Phenom ii 955 for FX4350 or i5 4460? i.e. $200 or $400

[horst_wessel]

Hi there , and thank you in advance,

Currently I'm running CrossFire HD6870 X2 on AM3 motherboard with a modestly overclocked 955BE (to 3.7Ghz). As I understand my CrossFire setup is bottelnecked by the CPU, and there is no point of paying money for a slightly better AM3 CPU (980 or 1090)

Contemplating one of two temporary solutions:
Intel Core i5-4460 Haswell Quad-Core 3.2GHz ($230)
ASUS Z97-PRO LGA 1150 Intel Z97 ($150) refurbished
------------------------
$400

or:

MD FX-4350 Vishera Quad-Core 4.2GHz Socket AM3+ ($130)
GIGABYTE GA-970A-DS3P (rev. 2.0) AM3+ ($70) refurbished
-------------------------
$200

Planning on playing Fallout 4, Elite Dangerous, Master of Orion 4.... Nothing too demanding.

Any advice is much appreciated!
Thank you!

 

[DeathRabit]

Go for i5
Or if want cheap go for Phenom X6 😉 + OC around 4Ghz

Look at this CPU game test http://overclock.pl/articles/show/id/660,8,13,wydajnosc-po-podkreceniu-zestawienie-zbiorcze-gtx-780

About GPU sell both an buy single GPU you will be have better Fps 😉

 

[spdragoo]

First off, what motherboard do you have? AM3 is similar to AM3+, but not all AM3 boards can handle AM3+ CPUs. So knowing whether or not your motherboard can even handle an FX series chip, let alone what the best option is that's available, can help with your selection. And there are definitely better chips than the FX-4350; the FX-8320, for example, is running about that same price, but has twice as many cores, & would be a better option, provided your board can handle it.

Secondly, your current CPU is not a bad one, as it's currently 3rd on Tom's tier (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-5.html). It's not the best, but it's nowhere near the bottom yet either, & is a solid CPU for current games. Now, it's true that going to an FX chip isn't going to be much more than a single tier bump, & usually it's not recommended to upgrade unless you're jumping at least 2 tiers. However...that being said, an FX-6350 or one of the FX-8xxxx series would most likely show some performance improvement. Even better, especially if your board can't take an AM3+ chip, would be a Phenom II X6 1090T or 1100T (same/higher core frequency, 6 instead of 4 cores).

Thirdly, because of the age of your GPUs, a much more effective upgrade for $200 would be to replace them with a single brand-new GPU. Tom's is recommending the R9 380 ($220), which would be a big jump from 10th- to 5th-tier for your GPUs (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html).

And...by either sticking with an AMD chip, or only upgrading the GPU, you avoid the hassle of having to back up your data & reinstall Windows.

 

[Wisecracker]

...because of the age of your GPUs, a much more effective upgrade for $200 would be to replace them with a single brand-new GPU.

Ding!

There are bargains galore on video cards these days.

 

[horst_wessel]

Thank you!

- My motherboard is GIGABYTE GA-890XA-UD3 AM3, so no AM3+ for me (hence my question about replacing it with GIGABYTE GA-970A-DS3P)
- More cores on the CPU- from what I understand very few games or applications I'm running will benefit from it
- Phenom II X6 1090T or 1100T- still AM3 chips, ridiculously expensive even used ($130-200), and will require water cooling if to be overclocked to 4Ghz, which means $80 more.
- will Phenom II 955 bottleneck the R9 380? Do you think GTX 960 will be a better option?
Thanks again

 

[Wisecracker]

You video card selection should be driven by your current power supply.

At $200 or so, the best bargains are on the Radeon R9 280Xs --- some of those cards are quite long. Verify they will work in your case if that is the direction you go ...

 

[horst_wessel]

My power supply is XFX Black Edition P1-750B-CAG9 750W ATX12V v2.2 / ESP12V v2.91
I reckon it should be good enough

 

[DeathRabit]

Your PSU will support any single GPU on market

 

[horst_wessel]

Thank you all. Just found a new XFX R9-280A-TDFD for $180 on classifieds. I'll go for it.
Cheers!

 

[Wisecracker]

XFX R9-280X-TDFD Radeon R9 280X 3GB 384-Bit: $210 before $30 rebate

It's voltage locked, but runs 'Cool&Quiet"

 

[horst_wessel]

I wish! Newegg.com doesn't ship to Canada, and Newegg.ca has the same card for $319
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150678&cm_re=XFX_R9-280X-TDFD_Radeon_R9_280X_3GB_384-Bit_GDDR5_PCI-_-14-150-678-_-Product

Speaking of R9 280X- is it that much better than R9 280A? 30% difference in the price...

 

[Wisecracker]

That's a tough one ...

Performance wise it will depend upon your games and settings. A nice clock on the R9 280 can approach R9 280X performance in some situations but in others the 'X' will beat on it pretty good.

I can't say with 100% certainty, but the R9 280X is your best bet for equal or greater performance than your 2xHD6870s (once again, dependent upon games and settings). I can't say that with the R9 280 and its 256-bit bus.

 

[horst_wessel]

Wow, "equal or better"? I thought my setup was so old there could only be "better than". My build just turned 6 years old! When I built it I just moved from ISA slot for my GPU.

 

[Wisecracker]

My bad :lol:
The R9 280X should be wonderful.

I confused the HD6870s with the Radeon HD6970s
(brain faht!)

 

[horst_wessel]

Picked up and installed a R9-280a- works like a charm, enormous improvement. Running farcry 4 on "ultra", up from "medium" with my old setup. Thanks everyone!