Upgrade now, or wait?

[Phyma]

Hey everyone,

first time posting to get started in overclocking
My current setup includes

CPU - AMD FX8350 @4.00Ghz Stock Voltage
Cooler - Noctua NH-D14
Mainboard - AsRock 970 Extreme 3
RAM - mixed brands 16 GB 1600MHz Cl11
Video Card - Sapphire Radeon HD7970 OC
SSD - Samsung SSD 840 Evo 500GB
OCZ Agility 3 120GB
HDD - Western Digital Black Edition 1.5TB
PSU - 650 Watt LC-Power Silent
Case - NZXT Source 210 Elite

I was told, that this is still a pretty decent rig for gaming, if the processor and maybe the GPU is OCed.
The mainboard does not seem to be ideal for overclocking the FX8350 from what I heard as it does not have sufficient power phases.
Would you recommend upgrading the mainboard (and possibly RAM)? If yes, what board (RAM) should I get, to receive the best overclock theoretically?
I wasn't really planning on getting a new CPU, as in 2016 new AMD CPUs are supposed to come out and Intel is bringing out Skylake soon. I want to
wait at least until then to decide if I am switching camps and go Intel.
So getting a new CPU right now would not really be an option.
Sooo, what are your thoughts on this?

 

[caddi daddi]

don't buy a damned thing!!!!!!

in your bios you should be able to turn cores off in pairs, turn 2 pair of cores off, then start a mild overclock.
it costs nothing, it works, as most games can't even use four cores, much less 6 or 8.
don't bother with ram, there is nothing to be gained in game from it. but pull out all but 1 8 gig kit of matched ram.

 

[Phyma]

Thank you for the reply.
The downside of turning off cores is, that I use multithreaded applications from time to time. These would slow down, right?
Could you explain the RAM thing in more detail? Right now I use 4x4GB. where two of the same kind are in dual channel. How would I profit from 8GB less memory?

 

[rayraysfunhouse]

Better to run matched ram than mismatched. What kind of multithreaded applications do you use? That board wouldn't be ideal to OC that chip but you should be able to get a little bit out of hit.

There is no reason to upgrade right now unless you just like spending money.

 

[Phyma]

That makes sense. But I use more than 8 GB from time to time (not while gaming of course). I use scientific software like Matlab or also wrote some multithreaded C++ programs myself. I work with huge matrices, that's where RAM usage goes above 8GB. But I notice significant disadvantages due to the CPU in games, that's why I want to OC. I might be able to sell my current motheboard and get one with a 990FX chipset on it...
The PC vendor I got my computer from just never mentioned the limitations of the 970 chipset, although he knew I was up for some OCing down the road...

 

[rayraysfunhouse]

If anything get you another matching 8GB of ram.

I use a board with the 970 chipset and it has done great so far. Great overclocker and it was a budget board. I think I got it for like $60 on sale. The 970 UD3P from gigabyte is no slouch. Not the greatest but will hold its own.

 

[Phyma]

Alright. I will give it a shot then. Hopefully I can reach some higher clocks
Thank you all for your comments and saving me a bunch of money

 

[caddi daddi]

I'm with rayray, correct the ram and get it up to 16 gigs that match, 1333 or 1600 it matters zilch which.
a better board is always nice and helps protect our investment and the old one can sit idle as a spare.
your gpu is still valid, the 970's are coming on the scene and prices on those will taper off so wait on that also.
in general, if you have the mid to top of the line amd and don't want to spend the big bucks and move to intel, just upgrade the bad in your system, but to something that moves ahead with you.

 

[Theocnoob]

Caddi daddi- Are you seriously telling the OP to turn cores off? That's not a good idea IMO. You turn cores off to hit record OCs not mild OCs. I'd rather have all 8 threads going at 4.4Ghz vs 6 of them at 4.6Ghz. Otherwise he could have just bought an FX6300..