Upgrade advice please.

Michael Inniss · 7 Jul 2019 at 15:33

Hello. I am looking to spend a few hundred on upgraded an older system and was wondering if you could help get the best bang for buck.

Current system
Graphics- MSI R9 280x gaming 3gb GDDR5 DVI HDMI PCI-E
Processor - AMd Bulldozer fx-6 6200 black Edition 3.8ghz socket am3+ 8mb cache
RAM - Corsair vengeance performance memory 16gb(2x8gb) ddr3 1600mhz
Motherboard - asrock 970 extreme 3 socket am3=7.1 channel audio atx motherboard
Power supply- OCZ fatality series 550w modular
Harddrive- Seagate 1.5 tb 3.5"sata 3 6gbs Baracuda HD 5900rpm 64mb cache

Thanks for reading.

Michael Inniss · 9 Jul 2019 at 00:06

I am thinking of AMD Radeon RX 580 8GB GDDR5 and AMD Fx 8350 Black Edition AM3 +4.0 GHZ - 4.2 GHZ + Radfan. Does it matter if the ram i am using is DDr3 and the card is ddr5?

tamzzy · 9 Jul 2019 at 00:08

Michael Inniss said:
few hundred

is that three hundred or nine hundred?

Michael Inniss said:
I am thinking of AMD Radeon RX 580 8GB GDDR5 and AMD Fx 8350 Black Edition AM3 +4.0 GHZ - 4.2 GHZ + Radfan. Does it matter if the ram i am using is DDr3 and the card is ddr5?

doesn't work like that.
in any case, you're probably better off upgrading the whole lot.

Michael Inniss · 9 Jul 2019 at 02:27

Ty for reply tamzzy. 300 mate. Not got the cash for a full upgrade but will add bits monthly. Do you think that would be a good place to start?

tamzzy · 9 Jul 2019 at 06:56

Michael Inniss said:
300 mate.

that's not a lot of dosh, for what is, essentially a full system upgrade.

1) cpu/ram/mobo - old tech, the bulldozer architecture weren't the best to begin with, and even a lowly ryzen 1200 (ie first gen basic part) would run rings around it.
2) gpu - 280x is meh by todays standards. rx 570 (£100 card) is about a third faster. though as you said, rx580 would probably be the upgrade you want...but that's £170.
3) you need to get an ssd. best quality of life improvement you can do!

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x AMD Ryzen 5 Six Core 2600 3.90GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £128.99
1 x Team Group Vulcan T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C16 3000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (TLGD416G30= £64.99
1 x TeamGroup 480GB L5 Lite SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 3D NAND Solid State Drive= £46.99
1 x MSI B450-A PRO (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £88.99
1 x Asus Radeon RX 570 Strix 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £98.99

Total: £440.05 (includes shipping: £11.10)

reflux · 9 Jul 2019 at 10:00

tamzzy's spec is a huge upgrade. Well worth the extra IMO.

Michael Inniss · 9 Jul 2019 at 16:38

Tamzzy your a star and i really appreciate it thank u. ill look into those parts now. I can stretch that over 2 months. if i got everything but that ram and ssd this month It should run ok with old ram/hdd until next month right?

Webzta · 9 Jul 2019 at 16:41

Michael Inniss said:
Tamzzy your a star and i really appreciate it thank u. ill look into those parts now. I can stretch that over 2 months. if i got everything but that ram and ssd this month It should run ok with old ram/hdd until next month right?

You can't use your ddr3 in a ddr4 setup, but your old HDD will be OK for the interim.

tamzzy · 9 Jul 2019 at 16:44

Michael Inniss said:
Tamzzy your a star and i really appreciate it thank u. ill look into those parts now. I can stretch that over 2 months. if i got everything but that ram and ssd this month It should run ok with old ram/hdd until next month right?

I would suggest to get the CPU/board/ram and SSD together. Reason being that you'll want to reinstall windows cleanly once...to save yourself the hassle.
GPU can be upgraded later on as it's a simple swap out.

ninezerofive · 9 Jul 2019 at 16:45

If you have to choose RX 570 and Ryzen 5 or 8350 and RX 580, then just upgrade the CPU to 8350 and call it a day. There's no point in upgrading CPU and getting an inferior card.

ninezerofive · 9 Jul 2019 at 17:07

Simple sample size I know. But 8350 you can get for 60 new and 40 used and 580 for 170ish

3:50 R5 + 570 / AVG 45
11:02 FX + 580 / AVG 49

What I would recommend if you can't afford both at the moment is, to keep the current system you have and just upgrade the GPU.

Then when you save up a bit more do the CPU/Mobo/Ram upgrade.

tamzzy · 9 Jul 2019 at 17:57

ninezerofive said:
then just upgrade the CPU to 8350 and call it a day. There's no point in upgrading CPU and getting an inferior card.

i wouldn't get the 8350 at all.
it's a mini toaster, and with that, requires beefy VRMs which the asrock 970 extreme 3 does not have.
so OP will most likely see a performance decrease because the 8530 will keep throttling due to overheating VRMs.
not to mention spending money on a dead-end part that's worse performing than an i5 2500k...lol

so yes, either 1) upgrade gpu and keep current core, or 2) upgrade core and keep current gpu.
one could get an ssd for both options, but probably would want a fresh install when you upgrade the core.
so if you got the ssd when upgrading the gpu...may possibly find yourself needing to reinstall windows and programs twice (worth the hassle? up to you) - though that being said...windows nowadays plays reasonably nice with core changes.

ninezerofive · 9 Jul 2019 at 18:20

tamzzy said:
i wouldn't get the 8350 at all.
it's a mini toaster, and with that, requires beefy VRMs which the asrock 970 extreme 3 does not have.
so OP will most likely see a performance decrease because the 8530 will keep throttling due to overheating VRMs.

He could sell the 6200 for 30 GBP and buy a used 8350 GBP for 40 GBP.

Of course, stars have to align.

And I don't think VRM should be the problem at least 4Ghz it should hold stable and if all he does is gaming then 4.2 shouldn't be problem.

It's not the VRM one should be worried about in this scenario, FX doesn't benefit that much from OC frequency as much as FSB overclocking.

Therefor North Bridge heat could be the real problem, although that's adjustable. Can stick a small fan over it in the worst case.

tamzzy · 9 Jul 2019 at 18:29

ninezerofive said:
And I don't think VRM should be the problem at least 4Ghz it should hold stable and if all he does is gaming then 4.2 shouldn't be problem.

the board will probably hold a 8350 @ 4.0 (but that's stock for the 8350)
imo better to overclock the 6200 that OP currently has. single core performance still matters a lot in games, and that is not one of bulldozer's strong points.
i suspect a 6200 @ 4.5-4.6 would give better fps and the all-important 0.1% lows than a 8350 @ 4.0-4.2.
(hence why a i5 2500k 4c4t is still a faster cpu than a 8350 4c8t even today)

ninezerofive · 9 Jul 2019 at 18:31

Although I just checked that board. Yeaa... that doesn't look much like a heatsink haha.

I had the M5A97 970 back in the days, and that heatsink was like 3x the size.

It's probably better if you leave the CPU as is.

tamzzy · 9 Jul 2019 at 18:32

ninezerofive said:
Although I just checked that board. Yeaa... that doesn't look much like a heatsink haha.

not to mention it's a 3+1 phase VRM. 8350...yeah nope.
the 970 extreme 3 r2.0 wasn't much better with a 4+1 phase VRM and equally puny heatsinks.

ninezerofive · 9 Jul 2019 at 18:41

You are right tamzzy, he has to upgrade that whole set. This CPU/MOBO/RAM is running close to max as is.

tamzzy · 9 Jul 2019 at 18:44

ninezerofive said:
he has to upgrade that whole set. This CPU/MOBO/RAM is running close to max as is.

indeed. OP's current build is the definition of "dead-end", unfortunately...but hopefully he's got his money's worth in the mean time.

Terrorfirmer · 9 Jul 2019 at 18:56

Your CPU is the worst part. I honestly would would focus first on something like B450 + Ryzen 2600 + DDR4 8GB (2x4GB is essential rather than one stick). Entirely within your budget.

I know 3600 is out, but 2600 is way cheaper and monumental upgrade on your FX processor. No sense going to FX 8, as it's still a bad CPU by modern standards.

280X is pretty dated but still somewhat alright. At least you can reduce settings to get 60fps, can't do that with a crap CPU.

Save up for a new GPU later.

Michael Inniss · 9 Jul 2019 at 19:57

I really appreciate all your replies. If i buy a gpu next month I can probably push to below.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core 4.2GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £188.99
1 x Team Group Vulcan TUF Gaming Alliance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Blac= £98.99
1 x MSI B450 GAMING PRO CARBON AC (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £124.99
1 x TeamGroup 480GB L5 Lite SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 3D NAND Solid State Drive= £46.99

Total: £471.06 (includes shipping: £11.10)

Would all that run ok on my PSU. It looks ok from wattage shown but I have had issues in past. Plus maybe a little stretch so if you had to choose between downgrading gaming version to pro version of mobo or downgrading back to the 3000mhz ram version - what would have least performance impact?. You guys are stars - I can put pc parts together and match chipsets but thats its lol.