Looking for best bang for your buck upgrade!

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Shane_vulg88

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Sep 20, 2015
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I've been a lurker for a long time used this website to help me with my decisions and problems but today I'm looking to make an upgrade I play a lot of CS:GO and Dota 2 but sometimes will play other things too ( want to try the newest BF ) 😀 I assumed it was my CPU that needs upgraded the most. I was thinking of the FX8350 but I'm getting so many different opinions I'm sort of lost what do you guys think? A lot of people said spring for a newer intel + mobo but I was hoping to spend around 200$ and then get a nice 144hz monitor next anything more than 200$ puts that dream further away 🙁
CPU
AMD FX-4100
Zambezi 32nm Technology

RAM
8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 802MHz (11-11-11-28)

MOBO
ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. SABERTOOTH 990FX (AM3r2) 40 °C

MONITOR+GPU
Generic Non-PnP Monitor (1680x1050@60Hz)
3072MB ATI AMD Radeon R9 280x (Sapphire/PCPartner)

HardDrive
447GB SSD2SC48 0G1CS1754D117-51 SATA Disk Device (SSD)
 
Solution
C
You have an FX 4100 stock clocks in combination with a 990FX mobo, wow.

A few things to keep in mind.

The cheapest upgrade for you would be an FX 8300 (NOT 8320) and overclocking that to 4.5-4.8 GHz. You absolutely need a 3rd party CPU cooler. Since we're talking about 8 core AMD CPUs, you'll need to check for Core Parking issues in games to be sure all games properly use all 8 threads of your CPU.

A 280X is not fast enough enough for 144 FPS gaming. It's a great 900p/1080p card however. If you want to buy a 144 Hz monitor and play at 120-144 FPS, you really really, need to switch to Nvidia/Intel setup. AMD/AMD setups are great, even with all the so called CPU limited GPU drivers. But for more than 90+ fps, the limited drivers start...
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Could you give me some reasoning? why 8320 over 8350? the price difference is minimal and why 8core amd over a 4-6 core intel when cs:go doesn't use close to 8 core?
 
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Well the 8320 is a lower clocked 8350 so you can save a few bucks and just OC it. Intel would be alot better but you would have to buy a new mobo. you can just buy the 8320 or 8350 what ever you prefer. and pop it right in the mobo you have now
 
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If you can pull a little over $200 and get an i5/mobo, that will be better than anything AMD offers. Though with your setup, a FX 8320 and 212 EVO/CRYORIG H7 to OC up to 4.2-4.5GHz would probably be the best bang for your buck.
 
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do you think that i5 bundle will preform A LOT better? and from what I understand in the future 8 core will get better use from many game engines? sorry I'm terrible indecisive 🙁 I hate making these sort of decisions I really didn't want to spend more than 200 but if it's that much of an upgrade It may be worth it :/
 
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Even games like GTA 5 and BF4 which support 8+ cores, the i5 still beats it, heck an i3 beats the FX 9590 in GTA 5. It's hard to give you a number because the performance difference varies so much from game to game... though if you can save up a little more money, I think an i5 would be well worth it in the long run.
 
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with my current setup I feel intel may be worth it in the long run because I don't want to buy a new cpu anytime soon so which bundle for intel do you think is best bang for your buck? I mean I can't spend nothing near 300 but maybe 250$ limit what would your choice be? sorry this has been so drawn out I just hate regretting decisions I saved for a long time I'm not the type of person who can upgrade often.
 
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You will have better performance all around with intel vs anything AMD currently has on the market. If you really want to stay in budget and feel 8 threads is something you must have then buy a used i7-2600k on ebay. For around $120-150 if you watch for a few days it will still eclipse anything AMD has and the Sandy Bridge chips OC like a champ and put up a real fight against even the new Skylake processors
 
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the pictures won't load which is where the information is but from what I'm seeing unless you want to spend 2x or 3x more the fx8570 is the best choice, I'm not super savvy but is that how you are understanding it also?
 
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you are almost saying the exact opposite as the article he posted so considering I really don't want to spend over $200 would you also agree the amd is the way to go?
 
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I don't know if I need 8core i'm just looking for the best processor I can get for around $200 with intel I would have to buy a new motherboard also where as with Amd my sabertooth990fx would be fine and intel may perform better but I don't want to pay an extra 100$ for a small increase from the 8350/8370 to whatever intel I choose to go with so basically the intel would have to be a good bit better for 100$ more or I would need a mobo+cpu that's intel that is around 200$ all together that would surpass the amd 8core I think intel probably is superior but is it that much superior that it's worth spending another 100$ when the most intensive thing i can see me doing is streaming cs:go ? which i heard the amd would be good for because of the 8 core?
 
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You cant base anything on that article. That intel chip is not really a consumer chip, its clocked way lower
 
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You have an FX 4100 stock clocks in combination with a 990FX mobo, wow.

A few things to keep in mind.

The cheapest upgrade for you would be an FX 8300 (NOT 8320) and overclocking that to 4.5-4.8 GHz. You absolutely need a 3rd party CPU cooler. Since we're talking about 8 core AMD CPUs, you'll need to check for Core Parking issues in games to be sure all games properly use all 8 threads of your CPU.

A 280X is not fast enough enough for 144 FPS gaming. It's a great 900p/1080p card however. If you want to buy a 144 Hz monitor and play at 120-144 FPS, you really really, need to switch to Nvidia/Intel setup. AMD/AMD setups are great, even with all the so called CPU limited GPU drivers. But for more than 90+ fps, the limited drivers start to show. So you really need Nvidia/Intel there.

Otherwise, for 60 fps gaming, you'll be perfectly fine going with a 8300 and overclocking that.


Remember, you will get the SAME performance with an FX 83x0 at 4.5 GHz, an i3, an i5 or an i7 with a 280X in gaming !! Only if you intend to buy a new GPU, faster than a 290/780 do you start NEEDING Intel i5. Otherwise, AMD's FX CPUs are perfectly adequate.
 
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Solution
Also, keep in mind a lot of people in these forums are insane. You said you wanted the cheapest upgrade for best performance, so basically you need to spring 100-150 bucks for a new FX 8300 CPU. A 280X is perfectly fine with an FX 83x0 at 4.5+ GHz or i3. But insane people suggest should you fork over 400 dollars for both a NEW motherboard AND a NEW Intel CPU, i5 at that, LMAO.

*Don't listen to these people.*
 
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If you're going to keep your 280X, an FX 8320/8350 is going to be a better choice if you intend to stream gameplay, because the 280X doesn't have a hardware option for hardware acceleration for streaming. Latest Nvidia GPUs, 700/900 series have a hardware option, so basically even i3s are enough in that case.
 
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