Upgrading Processor, $100-150 budget

[KeeganBraden]

I bought a cheap, used gaming pc that I'm slowly looking to upgrade the parts. I've already upgraded the graphics card and now looking to upgrade the processor. I would like to stream the games that I play..

Am willing to upgrade the Power Supply as well, if necessary

Current Specs:

450 Watt Power Supply
MoBo: MSI 760GMA-P34
Current CPU: AMD FX-4130
Graphics Card: GeForce GTX 960 4GB Superclocked
8 GM Ram
1TB HDD

 

[Robert Cook]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113285 this is $140, and it is the best you can get for that price, since it has eight cores it should multi task pretty well. with that motherboard you should still be able to get some OC on it which will help even more.

 

[Onus]

Do not put an 8-core FX on that motherboard. My reference spreadsheet is now blocked at work, but like other cheap MSI boards, it has weak VRMs with a history of popping under load. You might try a 95W FX-6300.
What is the brand and model of the "450W" PSU? It must actually be capable of 450W (with 25A or more on +12V) in order to handle a GTX960.

 

[Robert Cook]

I agreed it is a weak board, but it would not be overloaded with this chip it claims to support. if it is, then MSI is at fault. there is that AMD eight core efficiency model let me find it.

 

[boosted1g]

Agreed that you should not put a 125w TDP cpu in that board, even if if the OEM says it ok.

You should be ok with the FX-8320e that uses only 95w tdp. Upgrading to a fx-6300 is debatable if it is worth the cost.

 

[Swordkd]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113285 this is $140, and it is the best you can get for that price, since it has eight cores it should multi task pretty well. with that motherboard you should still be able to get some OC on it which will help even more.

I don't believe that Cpu is supported. The fx 8320e is though:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-8320E 3.2GHz 8-Core Processor ($128.98 @ NCIX US)
Total: $128.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-12 12:30 EDT-0400

That's the best Cpu you can toss into that for that price range. I think, I'd honestly save up some more money and buy an Intel h97 motherboard with about a 180 dollar i5 instead. Should run you about 250 dollars total, and you'd have a great base for the nVidia 960 video card.

 

[Robert Cook]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113375
here it is, an eight core that uses 95 watts, and it is faster, but it is not as cheap... $200
if that board is indeed so weak then I guess you are getting a six core...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113327

 

[Onus]

MSI may be at fault, but that doesn't help. Here's a link to the spreadsheet:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0AgN1D79Joo7tdE9xMUFlMEVWeFhuckJEVF9aMmtpUFE&gid=2

I used to have access to it from work, but recently it was blocked.

 

[yeskay]

I bought a cheap, used gaming pc that I'm slowly looking to upgrade the parts. I've already upgraded the graphics card and now looking to upgrade the processor. I would like to stream the games that I play..

Am willing to upgrade the Power Supply as well, if necessary

Current Specs:

450 Watt Power Supply
MoBo: MSI 760GMA-P34
Current CPU: AMD FX-4130
Graphics Card: GeForce GTX 960 4GB Superclocked
8 GM Ram
1TB HDD

The MSI 760GMA-P34 is indeed good enough to handle processors with 125W TDP. But a BIOS update may be required in order for the motherboard to recognize the FX8320 Vishera processor.

So update the BIOS here - http://in.msi.com/support/mb/760GMAP34_FX.html#down-bios

Then swap the FX 4130 with FX 8320. Get the following combo:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor ($134.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($26.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $161.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-12 13:10 EDT-0400

Update:

You can safely overclock the FX 8320 on this board to 4.0-4.2Ghz, as confirmed by this user playing Crysis 3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTzyf3KgDGs

He is running 4.0Ghz with V-Core 1.27.

Cheers!

 

[Onus]

The board will throttle and/or pop its VRMs with a FX-8320.
Then, select a cooler from http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2478892/alternatives-hyper-212-evo-budget-cooling.html to avoid wasting money on a bang/buck Loser. Do check though, some retailers seem to finally be realizing that the Hyper212 EVO is not worth a price premium of up to 30%. It's not a bad cooler, but any number of similar competitors from that list may be notably cheaper.

 

[CTurbo]

Do not bother upgrading ANY cpu on that motherboard. Save up until you can get a new motherboard AND cpu at the same time.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2384030/motherboard-tier-list-am3-chipsets.html


I certainly would not put ANY 125w cpu on it. It will throttle under load everytime even at stock speeds. Overclocking would only make things worse.

 

[Robert Cook]

^ how about the 8320e? it is only 95watts.

 

[CTurbo]

Seriously, I would not bother upgrading ANY cpu on that motherboard. It's that bad.

 

[Robert Cook]

darn, after hearing two people that convicted on its lack of quality, I am going to assume it is really that bad, and adopt the no CPU upgrade resolution.

 

[Robert Cook]

it is a shame, based on its specs it should be slightly decent.