New Hardware Looking to upgrade some parts this holiday

[stewie574]

I wanna do some upgrading to my machine soon and wanted to get some insight. I wanna get a new CPU and GPU. Currently I have a FX 6300 and a GTX 760.

For my CPU, I was thinking of upgrading to an 8350, unless a higher end FX CPU goes down in price around Black Friday

The GPU upgrade is where I'm stuck. I was thinking of upgrading to a 970, but I'm not a fan of the 3.5 VRAM availability, and the 980 is too far out of my price range.

I don't want to spend more than $350 on my GPU, and $200 for my CPU.

I was also thinking of getting some more RAM, but I'm fine on that end as far as getting more.

Here's my current setup:
http://i.imgur.com/UjWKvzV.jpg

 

[alex2142hp1]

AMD 8370 $200

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/AMD-FX-8370-Processor-4300Mhz-FD8370FRHKBOX/dp/B00MUTWELC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1447651547&sr=8-1&keywords=8370"]Amazon.com: AMD FX-8370 Black Edition 8 Core CPU Processor AM3+ 4300Mhz 125W 16MB FD8370FRHKBOX: Computers & Accessories@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51cejkD8oEL.@@AMEPARAM@@51cejkD8oEL[/ame]

AMD R9 390 8GB Ram 512 Bit GDDR5 $350.00
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-GV-R939G1-GAMING-8GD-Gaming-Graphics/dp/B00ZGF3UAQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1447651757&sr=8-3&keywords=amd+390"]Amazon.com: Gigabyte GV-R939G1 GAMING-8GD G1 Gaming Graphics Card AMD R9 390 512 Bit GDDR5 8GB 2xDVI/HDMI/3xDP: Computers & Accessories@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51OHAGg4CdL.@@AMEPARAM@@51OHAGg4CdL[/ame]

Get another 8 GB Ram memory stick runs much better then a single stick just my opinion lol

 

[stewie574]

Get another 8 GB Ram memory stick runs much better then a single stick just my opinion lol

It's weird that it says it's a single stick. I have two 4GB sticks in there :blink:

I appreciate the recommendations! I'm definitely gonna wait for the sales and see if there's any price drops.

 

[Jake123]

I just got a GTX 970 SSC, and it runs BF4 on Ultra @1080p like a dream!

I'm not sure of this list of games that you play, but 3.5gb of vram is more than enough for all current games at 1080p, which i'm assuming is all you plan on playing at? This card will run a lot of games at 4k as well, but that's where you may see some fps dropping below 30, but they will still be playable.

I did a lot of research on this card before I bought it, and you shouldn't have to worry about it playing any game for the next 3-4 years, especially at 1080p!


Good luck and happy shopping!

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-Quieter-Graphics-04G-P4-2974-KR/dp/B00NVODXR4/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1447672999&sr=1-1&keywords=gtx+970"]Amazon.com: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB SC GAMING ACX 2.0, 26% Cooler and 36% Quieter Cooling Graphics Card 04G-P4-2974-KR: Computers & Accessories@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51aqEDykymL.@@AMEPARAM@@51aqEDykymL[/ame]

*Note* the GTX 970 currently comes with a free game... Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege or Assassin's Creed Syndicate .... Amazon doesn't advertise it, but they will email you the information after your purchase.

 

[ChocolateVillain]

At least you have a motherboard that can run an FX chip with the 970 (8-2 power phase). You will not see any huge boost going up from the 6300, but if I had to chose I would go with the 8320 and a good aftermarket cooler if you don't already have one (8350 if you really want to spend the extra money). All the FX chips after the 8320 are the same chip, just with a factory overclock on them, So you can just get a 8320 and overclock it your self to 8370 speeds.

The biggest boost you will see in gaming will be with the GPU. This is where I would throw the most of your budget into, the GTX 970 is still a great card (the 3.5 Vram is a non issue that got blown way out of proportion). The R9 390 is also in the same price range and is another great card, the only thing you might want to watch out for is if you are sticking with an AMD CPU, the GTX 970 will give you lower CPU overhead in gaming with DX11 games.

Really right now is kinda a bad time to pick up a new CPU. Intel's Broadwell E is right around the corner if you want a 6+ core CPU, and AMD Zen is coming out near the end of next year (If they don't delay it again).

If it was me I would just get a R9 380 and save the money for Cannon Lake or Zen.

 

[stewie574]

At least you have a motherboard that can run an FX chip with the 970 (8-2 power phase). You will not see any huge boost going up from the 6300, but if I had to chose I would go with the 8320 and a good aftermarket cooler if you don't already have one (8350 if you really want to spend the extra money). All the FX chips after the 8320 are the same chip, just with a factory overclock on them, So you can just get a 8320 and overclock it your self to 8370 speeds.

Really right now is kinda a bad time to pick up a new CPU. Intel's Broadwell E is right around the corner if you want a 6+ core CPU, and AMD Zen is coming out near the end of next year (If they don't delay it again).

If it was me I would just get a R9 380 and save the money for Cannon Lake or Zen.

If that's the case, I'll just wait on the CPU for a bit and focus on the GPU, and maybe pick up a 2nd monitor.

The R9 390 is also in the same price range and is another great card, the only thing you might want to watch out for is if you are sticking with an AMD CPU, the GTX 970 will give you lower CPU overhead in gaming with DX11 games.

Do you mind elaborating? What do you mean by less overhead with my CPU?

 

[ChocolateVillain]

It's hard to really explain it simply. You need a bit of background on API overhead and why the switch coming up to DX12 is so great.

Best way I can explain it is that AMD kinda pooped the bed with most DX11 games with their software. They fixed this mostly by just brute forcing though it with their GPU instead of software wise like Nvidia (except with Mantle driven games). By brute forcing through the problem they increase the load on CPU which indirectly shifts the bottleneck from your GPU to your CPU limiting your GPU potentials.

You can read a simplified version of this here.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9112/exploring-dx12-3dmark-api-overhead-feature-test

But what it really comes down to is how well the game is coded (Ported)

 

[CRAZY M F]

I have a GTX 970 SSC and it does the job for me , price was in my budget