Upgrading: Decisions, decisions!

[Sick Jargon]

Hi guys and cheers for taking the time to look at my questions.

I have been gaming hard on my PC the last month and I am looking to wipe out a couple of bottlenecks, however, I am not sure which way to go about it.

PC Specs
Mainboard: MSI 870-G45
CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 620 @ 2.6GHz
Memory: 2x2GB Corsair XMS3 @ 1600MHz
GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 6870
HD: Seagate 500GB SATA II
PSU: XFX Core Edition 550W
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit

I was going to replace my CPU with an AMD Phenom II X4 965 and add another 4GB of memory but I'm wondering about the AMD A8-3870K 3.00GHz, I don't know all that much about these processors and whether it's worth investing a pretty penny in one of these along with an F1 socketed mainboard..

Any explanation of these GPU/CPU/APU's :lol: and whether they work with or against currently installed GPU's would be appreciated.

Just a couple of other details:

My budget is based at around £300
I will likely be purchasing the parts next week
I have little interest in Intel products, though at the right price point I may consider them
If anyone has suggestions, I'd definitely like to hear them

Cheers!

 

[axe1592]

How about something like this:

Phenom II X4 965 -- £86
Powercolor 7870 -- £244

Thats 330 quid which is a little over your budget but worth it and itll drop right onto your motherboard without much trouble at all. That 7870 will be a 30% improvement over your current 6870. You can keep that 6870 for a spare or sell it to recoup some of your cost. That card with that proc will max out any game on the market right now at 1920x1080.

 

[popatim]

uprade your processor to the lowest Phenom2 x4 black edition you can find. They all overclock to about the same point.

Be sure to gert an aftermarket cooler like the Hyper 212+

Upgrade your GPU if you wish

Replace your ram with a 2x4gb (=8gb) kit if you want. An overclocked phenom2 does not like all 4 dimms populated.

 

[Sick Jargon]

Ah, I should have noted that I have no intention of replacing the GPU at this time. It plays absolutely everything I throw at it without issue.

Considering my intention was to buy a Phenom II, I think I will stick with it as suggested by Popatim.

So I think this CPU: Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition

Possibly this motherboard: ASUS M5A97

The only reason being to take advantage of SATA III/USB 3.0. I've heard SATA III hard drives have a good impact on gamers but is it worth changing my current motherboard for? Or should I just go for a slightly quicker SATA II and waiting to see what new tech is around the corner?

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been moved from the section CPU & Components to section Systems by Mousemonkey