Upgrade or get a whole new system?

T

TheSmJ

2[H]4U
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Dec 20, 2006
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My brother's gaming machine is getting long in the tooth and needs...something. It currently has an ASRock 970 Extreme3 motherboard, and a quad-core Phenom CPU. In games such as GTA V, the CPU's cores run at full bore and don't seem to feed his video cards fast enough. It's clearly time for an upgrade, but I'm not sure what direction he should go.

His current specs:

ASRock 970 Extreme3 motherboard
Phenom x4 3.0 GHz CPU
8 GB RAM
2x AMD 6970s in Crossfire.

His current motherboard can handle a much faster CPU. The AMD FX 8350 is only $150, which is well within his budget and very overclockable. I consider this option 1.

His next option is going the Intel route with a new motherboard and CPU. He has an MSI z97 motherboard floating around with an older CPU installed (I'll have to double check to see the actual model) and he could get a new CPU for that. This is option 2.

The CPU for the z97 will cost $100 more than the AMD option, and he would like to save that money to put it towards a new video card in the near future. However, if the Intel CPU is that much better than the AMD and let him get by for a longer period of time before needing to upgrade the CPU/Mobo again, I'm sure he would rather go that route.

So, what's his best option here? Is the Intel CPU that much better than the AMD when it comes to gaming?
 
I'm kind of in the same boat. I have an 8320 and 990fx board and though it still isn't a bad combo, the newer intel processors are leaving the combo in the dust.

I think AM3+ is pretty much dead. I don't think AMD has any higher performance parts coming down the pipeline in the forseeable future.

I say sell the motherboard and cpu combo for whatever you can get for it, and make the jump. I think it is likely that even a newer generation i3 would smoke that setup for games.
 
If you have a microcenter around, you can get the 8320e for $120 and 40 off of an AMD motherboard I think FM2 boards work with the combo, so maybe be able to ebay it and get a little off the cpu. If you go the 1150 route you will defiantly get a faster cpu, again at Microcenter you can get a quad core haswell for $160 (4560).
 
I do have a microcenter close by, and that's where I plan on buying.

I'm 90% sure the z97 board he already has access to is this one: http://www.microcenter.com/product/433714/Z97_PC_Mate_Socket_LGA_1150_ATX_Intel_Motherboard. Not the best, but a decent overclocker.

Since the AM3+ board he has isn't the best overclocker (and doesn't really support the FX CPUs), I'm wondering if he would be better off with a whole new mobo anyway. Maybe this one: http://www.microcenter.com/product/443767/GA-990FXA-UD3_Socket_AM3_990FX_ATX_AMD_Motherboard

And I agree with Celeryman about AM3+ being dead/near death. That's one of the reasons I'm questioning him sticking with AMD this round.
 
Seems like a great time to move to intel.

If he already have a z97 mobo, he should have a haswell cpu, depending on model it may already be better than its AMD setup.
 
Stoly said:
Seems like a great time to move to intel.

If he already have a z97 mobo, he should have a haswell cpu, depending on model it may already be better than its AMD setup.
Click to expand...

Possible but I doubt it. That machine was built by my dad to be cheap, stable, and fast enough for Facebook. I'd be very surprised if its CPU wasn't something super low end.

Stoly said:
Core i5 4690K for $199 not bad.

http://www.microcenter.com/product/434177/Core_i5-4690K_35GHz_LGA_1150_Boxed_Processor
Click to expand...

That's probably the direction I'm going to send him in.
 
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