Motherboard & CPU upgrade help.

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8 Dec 2014
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Hi, I'm looking to upgrade my motherboard and CPU, I also think I need to upgrade my fans too. I don't really know that much about this kind of thing which is why I'd like some help if anyone is willing to give me some.

I'm looking for AMD components and would say I'd like to spend from £150-£200 tops on the new upgrades. I've looked at a couple of options but I thought I'd ask for some advice to see if these are good together or if there's anything better I can get for the same price. I'm not looking for anything extremely special, I usually use my PC for single-player games, rendering videos and work with Photoshop.

Currently I'm having an issue with my computer where it gets extremely loud when playing games. This happened to me a few years ago and replacing the CPU fixed this so I'd assume I need to do the same thing again. I'm using a PC I bought 5 years ago but I upgraded the PSU, GPU and CPU not too long ago, so I don't know if I need to upgrade my fans or something to prevent my overheating problem.

Motherboard & CPUs I've been looking at:

AMD FX8350 Black Edition 8 Core Processor + Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3 SKT-AM3+ motherboard (which would take me to all of my budget pretty much)

or

AMD FX6300 Black Edition 6 Core + Gigabyte 970A-UD3P motherboard.

My current specs are:

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition
GPU: Gigabyte GTX 660 Windforce OC Edition 2GB
RAM: Kingston 8GB (4x2GB) DDR3 2133MHz HyperX Genesis XMP Memory Kit
Motherboard: Acer FRX780M (came with the PC)
650W PSU

If you need any more information please let me know, thanks.
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4440 3.10GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £139.99
1 x ASRock H97M Pro4 Intel H97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £64.99
Total : £214.58 (includes shipping : £8.00).



Would see a gain in CPU performance in games and photoshop.
However to stop overheating issues:

YOUR BASKET
1 x BeQuiet! Pure Rock Cpu Cooler - 120mm £28.99
1 x Alpenföhn Brocken ECO CPU Cooler - 120 mm £24.95
1 x Raijintek Themis Black Heatpipe CPU Cooler PWM - 120mm £19.99
Total : £83.53 (includes shipping : £8.00).



Depending on which case you have?
 
I can't help you as much as others will be able to, but are you using the stock cpu cooler? I have an FX8320 and the stock coolers are an absolute joke, completely useless and sound like a jet engine. Recently bought an after market cooler and it makes so much difference.
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4440 3.10GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £139.99
1 x ASRock H97M Pro4 Intel H97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £64.99
Total : £214.58 (includes shipping : £8.00).



Would see a gain in CPU performance in games and photoshop.
However to stop overheating issues:

YOUR BASKET
1 x BeQuiet! Pure Rock Cpu Cooler - 120mm £28.99
1 x Alpenföhn Brocken ECO CPU Cooler - 120 mm £24.95
1 x Raijintek Themis Black Heatpipe CPU Cooler PWM - 120mm £19.99
Total : £83.53 (includes shipping : £8.00).



Depending on which case you have?

Thanks for the suggestions. Is that Intel CPU better than the AMD FX8350 I was thinking about purchasing?

I have some standard Acer Aspire M7300 case which needs to be replaced but I'll probably need to wait until early next year to do that. It came with the pre-built PC I bought a long time ago so it's pretty awful. But again, I don't know much about this kind of thing.

I can't help you as much as others will be able to, but are you using the stock cpu cooler? I have an FX8320 and the stock coolers are an absolute joke, completely useless and sound like a jet engine. Recently bought an after market cooler and it makes so much difference.

Yeah, I haven't bought any custom coolers or anything like that. I'm planning on purchasing my new upgrades after Christmas, do you think if I bought a CPU cooler now it would fix my loud PC problem? And if I do that could I then take that CPU cooler and attach it to what ever CPU I purchase or are there compatibility issues with stuff like that?

The loudness of my PC is my main issue but I think it's still time to upgrade the motherboard. The CPU isn't too bad but I think I'd definitely like something a bit faster.
 
Last edited:
I didn't want to make a new thread as this one isn't that old so I thought I'd just ask it here.

Can anyone clear up whether my Kingston 8GB (4x2GB) DDR3 2133MHz HyperX Genesis XMP RAM will work on the Asus M5A97 R2.0 Motherboard? Or will it not work at 2133MHz?

I'm just curious whether the RAM will work straight away or if I'll have to do something to fix it.
 
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