My next upgrade choices

[hyzzle]

To start here is what I am currently working with:
CPU: AMD Phenom IIx1090t BE (upgrading this in a couple months)
MOBO: ASUS TUF ed Sabertooth 990FX R2.0
16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti
HDD1- 250GB SSD
HDD2- 2TB barracuda
HDD3- 750GB Seagate external
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 750 B1 80+ BRONZE 750W semi-modular
OS: Microsoft Windows 10

I'm going to upgrade either my CPU or GPU but not 100% sure which of these will give me the biggest performance boost. For the cpu I'm thinking the AMD FX-8370 4GHz (4.2GHz turbo) w/ the wraith cooler: ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01798X7D2/ref=crt_ewc_title_dp_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER )
For the GPU I'm looking at either the:
ASUS STRIX GeForce GTX 960 OC 4 GB DDR5 ( https://www.amazon.com/GeForce-Overclocked-128-bit-DisplayPort-Graphics/dp/B00VRSERUI/ref=sr_1_5?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1470243728&sr=1-5&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_four_browse-bin%3A6030981011%2Cp_n_feature_keywords_five_browse-bin%3A6147187011%2Cp_36%3A12000-20000 )
or
GTX 960 2GB SSC GAMING ACX 2.0+ ( https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-Whisper-Graphics-02G-P4-2966-KR/dp/B00SL2TQ2C/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1470243552&sr=1-2&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_four_browse-bin%3A6030981011%2Cp_n_feature_keywords_five_browse-bin%3A6147187011%2Cp_36%3A-20000 )
Of these options which would give the biggest boost to performance?

 

[geofelt]

My canned approach to your question:

------------------------------------------------------------
To help clarify your CPU/GPU options, run these two tests:

a) Run YOUR games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
If your FPS increases, it indicates that your cpu is strong enough to drive a better graphics configuration.
If your FPS stays the same, you are likely more cpu limited.

b) Limit your cpu, either by reducing the OC, or, in windows power management, limit the maximum cpu% to something like 70%.
Go to control panel/power options/change plan settings/change advanced power settings/processor power management/maximum processor state/
This will simulate what a lack of cpu power will do.
Conversely what a 30% improvement in core speed might do.

You should also experiment with removing one core. You can do this in the windows msconfig boot advanced options option. You will need to reboot for the change to take effect. Set the number of processors to less than you have.
This will tell you how sensitive your games are to the benefits of many cores.

If your FPS drops significantly, it is an indicator that your cpu is the limiting factor, and a cpu upgrade is in order.

It is possible that both tests are positive, indicating that you have a well balanced system, and both cpu and gpu need to be upgraded to get better gaming FPS.
-------------------------------------------------------------

 

[hyzzle]

ok so I have been running my games for a little bit now and when i drop the cpu max% to 70% it has no affect on the frame rate. the cpu load really never gets above 38-40% except when the games fist start then it spikes to about 60%. if i lower the graphics quality then there is an improvement in the frame rate (about 20 fps) when i take from the recommended settings (a 7/10) down to a 4. so with this i'm guessing the gpu is the limiter? thus changing out the card would be the first upgrade. now the question is the ASUS STRIX 960 4GB or the 960 2GB ACX 2.0+

 

[geofelt]

I am a bit surprised because the amd cores are not strong.
But, I think your conclusion is correct for your games and that gpu upgrade comes first.
It is the easier to do and the new card can be easily carried forward to a cpu upgrade.

 

[hyzzle]

I am a bit surprised because the amd cores are not strong.
But, I think your conclusion is correct for your games and that gpu upgrade comes first.
It is the easier to do and the new card can be easily carried forward to a cpu upgrade.

Changing out a CPU isn't that bad, Done it often enough, but either way I was leaning towards the CPU because of my CPU and GPU the CPU is much older and if I get the CPU i'm thinking that a couple months after that i can pick up another 750 ti and run them in crossfire which should be a pretty good increase.
For what ever reason my CPU% never really breaks 35-40% and this running overwatch on main screen, and chrome with about 9 tabs open and several other things running. Where the slow downs occur are in games like world of warcraft in really congested areas or starcraft 2 in big maps when a lot of units are around situations like that

and just after writing this i was running around 80% so im not sure what to do anymore... :/

 

[geofelt]

If I am not mistaken, the GTX750ti does not support sli.
sli is the term for nvidia while crossfire is the term for amd cards.
A moot point.
Dual cards may win synthetic benchmarks, but a good single card plays better.

On the cpu side, realize that many games are limited by the power of the single master thread.
That is true for sims, mmo, and strategy games.
Few can use more than 2-3 threads.
Your 1090t has a passmark rating of 5677 and a single thread rating of 1224.
Your proposed FX-8370 upgrade has a total passmark rating of 8910 and a single thread rating of 1508.
A modest boost and probably worth the some $175 you would pay for one.
If it does not do the job, you have no upgrade on the existing motherboard.

By comparison, a $125 Intel i3-6100 has a passmark rating of 5500, but a much better single thread rating of 2102.
It is generally a better gamer than FX-8xxx.
Check newegg reviews of owners.
It can be upgraded all the way to a I7-6700K.
Yes, you would also need a lga1151 motherboard and likely ddr4 ram.

Windows task manager can be deceiving.
Windows distributes the cpu activity evenly among available threads.
If you are limited by a single task that is 100% utilized, task manager will show some thing like 20% busy leaving you to think that you
have no cpu issue.

I urge you to try some of the experiments I outlined above so you can make an informed decision on what cpu change you might need.

 

[hyzzle]

If I am not mistaken, the GTX750ti does not support sli.
sli is the term for nvidia while crossfire is the term for amd cards.
A moot point.
Dual cards may win synthetic benchmarks, but a good single card plays better.

On the cpu side, realize that many games are limited by the power of the single master thread.
That is true for sims, mmo, and strategy games.
Few can use more than 2-3 threads.
Your 1090t has a passmark rating of 5677 and a single thread rating of 1224.
Your proposed FX-8370 upgrade has a total passmark rating of 8910 and a single thread rating of 1508.
A modest boost and probably worth the some $175 you would pay for one.
If it does not do the job, you have no upgrade on the existing motherboard.

By comparison, a $125 Intel i3-6100 has a passmark rating of 5500, but a much better single thread rating of 2102.
It is generally a better gamer than FX-8xxx.
Check newegg reviews of owners.
It can be upgraded all the way to a I7-6700K.
Yes, you would also need a lga1151 motherboard and likely ddr4 ram.

Windows task manager can be deceiving.
Windows distributes the cpu activity evenly among available threads.
If you are limited by a single task that is 100% utilized, task manager will show some thing like 20% busy leaving you to think that you
have no cpu issue.

I urge you to try some of the experiments I outlined above so you can make an informed decision on what cpu change you might need.

Ok I've got some benchmark software to run while my games are going and thats what I am going to be doing for the next little bit. After doing a lot of reading I do believe that a new video card would be the biggest boost in performance, and yes you are correct that the 750ti has been hobbled from SLI. After looking at the specifications from GPU-Z on my gpu and then finding a couple GPU's in my price range that were at least 2-3 steps up the hierarchy ladder I am leaning towards either the
GTX 970 for $250 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487136&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction-Components&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-Components-_-Video%20Card%20-%20Nvidia-_-EVGA-_-14487136&cm_sp=&AID=11892368&PID=3962334&SID=
MSI GAMING GTX 960 4GB OC Twin Frozr-$240 https://www.amazon.com/MSI-GAMING-GTX-960-4G/dp/B00V4HY522/ref=sr_1_13?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1470320395&sr=1-13&keywords=gtx+970
or the
GTX 1060 mini- $250 https://www.amazon.com/ZOTAC-GeForce-ZT-P10600A-10L-GDDR5-Compact/dp/B01IA9FEOO/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1470320160&sr=1-4&keywords=gtx+1060

not sure about the differences between the mini and the AMP edition. Which one of those cards would work best?

So after running the game with CPUID HWMonitor program it seems that my GPU is running at about 99% constantly and although the 6 cores are all being used cores 0,2,3,4,5 are ranging from 10-40% while core 1 is running between 75-90%