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Recommend a GPU for a Phenom II 955 setup...

PowerPie5000 said:
Any opinions on the 2GB GTX 650Ti Boost? Is it worth swapping out my brothers CPU for a Phenom II x6 1100T, FX-4170 or FX-6100? Will any of these make a difference? His motherboard doesn't support Piledriver/Vishera processors... Only Athlon II/Phenom II and a few Bulldozer chips.
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If the board is AM3+ socket would support Bulldozer, then I don't see why it wouldn't support Piledriver, in which case a FX-6300/6350/8320 would be worth considering (though the board's low 4+1 phase power might be an issue if using a FX-8 CPU).
 
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The GA-870A-USB3 (without the L) lists the FX-6300 as supported, so it might be that they just haven't updated the list. If you contact their tech support they could tell you for sure.

In console type games - not just BF3 - you will see an improvement regardless, there are plenty of benchmarks around to show your CPU (or similar) performing equal or near to the i5 range with a good graphics card.
 
teppic said:
The GA-870A-USB3 (without the L) lists the FX-6300 as supported, so it might be that they just haven't updated the list. If you contact their tech support they could tell you for sure.

In console type games - not just BF3 - you will see an improvement regardless, there are plenty of benchmarks around to show your CPU (or similar) performing equal or near to the i5 range with a good graphics card.
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The last bios update for my brothers board is dated 22/12/2011 (version F5f) which is before the release of Piledriver/Vishera... I think Gigabyte have given up with it :(.
 
I've had some luck with Gigabyte technical support :)... It seems the bios used with the non 'L' version of the board is 100% compatible (version F5g). Now is an FX-6300 going to be better than his Phenom II X4 955?

Cheers for the help & suggestions guys :cool:

EDIT: It appears the FX-6300 is noticeably better than a Phenom II x4 for most things including gaming, and they're not expensive either :)... Hopefully it'll reduce or even eliminate any bottlenecks with a new GPU (GTX 650Ti Boost, GTX 660, Radeon 7850/7870).
 
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Yes - a 6300 is a very nice CPU upgrade for the cost. It'll run a lot of the latest games that use more CPU better, and is well prepared for next gen games.

The 7870 LE would be a good match - given its offer price it's hard to recommend anything else around £150.
 
PowerPie5000 said:
EDIT: It appears the FX-6300 is noticeably better than a Phenom II x4 for most things including gaming, and they're not expensive either :)... Hopefully it'll reduce or even eliminate any bottlenecks with a new GPU (GTX 650Ti Boost, GTX 660, Radeon 7850/7870).
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Light-threaded games it would still bottleneck those cards quite a bit, but at least the 6300 will help a lot in games that DO use 6 cores fully/properly.

It's definitely the best CPU upgrade for the least cost.
 
Ok, my brother can stretch his budget to buying the FX-6300 CPU and a 2GB GTX 650Ti Boost (if buying the parts new)... and that's including whatever money he can get back from selling his 6850 and Phenom II x4 955 (which probably won't be that much). I've had a look around for used parts but the prices are not that much cheaper than buying new, and there's not much of a used selection either (for recent/current hardware).
 
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OCUK has 3 b-grade 6300s listed, but they're at £10 more than the new price. Give them a call tomorrow to ask what the price is supposed to be.
 
teppic said:
OCUK has 3 b-grade 6300s listed, but they're at £10 more than the new price. Give them a call tomorrow to ask what the price is supposed to be.
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I'm guessing they're meant to be £10 less. I wonder why they're classed as b-grade? I must admit i've not had much success with b-grade items in the past :rolleyes:
 
£10 wouldn't be much of a saving, it wouldn't be worth the bother. They're b-grade normally because they've been returned under the DSR, or they've been opened for some reason.
 
teppic said:
£10 wouldn't be much of a saving, it wouldn't be worth the bother. They're b-grade normally because they've been returned under the DSR, or they've been opened for some reason.
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I'll give them a call tomorrow and see how much i can get one for (fingers crossed for a bargain :))... Hopefully they've not been abused and then returned because people were disappointed with their OC results (i know someone who has done that before :rolleyes:).

Cheers for letting me know about the b-grade stock :cool:
 
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