Inexpensive useful upgrade for msi 970a-g46 fx-6100 R9 280x?

[SomeCallMeTim]

My son has a system with an msi 970a-g46 motherboard, a fx-6100 cpu, and a r9 280x GPU with 16 mb of memory, and an Antec 750 ps.

Nothing is overclocked.

The system has served him well, but recently he is not getting the FPS on some newer games he plays (Space Engineers Planets). I realize that this is an old setup at this point. What could be upgraded for $200 or under that would make any noticeable difference with this setup?

I had thought about trying to upgrade to a fx-8320 but given the additional power requirements was concerned that the motherboard couldn't handle that.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[caddi daddi]

the motherboard is at it's limits now so an 8 core cpu is out of the question.
you might look for a used 290x gpu.

 

[SomeCallMeTim]

the motherboard is at it's limits now so an 8 core cpu is out of the question.
you might look for a used 290x gpu.

Thanks for the response. From a quick look it looks as though the 290x can handle higher resolutions than the 280x but would it provide more fps at a same resolution as the 280x?

I'm wondering if I would be better off looking for a used motherboard/cpu combo that had more capabilities than the msi 970a-g46.

I'm also wondering if there is a way to tell which component is the bottleneck...perhaps a test suite that could be run? I've read that the fx-6100 isn't great for games, which is why I was wondering if upgrading in the same family might help.

I'm a noob in this area, as you can tell.

 

[briansun1]

Don't know about the CPU, but a 290x will be an upgrade over a 280x. However the 2XX series is a generation old at this point , so that need to be taken into consideration. Another thing is that Space Engineers Planets have only just come out and aren't very well optimized at the moment.

 

[Janus67]

That setup isn't all that bad, a 280x->290x would give an improvement in framerate overall.

The 6100 should be sufficient for most games, I wouldn't be overly worried about it to be honest.

Looking into the Space Engineers game, it is early access and not well optimized. I wouldn't recommend using an early access game for a comparison as it isn't even fully released (and who knows if it will be fully released).

 

[SomeCallMeTim]

That setup isn't all that bad, a 280x->290x would give an improvement in framerate overall.

The 6100 should be sufficient for most games, I wouldn't be overly worried about it to be honest.

Looking into the Space Engineers game, it is early access and not well optimized. I wouldn't recommend using an early access game for a comparison as it isn't even fully released (and who knows if it will be fully released).

Sounds like you're suggesting to wait a bit if Space Engineers is the primary issue, as it might still be optimized, if I don't want to build a new system.

 

[briansun1]

Sounds like you're suggesting to wait a bit if Space Engineers is the primary issue, as it might still be optimized, if I don't want to build a new system.

Sounds about right.

 

[Mandrake4565]

I agree with the gents above. I did a little reading on Space Engineers and the requirements for it component wise. It doesn't seem to be a very demanding game, though there are a lot of posts about drops in framerates. It seems they need to do a bit more development on the game itself. The R9 280X is still a viable gpu for most games at 1080p or less resolution.