Upgrading - is it worth the extra cash?

[Fyfey96]

Hey, First post here.

Im currently Running a rig i built two years ago on a fairly tight budget. The only things ive changed is adding a Hard Drive, H80i CPU Cooler and More RAM

The System Specs are Currently -

ASUS M5A97 Pro Motherboard
AMD FX-4100 CPU
G.Skills Ripjaws 16GB 4x 4GB 1600MHz RAM
Sapphire HD 6770
Powercool 650W PSU

This is all packed into a CoolerMaster HAF 922 Case.

With all the newer game ive been getting recently like Far Cry 3, Hitman, Arma 3 ect and wanting to get into Battlefield 4 i feel like my performance is really lagging behind what is required for these games only being able to play at about medium and just barley getting 25-30FPS.

Im going to categorize each thing i believe needs upgrading and detail my needs for each and any feedback on any part would be great so thanks in advance.

Graphics Card - This the first thing that comes to mind if i want to increase graphics performance. The 6770 just isnt keeping up anymore. I was looking at the R9 280X or the R9 290.

The price for these on Amazon comes in at £272 for the Asus R9280X DC2 and £305 for the Sapphire R9 290 This is only a £33 Pound diffrence, Is it worth the extra money to go up to R9 290.

I use my PC or alot of Video Editing and i would like my games to be at the highest settings possible as i love the good looks more than anything. I also want my Post Processing and Anti Allising up to the top too because i like to have smooth edges ect. I only use 1 1080P Monitor. SO any advice on this would be appreciated.


CPU/Motherboard

If i was going to get one of these cards i would fear for a bottleneck in my system so i was looking to upgrade to a AMD FX-8350 Black Edition CPU. But a friend told me i would probably see a better increase and be more future proof if I swapped over my motherboard to an intel and got an i5 or i7. how would this decision effect my performance?

Powersupply

I am aware this isnt a very good power supply and i will upgrade to a Corsair AX1200i Professional PSU.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Regards Fyfey

 

[Zoot]

What's your budget?

If a motherboard upgrade is on the table then the Intel i5-4670k is what to look at for games, but if not, the FX-8350 is as good as it gets on your current motherboard. For something like Video editing the ultimate CPU would be something like the i7-4930k or the i7-4770k, but the FX-8350 packs a punch for much less. For games, if you got yourself a FX-8350 and a R9 280X/290 you'd have a very good gaming rig then.

As for the graphics card, the R9 290 is better, but it is noisy from what all the reviewers are suggesting around the web, although custom versions of the R9 290X/290 are to arrive soon which should solve that problem, it might be worth waiting until they arrive.

As for the PSU, 1200W PSU is massive overkill for what you want unless you're planning on Quad Crossfire/SLI or something. Something like a 500/600W PSU would be a better buy. Something like this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-Bui...F8&qid=1386886057&sr=8-2&keywords=corsair+psu

 

[Tripp]

the 8350 wont bottleneck one card go for that, an get the best gpu with the money you have left over

 

[Fyfey96]

Thanks for the prompt reply, I don't really have a set budget as such just kinda buy as I go. I thought the powersupply was a bit overkill but thanks for the better suggestion it saves some money and suits better. Well like normal I would like to keep costs down. So getting and 8350 would be good.

Do you think I will be able to get the performance I would like as stated in the last post? With the 8350. Also I do a bit of video editing on all the adobe software so bearing in mind what would be better for this?

Thanks very much

EDIT:

Sorry just seen your post Tripp. That's good, getting an 8350 would save a lot of money and be a much easier upgrade. Thanks

 

[Cru]

What's your budget?

If a motherboard upgrade is on the table then the Intel i5-4670k is what to look at for games, but if not, the FX-8350 is as good as it gets on your current motherboard. For something like Video editing the ultimate CPU would be something like the i7-4930k or the i7-4770k, but the FX-8350 packs a punch for much less. For games, if you got yourself a FX-8350 and a R9 280X/290 you'd have a very good gaming rig then.

As for the graphics card, the R9 290 is better, but it is noisy from what all the reviewers are suggesting around the web, although custom versions of the R9 290X/290 are to arrive soon which should solve that problem, it might be worth waiting until they arrive.

As for the PSU, 1200W PSU is massive overkill for what you want unless you're planning on Quad Crossfire/SLI or something. Something like a 500/600W PSU would be a better buy. Something like this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-Bui...F8&qid=1386886057&sr=8-2&keywords=corsair+psu

i agree with the above. but i'd get a different PSU than suggested, maybe the RM650 or 750

 

[barnsley]

Upgrading to the 8350 is a good move for you. It is on par/above the i5 in Battlefield. Rendering is where AMD aren't fast however they make excellent processors for streaming games . The 8350 will deffo be faster in everything compared to your fx 4100. If you overclock it, it'll be even better .

the 290 would be the way forward imo, especially now 290xs are being released with the third party coolers (e.g. Gigabyte's windforce), meaning the 290 won't be far behind. I have a 280x and regret not waiting for the 290's third party coolers.

 

[Fyfey96]

As long as the PSU is a decent brand , has a decent wattage with a little headroom for upgrades and has a good 80+ Rating I'll be happy. my original plan was to get the 8350 but when that guy I spoke to mentioned the whole motherboard upgrade it kinda threw me and I just wanted Some other opinions so thanks a lot
And Barnsley? you suggest waiting for the 290's third party brands? That sounds good. I should be able to get a decent overclock with the 8350 because of the H80i .

 

[Zoot]

Sorry just seen your post Tripp. That's good, getting an 8350 would save a lot of money and be a much easier upgrade. Thanks

I too can vouch for the FX-8350, it's at the helm of my system and it's not holding me back in anything I do which is like 90% gaming.

EDIT: Welcome to the forum BTW!

 

[Fyfey96]

Thanks very much everyone. I've had a great welcome to the forums. So it looks like I'll be getting an 8350, r9 290 3rd party and a new PSU. Thanks a lot. I will keep you all updated. I will probably start a post about psu's tomorrow.
But thanks a lot for the suggestions and the warm Welcome.

EDIT

Sorry, so is the sapphire R9 290 one of the loud ones that was suggested not to get?

Regards Fyfey

 

[Zoot]

They all use the same cooler at the moment. Some implement the fan speed differently but I think you can expect them all to be loud enough under load.

Noise is subjective though, you may find that you're not bothered if you game with a headset on for instance.

 

[Fyfey96]

Ahhh okay I see thanks. That's a Shame cos the sapphire one is a really good looking card

 

[NeverBackDown]

290 reference cards are all loud. Waiting on them will be very well worth it. 290 is being held back by the cooler and under a custom one will allow it to easily strecth its legs and gain a good jump in performance.

 

[Fyfey96]

Thanks, I will wait for one of them. But what do you think the price will go up to?

 

[barnsley]

Thanks, I will wait for one of them. But what do you think the price will go up to?

Add another £30-£40 to the current price. That is IF the prices aren't increased due to the recent litecoin mining craze that means its really hard to get hold of some AMD cards (namely the 280x/7970 and the 7950).

 

[NeverBackDown]

The cards as said above in addition to a 290 and 290x from what i have seen on US retailers. Literally i saw a 290x in stock after 2 days of watching and within 30mins was sold out again.. Their last shipment of 290x was just under 250 cards(according to newegg)... So an average of 8 cards sold per minute..

I reckon the cards will at max rise up $40 but reference prices may fall due to nobody wanting them unless to watercool so that may make the 3rd party cards cheaper to keep it in proportion.