GPU Upgrade For FX- series CPU

[SuperMormin247]

So my rig is old and way under spec. I know. I really don't need that lecture. I'm looking to upgrade my GPU since my GTX 950 really isn't cutting it anymore, but I don't want my new GPU to be bottlenecked too hard by my FX-8300, which is stuck with its 95w motherboard, so the highest OC I can get out of it is 3.6 Ghz. Long story short, how much more modern of a GPU can I feasibly get before a severe bottleneck? And no, upgrading to modern cpu just isn't an option with the amount I'd have to spend on a new motherboard, RAM, and possibly even a power supply as well. Sorry if I sound like I have a short fuse, but every other tech forum I've inquired has given me crap about by old and underpowered rig without offering any real help. Here's a picture of the rig just because. 

[Mazdaspeeding]

I mean, you could go up to around a 2060/5700 level card but the FX CPU wasn't all that great even when it was released.  You'll see some improvements but the 8300 is a big bottleneck.  Mostly you'll see bad 0.1% lows and have stuttering/frame drops.

 

I know it's hard to hear but IMO you're best off saving your money for a new CPU.  A 3600 is only $160 + a $70 motherboard and $70 RAM would be better than a $250-300 GPU.  Hell a used Intel CPU/motherboard where you could reuse your RAM would be a huge gaming improvement.

[narrdarr]

A gtx 1070 is probably going to be the best for what your looking for. You probably going to run into some stuttering here n there do to the architecture of fx series cpus, but it's a sold upgrade that you should enjoy 

[SuperMormin247]

12 minutes ago, Mazdaspeeding said:

I mean, you could go up to around a 2060/5700 level card but the FX CPU wasn't all that great even when it was released.  You'll see some improvements but the 8300 is a big bottleneck.  Mostly you'll see bad 0.1% lows and have stuttering/frame drops.

 

I know it's hard to hear but IMO you're best off saving your money for a new CPU.  A 3600 is only $160 + a $70 motherboard and $70 RAM would be better than a $250-300 GPU

Well yes, but I would still be wanting to upgrade the GPU on top of the cpu. A current gen ryzen cpu would be nice and all, but paired with a 950 I dont really see the point. Also, if I were to upgrade my gpu now, and then save for a cpu upgrade later, the new gpu should still be viable when I upgrade everything else.

[SuperMormin247]

6 minutes ago, narrdarr said:

A gtx 1070 is probably going to be the best for what your looking for. You probably going to run into some stuttering here n there do to the architecture of fx series cpus, but it's a sold upgrade that you should enjoy 

Thanks for the input. I was actually looking at things a little below that since I thought 1070 might be pushing too far.

[Mazdaspeeding]

9 minutes ago, SuperMormin247 said:

Well yes, but I would still be wanting to upgrade the GPU on top of the cpu. A current gen ryzen cpu would be nice and all, but paired with a 950 I dont really see the point. 

The same logic can be flipped back.  I don't see the point in running an 8300 with a 1070 or 2060.  With that 8300, you still won't see 60fps in most titles.  Right now the 8300 is holding you back more than the 960.

 

You're kind of in a no-win scenario bud and the only way to "win" is to save your money at the moment.   A used 1070 is still going to run you about the same as a 3600.  I'd wait until you can get both.

Edited June 16, 2020 by Mazdaspeeding

[SuperMormin247]

20 minutes ago, Mazdaspeeding said:

The same logic can be flipped back.  I don't see the point in running an 8300 with a 1070 or 2060.  With that 8300, you still won't see 60fps in most titles.  Right now the 8300 is holding you back more than the 960.

 

You're kind of in a no-win scenario bud and the only way to "win" is to save your money at the moment.   A used 1070 is still going to run you about the same as a 3600.  I'd wait until you can get both.

I'm not sure I'm convinced that my 8300 is more of a performance wall than my 950, as pretty much any somewhat modern game I run takes up all of my GPU usage, but if thats not a valid way to test which is hurting performance more, then I must be wrong. As it stands, I really dont see how upgrading my gpu now, even if it won't give me as good of a performance boost as I could hope for, could possibly hurt me any, but maybe there's something I'm not fully understanding. 

[Mazdaspeeding]

For some reason I was thinking you had a 960.  But it doesn't matter very much in the grand scheme because the FX 8300 has such poor single thread and memory latency that it kneecaps any GPU you put with it.    

 

Let's say you got a used 1070, it may get you 20-30 more average fps but it's still going to seem choppy from the CPU leading to an overall poor experience.  

 

[Mateyyy]

5 minutes ago, Mazdaspeeding said:

Let's say you got a used 1070, it may get you 20-30 more average fps but it's still going to seem choppy from the CPU leading to an overall poor experience.  

^ this, average FPS doesn't tell the whole story.

 

I'd probably look at an RX 480 or GTX 1060 tops.

[Haro]

4 minutes ago, Mateyyy said:

this, average FPS doesn't tell the whole story.

Yes 

There is also frame time

[SuperMormin247]

47 minutes ago, Mazdaspeeding said:

For some reason I was thinking you had a 960.  But it doesn't matter very much in the grand scheme because the FX 8300 has such poor single thread and memory latency that it kneecaps any GPU you put with it.    

 

Let's say you got a used 1070, it may get you 20-30 more average fps but it's still going to seem choppy from the CPU leading to an overall poor experience.  

 

I kinda wish I had gotten a 960 when I first upgraded (I've had this machine for almost 7 years I think and when I first upgraded, I hardly knew anything about hardware aside from how to install it). It came as a pre-built with an FX- 4300 and a GT 730 lol. But thats beside the point. 20-30 extra fps does sound attractive ngl, even if there's still some choppiness (especially since occasional dips in framerate dont actually bother me that much being as ive always had that issue) but I definitely understand why a cpu upgrade is necessary at some point. In regards to my original question, it sounds like 1070 or rx 580 are probably my highest options, so I may end up with one of those if I bother to upgrade now, probably the rx 580 because I have a freesync monitor that I can't force gsync compatibility onto. Thanks for your input, and for not being an a**hole. 

[i_build_nanosuits]

Anything higher than a gtx 960 or 1050ti is pointless with that cpu as it will not be a good gaming experience regardless. On AMD side you would be looking at a Rx 470 or equivalent performance.

[rorythedawg]

9 hours ago, SuperMormin247 said:

So my rig is old and way under spec. I know. I really don't need that lecture. I'm looking to upgrade my GPU since my GTX 950 really isn't cutting it anymore, but I don't want my new GPU to be bottlenecked too hard by my FX-8300, which is stuck with its 95w motherboard, so the highest OC I can get out of it is 3.6 Ghz. Long story short, how much more modern of a GPU can I feasibly get before a severe bottleneck? And no, upgrading to modern cpu just isn't an option with the amount I'd have to spend on a new motherboard, RAM, and possibly even a power supply as well. Sorry if I sound like I have a short fuse, but every other tech forum I've inquired has given me crap about by old and underpowered rig without offering any real help. Here's a picture of the rig just because. 

So here are some things to consider, 

firstly you need to keep in mind what goes into upgrading an older system to have a newer gpu, it looks like you only have 1 6-pin (guess based on size) plugged in currently so unless you've got an 8pin lying around in there your GPU upgrade options are going to be pretty limited unless you get a new power supply.

 

For GPU upgrades without upgrading the power supply, your basically looking at a gtx 1060. That would be a decent upgrade for you and you are definitely going to want to buy used if your on a tight budget. But heres the thing, used pricing can be a little wacky, in my area at least, you can get a rx 480 for around $100 on ebay and a 580 for $110, however a 1060 is upward of $150. Even with a power supply upgrade that would make the rx580 a better deal, not to mention its stronger than a 1060. This is not to say you should go out and buy a power supply and an rx 580, but you should take a look at used pricing around you to get an idea of whats available and at what price.

 

Moving onto the dreaded point of the CPU. A 8300 will probably be alright with a 1060 or a 580, but here is something very very important you need to consider. An 8300 clocked at 4.2Ghz has a cinebench r15 single threaded core score of 96. A ryzen 2200g meanwhile, scores 142. Considering (again based on pricing in my area) a 2200g is ~$50 used you should really look into your areas used pricing and check out whats available. Ive found multiple b450 boards for between $50-$80 and found lots of 16gb ddr4 for about 60-80. 

 

All in all for just a bit more than the price of a gtx 1070 (in my area around $190-$230) and a new PSU (which would be needed as the 1070 needs an 8pin) you could get a 2200g, b450 board, 16gb ddr4 and an rx 580, about a $20-$40 difference depending on which deals you can get. Again this pricing is just in my area so check your own out. But the point is that you would end up with a better overall gaming experience (especially if youve invested in a freesync moni, you dont want the stuttering youd keep with a 8300) by upgrading your rig in a balanced way rather than just devoting your whole budget to a GPU. Also this new rig would allow for some really good upgrade options as b450 should support at least some ryzen 4000 cpus. 

 

hopefully you find this helpful.