Bang/Buck Upgrade from AMD 1090t

N

Nihsnek

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 30, 2008
Messages
137
Hi guys,

I'm looking to upgrade my AMD 1090t CPU and MSI 790gx motherboard since my R9 290x isn't stable with the AMD700 chipset. What would be a good bang/buck upgrade? I would like to keep my RAM, SSD, R9 290x, etc. Just looking to buy a new motherboard/CPU/CPU cooler and get a justified increase in performance for my dollar. I'm not partial to AMD/Intel.

System Specs:
MSI 790GX-G65 motherboard
AMD 1090t CPU
Sapphire 290x Tri-X GPU
G.Skill DDR3 1600mhz 4GBx2
Windows 7 64-bit, SP1
Corsair m4 256gb SSD
EVGA Supernova G2 750w PSU
 
1. Sell your 1090t on ebay for $160 (add another $20 if it's unlocked)
2. Purchase a used i5 2500k or FX 8320 for ~$120
3. Buy a decent 970a/Z77 motherboard with the rest + $40
4. Hookers and blow?
5. ???
6. Profit!
 
What do you mean by unstable?

The cheapest route would be to buy a 970 board and use your current 1090t with it, as AM3 CPUs are compatible with AM3+ motherboards, if I recall correctly.
 
Tsumi said:
What do you mean by unstable?

The cheapest route would be to buy a 970 board and use your current 1090t with it, as AM3 CPUs are compatible with AM3+ motherboards, if I recall correctly.
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Thought it sounded unusual too, but, while rare, I have experienced issues in the past where a certain card (either AGP or PCIe) just won't work in a given board, either by lack of stability or just flat out refusal to boot. (I recall one particular instance having hellish issues with trying to get a 6600GT AGP to play nice with a VIA KT880 motherboard - I ended up saying screw it and bought a s754 board and was done with it. Turns out NVidia's HSIO chip didn't like VIA's AGP implementation much. Those were the days...) You do recall correctly, but I think the OP is looking for a performance boost.
 
Skripka said:
What is your budget....and what are you doing.
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$300, flexible, and gaming

Tsumi said:
What do you mean by unstable?

The cheapest route would be to buy a 970 board and use your current 1090t with it, as AM3 CPUs are compatible with AM3+ motherboards, if I recall correctly.
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System hard freezes. Sometimes BSODs. Not a driver issue, only an issue with the R9(maybe other series) series of cards. I've heard reports that the 700 chipset doesn't get along with them and that the PCI-E 2.0 slot acts funky under the stress of the card.

EDIT: So- I'm leaning towards buying a 990 board (prob. GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3) and keeping the 1090t at the moment. This would let me **solve** the supposed 700chipset issue..in theory. Thoughts?
 
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For 300 you may be able to pick up a B75 motherboard and a used 3570. But with RAM you would be pushing the budget.

As an 1100t owner, I can say that a mid-range I5 will run circles around an AMD 6-core in games. Over clocking both yields more of an advantage toward the intel.
 
you should have just taken my advice regarding the amd 970 board from your last thread. amd 9xx series boards work fine together. i have two reference 290x's and they function fine in my fx 9370 test rig. if you're thinking of going with a pricier 990fx board to be able to cf with your tri-x card, don't. the board that you're looking at only allows the bottom pci-e slots to run at 4x speeds. having only one slot between 290 cards is a slow death sentence. even upgraded with better tim and fujipoly pads my reference 290s on my 990fx setup throttle. save yourself the trouble. spend $70-80 on a cheap 970 board. they only have issues overclocking 8 core cpus, you will be able to overclock your x6 easily, and you'll be able to enjoy that 290 until you're ready for a full system overhaul.
 
I don't know where you're located but Frys has the 4690K + Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H mobo for $339. That's not too shabby.
 
Newegg has some i5 4690k/Z97 motherboard combos for $320 and up. That would be a nice performance bump up from the 1090t.
 
rennyf77 said:
you should have just taken my advice regarding the amd 970 board from your last thread. amd 9xx series boards work fine together. i have two reference 290x's and they function fine in my fx 9370 test rig. if you're thinking of going with a pricier 990fx board to be able to cf with your tri-x card, don't. the board that you're looking at only allows the bottom pci-e slots to run at 4x speeds. having only one slot between 290 cards is a slow death sentence. even upgraded with better tim and fujipoly pads my reference 290s on my 990fx setup throttle. save yourself the trouble. spend $70-80 on a cheap 970 board. they only have issues overclocking 8 core cpus, you will be able to overclock your x6 easily, and you'll be able to enjoy that 290 until you're ready for a full system overhaul.
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If he is changing mainboard anyway then it's good idea to use this chance to get one with cpus that aren't slow junk.

Even old i5 2500k without overclocking will run circles around X6.
 
Michaelius said:
If he is changing mainboard anyway then it's good idea to use this chance to get one with cpus that aren't slow junk.

Even old i5 2500k without overclocking will run circles around X6.
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that's obvious. the reality here is that an amd 970 board will be cheap anywhere, and since the op hasn't really been forthcoming with information regarding whether cheaper options from fry's or microcenter are nearby, i tend to defer to the cheapest solution. the op also has yet to clarify if overclocking on the table. if it isn't there's a distinct possibility that we'll be able to recommend an intel setup that would cost as much as the op would make by selling the x6 and amd 7xx series mobo.
 
rennyf77 said:
you should have just taken my advice regarding the amd 970 board from your last thread. amd 9xx series boards work fine together. i have two reference 290x's and they function fine in my fx 9370 test rig. if you're thinking of going with a pricier 990fx board to be able to cf with your tri-x card, don't. the board that you're looking at only allows the bottom pci-e slots to run at 4x speeds. having only one slot between 290 cards is a slow death sentence. even upgraded with better tim and fujipoly pads my reference 290s on my 990fx setup throttle. save yourself the trouble. spend $70-80 on a cheap 970 board. they only have issues overclocking 8 core cpus, you will be able to overclock your x6 easily, and you'll be able to enjoy that 290 until you're ready for a full system overhaul.
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Well, I was looking at the prices for 970 vs. 990 boards and they are pretty close. Maybe I'll do some more research on 970 boards and see what I can find. I'm not looking to CrossFire.

rennyf77 said:
that's obvious. the reality here is that an amd 970 board will be cheap anywhere, and since the op hasn't really been forthcoming with information regarding whether cheaper options from fry's or microcenter are nearby, i tend to defer to the cheapest solution. the op also has yet to clarify if overclocking on the table. if it isn't there's a distinct possibility that we'll be able to recommend an intel setup that would cost as much as the op would make by selling the x6 and amd 7xx series mobo.
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Fry's is close, Microcenter is not (Fort Worth, TX). Overclocking is definitely on the table..without a doubt. What Intel setup would cost as much as selling my current CPU/mobo?

So, here's what seems looks like the options:
  • Buy an AMD 970/990 board and keep the 1090t
  • Sell 1090t/7xx board and get 2500k with the funds
  • Go fro Z97/some Intel CPU

EDIT: Will be in Dallas (Microcenter) today. Looking at the 4690K / MSI Z97-Gaming combo for $313 in-store only. Is this deal worth it, or should I look at a different motherboard?
 
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Nihsnek said:
EDIT: Will be in Dallas (Microcenter) today. Looking at the 4690K / MSI Z97-Gaming combo for $313 in-store only. Is this deal worth it, or should I look at a different motherboard?
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That's a decent deal if you just wanna walk in the store and walk out with an above average set up and deal. Might be your most convenient option
 
for no overclocking on lga 1150 you can get a new i5 4460 and new h81 chipset board for $230 from amazon.

for budget overclocking on lga 1150 you can get a new pentium g3258 for $70 and a new, decent z97 board for $100-120 from amazon.

if you don't mind buying a used processor you can get a used i5 2500k for $150 from ebay or amazon and pair it with a new asrock z75 pro3 board from newegg for $67.

its also entirely possible you can find most of this stuff cheaper at microcenter, but more importantly your looking at the over/under $200 range which is what you can probably sell your amd cpu and mobo for.
 
rennyf77 said:
for no overclocking on lga 1150 you can get a new i5 4460 and new h81 chipset board for $230 from amazon.

for budget overclocking on lga 1150 you can get a new pentium g3258 for $70 and a new, decent z97 board for $100-120 from amazon.

if you don't mind buying a used processor you can get a used i5 2500k for $150 from ebay or amazon and pair it with a new asrock z75 pro3 board from newegg for $67.

its also entirely possible you can find most of this stuff cheaper at microcenter, but more importantly your looking at the over/under $200 range which is what you can probably sell your amd cpu and mobo for.
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Great advice renny. Thank you for your time in replying to my threads, lol. Well- if I'm looking for a setup that would last for awhile and not just be a patch fix, should I just poney up for the 4690K? I don't mind spending money and not just buying crap.

Or is the 2500K good enough to aim for?
 
i am inclined to suggest you to test your video card on another system before you put the blame on your mobo/chipset/cpu. a 1090t is good enough for your usage scenario.

in the rare event that your VGA runs smooth on other PCs, a very cheap upgrade for you is X58 mobo + Xeon X5650. It is a $75 hexacore that overclocks to 4.2GHz in a breeze.
 
the $300 range 4690k combos from microcenter will provide the greatest longevity and are feature rich. the 2500k combo i outlined above, while not as feature rich will provide similar overclocking potential and gaming performance. on a side note, the microcenter combos also make available the option to crossfire providing your case has adequate air flow.

edit:

while 6 core 1366 socket xeon chips are cheap, no one is selling x58 boards for cheap. they have held their value well. plus you will have to find an additional stick of memory or you won't benefit from the triple channel memory provided by this platform.
 
That Pentium G3258 Anniversary Edition @ $70 is a mighty fine chip for the bucks. It's not a quad core, nor is it particularly fast at base-line but its single-threaded performance smokes just about anything AMD.

Overclock it and you'll challenge Ivy Bridge / Haswell chips in primarily singlethreaded apps.
 
IIRC if you have a microcenter nearby the E3-1230v2 is $199.99. You can add a board to that for probably $80...
 
Nihsnek said:
Great advice renny. Thank you for your time in replying to my threads, lol. Well- if I'm looking for a setup that would last for awhile and not just be a patch fix, should I just poney up for the 4690K? I don't mind spending money and not just buying crap.

Or is the 2500K good enough to aim for?
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The 2500k is definitely good enough. As I've said I've seen them frequently on ebay for $130 or so. After regressing to a x4 955 from an i5 3570, I'm definitely missing the added responsiveness. Don't wait, just do it. Weither it be a 2500k or one of the newer Haswell variants.
 
rennyf77 said:
while 6 core 1366 socket xeon chips are cheap, no one is selling x58 boards for cheap. they have held their value well. plus you will have to find an additional stick of memory or you won't benefit from the triple channel memory provided by this platform.
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You are correct, X58 mobo are pricier today than at launch, with very few exceptions like this $99 intel dx58so, the very first X58 mobo released, and we still can found it new on retail channel:p
 
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