Best GPU Combo with FX-8350

[Consoledotlog]

So right now I have a desktop with an FX-8350, GTX 970, 24gb of ram etc. I would love to get a little higher detail in games & up the framerate past a stable 60fps @ 1080. I play pretty much exclusively Forza at medium ish settings, and a couple other small non demanding games. My question is if I can upgrade just the gpu, keep everything else, I know it would create a bottleneck, but how bad of one? And how much does Forza demand on cpu, could I get away with it?

[PopsicleHustler]

970 is already being bottlenecked by that CPU. Getting a new GPU won't increase FPS by much and might even create stuttering because CPU won't be able to keep up.

 

I personally owned FX8350 in my old build, and it was bottlenecking RX480 which is about as powerful as GTX970.

[Jurrunio]

2 minutes ago, PopsicleHustler said:

it was bottlenecking RX480 which is about as powerful as RX480.

what else? You weren't using an RX 580 which has a chance to perform like the RX 570 /s

[PopsicleHustler]

Just now, Jurrunio said:

what else? You weren't using an RX 580 which has a chance to perform like the RX 570 /s

I meant to say RX480 is about as powerful as GTX970. I'm a little drunk atm, maybe I shouldn't be here

[Tristerin]

Ive paired a Fury with a 8350 (Fury = 980) and it was massively bottlenecked by my FX chip.

[PlayStation 2]

Forza Motorsport 7 or Forza Horizon 4? If it's the former, I don't believe you should have a single problem almost maxing it out, but if it's the latter, FH4 is a bit more CPU dependent, even with your 970. Maybe look into a 2060 for Forza Horizon 4?

[KarathKasun]

FX anything is going to have a very hard time maintaining 60+ FPS in many games.  Its just too weak per core, even at ~5ghz.

 

In several games I can run into CPU limitations with an FX-8300 @ 4.7ghz core and 2.6ghz IMC, 32gb of DDR3 2133, and an RX 560.  Fallout 4 for example, at 1080p max details, can end up at 75% usage on the RX 560

[Tristerin]

8 minutes ago, KarathKasun said:

FX anything is going to have a very hard time maintaining 60+ FPS in many games.  Its just too weak per core, even at ~5ghz.

 

In several games I can run into CPU limitations with an FX-8300 @ 4.7ghz core and 2.6ghz IMC, 32gb of DDR3 2133, and an RX 560.  Fallout 4 for example, at 1080p max details, can end up at 75% usage on the RX 560

I was going to say, the only GPU in my arsenal that the FX didn't bottleneck was an HD7850 2gb lol

[KarathKasun]

3 minutes ago, Tristerin said:

I was going to say, the only GPU in my arsenal that the FX didn't bottleneck was an HD7850 2gb lol

I have one of those too (R7 265 rebrand), and in specific games it is bottlenecked as well.

[Consoledotlog]

Ok thanks for all the input gents! I'll probably end up waiting a bit and then upgrading the whole thing, was crossing my fingers that I could just upgrade the gpu.

[MadAnt250]

@ConsoledotlogIf you are upgrading your system, keep your GTX 970 for a while to save some cash for the next upgrade. Forza will perform a lot better with a the upgraded CPU and with a GTX 970 you should be able to play the game at 1080p on high detail. 

 

In games like the Forza series, running over 60 FPS is not necessary most of the time. In fact the game may run better when locked/v-synced to a lower frame rate.

 

I run Forza Horizon 4 just fine with high details with my i5-7400 and GTX 970.

Your GTX 970 has more potential than you think, it's just being choked.

[KarathKasun]

5 hours ago, MadAnt250 said:

@ConsoledotlogIf you are upgrading your system, keep your GTX 970 for a while to save some cash for the next upgrade. Forza will perform a lot better with a the upgraded CPU and with a GTX 970 you should be able to play the game at 1080p on high detail. 

 

In games like the Forza series, running over 60 FPS is not necessary most of the time. In fact the game may run better when locked/v-synced to a lower frame rate.

 

I run Forza Horizon 4 just fine with high details with my i5-7400 and GTX 970.

Your GTX 970 has more potential than you think, it's just being choked.

100% agree with this.  I used to defend the FX series for the things it was good at, but "sidegrading" to an R5 1400 was a huge upgrade in gaming.  Even with the same GPU.

 

For comparison sake, the R5 1400 is about equal to an old i7-2600k in most respects with overclocking taken into account, placing it at overclocked FX-8300 series performance in multi threaded loads and nearly 50% faster in single thread workloads.  This results in better minimum gaming FPS and MUCH less game stuttering.

 

Something like an R5 2600 would be a massive jump in performance.

[i_build_nanosuits]

9 hours ago, Consoledotlog said:

So right now I have a desktop with an FX-8350, GTX 970, 24gb of ram etc. I would love to get a little higher detail in games & up the framerate past a stable 60fps @ 1080. I play pretty much exclusively Forza at medium ish settings, and a couple other small non demanding games. My question is if I can upgrade just the gpu, keep everything else, I know it would create a bottleneck, but how bad of one? And how much does Forza demand on cpu, could I get away with it?

GTX 970 is already above what i would consider a good match for this CPU.

If you want better gaming experiences, higher details and higher more stable framerates you would need to buy something like this and sell you old parts to get some money to help pay for this:

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($128.98 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B450 Gaming X ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($89.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Team T-FORCE VULCAN Z 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon RX 5700 8 GB PULSE Video Card  ($369.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $653.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-09-20 00:33 EDT-0400