7950 or System Update?

scomac23

scomac23

scomac23

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Joined
21 Aug 2013
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11
Location
Leeds
Hello Peeps.

I would like some opinions on whether I should get a 7950 (HIS Boost looks good at £179 and has the 3Gb for future); or update my MB, CPU & Mem?

I can't afford to do both, and it will more than likely be this time next year before I can replace whichever option I don't go for now.

I was thinking of something like a Giga FXA UD-3 board and FX6300 or FX8320 and I will need some suitable DDR3.

My current (ancient ::eek:) spec is in my sig.
Pc is in my lounge and connected to a 1080P LCD. I use it mainly for web browsing, films, music etc as well as Gaming.

I know the 7950 would be massively bottlenecked, but at I have also noticed my 5770 struggling a bit recently.

What would you do if you were me?

p.s. My PSU is a Tagan 480W, 28A on 12v rail.
 
As you have ready said, the 7950 will be bottlenecked i wouldnt advise you buy one until you have a system that can use its full potential.
If i was you i would start again, my first order of business would be to throw the psu off a bridge. ;)
 
Thanks Guys,

I suspected as much, I suppose a part of me hoped I could shortcut to better graphics but I know that the system isn't up to it.

I think I'll have to keep the Tagan on the go for a bit longer as swapping the mobo, cpu and ram is going to cost £270 which will max out my spends for now.

The FX6300, UD3 and ram fits into my budget, and should clock well but I'm conscious that next gen programming will be 8 threaded to match the next gen consoles.

Is it worth sacrificing the mobo for a cheaper one to get the 8320, if so which one would you recommend?
 
A FX8320 needs a good board behind it if you want to overclock it so its not worth sacrificing the board to be able to get the chip.

One thing to check is that all your drives are SATA type.
 
Thanks Stulid,

Your advice is appreciated, as I am well out of touch on these things. Long gone are the days of pencil mods and clocking my Athlon 2500M and GF6800GT....sigh....simple pleasures!

So far I can see my options as:

FX6300 + Giga FXA990 + Avexir 8Gb Kit = £264

Or

FX8320 + Giga XA990 + Avexir 8 Gbkit = £266

On the boards I can only see a difference in the amount of PCI-E lanes and an e-sata port, neither of which would bother me , have I missed something vital that will make a difference?

Which would you go for?

Cheers
 
Is this an urgent matter? Can you not wait, try and sell a few of your old bits and bobs and save a little longer?
I honestly feel £600 would be the bare minimum for an AMD 8 core system, that includes a new psu and gpu
 
Get a Q9550 (Approx £50-£90 second hand) , OC the hell out of it (spend £20-£30 on a cooler), and buy the 7950, everyones a winner, there isn't a massive difference between an overclocked Q9550 and other chips, some...but certainly not enough to make it unsuable for a few months while you save for your dream system.

Once you have the 'proper' cash together you will easily be able to resell the Q9550 for the same amount, will probably be able to re-use the heatsink and the 7950 will still be a rocking hot graphics card
 
Thanks for the input guys.

Interesting take on the problem Mike, it would work out similar money overall and give me the GFX injection I have the itch for. I'm guessing a PSU would probably be required to run the 7950 and Q9550, The 480W Tagan I have has taken a bashing from Stulid and Nick!

The snag is, if I go this route now, then I will probably not end up updating the rest of the system for quite a while so should probably bite the bullet and go with new kit.


I would love to drop £600 on a shiny new rig, but between Mrs and 3 nippers, any cash that gets saved in my hobby fund usually ends up getting wiped out in replacing stuff that gets broken (washing machine, Dishwasher, car, TV, kids consoles, boiler...the list is endless!) If it has survived any/all of these, then it only has to get past house repairs, holidays and school trips before I can indulge my PC interest.

As you can imagine this doesn't happen often, so the trick is to spend it while you've got it.

My plan atm (I think), is to replace the CPU, MB and Ram, then depending on what I can swing for Christmas, look at PSU and GFX. I will find a way to sneak a better cooler in there somewhere in between too for some clocking action.

Does anyone have any experience of or opinions on the MB's that I mentioned above? If the 990XA would suit the 8320 and allow for some reasonable clocking down the line then I'm good to go I think.

Cheers
 
My take on upgrades is little and often, I pass the upgraded bits on or sell them and typically either spend far less or end up with lots of happy family.

The PSU should be given priority, should last years/forever
The Case if roomy enough is ultimately a fashion thing
The CPU, if overclocked can be cheap part and remember it's never wise to buy the latest shiney one
Memory, - jeez so many people get hung up on the amount and the speed, 8GB any old speed will do nicely

Buy your parts 2nd hand, you'll be up and running for next to nothing and only 5-10FPS down on the guys who just spent two grand
 
Sighs.....

Only another 993 posts to go til mm access!

I got my current mb, CPU and ram for £120 4 years ago, so the value of second hand kit is something I have positive experience of, although this was from an old colleague so not as risky as tackling the bay.

I did look at some used 7950's the other week but they were going for £20 less than a new one so not worth it compared to a new unit with free games.

I'm gonna mull over the board selection a bit more, and try to make sure if I do go for the 8320, it can make the most of it. While I'm doing this I will look a bit more at a Q9550, there might be a bargain out there to be had.
 
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