Looking to upgrade my graphics card - FX 8320

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
A

anon7mous

Distinguished
Oct 5, 2011
95
1
18,635
Hello everyone,

My system:
Motherboard: Gigabyte 970A-UD3P
CPU: FX 8320 (OCed on 4.2 GHz but can probably go higher)
Cooler: 212 Evo
PSU: XFX TS 550 W
RAM: 8 GB Kingston hyperX fury
Case: Zalman Z3 Plus (has 3 exhaust and 1 intake fan, all 120mm)
GFX: HD radeon 6870 XFX
OS: Windows 8.1
I'm playing games on 1920x1080

I want to upgrade my graphics cards in a few weeks so I can play games on higher rez but I have a few concerns when it comes to choosing the right card.

1. I don't want my CPU to bottleneck my new GFX card. I was thinking about RX 480 but according to http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-3192807/ultimate-bottlenecking-guide.html my CPU will bottleneck
2. Will my PSU be enough?
3. Do I have to buy additional RAM, maybe another 8 GB?

I'm currently living in Germany and my budget is around 200-250 euros, I can go a bit higher if it's really needed but I'd like to keep it under 250. I don't care if its AMD or Nvidia, and I don't have any specific shop I'm planning to use.

Any suggestions are welcome

Thanks!
 
Solution
Hlsgsz
Go fort the RX 480 and another 8 gigs of RAM. The fact that the CPU will limit that GPU only means that you can turn up the settings.

EDIT: Yes, your PSU is more than sufficient.
Sort by date Sort by votes
gussrtk

gussrtk

Honorable
Dec 14, 2012
1,530
0
12,460
You can run the 480 don't worry. There may be some minor bottlenecks but nothing to fuss about. Oc your cpu to get some better performance out of your system and you'll be golden. The extra ram could help but it's not a deal breaker. If you don't have money to spend on ram right now then don't worry, there are only some games that need over 8 system ram.

Your psu will be okay. Xfx is a pretty good brand, I expect your system to run stable

Enjoy your gaming. Get that rx480 :)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
coozie7

coozie7

Champion
Jun 2, 2007
10,015
10
59,215
If you're moving up to a resolution higher than 1080 the GPU is more likely to cause any restrictions than the CPU, especially if you like your eye candy (and who doesn't? ;) ).
Agree with Gussrtk: Get the RX480 and enjoy.

A few off topic points:
Try moving a fan, two front intake and two exhaust (top and top rear) may help keep the overall system temperatures down and with both front fans filtered it'll reduce dust build up and reduce maintenance.
There's no great need to upgrade to 16Gb of memory, if you want to, wait until Black Friday, you may be able to grab a bargain, but I suggest you go all the way and get 2X8Gb modules, unless you can get a pair that match your existing parts.
Also look for a R9 390 or 390x, they're just as fast-or faster-than the RX480, and 4Gb is still plenty of VRAM for 1440 gaming-I'm running Wild Hunt at max settings on a 4Gb R9 Nano with no memory issues-but finding one may be very difficult, and prices can be silly.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
jeffredo

jeffredo

Distinguished
Nov 15, 2008
1,943
0
20,460
In one of my PCs I have an FX 8320E @ 4.3 Ghz. I had it paired with a GTX 970 at one time and it did OK. Of course it was bottlenecked by the FX processor compared to my i7 4790k main PC, but it still produced satisfactory results. I really wouldn't go higher than something of that performance level. RX 470 or GTX 1060 3GB seems about right. You can get either for about 200 Euro.
 
Upvote 1 Downvote
A

anon7mous

Distinguished
Oct 5, 2011
95
1
18,635
Thanks for replying guys!

I guess we all agree that my PSU will be able to handle new gfx card. Since RAM isn't so expensive I might as well just go for it.

I have a few questions regarding gfx card choice. I could buy rx 480 but I'm not sure how much will CPU bottleneck the entire system. I found a few videos on youtube where fx wasn't doing so great with rx 480 but only in particular games. How much of a performance loss am I looking at here?
Second question, what jeffredo said. How viable are rx 470 and gtx 1060? Bottlenecking chart on this forum says that even 1060 will have problems when paired with fx 8320 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Q7lIYRK5T0ABLvAkgbM_2jJGvbhlep27mR-eRcCy4FA/edit#gid=0 Maybe I should go for 470 or 1060 then for sure and try to OC my CPU even further?

EDIT: Spelling

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
coozie7

coozie7

Champion
Jun 2, 2007
10,015
10
59,215
The amount of restriction will depend very much on the game, but that's really just part of the 'fun' of playing on a PC. ;) Some games will like your hardware, others not, and right now there's a widening polarisation between AMD and Nvidia: Project Cars loves Nvidia and hates AMD, DOOM is the other way and runs spectacularly well on low/er end AMD hardware, especially with Vulkan enabled while it runs 'only' well on Nvidia cards and gets no boost from Vulkan.
People can throw any amount of numbers at the bottlenecking argument, but they often fail to see the final restriction which is usually the display. It doesn't matter what CPU/GPU you have if it can outrun the display, and for most of us that means 60FPS.
If you can afford it the big RX480 is a great card, and its extra grunt will, I'm sure, come in handy soon enough, but compare it to the 6Gb version of the GTX 1060, even at 1080- rez there is several games out there that really want more than 3Gb of VRAM.
 
Upvote 1 Downvote
gussrtk

gussrtk

Honorable
Dec 14, 2012
1,530
0
12,460
Agree with above suggestion, in sapphire, that's actually the one I got hehe, it's pretty good, quiet, no problems so far. Other than that one, the Asus one is prolly "top of the series" manufacturer, but no need to go that far (price tag). MSI ones are alright, pretty flashy, pretty decent good price. Xfx not too sure about those, but I do remember seeing quite a bit of complaints about those ones. Stay away from powercolor and EVGA gpu
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
A

anon7mous

Distinguished
Oct 5, 2011
95
1
18,635
Got one questions for you guys. I was waiting for black Friday to buy rx 480 for around 250 € but a friend of mine just offered me Asus R9 290 for under 100 €, probably 80-90 after we negotiate. Is r9 worth this much or should I stick with my original plan and get RX 480?
He gave me the card so I can check it out, I did a stress test with furmark and played a few games on ultra settings and I gotta say, everything looks peachy.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Hlsgsz

Hlsgsz

Champion
Feb 29, 2016
8,003
5
51,415
Obviously an r9 290 for 100 is a much better proposition in price/performance. You should be aware though that you are kind of pushing it with a 550W PSU and an overclocked 8320 plus an r9 290. SO i woudl still choose an RX 480 or look for a second hand GTX 970, as that is much more energy efficient GPU.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
A

anon7mous

Distinguished
Oct 5, 2011
95
1
18,635
Thanks for replying this fast. Yeah, I did a stress test (furmark) for about 30 min and everything went okay. Temps were under 80 for gfx card. I usually dont buy second hand cards but this proposition seems very good and I'm pretty sure the card wasn't abused from the first owner cause I know him. Is there a way for me to make sure my PSU will handle it or the stress test is enough?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Hlsgsz

Hlsgsz

Champion
Feb 29, 2016
8,003
5
51,415


Actually stress testing is the way to break your PSU and/or other components so never do that again on your config.
That being said, it's a good PSU and it may power that withoput problems. Or it may fail at some point. You'll have to wait and see.
 
Upvote 1 Downvote
A

anon7mous

Distinguished
Oct 5, 2011
95
1
18,635
Alright, thanks. Yeah I'll meet that friend of mine tomorrow, if hes willing to sell under 80-85 I'll go for r9 for sure. As you said its a really good price/performance deal. Hopefully my PSU will handle it.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom