Hello everyone, as you are probably well aware of the Christmas season is fast approaching. I feel like I am due for another upgrade as it has been awhile but I seek advice for what I should do. Specs: AMD A10-6700 APU (4 CPU'S)~3.7 Ghz processor 8GB RAM F2A55-M motherboard Evga 600B power supply XFX R9 270X graphics card About a year and a half ago, I had purchased an http://www.cowboom.com/product/1503621 (Asus Essentio Desktop) and upgraded it with an EVGA 600B power supply and an XFX R9 270X graphics card. This setup worked pretty well for the time being, but I am now looking to further my PC's performance particularly on the more taxing games on you're FPS such as ArmA 3, and GTA Online. Benchmarks: GTA Online- 30-40 FPS on highest resolution and all settings on normal. ArmA 3- Overall quality on high with the highest resolution and usually sets around 30fps. Armored Warfare- 50fps on highest resolution with all settings on medium except textures (very high) Note: Say listening to music from the steam or origin menu seems to effect FPS quite significantly (around 20-30 fps drop on BF4). I would like to see getting 50-60fps on GTA online on high and at least 60fps on ArmA 3 on high or very high (Definitely want it to be more bearable in the multiplayer as I only get around 30 on low settings). What options I'm looking at: Get a new processor Get another XFX R9 270X and connect the two with crossfire (doubt motherboard has enough room but I could be wrong) Get a single, more powerful graphics card to replace the R9 270 Maybe a combination? I have my eyes on http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...&cm_re=Computer_towers-_-11-147-153-_-Product (Rosewill Challenger) case so I have room for any upgrades as I definitely feel my current stock tower won't cut it any longer. So what approach should I go with, and if so, do you have any products you could recommend to me? I am open to all ideas and appreciate any time that is taken to help me out with my relative newbyness. Thanks~ Drew.
I wonder first of all, around how much would you be willing to spend? honestly for the specs you're looking at, I'd suggest you to get an R9 380 or R9 390 ( only do this if you have a PSU with good quality, which you seem to have) or a Nvidia GTX 960 or 970 if you're more into NVidia. The R9 380 compares to the 960 and the 390 to a 970. For your CPU, are you willing to overclock, or are you more thinking of just using it as it is? Also, incase you want to crossfire, make sure your motherboard is crossfire compatible first, most motherboards are either crossfire (AMD) compatible or SLI (NVidia) compatible, and not both at the same time, with maybe a few exceptions.
The 270X is a pretty decent GPU, you should probably get a new CPU first. Could go for H97+i5-4460. What is your budget? All motherboards I know, at least for Intel CPUs, that support SLI also support CrossFire. It depends on the chipset. H or B boards don't have SLI support, some H boards support CFX, all Z boards support CFX and most support SLI. X boards of course support both, often 3- or 4-way.
When I was checking for Z170 and Z97 motherboards ( for an i5-6600k or an i5-4790k) I noticed that ex. Some motherboards didn't have SLI or crossfire, specifically MSI ones.
There are a few cheap boards without CFX support. Not like you should ever buy a cheap board that has the ability to overclock. But I don't remember any boards with only SLI support, at least for Intel CPUs in the last 3 generations.
I am comfortable spending $300 or a little more on things like graphics cards. Around the $400 range is when it makes me a bit uncomfortable. I am also comfortable spending even $200 on a new Processor if need be. I'm not tight with my budget, but I don't want to spend a ridiculous amount on one single thing, like $500 on a graphics card, etc
Go for an i5-4460 ($160) and H97 motherboard (~$90-100). You don't need to buy new RAM. With $300 you could buy an R9 290 or GTX 970, but you'd still have a huge CPU bottleneck.
Ah yeah, it's true, I was mostly looking at the boards that costed lower than ~110 euro so that might explain it. This ^, however I suggest that if you're willing to spend around $300, you're probably best of getting an R9 390 or a GTX 970. If you're willing to go slightly higher go for an R9 390X ( which is around the $400 mark), however there's no big difference between a 390X and a 390 or a 970. Don't go for the 290 tho, AFAIK going for a 390 (which is around $10-$30 more) is worth it.
Ok, that makes sense. So I am very interested in the R9 390 but will it work with my current motherboard? From the looks of it it should, but I just needed to clear that up. My main issue with motherboard space earlier was implementing crossfire, which I know can sometimes be a little sketchy graphically and wasn't sure it would fit. So if I get an R9 390, would there be a point in getting a new processor or motherboard? Or would a new processor or motherboard gain more performance than a new card? Also, going back to the R9 390, I see there is several ones by different companies on Newegg such as Sapphire, MSI, Asus, or XFX. I mean what is the difference between these and what do you recommend?
Yes, it will, but I still suggest that you upgrade your CPU, because you WILL have a bottleneck with your current CPU. Space isn't a problem with the motherboard but with the case, but again how long the card is depends on what version and what brand you decide to buy. For Crossfire, that shouldn't be a problem aslong as the motherboard supports it, however I don't think you'll need crossfire if you go for a 390. Yes, you might not notice it at first but your CPU will most likely bottleneck with your GPU, meaning that your GPU won't work to it's full potential because your CPU isn't powerful enough. I'd suggest the same CPU as BlueScreen suggested : I'd suggest you to go for a Gigabyte Windforce card (which is what I'm also going to buy for my build) or an XFX card, however you're gonna have to look into that by yourselves depending on how much space you have, which looks best, etc. Also maybe read some reviews or watch some vids on this subject, might help a bit The biggest difference between the cards is the cooler design, the size and the colors used on it.
You should change your CPU+board rather than your GPU. If you can afford both, go for it. If you can only afford one then go for the CPU and motherboard.
Ok, that clears it up, so how is the i5-4460 better then my current CPU? I see it has less ghz frequency and the same amount of cores, so what makes it better? Also, the same deal with the H97 motherboard, what makes it better? And wouldn't it be easier to get just a new AMD CPU than a CPU and a motherboard? Or does the motherboard really need to be replaced? What I'm really trying to say is there even a point in upgrading the motherboard.
GHz alone means nothing. Different processors can still accomplish more or less work at the same given clock speed. Intel is *alot* faster than AMD at the same clock speeds, AMD APUs liuke yours are bottom of the barrel for AMD even. There are no high performance options in the AMD FM2 socket like your motherboard. No room for CPU upgrade without switching to another socket.
Ok, so what you are basically saying is that I would have to get a different motherboard to have a more powerful CPU fit.
basically yes and that the recommended CPU is faster even though it has a lower clock speed. Oh and it has 2 extra FPUs which help in alot of games
Alright, so based on you guy's recommendations, I should get an H97+ i5 4460 + and R9 390 and I wouldn't have to look back (or worry) if these parts are compatible. Also, possibly one last question would be what kind of frame rates could I expect out of that setup? Also, when I referred to budget I meant I was comfortable spending a little over $300 on a single item. I fear the H97 might be too cheap. What do you guys think of the Z97?
I probably said this before but once again make sure that you look at the physical dimensions of the GPU so that you're sure it'll fit in your case. Also, if you're getting an aftermarket CPU Cooler, check the dimensions of that too, And lastly make sure you get an ATX Mid-Tower or Full-Tower case. You'll probably easily get 1080p60 on high-ultra settings depending on the game. You won't use a Z97 unless if you buy ex. an i5-4690k or 4670k, because the Z97 ( and generally most Z-boards) are boards for overclocking, and the the only CPUs that can really do proper overclocks are K-CPUs from intel, ex. a 4690k as I mentioned before, and those are mostly slightly more expensive, but for example an i5-4460 won't be able to do any proper overclocking.
Z97 is meant for overclocking. An i5-4460 cannot be overclocked, so there is no point in getting a Z97 board. Go for H97. i5-4460+R9 390 should get you 60+ fps in BeamNG max settings 1080p. Easily. Should get 60+ in most games actually. Oh, btw, if you're getting an R9 390, you'll want a new PSU, at least 700W, and a case with good airflow, and possibly a CPU cooler. That thing has a 275W TDP, even if it has a 3-fan monster cooler on it 275W is a lot of heat in your case and a stock Intel cooler won't like that. Or, you could go for a GTX 970 which has very similar performance and a not-insane TDP (will run just fine with your current PSU and a stock cooler). I honestly cannot recommend a 390 without a proper setup.
This is very true tbh, but in some cases if you have a very good PSU even 600W or 650W will be able to run a 390. And for heat, I'm pretty sure from various videos I've seen that the 390 isn't that warm at all, altho I'm pretty sure we've had this disscussion before and I do also kinda agree with you that's probably a good example of the heat of the 390s vs 970s, however obviously thats only MSI VS EVGA, and who knows how warm other cards get. As a conclusion, let's say you're either better off going for a 390 if you have a good PSU or if you're willing to upgrade your PSU, and just to be safe if you have an extra $30 to spend you can buy a Hyper 212 EVO CPU cooler or anything else and you'll have slightly better airflow too, however you do need to check physical dimensions for that too.
The card's temperature is not the problem. It's the large amounts of heat inside the case. The GPU is cooled using air, all that air has to go somewhere and in the case of an open air cooler (pretty sure there's no blower 390, mostly because of how terrible the blower 290's were) that somewhere is inside the case, directly into the flow of the CPU cooler. CPU temperature will be much higher with the 390, and with Intel's stock cooler it might get a bit too hot. Semi-relevant, my 970 runs at 55C gaming load, 60C peak load (stress test). To be fair I do have a very good cooling setup.
