Old processor, graphics card upgrade?

Dyldo_Baggins · 4 Oct 2017 at 01:47

My 5 year old PC is struggling to run things above 30fps so looking for a graphics card upgrade, potentially the ASUS ROG STRIX GTX1060 O6G.

Current specs:

AMD FX-6350 Six-core processor 4.40 GHz (OC)

16gb Mushkin Enhanced BlackLine Frostbyte

Asus Radeon R9 270X DirectCUII

500W Power Supply

120 gb SSD and 1TB HDD

Asus VG278HE LCD Monitor

Thanks for any suggestions,

Dylan

Vidar · 4 Oct 2017 at 02:30

Hello mate, and welcome to the forums... You should head over to the new members section and introduce yourself there, it's a fantastic community.

That said, what's your budget? Others will know better but I'd be slightly concerned about possible bottlenecking and whether your PSU was up to the task. However as far as the 1060 cards go there isn't much better than the Strix.

TacticalFish · 4 Oct 2017 at 09:50

As per Vidar, what's your budget?

@Vidar although an older CPU, would a 6-core be a concern for bottlenecking?

According to TechPowerUp, your current card only draws slightly less power, personally I think your PSU would be fine. Which mobo do you have?

orbitalwalsh · 4 Oct 2017 at 10:08

Dyldo_Baggins said:
My 5 year old PC is struggling to run things above 30fps so looking for a graphics card upgrade, potentially the ASUS ROG STRIX GTX1060 O6G.

Current specs:

AMD FX-6350 Six-core processor 4.40 GHz (OC)

16gb Mushkin Enhanced BlackLine Frostbyte

Asus Radeon R9 270X DirectCUII

500W Power Supply

120 gb SSD and 1TB HDD

Asus VG278HE LCD Monitor

Thanks for any suggestions,

Dylan

posted this up on another thread link this but cant find it-

if your going to get the strix then

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x AMD Ryzen 5 Six Core 1600 3.60GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £188.99
1 x Asus ROG Strix B350-F AMD B350 (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £117.95
1 x Team Group Vulcan T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C16 3000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (TLGD416G30= £158.99

Total: £476.43
(includes shipping: £10.50)

Dyldo_Baggins · 4 Oct 2017 at 15:04

Vidar said:
Hello mate, and welcome to the forums... You should head over to the new members section and introduce yourself there, it's a fantastic community.

That said, what's your budget? Others will know better but I'd be slightly concerned about possible bottlenecking and whether your PSU was up to the task. However as far as the 1060 cards go there isn't much better than the Strix.

Thanks a lot Vidar, I am also worried about bottlenecking but thought it might just about cope with it. I am willing to spend around £700 to upgrade the rig entirely (if necessary). Ideally I want to record/stream gameplay simultaneously which my current CPU probably won't handle. Shadowplay currently works fine.

TacticalFish said:
As per Vidar, what's your budget?

@Vidar although an older CPU, would a 6-core be a concern for bottlenecking?

According to TechPowerUp, your current card only draws slightly less power, personally I think your PSU would be fine. Which mobo do you have?

Thanks for the info tactical, hopefully it will just about cope! If not, Orbitalwalshs' suggestion sounds like a solid overall upgrade. I have a GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3P AMD 970 + SB950 Chipset.

mistersprinkles · 4 Oct 2017 at 15:15

Your FX six core is woefully underpowered for today's games. It's less powerful than a 1st generation i7.

I suggest that you get yourself a new machine, based around something like an 8600K (coming in a week) which is a six core i5.

orbitalwalsh · 4 Oct 2017 at 15:32

Dyldo_Baggins said:
Thanks for the info tactical, hopefully it will just about cope! If not, Orbitalwalshs' suggestion sounds like a solid overall upgrade. I have a GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3P AMD 970 + SB950 Chipset.

haha, normally I quote Gigabyte boards but since you life the strix card thought it might be logical and my OCD kicking in....

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Gigabyte GA-AB350M-Gaming 3 AMD B350 (Socket AM4) DDR4 Micro ATX Motherboard= £87.95
1 x Gigabyte GA-AB350-Gaming 3 AMD B350 (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £101.99

Total: £201.04
(includes shipping: £11.10)

****sorry- misread your post lol. Just noted that the card using in the video i liked is the HD 6970 which is close to yours - so straight awa you'd see gains keeping your card... but would see bigger gains getting a 1060... food for thought

Quartz · 4 Oct 2017 at 16:33

Dyldo_Baggins said:
My 5 year old PC is struggling to run things above 30fps so looking for a graphics card upgrade, potentially the ASUS ROG STRIX GTX1060 O6G

Never mind 30 fps; your monitor is capable of 144 Hz and a GTX 1060 will struggle to take advantage of that in newer games. I suggest you stretch to a GTX 1070.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 Windforce 2x OC 8192MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £389.99

Total: £398.69
(includes shipping: £8.70)

Obviously a GTX 1080 would be even better.

I concur with the CPU / motherboard / RAM replacement and waiting for the new Intel CPUs. You should also consider replacing the PSU.

DomBruv · 4 Oct 2017 at 16:34

orbitalwalsh said:
haha, normally I quote Gigabyte boards but since you life the strix card thought it might be logical and my OCD kicking in....

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Gigabyte GA-AB350M-Gaming 3 AMD B350 (Socket AM4) DDR4 Micro ATX Motherboard= £87.95

1 x Gigabyte GA-AB350-Gaming 3 AMD B350 (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £101.99

Total: £201.04
(includes shipping: £11.10)

****sorry- misread your post lol. Just noted that the card using in the video i liked is the HD 6970 which is close to yours - so straight awa you'd see gains keeping your card... but would see bigger gains getting a 1060... food for thought

I have the same set up as this guy

what is the difference between these two boards ?

skyripper · 4 Oct 2017 at 16:57

DomBruv said:
I have the same set up as this guy

what is the difference between these two boards ?

Ones Micro-ATX, ones normal ATX

Socket AM4
Ryzen 7 "Zen" Support
4x DDR4 DIMM
3x PCIE x16
2x PCIE x1
6x SATA 6Gb/s
1x M.2 PCIE
4x USB 3.0
2x USB 3.1 TypeA
5x USB 2.0

vs

Socket AM4
Ryzen 7 "Zen" Support
4x DDR4 DIMM
2x PCIE x16
1x PCIE x1
6x SATA 6Gb/s
1x M.2 PCIE
4x USB 3.1
2x USB 3.1 TypeA
6x USB 2.0

So the smaller board has less PCI-E slots but more USB ports, and costs £14 less.

orbitalwalsh · 4 Oct 2017 at 17:22

DomBruv said:
I have the same set up as this guy

what is the difference between these two boards ?

ATX also has steel PCIe slots which is nice

If you want to match the Strix for looks wise but all gigabyte - also cheaper

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Gigabyte Aorus GeForce GTX 1060 6144MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £275.99
2 x Gigabyte GA-AB350-Gaming 3 AMD B350 (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £101.99

Total: £491.07
(includes shipping: £11.10)

Dyldo_Baggins · 4 Oct 2017 at 17:48

Uhmmm so overall either get a new rig entirely (might as well when you are looking at 800+) or start with the STRIX or a 1080 and see how bad the bottleneck is?

skyripper · 4 Oct 2017 at 17:48

orbitalwalsh said:
ATX also has steel PCIe slots which is nice

If you want to match the Strix for looks wise but all gigabyte - also cheaper

Can't see anything on the product page about that.

Also once you plug a gfx card into the slot, you won't see it, so what would be the point?

orbitalwalsh · 4 Oct 2017 at 17:54

skyripper said:
Can't see anything on the product page about that.

Also once you plug a gfx card into the slot, you won't see it, so what would be the point?

The point of it is , as well as all other vendors doing it is to stop users breaking their boards hahaha .
Users can actually pulling the slot out of the board when removing their GPU . Stupid yes, but happens - enough for it to go from a marketing ploy to actually being standard design

Quartz · 4 Oct 2017 at 18:35

Do steel slots also help with cards bending? I looked at the problem and switched to a rotated case.

orbitalwalsh · 4 Oct 2017 at 20:15

Quartz said:
Do steel slots also help with cards bending? I looked at the problem and switched to a rotated case.

Card will always flex but Mobo won't be damaged from it . Or in the rare chances to move pc - stands a lot better chance of not failing