CPU Upgrade in the next month or just motherboard and ram ?

Giorgi_12 · Mar 24, 2017

So I curentlly have an AMD FX-8320, but my motherboard doesn't support my cpu and locks it at 2.9 GHz, also my Ram is locked at 1066 MHz, instead of 1600, the way it is supposed to be, I also have 2 sticks of 2GB. I get a huge bottleneck because of this.
So my question is, should I upgrade to an MSI 970 GAMING + another 4 Gigs of ram or should I change my cpu ?
Please note, my aim is high detail gaming. I am so confused, can you guys give me some tips ?

KyleADunn · Mar 24, 2017

Giorgi_12 :

A lot of people are probbaly going to recommend upgrading everything. However, as a previous FX-8320 owner myself I know it's still a decent CPU in high end gaming. Get yourself a good 990 motherboard and overclock it to 4.0-4.3ghz for starters (basically make it a 8350/8370) and add some RAM. You'll be set for a while longer.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128859&ignorebbr=1 (Board I used was the previous revision, but yeah it's good for overclocking your 8320 and GPU)
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099 (Good and highly recommended cpu cooler to OC with)
Add a matching stick of whatever ram you already have.

If you do decide to go with a MSI 970 instead of a 990 board, make sure the build quality is high, the power phasing is good for overclocking (and if you're not comfortable with overclocking yourself, get a board with built-in OC tools).

maikutech · Mar 24, 2017

I suggest looking into a more stable motherboard and one that make use of all 1600mhz of it.

sizzling · Mar 24, 2017

The thought of sinking more money into an old end of life platform never sits well with me. Id sell what you have and start again on a modern platform. Even a modern Pentium outperforms the FX series at a lot of things, and gives you a great upgrade path, or you could jump straight to a i5 if budget allows.

Giorgi_12 · Mar 24, 2017

KyleADunn :

Giorgi_12 :

A lot of people are probbaly going to recommend upgrading everything. However, as a previous FX-8320 owner myself I know it's still a decent CPU in high end gaming. Get yourself a good 990 motherboard and overclock it to 4.0-4.3ghz for starters (basically make it a 8350/8370) and add some RAM. You'll be set for a while longer.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128859&ignorebbr=1 (Board I used was the previous revision, but yeah it's good for overclocking your 8320 and GPU)
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099 (Good and highly recommended cpu cooler to OC with)
Add a matching stick of whatever ram you already have.

If you do decide to go with a MSI 970 instead of a 990 board, make sure the build quality is high, the power phasing is good for overclocking (and if you're not comfortable with overclocking yourself, get a board with built-in OC tools).

The power phases are 6+2 and build quality is as its best as I know, I also have a CoolerMaster Hyper 103, hope that's enough to overclock

KyleADunn · Mar 24, 2017

Giorgi_12 :

KyleADunn :

The power phases are 6+2 and build quality is as its best as I know, I also have a CoolerMaster Hyper 103, hope that's enough to overclock

6+2 is good (for slight overclocking. 8+2 is optimal), go for it. Though, the Hyper 103 is just slightly better than the old stock fans AMD used to ship out before they came out with their wraith coolers. If you have a high room/case temperature I wouldn't expect to OC very much with that. I would still recommend upgrading the CPU cooler, as you're just barely scraping by with the 103.

Giorgi_12 · Mar 24, 2017

KyleADunn :

Giorgi_12 :

6+2 is good (for slight overclocking. 8+2 is optimal), go for it. Though, the Hyper 103 is just slightly better than the old stock fans AMD used to ship out before they came out with their wraith coolers. If you have a high room/case temperature I wouldn't expect to OC very much with that. I would still recommend upgrading the CPU cooler, as you're just barely scraping by with the 103.

Thanks man

you saved my life with your answers. I will get a 8+2 and another cpu cooler as you said. Cheers

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