AMD CPU Upgrade for GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 rev. 4.0

[Bebop56210]

I've been reading through the support list/reviews of some processors and I was wondering what would be the best upgrade? My current specs are:

AMD FX-6100
CM Hyper 212
CM Silent Pro Gold 800w
Gskill Ripjaws 1333 16gb
Sapphire 7770
256gb SSD
CM Storm trooper case

Mostly I want better performance for games, videos, rendering, etc, and I don't plan on buying water cooling, so I don't know if the Hyper 212 is good enough.

 

[TechyInAZ]

your hyper212 is fine.

You need a new CPU upgrade, cheapest option is to just buy a FX8320, 50, or 70. Or the most expensive way would be to buy a i7 4790K and a Z97 motherboard.

 

[Bebop56210]

your hyper212 is fine.

You need a new CPU upgrade, cheapest option is to just buy a FX8320, 50, or 70. Or the most expensive way would be to buy a i7 4790K and a Z97 motherboard.

I'm not looking to switch to intel, since that would be more work than just popping in a new CPU. The price even for the 9590 isn't an issue, what would work best without changing anything else in my setup?

 

[A_Goat]

As you have a Zambezi chip, your next step is to try a Vishera chip.
The Vishera version of your chip, is the 6300. It will offer (roughly) a 25% increase in performance in single threaded applications.

Adding more cores (IE going to 8300 series chips) will not increase your game performance a whole lot compared to staying with the 6 core chips (the 6300). But, if you are about to buy a new chip anyway, I would go with the 8320 over the 6300.

 

[Bebop56210]

As you have a Zambezi chip, your next step is to try a Vishera chip.
The Vishera version of your chip, is the 6300. It will offer (roughly) a 25% increase in performance in single threaded applications.

Adding more cores (IE going to 8300 series chips) will not increase your game performance a whole lot compared to staying with the 6 core chips (the 6300). But, if you are about to buy a new chip anyway, I would go with the 8320 over the 6300.

Will any of the 8300s have an issue with my cooler, or is that just a problem with the 9000s?

 

[A_Goat]

As you have a Zambezi chip, your next step is to try a Vishera chip.
The Vishera version of your chip, is the 6300. It will offer (roughly) a 25% increase in performance in single threaded applications.

Adding more cores (IE going to 8300 series chips) will not increase your game performance a whole lot compared to staying with the 6 core chips (the 6300). But, if you are about to buy a new chip anyway, I would go with the 8320 over the 6300.

Will any of the 8300s have an issue with my cooler, or is that just a problem with the 9000s?

The only way your evo would not be enough, is if you overclock them too much.
You will be able to overclock any of the 8300 series chips with your evo, but you will hit a thermal wall eventually.
Many achieve 4.5Ghz while staying below 50C with the 8300 chips when cooled by the evo.

The evo is not sufficient for the 9000 series chips, double rad/double tower coolers are required.

 

[Bebop56210]

As you have a Zambezi chip, your next step is to try a Vishera chip.
The Vishera version of your chip, is the 6300. It will offer (roughly) a 25% increase in performance in single threaded applications.

Adding more cores (IE going to 8300 series chips) will not increase your game performance a whole lot compared to staying with the 6 core chips (the 6300). But, if you are about to buy a new chip anyway, I would go with the 8320 over the 6300.

Will any of the 8300s have an issue with my cooler, or is that just a problem with the 9000s?

The only way your evo would not be enough, is if you overclock them too much.
You will be able to overclock any of the 8300 series chips with your evo, but you will hit a thermal wall eventually.
Many achieve 4.5Ghz while staying below 50C with the 8300 chips when cooled by the evo.

The evo is not sufficient for the 9000 series chips, double rad/double tower coolers are required.

Ok thanks, I'll probably get the 8370. I don't mess with overclocking so I won't worry about overheating.

 

[zloginet]

Why did you waste money on a 212 if you don't overclock? May have been a wiser choice to stick the difference into a better board and cpu if stock clocks were ideal. You wouldn't have had to upgrade already, either.

 

[A_Goat]

Why did you waste money on a 212 if you don't overclock? May have been a wiser choice to stick the difference into a better board and cpu if stock clocks were ideal. You wouldn't have had to upgrade already, either.

Most find the stock cooler noise to be unbearable.
It is quite loud.

Lower temps are always better for your equipment! 😀

 

[ShadyHamster]

Just a FYI, gaming performance isn't going to be effected all that much from that upgrade, your current cpu doesn't really create any kind of bottleneck for that card.
Rendering on the other hand, you will see quite a nice improvement there will the cpu upgrade.

 

[Bebop56210]

Just a FYI, gaming performance isn't going to be effected all that much from that upgrade, your current cpu doesn't really create any kind of bottleneck for that card.
Rendering on the other hand, you will see quite a nice improvement there will the cpu upgrade.

What video card in the $300-$400 range would you recommend? I've looked at the Radeon 290x and the GeForce GTX 970. The 970 had better ratings on futuremark, but the 290x has 8gb of memory.

 

[A_Goat]

Just a FYI, gaming performance isn't going to be effected all that much from that upgrade, your current cpu doesn't really create any kind of bottleneck for that card.
Rendering on the other hand, you will see quite a nice improvement there will the cpu upgrade.

What video card in the $300-$400 range would you recommend? I've looked at the Radeon 290x and the GeForce GTX 970. The 970 had better ratings on futuremark, but the 290x has 8gb of memory.

What monitor will you be using?
If its 1920x1080 I'd go for the 970. The Gigabyte g1 970, specifically.
The 970 is much cheaper than the 8GB version of the 290x

The 970 will give you better FPS at 1080p than the 290x, in most cases.

 

[Bebop56210]

Just a FYI, gaming performance isn't going to be effected all that much from that upgrade, your current cpu doesn't really create any kind of bottleneck for that card.
Rendering on the other hand, you will see quite a nice improvement there will the cpu upgrade.

What video card in the $300-$400 range would you recommend? I've looked at the Radeon 290x and the GeForce GTX 970. The 970 had better ratings on futuremark, but the 290x has 8gb of memory.

What monitor will you be using?
If its 1920x1080 I'd go for the 970. The Gigabyte g1 970, specifically.
The 970 is much cheaper than the 8GB version of the 290x

The 970 will give you better FPS at 1080p than the 290x, in most cases.

Will 8gb be unnecessary to max out most newer games at 1080p? If so it seems like the 970 would be a good card to get.

 

[A_Goat]

Just a FYI, gaming performance isn't going to be effected all that much from that upgrade, your current cpu doesn't really create any kind of bottleneck for that card.
Rendering on the other hand, you will see quite a nice improvement there will the cpu upgrade.

What video card in the $300-$400 range would you recommend? I've looked at the Radeon 290x and the GeForce GTX 970. The 970 had better ratings on futuremark, but the 290x has 8gb of memory.

What monitor will you be using?
If its 1920x1080 I'd go for the 970. The Gigabyte g1 970, specifically.
The 970 is much cheaper than the 8GB version of the 290x

The 970 will give you better FPS at 1080p than the 290x, in most cases.

Will 8gb be unnecessary to max out most newer games at 1080p? If so it seems like the 970 would be a good card to get.

Yes, the 8GB is completely unnecessary for 1080p gaming.

 

[Bebop56210]

Got it thanks again!