I need help upgrading

[JakeMnz]

I have the Kaveri 7850K APU and I love it, but I'd also like to upgrade. The easiest thing to do is get an r9 270x (yes I know it's not compatible with crossfire, I don't quite care), but I'm not super savvy with tech so I don't know if it would cause issues. What I'm concerned about is bottlenecking. Is the Kaveri powerful enough to work with the r9 270x?

 

Not sure if the information is needed, but here's my build:

 

Motherboard: MSI A88X-G43 

 

APU: AMD 7850K Kaveri 

 

Graphics: Integrated AMD Radeon R7 graphics 

 

Memory: 8GB G.Skills Ripjaws X Series DDR3 1866

 

PSU: Corsair 600M 

 

Storage: Western Digital Black 1TB 7200RPM 64MB Cache 

 

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master 212 Evo

 

 

So yeah, I just want to know if this upgrade is a possibility with the build that I have. Thanks!

[rambi36]

What is your max budget for this upgrade? The 270X wouldn't bottleneck it that badly so you should be good

[JakeMnz]

What is your max budget for this upgrade? Edit: The 270X wouldn't bottleneck it that badly so you should be good

 

Well if the upgrade is possible without needing anything else, then the budget doesn't really matter. If I need extras then I'd say $400.

 

Edit: Alright thanks.

 

I won't mark this as solved yet, I'd like to see if anyone else has some insight.

[rambi36]

Well if the upgrade is possible without needing anything else, then the budget doesn't really matter. If I need extras then I'd say $400.

Get an R9 280 instead of a 270X. It will perform a lot better and it's coming down in price by a lot http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202099&cm_re=R9_280-_-14-202-099-_-Product

[JakeMnz]

Are you sure that that's better than this?: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121802&cm_re=r9_270x-_-14-121-802-_-Product

 

Like I said, I'm not super tech savvy, but the clock speeds on the 270x are higher. Does the extra stream processors and extra GB make it that much better?

 

I know this is like explaining economics to a 4 year old, but I appreciate the help.

[PaulKolby]

honestly i would run crossfire cause if u dont ur wasting ur apu i would get a decent graphics card pretty much the highest end graphics card compatible with crossfire and make sure ur memory is compatible with crossfire if u dont run crossfire then as i said ur wasting ur apu if u really dont want crossfire then go with a 270x but as i am saying u get more value if u run crossfire and ur apu might struggle slightly with the 270x but i think u should be fine but i strongly suggest crossfire

[JakeMnz]

honestly i would run crossfire cause if u dont ur wasting ur apu i would get a decent graphics card pretty much the highest end graphics card compatible with crossfire and make sure ur memory is compatible with crossfire if u dont run crossfire then as i said ur wasting ur apu if u really dont want crossfire then go with a 270x but as i am saying u get more value if u run crossfire and ur apu might struggle slightly with the 270x but i think u should be fine but i strongly suggest crossfire

Actually, you're wrong there. I believe it was Jay's Two Cents (I don't know the channel name, but it's something like that) that did a video comparing the r9 270x with the r7 250 (the best GPU the kaveri can run crossfire with). With the r7 and the kaveri working together, the r9 still blew it out of the water. I regret getting the APU because I assumed AMD would make more compatible GPU's, but they've told me in an e-mail that I shouldn't expect any new GPU's that are compatible with the kaveri for crossfire. It's good hardware, AMD just boned me on this one.

 

Edit: Yup, here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWans5FU4cU

[PaulKolby]

okay yeah the apu is good with a 270

[JakeMnz]

the reason i recommmended it cause it was best bang for the buck i never said it was as good honestly if u want serious performance sell the apu somehow get an amd 6 core cpu or something intel and get a 270x then

 

i was saying ur wasting ur apu and not using what it was built for i would just get a cpu

I get what you're saying and I'm disappointed that the Kaveri can't run any higher than the r7 250, which I didn't expect to happen. I'd switch over to an intel chip, but everything gets so costly. I have to get a $200 CPU, $200 GPU, and a mobo is going to cost me at least $80. I'd probably keep my old hardware and make a more portable mini PC that I can leave the house with. 

 

Edit: And it's a similar issue with a new AMD chip. APU's are FM2+ sockets so of course you need a board that's FM2+. The good AMD CPU's are mostly AM3, which of course arent compatible. So again, I'd get a $200 chip, a $200 GPU, and a board that's at least $80.