Currently have a Garbage board... time to upgrade?

[PCBuilderProbs]

I'm currently running the MSI 760GM-P34 (FX) board with an FX-8120 and it's been sufficient for quite a while. It has all of the fun of a cheap SATA II $50 board, you know, BSOD once a week, crashes during 3DMark tests, all that fun stuff.

I'm most likely getting a new graphics card in the next week or so, specifically the r9 390x, and I'm considering tossing this board for a different one. For one, I'm scared to even try overclocking on this thing. Two, I have a $10 aftermarket heatsink with Antec Formula 7 Nano Diamond Thermal Compound and it barely keeps the CPU from overheating. Three, it has no SATA III, so everytime I consider getting an SSD that idea gets thrown out the window.

Time to upgrade I think, since I'll need to overclock my FX 8120 to keep it in line with today's current gaming.

 

[jbaker22]

Is your PSU reputable? Also if you have an r9 200 series are you going to upgrade the driver to make it perform as well as the 300 series?
Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor
$328.99 SuperBiiz Buy

ASRock Z97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard $74.99 Newegg

 

[PCBuilderProbs]

My PSU is not reputable in the least bit and scares me; however since I'll only be using a max of 550w out of its supposed 700w I'm not really sweating it. I currently do not have the r9 200 series, I'm on the Radeon HD 6670 which has been horribly outdated for years now. Honestly, it's probably time to upgrade anyways, since I just scavenged 8gb more RAM out of an old build and cant use it because my current board only has 2 ram slots

 

[jbaker22]

It's not the wattage, its the voltage ripple. too much voltage will kill components. It is worth the $40 for an evga, corsair , antec, or XFX PSU.

 

[Tradesman1]

Do you have a budget? I'd be thinking of upgrading the 8120 also, might even want to think Intel

 

[PCBuilderProbs]

I'm probably just gonna overclock the thing to get better performance out of it, this fx chip is currently at its end of the life and overclocking will keep it alive longer. Probably going with the MSI 970 Gaming board, as I've used it before on a friend's build, has a lot of features, and isn't too expensive.

Again, I must stress the PSU has not given me problems yet. It has all the plugs necessary, even more than other 700w PSUs I've seen (8 pin CPU connector, two 8 pin GPU connectors and two 6pin CPU connectors). And again, the peak load of my entire build once the GPU comes in will most likely be around 550w max.

Now, I know nothing about PSU voltages, rails, any of that, so I'm gonna leave that up to you guys to decide. If you guys have any knowledge of XtremeGear PSUs, I currently have an XtremeGear 700w PSU. Here is a pic of my PSU's specs, you guys decide

 

[GhislainG]

Is your FX-8120 the supported 95W model or the unsupported 125W model? http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/mb-MSI/760GM-P34_(FX).html MSI only list the 95W version as compatible.

 

[jbaker22]

I hope you do not have an experience like this Xtreme Gear owner. http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/334317-31-beware-buying-system-cyberpowerpc

 

[PCBuilderProbs]

it's the 125w FX-8120.

It is quite possibly the shadiest board I've ever seen. No apparent support for Vishera processors on the MSI site, yet newegg claims it as "125w Ready". Some people complain about not being able to use the FX-8350, and some reviews claim they're using it no problem on newegg. Ladies and gentlemen, you may be looking at the strangest board in history.

Anyways, like I said jbaker22, I've owned the Power Supply for years so I'm 9x out of 10 sure it's not gonna blow up on me since it would've done that a while ago. But it's probably better to swap out the PSU too though, I'll just wait and see if it survives the brutal r9 390x power consumption lol. If not, I don't mind buying another PSU, as they're not that expensive, probably will go EVGA anyways since they're built like bricks.

Man is this whole situation getting expensive. Buying the r9 390x, then I need to overclock the FX 8120 a bit to keep it up with today's gaming, so that means I need a new board, and apparently I'm probably gonna need a new PSU if it doesn't survive the r9 390x. Damn.

Long story short, don't ever recommend a Cyberpower build unless every part in it is solid.

 

[GhislainG]

You can't complain about a $50 motherboard that doesn't support a 125W FX CPU; it isn't possible without a good VRM. You also can't blame MSI for your stability issues since your CPU isn't on the supported list. The minimum you should get with an 8 core FX is the Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3P that has 8+2 phase VRM (your motherboard has a 4+1 phase VRM without a heat sink).

The PSU may be OK if PCI Express cables are fed from the two 12V rails (CPU and 6 pin PEG from one rail and 8 pin PEG from the other rail).

Edit: Newegg still claim the MSI 760GM-P34 (FX) supports 125W processors, but MSI removed them from the list for obvious reasons.

 

[PCBuilderProbs]

I am not blaming MSI for anything, they make quality products and I recommend their products on a regular basis (as well as am planning to get the MSI r9 390x). That doesn't excuse the fact that I have a 125w CPU in a board that doesn't say it supports it. And yes, I know it doesn't have good VRMs. That's why I dare not overclock on it. Like I said while it isn't bad, it is quite possibly the shadiest board I've ever seen.

 

[GhislainG]

If you can fit an ATX motherboard in your case, then get the one I suggested or a quality 990FX based motherboard. Unfortunately there are no really good micro-ATX AM3+ motherboards. While you can buy an inexpensive motherboard for an Intel build, you shouldn't when using an AMD FX CPU.