Is my Processor and Power unit good enough for the GTX 970?

[DorianManhattan]

Hello! I wanted to possibly upgrade just my graphics card which is 4 years old now to the new nVidia GTX 970 which everyone seems to be saying probably the best GPU per buck released ever. However my CPU is also 3-4 years old. I have the AMD A10-5800k APU 3.8 GHz with Radeon HD graphics. Will this old CPU bottleneck the GTX 970 making it pointless to upgrade? I also only have a 650W power supply and 8GBs of RAM.

I'd appreicate any advice. Do I have to upgrade the entire processor + motherboard to pair with the GTX 970?

Thank you.

 

[EarthDog]

Welcome!

That APU may put a glass ceiling on the card, however, I would imagine it would still be a significant upgrade. You can get more out of the system if you overclock it.

 

[DorianManhattan]

You mean CPU right? The Processor is a CPU?

Are you sure it will put a ceiling on the card? Replacing the processor and motherboard will cost another 200-300 USD on top of the 300 or so for the GTX 970. I'm trying to avoid it. Is the current CPU too weak for that GPU?

 

[EarthDog]

CPU/APU, same difference (but you and AMD call that processor an APU, why are you questioning me? LOL!).

It depends on the games you play really... but here is an idea of a few popular titles...

BF4 - http://www.techspot.com/review/734-battlefield-4-benchmarks/page6.html
Metro: LL - http://www.techspot.com/review/670-metro-last-light-performance/page6.html
Project Cars - http://www.techspot.com/review/1000-project-cars-benchmarks/page5.html
GTA V - http://www.techspot.com/review/991-gta-5-pc-benchmarks/page6.html
The Wticher 3 - http://www.techspot.com/review/1006-the-witcher-3-benchmarks/page5.html

The last tests do not show your CPU/APU but you can kind of tell where it fits looking at the others.

As I said, in some titles there is a glass ceiling.

 

[tachi1247]

Amd calls your processor an APU. It's a combined cpu and gpu.

The processor itself probably won't limit the 970 card, but you you will become cpu limited in whatever game you play. You won't get the maximum performance out of that card with your current processor. Like ED said though, it will probably be a huge improvement over what you have now.

Upgrading to a better processor would shift the limiting component back to being the gpu, but that may be worth it. No matter what you buy there will always be a component in the system that is the weakest link.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Can you tell us what make, model, and age your PSU is?

That said, even with CPU limitations, the 970 will be a nice upgrade for you.

 

[DorianManhattan]

It was my understanding that the CPU and RAM is the least important when it comes to gaming. I don't really do any video editing but I do have ambitions of streaming on Twitch sometime.

The GPU is the most important factor by far in gaming right? I'm 27 and this may be my very last upgrade ever since I'm getting to that point where I'm getting more and more busy with my Wall Street job and other responsibilities. I want something to run Fallout 4 and the upcoming Star Wars Battlefront on max settings and something that'll last me for ages. I'm hoping the 970 will last me 5 years.

- - - Updated - - -

Can you tell us what make, model, and age your PSU is?

That said, even with CPU limitations, the 970 will be a nice upgrade for you.

Sorry what's a PSU? I'm a overcloaking noob. I built my PC by just using top 10 lists and how to guides back in 2013.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

PSU = power supply

 

[DorianManhattan]

Hey so my PSU is a Coolmaster GX 650W. It seemed high quality when I purchased it 3-4 years ago but it seems that line is no longer sold. It was small and compact enough to fit into my Lian-Li Mid-Tower case.

What socket does my AMD processor use? Maybe I could upgrade to a newer AMD processor that will not bottleneck the GTX 970 and save on replacing the motherboard and the DDR3 RAM.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Hey so my PSU is a Coolmaster GX 650W. It seemed high quality when I purchased it 3-4 years ago but it seems that line is no longer sold. It was small and compact enough to fit into my Lian-Li Mid-Tower case.

What socket does my AMD processor use? Maybe I could upgrade to a newer AMD processor that will not bottleneck the GTX 970 and save on replacing the motherboard and the DDR3 RAM.

The PSU should be fine then, those were decent units.

Can you tell us the model of your motherboard? That will determine your CPU upgrade path.

 

[DorianManhattan]

Hey, so my motherboard is:

MSI FM2-A75MA-E35 FM2 AMD A75 (Hudson D3) 6 x SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard to pair it with the AMD A10-5800K Trinity 3.8GHz (4.2GHz Turbo) Socket processor.

I got this back in late 2013 off newegg.

Is the A10-5800K that obsolete now it bottlenecks even just mid-tier GPUs like the GTX 970? What is the best AMD processor I can upgrade to that would fit in that socket and motherboard?

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Per this list, you can go to an Athlon 760K or A10-6800K.
http://us.msi.com/support/mb/FM2A75MAE35.html#support-cpu

The Athlon processors only have CPU cores, meaning that it has no iGPU.
That said, since you're planning to use a 970, you don't need that iGPU.
This is a great spot to save some money.

 

[DorianManhattan]

Is either processor that big of a jump from my current A-10 Processor? Won't either of the two processors have the same problem my current processor has in that it will still bottleneck the GTX 970?

Seems like I won't be able to really upgrade it that much at all since FM2 Socket is old. You guys think I should just go ahead and spend the money on an i5, and a new intel board?

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Here's your difference:
http://anandtech.com/bench/product/675?vs=1262

Any FM2 is going to bottleneck a 970, yes.

An i5-6600K would be a great option for you, but definitely get the 970 first.