AMD 8350 and upcoming GPUs

[Relentless81]

Hi,

I know this is difficult to answer without reviews/benchmarks etc but I'll ask for your views anyway -

In regards to what are now considered older CPU's like my 8350, how will these handle the upcoming GPU's? Will there be a need to upgrade the CPU or is it a case of the new GPU's will be more than happy running with older CPU's? What kind of performance difference will we be looking at if a new GPU is working with an older or newer CPU, is it negligible?

I'm trying to figure out my upgrade path, this year I want to upgrade my -

1080P 120hz monitor
290X
And CPU if definitely required

Problem is, I probably wont be able to afford to do it all this year hence the question

Thanks

 

[Calin Banc]

At lower resolution and without dx12/Vulkan, not sure you'll get much more out of a new, significantly powerful GPU. Even that R290X is hold back by what you have now.

Consider upgrading your MB+CPU+RAM, then monitor, then GPU. For the CPU wait for ZEN if there is no rush and see how the market reacts, price wise.

 

[anthony566]

This is not easy to answer take a look at this and test what you have now as I think you might be surprised at the results. not all games are CPU heavy so this WILL depend on your config and the games you play... if you have not done it already the first thing you need to do if you can is add an over clock to the CPU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAgpvWc4VBM

Look at this one as a guide to OC the CPU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MckeAmnDeTk

 

[pandem0nium]

1440p freesync high refresh rate monitor and another 290x - job done.

 

[Relentless81]

At lower resolution and without dx12/Vulkan, not sure you'll get much more out of a new, significantly powerful GPU. Even that R290X is hold back by what you have now.

Consider upgrading your MB+CPU+RAM, then monitor, then GPU. For the CPU wait for ZEN if there is no rush and see how the market reacts, price wise.

Slight contradiction in what you're saying there, upgrade CPU, Mobo, RAM first but wait for Zen. From what I've gathered recently Zen is a while off

This is not easy to answer take a look at this and test what you have now as I think you might be surprised at the results. not all games are CPU heavy so this WILL depend on your config and the games you play... if you have not done it already the first thing you need to do if you can is add an over clock to the CPU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAgpvWc4VBM

Look at this one as a guide to OC the CPU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MckeAmnDeTk

BF4 is my most played game, just watched all of that vid and although its stating the obvious its great as a reminder of how these things work especially seeing as though its BF3 so thanks for posting it

I ran my 8350 at 5GHZ for months, got tired of the noise so sold off the AIO and declocked it to 4.2GHZ and bought a cheaper air cooler. From what I can tell there is no difference in BF4 at 1080P Ultra settings with the current OC, it sits around 80fps most of the time, I would like 100FPS+ though but the point is in my most played game the 0.8GHZ OC seemed to make little difference

1440p freesync high refresh rate monitor and another 290x - job done.

My board doesnt support mGPU and I wouldnt like to go mGPU, too many problems

I'm still not sure which route to take to be honest, according to that vid there is very little point in upgrading my 8350 but I read people all the time saying they changed to an i5 4670 or more recently 4690 and they cant believe the difference etc etc so it seems a bit contradicting at the moment

 

[Calin Banc]

Yeah, Zen is a bit further away; should have said upgrade the monitor now and the rest later if what you have is ok.

BF 4 under Mantle does make good use of what you have. Try lowering the GPU settings (like MSAA, AO, lighting quality, post processing quality, etc ) and see if the FPS increases to what you want. Also have a look in CPU heavy spots, there is where you'll see differences in CPU performance, not necessarily in the average FPS. You can have MSI afterburner left open while gaming, GPU usage is tracked even under Mantle. If the usage is 100% or so, you're golden.

Other games however, like Fallout 4 for instance, are another matter.

 

[nashathedog]

1440p freesync high refresh rate monitor and another 290x - job done.

Cause crossfire works so well

 

[Aretak]

It really is a case of it varying heavily by game. I'm currently using a Phenom II X6 1090T at 4GHz with a GTX 780 and have found it a mixed bag in terms of bottlenecks.

It struggles in games like World of Warcraft and Just Cause 3, yet is fine and dandy in others like Dragon Age: Inquisition and Metal Gear Solid V, despite all of them being games with large open worlds. It really depends on how well the game uses multiple threads. WoW for instance, being an ancient engine, really only uses two cores, with minor activity on the third in some situations and the others sitting stone idle.

DirectX 12 also has a relatively huge impact compared to its performance with a better CPU. It actually lowered performance in Rise of the Tomb Raider when I was using a 4790K with the same GPU, yet it massively increases minimums (by 15-25fps) and boosts both the maximum and average too with a weaker CPU.

Other games however, like Fallout 4 for instance, are another matter.

Incidentally, Fallout 4 is another one that's running pretty damn well for me on the 1090T. There are occasional areas and intense firefights where it drops into the 40s out in the world, but in general it's a solid 60 running on the Ultra preset. It seems to have improved since launch in terms of running on less capable CPUs. Even back in Skyrim I used to get more frequent dips on the old Phenom II X4 that I had (albeit only clocked at 3.4GHz).

 

[siriq111]

You will have bottleneck even if you use it at 4.8-5.0 ghz. I have FX [email protected]. Performance is between i5 and i7 . DX 12 and Vulkan helps. In some cases, you can achieve i7 (skylake) performance . Some cases, just not. I would say, if you can OC your CPU for 4.7 at least, keep it. I had mine for free, so i keep it.

Still lot better than PII X6 1090T. Also have one. The benefit is much more to compare to the oldish AMD PII X6.

 

[siriq111]

It really is a case of it varying heavily by game. I'm currently using a Phenom II X6 1090T at 4GHz with a GTX 780 and have found it a mixed bag in terms of bottlenecks.

It struggles in games like World of Warcraft and Just Cause 3, yet is fine and dandy in others like Dragon Age: Inquisition and Metal Gear Solid V, despite all of them being games with large open worlds. It really depends on how well the game uses multiple threads. WoW for instance, being an ancient engine, really only uses two cores, with minor activity on the third in some situations and the others sitting stone idle.

DirectX 12 also has a relatively huge impact compared to its performance with a better CPU. It actually lowered performance in Rise of the Tomb Raider when I was using a 4790K with the same GPU, yet it massively increases minimums (by 15-25fps) and boosts both the maximum and average too with a weaker CPU.


Incidentally, Fallout 4 is another one that's running pretty damn well for me on the 1090T. There are occasional areas and intense firefights where it drops into the 40s out in the world, but in general it's a solid 60 running on the Ultra preset. It seems to have improved since launch in terms of running on less capable CPUs. Even back in Skyrim I used to get more frequent dips on the old Phenom II X4 that I had (albeit only clocked at 3.4GHz).

Fallout 4 running fine on 1090T and FX 8350 as well. Still got some extra FPS because of FX CPU. Not to mention the rest of the games. 1 year ago or before i would recommend 1090T . Now , pointless . Win 10 and new games are much better with FX.