Gaming rig major upgrade - Thoughts?

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wez1007

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Hi all,

ATM my specs:

AMD Phenom II x3 720 @3.4 with the 4th core unlocked
8gb DDR3 1600 Corsiar Vengance kit
CM Extreme 650W PSU
CM V8 CPU Cooler
Asus M4a785td-M
AMD 7790 (Saphire dual X model)



Now my reason for the upgrade is that the performance on BF4 goes up and down. A LOT. sometimes im getting 80FPS and other times im getting 20 or less. this is on medium and low settings (seems to make bugger all difference actually)


Initially i thought maybe my GPU was the bottle neck but after monitoring my system during game play i noticed my CPU is above 80% utilized...

I also do a fair bit of photo editing and might soon be going into video.

After giving it some thought i decided i can drop R10k on a new system and came up with the following:

Seasonic M12II-750w EVO - R1299
Sapphire R9 280x 3GB - R4176
http://www.wootware.co.za/a-md-fx-8...5ghz-4-0ghz-turbo-socket-am3-desktop-cpu.html
MSI 990FX - R1607

Total minus shipping = R9734


I would go with a R9 280 if i could find a Sapphire dual X one that was cheaper than the X but so far i havnt seen anything.

Any recommendations or other places i could find the same stuff or similar / better stuff. Im in the KZN area so there arnt all that many computer shops / online stores here...

Thanks in Advanced
 
CamiKaze

CamiKaze

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You really don't need another PSU to power the R9.
Invest in Ram, a better CPU and the R9.
 
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cerebus

cerebus

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is there a reason you're sticking with AMD despite it being much slower in performance than the equivalent Intel part?

(agree about the PSU, if pricing is limited skip it and go for better parts).
 
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EmileS

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Like CamiKaze said, no reason for a bigger PSU. Look at my specs, my PSU copes easily.

GPU is very good so you can buy that.
Mobo and CPU though, AMD cores will come in handy (depending on programs being used) for the editing, but you should rather go Intel. Intel i5 4670 and a H77 (or Z77 depending on price and features you want). The performance difference with the Intel platform will show 90% of the time.

The RAM is still fine.

Maybe get a 256GB SSD if you don't have one already? That will make your whole desktop experience better with the programs you'll be using for editing. Also, BF maps loads insanely fast on an SSD :p

You can take a look at Rebeltech and Techimport as well
 
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GoofySmurf

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cerebus said:
is there a reason you're sticking with AMD despite it being much slower in performance than the equivalent Intel part?

(agree about the PSU, if pricing is limited skip it and go for better parts).
Click to expand...

Well there is no difference between the intel counterpart when playing games. The only area where the intel cpu will shine if he does video or audio editing. He stated its for games so no use wasting money on an intel cpu.

You machine will run bf4 at about 95fps on ultra in a 64player map. The AMD cpu actually performs faster than the intel counterpart in bf4 due to mantle.

Before you say I am a fanboy my cpu's is i7-2600k at 4.9GHZ and i5-2500k at 4.8GHZ. I have seen that cpu and gpu in action and they perform the same as my cpu with a single 7970 running as the 280x is a repackaged 7970.
 
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wez1007

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My reason to upgrade my PSU is that the one i have ATM is farily old (+- 6 years now), It is modular and has 80+ bronze status and ill probably OC everything at a later stage.

another reason for a new PSU is im upgrading my sisters pc with my old parts. Shes got a simple dual core and will be getting my 7790.

I will agree Intel products do have the edge. I'm just a little of an amd fanboi :whistling: and sticking with AMD means i can stagger the upgrade slightly. (buy the motherboard now and drop my Phenom 2 into it. Then i can purchase the rest in a short while.

as a side note im a pretty heavy multitasker and often have the whole task bar filled with running apps. I also do a lot of visualization using hyper-v for my studies (often running a windows 2012/2008 server and 1 or 2 clients).
 
cerebus

cerebus

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The CPU is R2650 and the board is R1600. He could get an i5 4570 and Z87 Extreme4 for exactly the same price.

As for AMD CPUs having an advantage due to Mantle, maybe in the future that will materialize but right now it's a joke.
 
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wez1007

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GoofySmurf said:
Well there is no difference between the intel counterpart when playing games. The only area where the intel cpu will shine if he does video or audio editing. He stated its for games so no use wasting money on an intel cpu.

You machine will run bf4 at about 95fps on ultra in a 64player map. The AMD cpu actually performs faster than the intel counterpart in bf4 due to mantle.

Before you say I am a fanboy my cpu's is i7-2600k at 4.9GHZ and i5-2500k at 4.8GHZ. I have seen that cpu and gpu in action and they perform the same as my cpu with a single 7970 running as the 280x is a repackaged 7970.
Click to expand...

Mantal, as far as i know, works on both AMD and Intel CPUs. It is the AMD GPU (for now) that is a must.
 
cerebus

cerebus

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I will agree Intel products do have the edge. I'm just a little of an amd fanboi and sticking with AMD means i can stagger the upgrade slightly. (buy the motherboard now and drop my Phenom 2 into it. Then i can purchase the rest in a short while.
Click to expand...
Okay that's up to you, but if you want my thoughts, I'd rather go with Intel. Vishera is very far out of date and it was never that impressive to begin with.
 
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EmileS

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GoofySmurf said:
Well there is no difference between the intel counterpart when playing games. The only area where the intel cpu will shine if he does video or audio editing. He stated its for games so no use wasting money on an intel cpu.

You machine will run bf4 at about 95fps on ultra in a 64player map. The AMD cpu actually performs faster than the intel counterpart in bf4 due to mantle.

Before you say I am a fanboy my cpu's is i7-2600k at 4.9GHZ and i5-2500k at 4.8GHZ. I have seen that cpu and gpu in action and they perform the same as my cpu with a single 7970 running as the 280x is a repackaged 7970.
Click to expand...
You have no idea of the price of an Intel i5 4670 and the AMD FX8320 CPUs do you? And the performance both give in games and apps? So we don't waste your time, they cost almost the same. So no, he'll be wasting money paying for AMD.

It is true though, AMD CPU perform relatively better than Intel CPUs in BF. But, comparing it to a wide spectrum of games which mostly includes games not utilizing all the cores, AMD CPUs are just a hit and miss where the Intel CPUs perform excellent across the board due to the balance of performance per core. But, you should think majority of use. Which means when he gets bored with BF and want to play other games the Intel CPU should keep him flying. And then he wants to do some editing... Intel no brainer
 
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Ancalagon

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Only the 750Ti though, which as far as I remember, is not a major upgrade over the 7790 he already has. Besides, he would lose out on Mantle.
 
cerebus

cerebus

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Ancalagon said:
Only the 750Ti though, which as far as I remember, is not a major upgrade over the 7790 he already has. Besides, he would lose out on Mantle.
Click to expand...

Mantle has zero proven value at the moment. But a 750ti wouldn't be an upgrade from a 7790.
 
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wez1007

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Okay so looking at the Intel side of things i can pick up a CPU and Mother board for slightly less from Esquire.

This is the board im looking at: Gigabyte GA-H87M-HD3

One down side to the Asrock board is i need a PCI slot for my Asus DGX.

Mantel will be pretty pointless if i get a beefy CPU. well at least for the next year i rate. It could certainly mean games ported from consoles could run a lot better... but ill wait and see...

If i did a switch from AMD (GPUs ) to Nvidia what would you guys recommend and Why? I would like to stick with AMD and see where this mantel hoo-haa goes...

EDIT: wait... only 2 Memory slots... forget it.. Looking for another board
 
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Ancalagon

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Um mantle seems to nearly double the FPS in certain games, including BF3. That is proven value.
 
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wez1007

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Ancalagon said:
Um mantle seems to nearly double the FPS in certain games, including BF3. That is proven value.
Click to expand...

Bf3 has mantel support?

Ive used it and it does make a bit of difference but that might just be because my CPU is bottle necking my system. Its pretty much matches my overall experience of Bf4 though - Its in its Beta stage...
 
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