Affordable CPU for AM3 socket/PCIe

mollymosfet

Looking to keep my PC up to date, so I can play modern games at decent settings but nothing overly fancy. I can already play most of the games on my list but a couple(mostly the latest Dreamfall) struggle a bit. I currently have a Radeon HD 5770 I believe and an AMD Athlon X3 440 3.0ghz.

Also looking at replacing the HD with a 3TB one and ghosting the image over.

This is my MB, it's a bit ageing unfortunately but I don't really want to replace it. Probably for my next upgrade I'll rebuild or just replace my laptop and focus more on older games;

http://www.msi.com/product/mb/760GME51.html#hero-specification

N64

My best guess as to what's causing bad performance is the CPU. If you were to upgrade your GPU, you might notice a difference, but not a substantial one

First and foremost, I would try and unlocking the fourth core on your CPU. There is no such thing as a CPU with only three cores inside and with the X3's, there is a fourth core inside there, but it's disabled. This either could be because the fourth core is unstable OR they just disabled it for market demand. Try to unlock it and report back here! (I'm not responsible / It's not guaranteed that it will unlock ofc - if it doesn't POST, just reset your CMOS)

mollymosfet

Well I tried that, bricked my computer, had to reset CMOS which was a challenge with the awkward way my motherboard is arranged(battery under graphics card, jumper wedged between a tiny space between it and PSU).

challengemaster

I think you're trying to flog a dead horse on this one. It's a 5-6 year old system that wasn't even giving flagship performance back then.

There's been systems posted in this forum recently for under €400 that would give decent performance for most games today. You might even be able to reduce that cost if your case/PSU/RAM/HDD can be carried over.

You'd sink at least half that into your current PC trying to upgrade the CPU and GPU with minimal gains.

TheDoc

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-337-AM

I've been doing the rounds looking into upgrading my AMD Phenom X4 955 Be and this was suggested, unilaterally as a great upgrade to keep the cost down.

Personally I decided on going with intel and an i5, as the games I play will benefit from the faster cores intel provide, not more cores my games don't use.

But the above was a real viable alternative that I put a lot of time into toying over the decision. Really depends on the games you play to be honest. BF4 for example really likes the AMD setup, and utilises the extra cores, but most games won't harness anything out of 8 cores.

From what I've read there seems to be a general rule of thumb

Intel is less cores, but the cores run faster.
AMD have more cores, but the cores run slower.

So really depends on your games. For me, I don't really play new releases, I play games I've been playing for years, and they are at best dual core optimised, some of them quad core. But 8 cores I wouldn't ever really see the benefit off.

mollymosfet

i've found cpus and gpus that are a little newer and perform 2-3 times as well as my current set up. i should be able to get close to ps4/xb1 performance anyway.

TerrorFirmer

mollymosfet wrote: »

i've found cpus and gpus that are a little newer and perform 2-3 times as well as my current set up. i should be able to get close to ps4/xb1 performance anyway.

What are they and where are you getting them?

mollymosfet

i just looked at the cpu/gpu charts for the highest performing stuff i can afford.

it seems i can only get them off ebay though.

TerrorFirmer

Honestly can't see that going well.

what's your budget?

mollymosfet

Well I don't have much of an option. A new motherboard would be another €140 or so I can't afford and a lot of effort rebuilding my PC. I'd rather wait another couple of years for that when I have enough money for a decent build.

I'm looking to spend maybe €250 at most, if I can get it for €200 that'd be great. It looks like for €200 I could triple my CPU and GPU benchmark.

TerrorFirmer

What hardware are you looking at specifically?

mollymosfet

The Phenom X6s, and the Radeon R7s or maybe R9s.

I probably have a lot more leeway with GPUs since PCI-e outlasted AM3.

TerrorFirmer

If you have €250 to spend, that'll get you a brand new Intel G3258, a GTX750, and a Z97 anniversary board.

You could get an old X4 955 or X6 but really you're just moving sideways, better performance but a totally dead platform at the end of the day.

By going S1150 you have tons of upgrade paths in the future.

mollymosfet

btw, I have a MicroATX tower. It's an MSI 760GM-E51 board I have currently.

mollymosfet

i really don't know if i have the time and money to fork out for a new board, not to mention i may have to resintall windows again, which I only did a few months ago, it took weeks to get things back the way they were.

is it still worth upgrading the cpu and gpu as much as i can?