My First Custom Build/Upgrade time

bigfeetz

bigfeetz

bigfeetz

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Joined
8 Sep 2013
Posts
45
So earlier this year I built my first pc from scratch and I've been extremely happy with it. Here are the original build specs.

AMD FX-6300 Vishera (original cooling that came with it, yeah I know it sucks!)
Nvidia GTX 660 msi oc twinfrozr III
8gb of 1600MHz Ram
******** Black Edition 750w PSU (modular)
Asus M5A96 LE R2.0 Motherboard
Seagate 500gb 7200rpm HDD
NZXT Phantom enthusiant case in black (love this case).
Put a fan in every possible slot

Upgraded a few bits.

Got an r9 280x
Got a 128gb SSD
Got another 4gb of dual channel ram taking me to 12gb of 1600mhz ram

So I want to upgrade this thing some more, at the moment its looking like my CPU is bottlenecking. I was playing a game last night maxed out and my graphics card was at 30% whereas my cpu was maxing on 4 cores. Benchmarking also shows my GPU scoring much higher than my CPU (but I guess thats obvious to a lot of you =P).

No intel cpus, I cannot afford to upgrade the mobo at this time and the cpu with it. I have taken a look at the FX-9590 and that seems to be the top dog when it comes to AMD processors even though it would take a serious cooler and I dont know if my PSU would be able to handle it. Suggestions? I want to make the best upgrade I can for this system, any help is appreciated =)
 
Wont he need a better motherboard too?

depends on your budget but id get:
Sabertooth MB
8320/8350
H100/80
 
PSU is a N o v a t e c h 750w black edition, Seems it starred that out. Why would I need an upgraded Mobo I know mine isnt the best but does it matter all that much, im not gonna be running 2 graphic cards or tedious amounts of stuff of it. Yet haha. My budget at the highest lvl would be £250 at the very most.
 
You need a better motherboard, even before you look at upgrading anything else..

The Piledrivers use a lot of power and that board has awful power regulation.. You need to throw money at that first..

I can spec one if you can answer these questions (riddler).. :)

Are you looking at Xfire/SLI?
Are you a bi Overclocker?

It's starred out because they are a competitor brand, you can't mention them here.. That PSU, isn't the best either..

When looking for a PSU its not the wattage thats important its the ampage on the 12V rail..
 
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Haha, and understandable with the competitor brand thing but tough luck i needed to say what it was =P Definately Xfire in the future. And bi overclocker? I like overclocking if thats what you mean, havnt touched my cpu yet but have messed about with my graphics card.
 
Haha Bi-Overclocker, I meant Big overclocker but that was funnier. :)

Any of these boards would be a good pick..

The cheaper one will do you Xfire/SLI and then one up has a bit better voltage control (more extreme overclocking) and the top price motherboard can do 3-way SLI/Xfire.. :) Just something for the future. :)

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI 990FXA-GD80 AMD 990 FX (AMD AM3/AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £139.99
1 x Asus M5A99X EVO R2.0 AMD 990X (Socket AM3+) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £109.99
1 x Gigabyte 990XA-UD3 AMD 990X (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
Total : £339.58 (includes shipping : £8.00).

 
im running 8350 on m5a97 r2 and its rubbish for overclocking the cpu!!!! i havnt even bothered anymore trying to oc my cpu, its fine at stock any way
i would also change the psu while your at it..somone will recommend one for your budget :p
 
I'm running a M5A97 Evo 2.0 on my 8320 and it's ok for me, gets it to 4.2 stable and thats with the Asus software, I'm sure I could push it further however.
 
OvEr_KiLL said:
im running 8350 on m5a97 r2 and its rubbish for overclocking the cpu!!!! i havnt even bothered anymore trying to oc my cpu, its fine at stock any way
i would also change the psu while your at it..somone will recommend one for your budget :p
Click to expand...

Your issue is power regulation..

You need the EVO board.. (M5a97 EVO).. That has 6+2 pahse control, compare to the 4+2 (i think) of the regular board..

The 8350 is a power hog too, that's why we all suggest the 8320 (and overclock from there)..

AMD rigs now take a lot of research..
 
Ok i got one final question, may aswell not shut intel out of the runnings. For £250 a mobo that supports amd Xfire and an intel cpu. GO! (doing my own research in the mean time but u guys have already trumped me on the amd stuff haha)
 
For now I'd suggest getting a new psu and a better cooler so you can oc your current cpu(might not be able to push it too far but better than nothing), save up the xmas/bday/etc money then in the near future get a new mobo+cpu(Intel?). As for £250 you wouldn't get the 4670k + decent motherboard and new psu.
 
beasty6 said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus Crosshair V Formula Z AMD 990FX (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £173.99
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-8 Eight Core 8320 Black Edition 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £119.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H80i High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler £71.99
Total : £365.96 (includes shipping : FREE).


thats what i got earlier this week, atm i have the 8320 at 4.6ghz and my h80i has it at 26deg idle and 53deg in BF4
Click to expand...

Time to play devils advocate, for that price you should have gone Intel :p
 
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