960 or R9 380 is about the top end of what you should pair with it.

Darkseiders · Nov 30, 2015

A small loss now for big gains later on the 380 would be a better bet.

NightAntilli · Nov 30, 2015

midnightblue :

Ok. Well... I feel your pain. My HD 6850 is memory bottlenecked... And I went with the advise from people that it wouldn't use more than 1GB anyway. If I went with the 2GB version like I thought I should, it would still have some life left in it. But in any case, I'm personally waiting to upgrade right now... Both AMD and nVidia will be releasing smaller die GPUs next year, which will have both increased performance and power draw reduction, plus will probably be fully DX12 compliant unlike current cards. If you can't wait, I'd say go for the R9 380 and you're set for a while. I am personally waiting patiently.

As for the CPU side, you can think of upgrading that to the FX-6300 instead for now, or, save up in preparation for AMD's Zen CPUs at the end of next year. If you want to upgrade now, you're on the safe side with any i5 from Intel, although it'll cost you a bit.

Darkseiders · Nov 30, 2015

While you may be fine with a 4th or 6th gen, the 7th gen cpus will be compatible with 6th gen mobos, so you will be better off with skylake.

midnightblue · Nov 30, 2015

How would getting a fx6300 that are currently on sale for around $80 and a used HD7950 for around $100 work? This would still be in my budget and the 7950 would be plenty for the games i regularly play.

Darkseiders · Nov 30, 2015

That would be just fine.

NightAntilli · Dec 1, 2015

That would be quite the improvement.

midnightblue · Dec 1, 2015

I just scored a used 7950 & will probably buy a fx6300 later this week after trying out the 7950. I plan on in a year or so to build a new rig from scratch for Dx12 so this should hold me over till then.

Darkseiders · Dec 1, 2015

Alright. fx-6300 and 7950 will do very well at 1080p.

NightAntilli · Dec 1, 2015

A 7950 will do fine in DX12 for now.

midnightblue · Dec 1, 2015

I'm still debating whether the fx6300 is worth upgrading to from the fx4100 or not. From what I've read the fx6300 is somewhat better but most of my games don't take advantage of more than 2-4 cores. Since my fx4100 is overclocked it might preform similarly in single threaded tasks. Although the fx6300 would be more future proof as many games are now out that are multi threaded nowadays.

Darkseiders · Dec 1, 2015

If you don't want to get an fx-6300; the i5-4460 would be a worthwhile upgrade. The total cost would probably be ~$225.

NightAntilli · Dec 1, 2015

Yes, you can get single core performance of an FX-6300 by overclocking your FX-4100. But you have to realize what it means. I'll explain and you make the choice.

At stock clocks, the FX-6300 is around 5% - 10% faster than the FX4100 depending on the application, despite the FX-4100 having a slightly higher stock clock speed (3.6 GHz vs 3.5 GHz). Factor in that the FX-6300 has a turbo boost of up to 4.1 GHz, and the single core performance is unreachable by the FX-4100 unless you overclock it all the way to around 4.5 GHz. The FX-4100 has a turbo speed of max only 3.8 GHz. So... Yeah.

Choice is yours. Difference in framerate will be... Probably 5 fps as an advantage for the FX-6300 at most when they're running at stock, maybe 10 fps with the FX-6300 overclocked compared to your stock FX-4100. You have to count on being around 0.3 to 0.4 GHz higher than the FX-6300 to reach similar single core performance.

Factor in future games that are using more than 4 threads, and the reason to buy it might justify it... Or even the FX-8. Note that the FX-4320 is superior to your FX-4100, but you can use this as a reference of future performance difference as most games perform this way as of now;

midnightblue · Dec 1, 2015

NightAntilli :

Yes, you can get single core performance of an FX-6300 by overclocking your FX-4100. But you have to realize what it means. I'll explain and you make the choice.

At stock clocks, the FX-6300 is around 5% - 10% faster than the FX4100 depending on the application, despite the FX-4100 having a slightly higher stock clock speed (3.6 GHz vs 3.5 GHz). Factor in that the FX-6300 has a turbo boost of up to 4.1 GHz, and the single core performance is unreachable by the FX-4100 unless you overclock it all the way to around 4.5 GHz. The FX-4100 has a turbo speed of max only 3.8 GHz. So... Yeah.

Choice is yours. Difference in framerate will be... Probably 5 fps as an advantage for the FX-6300 at most when they're running at stock, maybe 10 fps with the FX-6300 overclocked compared to your stock FX-4100. You have to count on being around 0.3 to 0.4 GHz higher than the FX-6300 to reach similar single core performance.

Factor in future games that are using more than 4 threads, and the reason to buy it might justify it... Or even the FX-8. Note that the FX-4320 is superior to your FX-4100, but you can use this as a reference of future performance difference as most games perform this way as of now;

Thanks for explaining that for me

That helped me decide to get the fx6300. I'll probably overclock the fx6300 at some point and replace the stock cooler with a 212 evo.

Upgrading GPU From 6870 1GB

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