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Changing CPU? Phenom II x4 920

V1sual

V1sual

V1sual

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Joined
29 Oct 2012
Posts
20
Just bought myself a GTX 680 to replace my 250GTS and wondering if it would be worth getting a new CPU to take full advantage of it.

Currently running the Phenom II x4 920 its overclocked from 2.8 to 3.7Ghz stable on an Asus M3N72-D. Worth upgrading or not?
 
You will have to get a new board as the one you have only supports am2 and am2+. And your pretty much at the top with your phenom 920.

You could go for a 1100t , 1090t, 955 be..

But wouldnt be much of a upgrade to be honest.

Do you have a hudget?
 
jonnyp1993 said:
You will have to get a new board as the one you have only supports am2 and am2+. And your pretty much at the top with your phenom 920.

You could go for a 1100t , 1090t, 955 be..

But wouldnt be much of a upgrade to be honest.
Click to expand...
If OP has to change board, then he might as well switch over to Intel. Even a overclocked FX8350 would bottleneck the GTX680 if a game were to use 4 cores or less. But obviously budget is the key, as limited budget might make the FX6300 a reasonable choice and best bang for bucks in that price range (if ignoring the 2nd hand i5 2500K).
 
Ok so currently not worth changing to an AM2+ cpu as not much upgrade to have. Thats fair enough and is what I expected. I didnt actually plan on buying an new GPU just yet but couldnt turn down that killer deal on here from MSI on the 680.

I do already have a Coolermaster HAF 932 full tower case so should be no problems with space or cooling. Also decided on a Corsair AX860 fully modular PSU which I will order once my 680 ships (good choice?)
I wont need any HDD as I have a few WD Caviar Blacks, might add a SDD at a later date but wont do for now.

Currently have a 550W PSU (brand escapes me) which is 5 years old, I assume I will need a more powerful one? I know the AX860 might be overkill but would prefer having too much incase I want to SLI in future. Ive not bought it yet but want a fully modular PSU with enough power to potentially SLI, feel free to suggest another before I buy.

I wouldnt upgrade the rest just yet, spent enough recently but might treat myself for xmas. Would just need CPU + cooler, Mobo and RAM, budget for these lets say somewhere around £500.
 
Get your yourself a cheap z68 board from ebay, hardly any benefit paying out for newer ones. A few fps at most. and 2nd hand 2600k/2700k, and no benefits getting more
 
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V1sual said:
What four items would be suggested for my budget if I were to upgrade now. The upgrading bug might bite
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Just grab this motherboard for £46:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-364-GI

and a 2nd hand SandyBridge i5 2500K (or i7 2600K/2700K if you think the Hyper-threading would benefit you). Also a 3rd party CPU cooler if you wish to overclock the CPU further than 4.00GHz range (you'd probably need to get a CPU cooler anyway if the 2nd hand i5/i7 doesn't include the stock cooler...many people don't include it when selling it due to the extra weight and size comparing to the CPU alone).

If you are using DDR2 rams at the moment, then you should grab some 2x4GB DDR3 1600MHz ram.
 
jonnyp1993 said:
You will have to get a new board as the one you have only supports am2 and am2+. And your pretty much at the top with your phenom 920.

You could go for a 1100t , 1090t, 955 be..

But wouldnt be much of a upgrade to be honest.

Do you have a hudget?
Click to expand...

Actually the board will support am3 cpu's as am3 cpus have both a ddr2 ddr3 imc. I'd go Intel for an upgrade. Or wait for Steamroller.
 
Ill probably wait until atleast xmas before I upgrade the rest. GPU and PSU will do me for now, will still be a nice boost from my GTS 250
 
I used to run a Phenom II quad myself at 3.5Ghz then I swapped to an i3 which was a side grade, but having upgraded again to a 2nd hand i5 2500k and overclocked to 4.5Ghz it's made a nice difference even with my old 6870 1GB. You definitely won't see the full performance of your new card until you upgrade, but if you do don't be afraid to to come to the dark side... I mean the Intel side! ;)
 
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