AMD phenom II x4 955 Best GPU

[steffanvdberg]

Hi all,
this is my second post here. with a question about what GPU to buy.

This is my current setup
Mobo: Asrock 870 Extreme3
CPU: AMD phenom II x4 955
Ram : 8GB
Seasonic S12II 520 BRONZE, SS-520GB Power Supply
GPU: AMD HD 6870.

Now iam looking to upgrade my GPU without upgrading anything else.
I play LOL, six siege, gta 5, OverWatch, batman arkham knigt
And now iam looking for a GPU to (hopefully) be able to play assassins creed origin, farcry 5, just cause 3.

In the first place i was looking for a nvidia card and people suggested me top buy a gtx 970 or 1050 ti as that is the max for my setup.
now since neither of those 2 cards are sold frequently near me i was wondering.
Are the AMD GPU good? and if yes what is comparable with the gtx 970/1050 ti? i would like to get the best option for my current setup at this point i dont care if its amd or nvidia.

Hopefully i gave you enough information if not feel free to ask.

 

[clutchc]

You can use almost any modern gfx card you want with that PSU. It has a +12V rail rated for 480W. If you aren't afraid of a little CPU bottleneck now and then, the GTX 1060 would be nice. Or the RX 570/580. But yes, the GTX 1050 Ti would be the safest choice to avoid CPU bottleneck.

Is the CPU a Black Edition?

 

[steffanvdberg]

You can use almost any modern gfx card you want with that PSU. It has a +12V rail rated for 480W. If you aren't afraid of a little CPU bottleneck now and then, the GTX 1060 would be nice. Or the RX 570/580. But yes, the GTX 1050 Ti would be the safest choice to avoid CPU bottleneck.

Is the CPU a Black Edition?

i just downloaded core temp that mentions
AMD Phenom II x4 955 BE (Deneb)
But when i use windows device manager it just says AMD phenom II x4 955

dont know wich one of them is right or not.

 

[clutchc]

If core temp says it is a BE, chances are it is. It says my 965 is BE, and it is.
You could...
See if you can increase the CPU clock multiplier in BIOS. If so, it is a BE.
Or, remove the cooler, clean off the paste and read the model number on the CPU.

Your motherboard allows for OC'ing if you want to squeeze a little more performance out of the CPU (if it is indeed a BE)
But you'll need a better cooler than the stock cooler.

 

[steffanvdberg]

If core temp says it is a BE, chances are it is. It says my 965 is BE, and it is.
You could...
See if you can increase the CPU clock multiplier in BIOS. If so, it is a BE.
Or, remove the cooler, clean off the paste and read the model number on the CPU.

Your motherboard allows for OC'ing if you want to squeeze a little more performance out of the CPU (if it is indeed a BE)
But you'll need a better cooler than the stock cooler.

I have never OC anything so i dont know if its hard to do.
i do know that there might be an extra fan in my pc already,
and when i boot my computer i get a quick screen of boost acivated.

 

[R_1]

You can use almost any modern gfx card you want with that PSU. It has a +12V rail rated for 480W. If you aren't afraid of a little CPU bottleneck now and then, the GTX 1060 would be nice. Or the RX 570/580. But yes, the GTX 1050 Ti would be the safest choice to avoid CPU bottleneck.

Is the CPU a Black Edition?

i just downloaded core temp that mentions
AMD Phenom II x4 955 BE (Deneb)
But when i use windows device manager it just says AMD phenom II x4 955

dont know wich one of them is right or not.

955 BE Black Edition
I have the same CPU, my HD 7950 is well suited to it so would be the 1050 ti. the Rx 560 is just a bit too slow and the rx 570 is a wee bit too fast. if you are planning an CPU upgrade soon, most 955 users are, I am anyway. estimate what you will upgrade to and purchase a card now for then.
if you are planning an upgrade to a r5 then an upgrade to the rx 570 or a 1060 would pay off in the end. you will live with the card running slower than max until the CPU swap.
with the older CPU you can look for older model AMD chips. hd 79xx series or an R9 280

 

[steffanvdberg]

955 BE Black Edition
I have the same CPU, my HD 7950 is well suited to it so would be the 1050 ti. the Rx 560 is just a bit too slow and the rx 570 is a wee bit too fast. if you are planning an CPU upgrade soon, most 955 users are, I am anyway. estimate what you will upgrade to and purchase a card now for then.
if you are planning an upgrade to a r5 then an upgrade to the rx 570 or a 1060 would pay off in the end. you will live with the card running slower than max until the CPU swap.
with the older CPU you can look for older model AMD chips. hd 79xx series or an R9 280

I think iam not going to upgrade my CPU soon (dont know how to) and i think it will be expensive to make the effort.
At this moment iam just looking for a better GPU to play rainbow six siege (hopefully on max settings) and hopefully assassinc creed origing/farcy 5 or just cause 3 on lowish. so what is your suggestion then what will work?

 

[steffanvdberg]

If core temp says it is a BE, chances are it is. It says my 965 is BE, and it is.
You could...
See if you can increase the CPU clock multiplier in BIOS. If so, it is a BE.
Or, remove the cooler, clean off the paste and read the model number on the CPU.

Your motherboard allows for OC'ing if you want to squeeze a little more performance out of the CPU (if it is indeed a BE)
But you'll need a better cooler than the stock cooler.

dont know if these photo's will help you but do i had a BE edition? and is that a custom coller and if yes is its good enough?

 

[R_1]

you cannot get the 1050ti where you are. where is that? what is your budget?
if the 1050ti is a no go the 1050 4gb non ti is a big step up from your current card.
http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1050-vs-AMD-HD-6870/3650vsm7744
the RX 460/560 is probably the cheapest upgrade I suggest
http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/AMD-RX-460-vs-AMD-HD-6870/3641vsm7744
http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/AMD-RX-560-vs-AMD-HD-6870/3926vsm7744
any faster cards will hit the CPU bottleneck, are more expensive and not viable IMHO as you are paying for performance you are not getting.
New r9 and new hd 79xx cards are too expensive, I do not trust a used video card unless I know the history.

all suggested cards ( 1050 and RX 4/560) will still be a bottleneck for the CPU, but far less than the current 6870

 

[R_1]

that cooler looks to be the 212 evo. it is a custom cooler and is the same one cooling my 955 black.

 

[steffanvdberg]

you cannot get the 1050ti where you are. where is that? what is your budget?
if the 1050ti is a no go the 1050 4gb non ti is a big step up from your current card.
http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1050-vs-AMD-HD-6870/3650vsm7744
the RX 460/560 is probably the cheapest upgrade I suggest
http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/AMD-RX-460-vs-AMD-HD-6870/3641vsm7744
http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/AMD-RX-560-vs-AMD-HD-6870/3926vsm7744
any faster cards will hit the CPU bottleneck, are more expensive and not viable IMHO as you are paying for performance you are not getting.
New r9 and new hd 79xx cards are too expensive, I do not trust a used video card unless I know the history.

all suggested cards ( 1050 and RX 4/560) will still be a bottleneck for the CPU, but far less than the current 6870

that cooler looks to be the 212 evo. it is a custom cooler and is the same one cooling my 955 black.

My budget is around 130 euro's
iam looking for a used card anyways couse of the budget. but i can find a few 1050 non ti but only 2GB did not even knew 4GB existed. And with the cooler i have can you see if i can OC my cpu a bit or is it alredy been OC?

 

[R_1]

you would need to remove the CPU cooler and paste and look at the CPU to be sure but I'm pretty sure its a BE. I cannot tell if it has been overclocked though.

 

[steffanvdberg]

you would need to remove the CPU cooler and paste and look at the CPU to be sure but I'm pretty sure its a BE. I cannot tell if it has been overclocked though.

then i think i will just leave it like this i have 0 experience with removing and applying paste, thx anyways. but in your opinnion a r9 280 3 GB will be good enough for the games i listed?

 

[R_1]

oh yeah its a bit better than a 1050ti. not too powerful should balance with the CPU nicely
http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1050-Ti-vs-AMD-R9-280X/3649vs2192

 

[steffanvdberg]

oh yeah its a bit better than a 1050ti. not too powerful should balance with the CPU nicely
http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1050-Ti-vs-AMD-R9-280X/3649vs2192

so if aim not mistaken the best options are like this:
GTX 970 (4gb)
R9 290 (4gb)
R9 280 (3gb)
GTX 1050 TI (4gb)

is that correct?

 

[clutchc]

Your BIOS screenshot doesn't indicate if it is a BE or not. But if it was ID'ed as such by software, it probably is. And your cooler isn't the stock cooler, so you're OK to OC. But since you don't seem to want to OC, it's a moot point. Btw, it looks like someone already raised the base clock speed from 200MHz to 215MHz. Probably the auto OC'ing available on the board.

If you plan on keeping the CPU as-is (no OC), try to find a GTX 1050 Ti. One with a 6-pin header so you can at least OC the GPU a bit for extra performance. Not hard to do. If you game at 1080p or less, you'll be fine.

 

[R_1]

oh yeah its a bit better than a 1050ti. not too powerful should balance with the CPU nicely
http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1050-Ti-vs-AMD-R9-280X/3649vs2192

so if aim not mistaken the best options are like this:
GTX 970 (4gb)
R9 290 (4gb)
R9 280 (3gb)
GTX 1050 TI (4gb)

is that correct?

top to bottom, top being best. yes

 

[steffanvdberg]

Your BIOS screenshot doesn't indicate if it is a BE or not. But if it was ID'ed as such by software, it probably is. And your cooler isn't the stock cooler, so you're OK to OC. But since you don't seem to want to OC, it's a moot point. Btw, it looks like someone already raised the base clock speed from 200MHz to 215MHz. Probably the auto OC'ing available on the board.

If you plan on keeping the CPU as-is (no OC), try to find a GTX 1050 Ti. One with a 6-pin header so you can at least OC the GPU a bit for extra performance. Not hard to do. If you game at 1080p or less, you'll be fine.

Yeah well iam not planning on replacing the CPU, If its not to hard and does not with a high risk i can OC the CPU a bit iam fine with that. (as long i dont have to remove paste or anything else i have to apply on it again)
if it are a few BIOS setting i might be able to do that.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

https://www.newegg.com/dell-optiplex-790-business-desktops-amp-workstations/p/1VK-0001-167W3

If you look you can probably catch an i7 system as well. Transplant your ram etc over to a system like this and toss in an SSD.