Upgrading rig, but not sure which way to go.

[Kosmonaut19]

Im a pretty casual gamer these days and really only play occasionally but certain releases draw me back in. Fallout being that game recently. I've been looking into upgrading with black friday coming up since my rig is getting older (Got it 2.5 years ago) and just want something that will get me back on the higher end of the spectrum i,e ULTRA on witcher 3 with a decent fps minus playing in 4k or anything hardcore like that.

current setup:

GPU: Geforce GTX 660 ti

CPU AMD FX- 8350 Eight core Proccesor

RAM: 16gb

playing in 1080p @ 1920x1080

650w power supply

 

no SSD

 

I was thinking just getting maybe the Nvidia 970 but its a bit more then im looking to spend and not sure if it would be overkill for what I'm looking to do. Im pretty much a noob at this stuff so I was hoping for some recommendations from you guys who are way more tech savy then I am, or would I be better off with a new proccesor or SSD at the moment if I was only going one way.

 

 

[niphilim222]

You could go the way of AMD this time, Nvidia drivers are to unstable right now. killed my two gtx780ti's

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202164&cm_re=Radeon_R9_390-_-14-202-164-_-Product

here's a good example for bang for the buck.

Edited November 20, 2015 by niphilim222

[obobski]

You'll be largely CPU bound in many games, and that's just unfortunately the reality of the FX platform (even if you got a 9590 and dealt with the cooling and power requirements, assuming your motherboard could even run that chip). Upgrading the graphics card to a GTX 960 or 970 (or AMD equivalents, like the R9 270/280/290 series) wouldn't be a bad idea, per se, but the performance improvement won't help the CPU. To upgrade the CPU, that means a new motherboard, and (depending on your licence situation) new copy of Windows, not to mention the time for a total new build. If you're going that route, I'd go Intel Haswell with Z97 or Z97x; should let you re-use your DDR3 RAM and other peripherals at least. Honestly though, I can't imagine an FX-8350 + 660 Ti being that bad with modern games; I was using a Core 2 Quad Q9550 + GTX 660SC up until December/January without much complaint, and your system should be better than that across the board. Just my 2c.

 

SSD will do nothing for computationally bound tasks.

[kyeee]

You'll be largely CPU bound in many games, and that's just unfortunately the reality of the FX platform (even if you got a 9590 and dealt with the cooling and power requirements, assuming your motherboard could even run that chip). Upgrading the graphics card to a GTX 960 or 970 (or AMD equivalents, like the R9 270/280/290 series) wouldn't be a bad idea, per se, but the performance improvement won't help the CPU. To upgrade the CPU, that means a new motherboard, and (depending on your licence situation) new copy of Windows, not to mention the time for a total new build. If you're going that route, I'd go Intel Haswell with Z97 or Z97x; should let you re-use your DDR3 RAM and other peripherals at least. Honestly though, I can't imagine an FX-8350 + 660 Ti being that bad with modern games; I was using a Core 2 Quad Q9550 + GTX 660SC up until December/January without much complaint, and your system should be better than that across the board. Just my 2c.

 

SSD will do nothing for computationally bound tasks.

Agreed I was running a GTX 650 with 1 gig of V-RAM just fine.

 

IMO just save up enough untill you can buy a completely new rig. The one you have now should do you just fine.

[mark5916]

Either way keep your computer and make the best of it, or just wait if you can efford a rew rig in the furure.

 

For Skyrim this would be OK (but not with mods like Realvision ENB, especially the full version)

 

Also for Fallout 4, you may get playable frame-rates at 1080p (low setting) with that RIG.

 

However if you don't mind to lower the resolution and tweak the settings a bit, this game wil be much playable.

 

--------

 

Actually the CPU is not bad, but can't keep up with an Intel i5, especially on games like Fallout 4.

 

If you wanna make an upgrade now, it should be your GPU for sure.

 

So, if you van afford it go with the GTX 970 or equivalent AMD CPU. (So an Ati R9 390)

 

----------

 

With that PSU your system with an R9 390 will get you little above the 500 watt barrier.

 

With the GTX 970 it will consume less than 400 watt.

 

Wattages are estimated only. !!!

[obobski]

On GPU upgrades, I'm not a big 970 fan due to the memory bug; I'd go with GTX 960 or a Kepler (if the prices are low). For AMD, the 290 and 390 are the same thing, so whichever is cheapest today is what I'd get; the 280 shouldn't be overlooked either. Unless there's *tons* of other peripherals, the 650W PSU should be fine with any of these cards - the 290/390 do not consume 300W+ 24x7 (and that 300W+ number is from a review that ran the card with Furmark and something else to like 110% TDP just to get that number); they're very power efficient in real-world usage.

Edited November 23, 2015 by obobski