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Upgrading advice

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fandroid

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Joined
Jul 31, 2012
Hey guys, I am new here and was just looking for some advice on an upgrade I was planning out. I won't be buying anything for a little while though, a few months tops most likely.

My current is...

Processor
AMD 955BE oc'd at 3.9GHz (I've ran it at 4.2 stable but didn't really think the voltage increase was worth it)

Cooler
CoolerMaster V6GT

RAM
8GBs dual channel Mushkin 1600Mhz DDR3 CL9

GPU
EVGA GTX460 SE 1GB core is overclocked at 820MHz and memory is at 1900MHz

Mainboard
MSI 970A-G45


Now for the fun part :)

I was looking at upgrading to a nvidia 660 (possibly Ti) or a 670. My main concern is that if I were to bump all the way up to the 670 I'd have to get a better PSU as I am currently rocking a 450 watt.

So, should I get a 660 and an AMD FX 8350 (or 8320) or a 670 and a new PSU? I might not worry about getting a new cpu just yet but either way I go it would be nice lol. Plus it whould help out with any bottlenecks.

I'd like to stay away from any Radeon cards because of the terrible experience I have had with them in the past but they aren't completely x'ed off the list..

Ohh and as for what I do with my PC, I play BF3, Counter Strike, Portal, and a few other titles along with the occasional Photoshop.


Let me know what you guys think!
Thanks
 
Get a HD7950 and a reputable 650W power supply (think Corsair HX650). Your CPU is, IMHO, better than a FX.

I used to hate AMD cards as well (usually, because of the PITA fglrx was), but they are getting way better. Plus, you get Bioshock Infinite and Crysis 3 for free!
 
I was honestly considering the 7950 as a 660Ti competitor (and I guess I still am but it will be pretty hard to shake my thoughts on it) until I read this article . And I also noticed that BF3 prefers nVidia cards over the AMD counterparts.

It seems to me that the 7950 has better specs on paper but it doesn't really transfer over to actual system performance, maybe I am wrong?
 
Intel is releasing Haswell at Computer (June I think?) which although doesn't directly affect you, might result in some nice AMD CPU price drops. I know AMD has Steamroller in the works, but I have no clue when it's coming out.
 
fandroid said:
I was honestly considering the 7950 as a 660Ti competitor (and I guess I still am but it will be pretty hard to shake my thoughts on it) until I read this article . And I also noticed that BF3 prefers nVidia cards over the AMD counterparts.

It seems to me that the 7950 has better specs on paper but it doesn't really transfer over to actual system performance, maybe I am wrong?
Click to expand...

Yes I read that article you posted showing that the The GTX 660 Ti's frame times tend to be very low, generally under 20 ms and rarely ranging above that mark. By contrast, the Radeon HD 7950's plot is riddled with spikes up to twice that long or longer.

However people here at oc form say they like there AMD video cards like the HD 7950
 
Knufire said:
Intel is releasing Haswell at Computer (June I think?) which although doesn't directly affect you, might result in some nice AMD CPU price drops. I know AMD has Steamroller in the works, but I have no clue when it's coming out.
Click to expand...

Ohh yeah I forgot about that..

That may be nice if I did decide to upgrade my cpu. I am still debating if it would be worth it though.
 
I'd just like to mention that every other reputable testing site measures performance with FPS, not frame time.
 
After doing a ton of research I think I will probably go with the 7950. My only problem with doing so is that I don't really want to spend that much money on a card but my main concern is having to buy a new psu for it.

I have a high end 430 watt now, do you guys think I could skate by on that until I get some more money for a better unit if I kept the card at stock clocks? I have two 7200rpm satas but don't have any dvd drives or anything like that.

According to some online watt estimators I'd be perfectly fine but according to others my current setup is starving for more power.
 
955BE has a TDP of 125 Watts + overcloking +30w TDP 7950 200w 50 for you system =405w you can make it without overclocking the video card.
 
Last edited:
How do you calculate the wattage on the 12v rail? I can't seem to figure that one out :confused:
 
I think we need to see this high end 430 or 450 PSU to really see if its quality or just plain junk! AJ.
 
Okay here it goes..

Its a dual 12v rail. 12v1 has 14a and 12v2 has 15a. So I should be getting 348w to the rail right? BTW, I tested my 12v rails and they are in fact putting out 12v's at idle and full load.

As for it being high end, that was according to my dad who told me it was. He bought it years ago so its not quite up to par with todays standards. Its a Thermaltake w0070ru. I can't find the exact one on NewEgg, mine has 2 fans whereas the one on NewEgg only has one.
 
Eh. Thermaltake is rather hit or miss on their PSU quality, they're not what I would call high end.

12V1 is usually the 8pin EPS connector, so you have 168W for your CPU, which is fine. The PCIe plugs are probably on the 2nd 12V rail, so you really only can have a 180W GPU max. Assuming it can put out that much continuously and the label isn't a lie.
 
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