[SOLVED] Bottleneck and incompatibility inquiry

[Dr. FeelGoose]

Ok, so. Here are my system specs:

Processor - AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1065T Processor, 2900 Mhz, 6 Core(s), 6 Logical Processor(s)
Graphics - AMD Radeon R7 240
Motherboard/System/Baseboard - ASUS CM1730/CM1830
RAM - 8.00 GB
Hard Drive - 1.81 TB Storage
OS - Microsoft Windows 10 Home Edition



I used to have a AMD Radeon HD 5570, but I switched over to the R7 240 because of the necessity for the Vulkan API. However, I noticed that games that used to run very smoothly with the HD 5570 are much slower with the R7 240. I'm considering an upgrade.

I'm not sure how much of a bottleneck this would cause (that being the Phenom II X6 1065T and the Radeon R7 240), but I believe it's my CPU for the most part. Unfortunately, I'm kinda on a budget and can't really afford a new CPU (that would be compatible with my Motherboard) or a new Motherboard that would be compatible with a new CPU. So if I were to upgrade any component, whether its the GPU or CPU, it'd have to be relatively cheap (at least under $300 if that sounds reasonable).

I've actually heard that the R7 240 is somewhat crappy, so I may need to instead switch my GPU to something that won't be bottlenecked by my dinosaur of a CPU. Here's my criteria if I would switch my GPU instead of my CPU:

1. doesn't bottleneck as much
2. has Vulkan API

The only requirements I have for a new CPU is if it's better than the Phenom II X6 1065T and doesn't conflict with my motherboard.

I'd appreciate some advice and analysis.

 

[Barty1884]

The R7 240 is stronger than the HD 5570, so if the CPU was a 'bottleneck', you'd see exactly the same performance from the stronger card vs the weaker, not worse.

You may just need to uninstall your GPU driver(s) and reinstall for the 240.

However, given the components you have, your requirements & budget.... I'd suggest you replace the CPU/MB/RAM/GPU with a modern APU, like a Ryzen5 3400G.

For less than your budget, you could have a 3400G, B450 board with a compatible BIOS and a 16GB of DDR4 3600MHz.

A substantially stronger, modern 'CPU' component.... and a GPU that's in the same ballpark as a GT1030 - roughly 2x (or more) your R7 240, off the top of my head.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3400G 3.7 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($144.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI B450M PRO-M2 MAX Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($78.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Team T-FORCE DARK Z 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory ($58.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $282.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-09-21 22:58 EDT-0400