Help with updating my old PC

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seaspirit

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May 26, 2015
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I've got to update my computer and I just need a little advice. I have been rocking on a Phenom II for a long time now, and its time to retire the old girl. Awhile back I updated my ram, psu, motherboard and gpu. I now have 16GB 1866 ram, 1000w PSU, an R9 280x, and a 990fx board. My main problem is I think I'm bottlenecking in games, and the old Phenom II has had her day.

I don't really want to change a lot of stuff out, but would like to be able to take full advantage of the gpu and start gaming at 1080p with good settings. Any advice of where to go from here?
 
Solution
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Really there isn't much of a performance advantage of the FX quad core over the Phenom II quad cores, so for modern gaming the FX 6300 is your "starting point" for looking for processors. The FX 6300 is good at gaming, however you can get better performance out of the FX 8320, 8350, 8370, and...
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Yea, there isn't any reason to rebuild from your motherboard up. There are a good range of FX processors you can upgrade to on your current board. To give proper advice of which one:
1. What motherboard do you have?
2. What do you primarily do on your computer?
3. What is your upgrade budget?
 
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OK, I'm not really good at this, I buy new stuff and my nephew installs it. The motherboard is 990 formula something. I use my computer for surfing the internet, watching YouTube, and lots of gaming or at least attempts at gaming when I try to play GTAV my computer just is choppy as heck. I don't have a huge budget so whatever I have to do for best price possible.
 
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It sounds like you have an Asus 990FX Formula Z, if that is the case then you have a killer motherboard, one of the best and most expensive AM3+ boards. If you were to go Intel you would have to scrap this board and be out that investment. I would recommend simply upgrading your processor. You can for from anything as budget as FX 6300 up to the performance FX 8370. There are also "E" versions of the 8320 and 8370. If you want the most power possible with power conservation in mind, I would recommend either the FX 8370E or 8370. The E is more power efficient, the standard FX 8370 is more powerful. The FX 8350 is a good chip, but the FX 8370 is an updated 8350 that is more energy efficient and has a little better performance clock per clock as it is better binned and tweaked.

An FX 8370 will get you "back in the game" and when all cores are utilized can rival even the i5 line.
Upgrading your processor would be the easiest and cheapest way to get you a killer gaming rig.
 
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Well it seems everyone is in agreement that I need a FX processor update. Going to do a little research on them and hit you guys back up with some questions when I am more knowledgeable on the different models.
 
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After doing some research on FX I guess no one recommends the quad cores, there was only one six core I came across and then a mess of 8 cores. Some say the 6300 is all you need for gaming, some say 8320 and overclock others say 8350 and over clock. Are the 8 core better than 6 core for gaming? I guess I'm sticking with performance parts so no E but is the 8350 better than 8320 and is the 8370 better than both of them? What about 9590?
 
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Really there isn't much of a performance advantage of the FX quad core over the Phenom II quad cores, so for modern gaming the FX 6300 is your "starting point" for looking for processors. The FX 6300 is good at gaming, however you can get better performance out of the FX 8320, 8350, 8370, and 9590 at stock, and you will get much better performance when multi tasking. Another thing to consider is Windows 10 and DX 12 are releasing in just a couple of months, and with DX 12 all 8 cores of the FX 83xx line will be able to communicate with the GPU. Bottlenecks will no longer occur and you should see some major gaming improvements.

At this point in time I'm sticking with my recommendation of the FX 8370. The 8370 can be overclocked to 5Ghz easily (given liquid cooling) and will have the same (or a little better) performance as the 9590 with lower heat and better efficiency. The FX 8370 could be called next generation FX 8350. It is 35% more efficient and core per core has slightly better performance. If you already had an FX 8350 it wouldn't be worth upgrading to, but since you are upgrading from Phenom II the FX 8370 is the way to go. Its a newer better binned, tweaked, more efficient 8350.

If you live near a Micro Center store see what deals they are having. They usually have better prices than newegg.com and you don't have to worry about shipping, you get your product the same day. When I got my FX 8370 I bought it from Micro Center for $150. I know that your nephew usually installs your hardware, but if you or he needs any help with the install or overclock feel free to ask or PM me.

edit: If you are going to overclock make sure you pick up an aftermarket cooler. If you just want 4.4 - 4.5Ghz then the Hyper 212 EVO is a good and popular choice. However if you want to hit 5.0 - 5.2Ghz your going to need water cooling, the H110i is a popular choice and probably the best closed loop cooler available. If your on a mid tower and not sure if the H110i will fit the H100i is also great.
 
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Solution
NO! The 9590 is a waist of cash. It preforms only a few fps better than the 8350 for a hundred more dollars.

Here is a FPS chart of the performance of some popular CPUs. I will add the 6300 to the list :)

Common CPU benchmarks Click spoiler to show
Battlefield 4 1920x1080 Ultra (FPS Higher is better)
I7-5960X - 110
I7-5930K - 99
I7-5820K - 94
I7-4790K - 94
I5-4690K - 83
FX-9590 - 66
FX-8350 - 62
FX-6300 - 58
FX-6350 - 60
I3-4150 - 50

Crysis 3 1920x1080 Very High (FPS Higher is better)
I7-5960X - 49
I7-5930K - 48
I7-5820K - 48
I7-4790K - 49
I5-4690K - 46
FX-9590 - 36
FX-8350 - 31
FX-6300 - 30
FX-6350 - 32
I3-4150 - 34

Far Cry 3 1920x1080 Ultra (FPS Higher is better)
I7-5960X - 73
I7-5930K - 69
I7-5820K - 66
I7-4790K - 80
I5-4690K - 73
FX-9590 - 53
FX-8350 - 51
FX-6300 - 45
FX-6350 - 49
I3-4150 - 52

CineBENCH R11.5 (Higher is better)
I7-5960X - 14.42
I7-5930K - 11.49
I7-5820K - 10.89
I7-4790K - 9.21
FX-9590 - 7.85
FX-8350 - 6.98
I5-4690K - 6.49
FX-6300 - 4.55
FX-6350 - 5.04
I3-4150 - 3.78

x264 HD Encoding (Higher is better)
I7-5960X - 81.1
I7-5930K - 63.3
I7-5820K - 61.5
I7-4790K - 49.3
FX-9590 - 46.4
FX-8350 - 40.2
I5-4690K - 36.8
FX-6300 - 28.2
FX-6350 - 31.4
I3-4150 - 21.1

Premiere Pro (Time in seconds Lower is better)
I7-5960X - 20
I7-5930K - 23
I7-5820K - 25
I7-4790K - 27
I5-4690K - 37
FX-9590 - 51
FX-8350 - 57
FX-6300 - 89
FX-6350 - 79
I3-4150 - 67

Power Consumption (Wattage Lower is better)
Idle / Load
I7-5960X - 70 / 306
I7-5930K - 70 / 260
I7-5820K - 70 / 251
I7-4790K - 53 / 236
I5-4690K - 53 / 211
FX-9590 - 94 / 288
FX-8350 - 79 / 249
FX-6300 - 76 / 236
FX-6350 - 75 / 240
I3-4150 - 48 / 196
 
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OK guys, IntelTurtleFan and cowboy44mag have convinced me not to go with the 9590 for sure. The FX 8370 is looking more and more like the one I'm leaning towards. Newer improved 8350 that can over clock to level of 9590.
 
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OK, finally got the Micro Center web site figured out. They have the FX 8370 in stock for like $160 and the store is only 45 miles away. Guess I'll be going there tomorrow and putting my ol trusty Phenom II out to pasture. End of an era...

May have to post another question if me or my nephew can't figure out overclocking on the 8 core.

Thanks everyone, especially IntelTurtleFan and cowboy44mag
 
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No problem at all, best of luck with your new and improved rig😀 If you need any more help feel free to ask.
 
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