Get GTX 970 or i5 4690k w/ MSI Z97-G45 Gaming?

[BakedPotato65]

I'm wanting to upgrade my pc soon. I'm wanting to get the EVGA GTX 970 SC ACX 2.0 so I can play newer games better. But if I do that, my FX 6300 might bottleneck it on certain games. So then I thought about getting a i5 4690k and MSI Z97-G45 Gaming motherboard then upgrading the video card later. Both are around $350 each.

Can I get the GTX 970 and risk slight bottlenecking or should I get the 4690k and MSI Z97-G45?
I feel that getting the GTX 970 might be a better idea because it is a major contributor to graphics in games. If I would get the new CPU and mobo, my current Radeon 7850 would be lacking. Which would be the better choice?

SPECS:
CPU: AMD FX 6300 3.5ghz
COOLER: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo
MOBO: MSI 970A-G43
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws 8gb
STORAGE: WD 1tb
GPU: MSI Radeon HD 7850 2gb
PSU: Corsair CX500M

Thanks for the help

 

[Suztera]

If you willing to downgrade graphical settings in upcoming games, you could opt to upgrade cpu.
But you could hold out until Skylake cpu comes out where DDR4 should become more mainstream so your Haswell build isn't that outdated.
A GTX 970 will boost gpu performance significantly though. Depends on what you want now.

 

[uplink-svk]

GTX 970 will be much better choice, for gaming. You can hit FX-6300 to 4-4,2 GHz easily, and it'll feed 970 nicely.

 

[anti-duck]

I have an FX 6300 @ 4.5GHz with an MSI GTX 970 and don't get any bottlenecking in games, just benchmarks. Just got the MSI Krait and a 4790k though.

If you did overclock on that motherboard though, I would get some cooling for those VRM's, you don't want to leave them uncovered.

 

[uplink-svk]

anti-duck - 4,5 GHz explains everything

 

[BakedPotato65]

I have an FX 6300 @ 4.5GHz with an MSI GTX 970 and don't get any bottlenecking in games, just benchmarks. Just got the MSI Krait and a 4790k though.

If you did overclock on that motherboard though, I would get some cooling for those VRM's, you don't want to leave them uncovered.

I can't overclock my FX 6300 too much because I don't have a good motherboard for overclocking. I might be able to get it up to 3.7ghz. I have a 212 Evo on it now.

 

[uplink-svk]

Can't You at least hit 4,0 GHz? Btw. is it possible to selectivly turn off some cores in bios? In general You don't need 6 cores, You could turn two off, and run 4 at 4-4,3 GHz, it would be more stable and You'd have more power for Your new VGA.

 

[BakedPotato65]

Can't You at least hit 4,0 GHz? Btw. is it possible to selectivly turn off some cores in bios? In general You don't need 6 cores, You could turn two off, and run 4 at 4-4,3 GHz, it would be more stable and You'd have more power for Your new VGA.

I've asked before about overclocking with my cpu and motherboard but I'm not sure how to tell if my motherboard can handle up to 4GHz.

 

[uplink-svk]

Well, in general nothing will matter if You try it, it will crash at worst, but won't die. Anyway, how are Your temps at 3,5 GHz at burn wPrime, or Aida64? I'm asking temperature managment-wise.

 

[BakedPotato65]

Well, in general nothing will matter if You try it, it will crash at worst, but won't die. Anyway, how are Your temps at 3,5 GHz at burn wPrime, or Aida64? I'm asking temperature managment-wise.

At 3.5GHz I have my fan on 85% power because it rattles past 85%. HWMonitor says TMPIN0 maxed 46 degrees, TMPIN1 65 degrees, TMPIN2 33 degrees. I'm guessing TMPIN0 is my cpu, TMPIN1 is my motherboard, and TMPIN2 is the system.

 

[capt_taco]

To the OP: Definitely go with the 970. Your current CPU should not be a big limitation in any games, especially if you overclock it. (Along the same lines, upgrading the CPU will not give you much of a performance boost for the money).

The time to get a new CPU/motherboard will be in about 12 months, when Intel's Skylake CPUs and Windows 10 will both be out around the same time. DDR4 will probably be cheaper and better by then too.

 

[uplink-svk]

BakedPotato65 - can You install CoreTemp a refer to the temperatures? I need to know the temperature of the hottest core.

Btw. what capt_taco wrote is pretty much conclusion, but anyway, I would like to go and figure how much space You have for OC.

capt_taco - 12 months is a long time, but in his case it's good to go after 970

 

[BakedPotato65]

BakedPotato65 - can You install CoreTemp a refer to the temperatures? I need to know the temperature of the hottest core.

Btw. what capt_taco wrote is pretty much conclusion, but anyway, I would like to go and figure how much space You have for OC.

capt_taco - 12 months is a long time, but in his case it's good to go after 970

CoreTemp didn't show individual core temperatures, just the cpu temperature.

 

[uplink-svk]

And how was the cpu temp wPrime/Aida64?

 

[BakedPotato65]

And how was the cpu temp wPrime/Aida64?

With Prime95 and HWMonitor, TMPIN0 reached 46, TMPIN1 70, TMPIN2 32, and under FX-6300>Temperatures>Package reached 33. I'm not sure what temperature is what.

Here's a screen shot http://imageshack.com/a/img540/8635/cXx7iy.png

 

[uplink-svk]

I meant with CoreTemp, but whatever. You still have enough place for OC.

 

[BakedPotato65]

I meant with CoreTemp, but whatever. You still have enough place for OC.

Here's with CoreTemp. http://imageshack.com/a/img540/6699/RwZ8j2.png
Do you happen to know what TMPIN1 is?

 

[uplink-svk]

No idea what it belongs to in particular, but those shorcuts are mostly northbridge/southbridge if applicable, vrm, mosfets and sometimes cpu socket. Those are sensors on Your motherboard. Btw. do You have the latest BiOS installed? And how are temps in speedfan?

 

[BakedPotato65]

No idea what it belongs to in particular, but those shorcuts are mostly northbridge/southbridge if applicable, vrm, mosfets and sometimes cpu socket. Those are sensors on Your motherboard. Btw. do You have the latest BiOS installed? And how are temps in speedfan?

I've managed to overclock it to 4.0GHz. I could go higher but I'm not going to risk hurting something. My max temps for CPU were 48 with prime95 and measuring it with Aida64 with my fan set to 85%.

 

[uplink-svk]

Well that means You can still go higher. Anywa, do You have the newest bios on Your motherboard?