Is upgrade to AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black worth it?

Xenrae · Mar 25, 2016

I am considering upgrading an older system and wonder first if it will work, and second if it's worth it. I've got half a clue what I'm doing, but a few terms are fuzzy, so I'm reaching out before I waste the time and money.

My PC started as a Dell Studio XPS 7100. A few things have been upgraded, so now it's this:

AMD Phenom II X6, 2.6 GHz (original)
Crucial Ballistix Tactical 16GB (4 x 4) (new up from 6)
AMD Radeon 7850, 2G
Win 7 64 (I don't want Win 10)
PSU 500 w

This system looks old and slow, I know. But, by some bizarre magic that I have decided to blame on the hex core, it's absolutely doing more than it should. I ran Fallout 4 on medium/high settings with the old RAM at launch with zero problems. Witcher 3, FFXIV, anything I've thrown at it, it can handle.

It's still got the Dell MB, which is model 0FF3FN, according to CPU-Z. That doesn't come up when I search it on upgrade sites, but Dell officially suggests my CPU upgrade is

AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition, 3.2.

I've also been looking at NVIDIA Quadro K2200 for a GPU upgrade, but that's just a first glance choice, fast enough and small enough. My wisdom on GPUs is limited.

Going from 2.6 to 3.2 for $150 is pretty great, and the 1090T overclocks to at least 4, if I wanted to. But I'm worried first about power, then about cooling, and finally, about bottlenecking even though Dell says the MB can handle it. Bottlenecking is one of those terms I'm not clear on, except that it makes sense some components can't keep up with others.

I am a gamer, but performance means more to me than bragging rights, and this system has only just started to have growing pains. I could build one from scratch or buy one built, but I don't want to spend that much or run Win 10. That said, I will do whichever of the two is cheaper, if these upgrades are a bad idea.

Thanks in advance for your time and advice.

Xen

DJDeCiBeL · Mar 26, 2016

The 1090T WOULD be better, yes, but IMO, not enough to justify the cost. There would be gains, but not significant enough to justify the $150 spent. And I'm not sure about that particular board, but most OEM boards don't allow for any overclocking, or if they do, they're not really made to take the abuse, and wouldn't be stable.

Also, Quadro's aren't gaming cards. They'll "work" for gaming, but that's not what they're optimized to do. It's almost purely a rendering card for render farms.

So, my opinion is to start fresh, if you really feel the need to upgrade. You may be able to get away with upgrading to a 970/390 only, but you'll never realize the full potential of those cards with even an overclocked 1090T.

Xenrae · Mar 26, 2016

DJDeCiBeL :

Thank you. Good point on the Quadro, as I discovered after posting. I'm looking at a GTX 970 now, instead...?

I've also been shopping components for a new build. It turns out the AMD multi cores still seem the most affordable solution. It's been by chance more than choice that I haven't had an i5 or i7 yet, and so far I'm not disappointed. I have an inexplicable attachment to the hex - as I mentioned - and the AMD FX 6300 and 6350 are cheaper than the 1090T. You are right - it is not cost effective, and right again, that the OEM board cannot be overclocked.

So, going with the TH Editor's Choice, can I pair up MSI Gaming 990FXA-GAMING mainboard with FX 6300? Am I right that I just need to match the CPU socket type (AM3 or AM3+) or is there more? And should I relent with the hex and go for 8 cores? It seems redundant to me, and excessive, but I'm old school and 16G of RAM seems extreme too.

Thanks again

DJDeCiBeL · Mar 26, 2016

Yeah, that mobo is fine for a 6300, although there's no real reason not to go for an 8320, etc. AMD's current 4/6/8 core cpu's "really" perform like 2/3/4 core CPUS's because of the way they're designed. Think of it as Intel's Hyperthreading, with a lot less performance per core/thread. Cheaper, yes, but you get what you pay for.

Xenrae · Mar 26, 2016

DJDeCiBeL :

Thank you, DJ. You have saved me time and money, just as I'd hoped. Now I'm all geeked about my new system. What's money for if you can't build a faster computer, right?

Best,
Xen

Ecky · Mar 26, 2016

In many cases, AMD's "new" ~2012 CPUs (FX-6300) actually perform worse per clock than their older 2009-2010 CPUs (e.g. 1090T). They clock higher, however, and tend to run a little cooler and use less power for equivalent performance. It's conceivably a decent upgrade, if you can get a great deal on the CPU, but it won't be world-shattering.

Xenrae · Mar 27, 2016

Ecky :

Thank you for the great visuals, Ecky. As it happens, I was relying on the CPU speed alone too much. Your benchmark graphics showed me that doesn't really work anymore, so I did some more research.

After a whole day of going back and forth - this is exhausting - from an i5 6600k to an AMD 9590 fx, and a dozen in between. I settled on an AMD FX-8350 for a good price, and I kind of threw a dart for MB because it was late and they were all starting to look the same. I wound up with ASUS M5A99FX PRO R2.0, with good reviews in spite of its age. I'm going to see how it goes with the 7850 GPU I already have before I spend more. I have brand new ram, but I added a PSU upgrade, an SSD, and a low-end case. So, this little adventure that started with $225 is $600 so far, but I think that's a pretty good deal for the performance upgrade I'm hoping for. If I'm lucky, you folks agree.

Thanks again, Ecky and DJ, for the advice. It made a huge difference.

Search

Is upgrade to AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black worth it?

Xenrae

Commendable

DJDeCiBeL

DJDeCiBeL

Splendid

Xenrae

Commendable

DJDeCiBeL

Splendid

Xenrae

Commendable

Ecky

Illustrious

Xenrae

Commendable

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page