300 to 400 dollars for gaming worthy upgrade

I agree, try to find a newer used setup. Also wouldn't bother trying to OC what you got. You were lucky to get it to unlock to quad, any real OC'ing will not usually work with all 4 cores.

I was running ddr3@1700MHz on a ga790xt and a 955be without issue.

EarthDog said:

Run unigine heaven (extreme) on both Cpus with the same gpu and report the difference back.

1333 is the standard. Most motherboards will have higher memory multipliers... Look at what your current.board says it supports for example and not it has higher multipliers

Click to expand...

Depends on the game. An fps or mmo, I promise the cpu will limit. Since 90% of gamers fall in thay category, I am; of course , making that assumption.

On planet side 2 for instance, he could be running a gtx titan z, still won't be above 20 fps in a big battle.

bob4933 said:

Depends on the game. An fps or mmo, I promise the cpu will limit. Since 90% of gamers fall in thay category, I am; of course , making that assumption.

On planet side 2 for instance, he could be running a gtx titan z, still won't be above 20 fps in a big battle.

Click to expand...

Proof please?

It's a bottleneck not a dam.

bob, gotcha.

Earlier, you mentioned that a cpu will hold a gpu back, period. I must have taken that at face value.

Now that you explained yourself thoroughly, and changed the source of the bottleneck (game type as opposed to cpu - because even in MMOs scaling will stop at some point and a lot sooner than you may think.. Look at articles all over the web), I can agree with you to a certain extent. But as said, the bottleneck is the game at that point. You get any game that is coded well and relies more on the gpu, most any decent cpu (including the op's cpu, and the gpus mentioned) won't hold most gpus back. Sli is another story.

Of course ED. Not even close to saying the 280 isn't worth it, just saying if he's not planning to upgrade the rest of the stuff for a while... may be prudent to just stick with cheap. Not like the 270x is horrible.

Not even close to saying the 280 isn't worth it

Click to expand...

Oh.. sorry. I guess I was confused by your initial statement below...which is a polar opposite of the above.

Won't come close to utilizing a 280x with that cpu.

Click to expand...

Oh well.

EarthDog said:

Oh.. sorry. I guess I was confused by your initial statement below...which is a polar opposite of the above.





Oh well.

Click to expand...

From my first post here?

bob4933 said:

280x is obviously much better, but if anything find a used one or a 7950/70.

Click to expand...

Spending 300$ of his 400$ budget on a new one doesn't make much sense when he's running a 35$ cpu and 20$ motherboard (used prices). The only reason to get the 280x over the 270x is if he;s planning to upgrade his cpu/motherboard soon. I shorthand a lot when I type on my phone, if I was unclear, I apologize. 280x smokes the 270x (duh?), it just may not be the most prudent of choices to get when he can upgrade his cpu or get a SSD in the process.


For example, witha gtx 480 (which is old as dirt mind you, but still a moderately ok card) with everything else the same, on an old game like mafia 2... it gets a whopping 23 fps...




Here it is with the 550, which is virtually the same chip on bf4. (ninja, please note the GIGANTIC leap from the x2 to the x6... thats what we call a "bottleneck"... or in this case, a "dam")

NO. Your "INITIAL STATEMENT BELOW" (which I quoted in that post..........)

MAFIA 2 is a CPU heavy and multi threaded game (like GTA/WOW/etc) and is not terribly GPU heavy. Games, like this one, I already mentioned earlier would be a caveat because it can use more cores. But again its not holding the GPU back.. What you posted doesn't prove the CPU is holding the GPU back. It proves the game is CPU heavy and in this case can use more than two threads since the ones with HT and native quads show much more improvement. If he runs a game that uses more than two threads, a better CPU would certainly help... but, that wasn't our talking point. Let's not switch targets, ehh?

Again, you said it would hold back a GPU.. it wont. GAMES could hold back the FPS. But that is not what was said. Perhaps that was 'shorthanded'. Not sure.

I NOW know what you meant though!

Whatever. OP needs to chime in on his needs. We can discuss further based on that. A 270x would be more than fine to play ANY game out right now on 1080p on at least medium. If he's looking to play bf4, or any mmo really, that cpu will be the limit (aka a "bottleneck"), regardless of what gpu he has installed.

Edit: and please read my entire posts before jumping to conclusions... like the 10th time you've done that.

Sorry Bob. Forums are tough to understand what one means when its different than what was posted...I'm not sure if the issue was shorthand, a lack of detail to better explain the blanket statement, or backpeddling on the initial point.

Oh well.

Im with bob here, to an extent. What he isn't noticing in his comparisons is that the OP has unlocked his chip to quad core, so it will really perform more like a 955 or a 4100. Even still, those are highly unimpressive CPUs by today's standards. I don't feel like it's worth spending more than $200 on a card for this system just due to the laws of diminishing gains. Also, the more powerful the GPU, the more this CPU is going to bottleneck it. I know ED doesn't like that term. Should we say "Dam" instead? Rofl.

Seriously though, maybe look at an R9 270X or something in that price range. That's my opinion.

Better yet would be to plunk down some coin on a Gigabyte 970AUD3P and an FX6300, Or better yet a 4690/4790K and a Z97A or Extreme 6, then get the GPU when you can afford it. JM2C.
l

At least if OP went with a better card now, though, when he upgraded the CPU later he wouldn't have to change the GPU again.

ninjacore said:

At least if OP went with a better card now, though, when he upgraded the CPU later he wouldn't have to change the GPU again.

Click to expand...

Fair enough