Best Graphics Card for Phenom II X4 980BE

[Clutchc]

The title says it all. I'm wondering what would be the best card for the PhIIX4 980. Assume I don't overclock. Price isn't really an issue.

Phenom II X4 980BE
MSI 785GM-E65
2 x 4GB 1600MHZ DDR3
1080p resolution
Main use; gaming

 

[blastingcap]

R9 280X or GTX 770 would allow that CPU to stretch its legs, but I wouldn't go much beyond that as you could increasingly find CPU bottlenecks if you do, at 1080p. This is assuming no OC, like you said.

 

[Lepton87]

I would change the CPU, it's going to be severely limiting even a mid-range card at 1080p in most games. 280x/770 class card is already an overkill for such a CPU but go a tier lower and you will get a helluva slower cards so they are a sensible choice unless you can find older cards like GTX680 or 7950 boost for noticeably less, there's no sense in saving 20-30$ but if you can find GTX680 for 100$ less than 770 then it's worth it. I know you said the price was not an issue but if that's the case then why keep that ancient CPU?

 

[daveybrat]

I would change the CPU, it's going to be severely limiting even a mid-range card at 1080p in most games. 280x/770 class card is already an overkill for such a CPU but go a tier lower and you will get a helluva slower cards so they are a sensible choice unless you can find older cards like GTX680 or 7950 boost for noticeably less, there's no sense in saving 20-30$ but if you can find GTX680 for 100$ less than 770 then it's worth it. I know you said the price was not an issue but if that's the case then why keep that ancient CPU?

Ugh, not every post has to be to upgrade their cpu. He's simply asking what card is best suited for HIS system.

I'd say the best bang for the buck for your system would be a nice GTX 760 card. Can be had for about $249 and should be able to play any game at 1080P.

I've got the AMD 960T at 3.5GHz with a GTX 660 and play most of my games at 1080P and high settings, some at ultra.

 

[Clutchc]

Thanks for the replies. I don't really have much choice when it comes to upgrading CPU for the AM3 socket. Any CPU I can find that would be better than a PhII X4 @ 3.7GHZ would possibly be a used x6, and I don't feel like taking the chance.

I'm surprised that the GTX 770/R9-280X would be recommended. I would have thought that would be too much card for the CPU. But it pleasantly surprises me
I would have thought that even the GTX 760/R9-270X would be pushing it. Time to start pricing some cards!

 

[toyota]

I would go no higher than a 760 with that cpu and even that will be held back quite a bit in most games. I would not even attempt using vsync in most game as that cpu will hardly ever let you stay above 60 fps. all a 770 will do is let you run more AA but to me that is just silly as that is money that could be put towards getting a new cpu now or later.

"Price isn't really an issue"

then get a better cpu.

 

[nurturedhate]

7950 on newegg for $229, $209 after rebate.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202026

 

[Silverforce11]

Second a 7950 or gtx760 class card, that CPU struggles to deliver good frames in many newer games. It will be a waste of $$ to spend more on a beefier GPU.

 

[AtenRa]

That HD7950 on the link above or any R7 270x or R9 280
Due to your lower performance CPU it will be better to have Mantle enabled GPU.
If you planning to upgrade the rest of the system say in 6-12 months you can also go for a Custom R9 290.

 

[frozentundra123456]

I would agree, anything over GTX 760 class card is overkill for that cpu. If one gets an AMD card, mantle will help in a few games, but right now only BF4 and Thief support it, and hopefully DA Inquisition based on FB3 will also.

However, with games like Watchdogs and the new Mordor game recommending an Ivy Bridge i7, a cpu upgrade would seem to be in order. OTOH, maybe these cpu requirements are just highly overstated and slower cpus will work fine.

 

[Clutchc]

OK. Thanks to all your suggestions, I think I will look at the GTX 760, R9-270, or HD 7950 (if still on sale). I'd rather have a little too much card for the CPU than not enough.

How does the new R7-265 rate?

 

[Lepton87]

OK. Thanks to all your suggestions, I think I will look at the GTX 760, R9-270, or HD 7950 (if still on sale). I'd rather have a little too much card for the CPU than not enough.

How does the new R7-265 rate?

Performance-wise it's very close to GTX570/6970 so it's a very significant downgrade from 7950. I would try to find something based on Tahiti or GK104. (7870LE and GTX760 are the slowest cards based on those chips.)
Curaçao XT (270X) is also fine, it performs on par with GTX760.

 

[Attic]

I think that's still a solid getup there. If you can get the AMD 7950 I'd recommend that over anything else.

Otherwise you're looking at R9 270 or 270x (the 270 will be better value when both are OC'd) or a GTX760.

 

[TeknoBug]

I wouldn't go above a R9 270X or GTX760 with the 980BE, it can start to bottleneck a GTX770 or R9 280X.

As others said, make your priority on the CPU first if you have the cash, some 760G motherboards accept FX CPU's, my FX 4350 is a pretty nice CPU so see if that motherboard's BIOS accepts it.

 

[lehtv]

As others said, make your priority on the CPU first if you have the cash, some 760G motherboards accept FX CPU's, my FX 4350 is a pretty nice CPU so see if that motherboard's BIOS accepts it.

Unfortunately, the FX-4350 is a sidegrade. On stock clocks, the 980 BE is actually better in certain multithreaded tasks because it is a true quad core. Pretty much any FX is a sidegrade as far as gaming is concerned, as few games can properly use more than 4 threads. Intel i5 would be a true upgrade.

 

[Clutchc]

Unfortunately, the MSI 785GM-E65 board I have only has an AM3 socket. So, a CPU upgrade is out of the question.

 

[lehtv]

Unfortunately, the MSI 785GM-E65 board I have only has an AM3 socket. So, a CPU upgrade is out of the question.

Just know that the next time you upgrade your PC's gaming performnace, you'll have to go Intel along with a new motherboard (and possibly new RAM, if you're not buying until DDR4)

 

[SlickR12345]

For that CPU I'd say a max of GTX 760. Anything beyond that is going to be limited by the CPU.

The GTX 760 is very good though and should provide great gaming for the next 2 years easily.

 

[lehtv]

For that CPU I'd say a max of GTX 760. Anything beyond that is going to be limited by the CPU.

The GTX 760 is very good though and should provide great gaming for the next 2 years easily.

Fortunately, the 7950 is both better and less expensive.

 

[Clutchc]

Why do you figure the 7950 is better than the 760? They seem to trade punches in the benchmarks depending on the game.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/854?vs=855
http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-HD-7950-vs-GeForce-GTX-760

And Newegg has both of those cards for $229.

 

[Attic]

Why do you figure the 7950 is better than the 760? They seem to trade punches in the benchmarks depending on the game.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/854?vs=855
http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-HD-7950-vs-GeForce-GTX-760

And Newegg has both of those cards for $229.

7950 has higher mem bandwith and more VRAM.

If you won't OC then below matters not.


Should also note that the 7950 is a bit like a caged animal at it's default clocks. In that bench from your link I believe it's clocked to 800, the original shipping speed of the core on the 7950, unless Anandtech has updated the bench then factor that in when evaluating performance numbers from reviews.

Some Performance deltas of the 7950 once unleashed

The 7950 from newegg will run at 925 core (+125 from anand bench) and the 7950 really opens up when getting the core to 1000 and most guys on these cards were successful to 1100.

 

[lehtv]

Why do you figure the 7950 is better than the 760?

What Attic said.

And Newegg has both of those cards for $229.

Sapphire 7950 dual fan = $230, $210 AR.

The cheapest GTX 760 on newegg is indeed $230 ($210 AR), but it is a blower cooler type from PNY with only 1 year warranty. For a model comparable to the Sapphire - proper cooling and at least 2 year warranty - you'd have to pay $250 ($240 AR) for a Gigabyte.

The GTX 760 does come with free Watch Dogs while the Sapphire 7950 is not bundled with games, however. So if you include the cost of the game, then the GTX 760 will be cheaper.

The 7950 from newegg will run at 925 core (+125 from anand bench) and the 7950 really opens up when getting the core to 1000 and most guys on these cards were successful to 1100.

Yep. I've been running my Sapphire 7950 Vapor-X at 1100MHz for over a year, and recently it started acting up a bit (artifacts in some games, drivers crashing) so I clocked down to 1050Mhz, as I didn't want to overvolt it more. However, there's no guarantee that the Dual-X on newegg will handle 1100Mhz, but whatever the overclock, it will still be a fair bit faster than the GTX 760.

 

[Clutchc]

What Attic said.



Sapphire 7950 dual fan = $230, $210 AR.

The cheapest GTX 760 on newegg is indeed $230 ($210 AR), but it is a blower cooler type from PNY with only 1 year warranty. For a model comparable to the Sapphire - proper cooling and at least 2 year warranty - you'd have to pay $250 ($240 AR) for a Gigabyte.

The GTX 760 does come with free Watch Dogs while the Sapphire 7950 is not bundled with games, however. So if you include the cost of the game, then the GTX 760 will be cheaper.



Yep. I've been running my Sapphire 7950 Vapor-X at 1100MHz for over a year, and recently it started acting up a bit (artifacts in some games, drivers crashing) so I clocked down to 1050Mhz, as I didn't want to overvolt it more. However, there's no guarantee that the Dual-X on newegg will handle 1100Mhz, but whatever the overclock, it will still be a fair bit faster than the GTX 760.

@ lehtv and Attic:
Very good information. Much appreciated. I see what you mean about the HD 7950 after digesting all this. I will have to reconsider it after all. Now I owe you an explanation of why I said "assume I don't overclock". Actually, I do...

My processor isn't really a PhII X4 980BE. It started out life as a Phenom II X2 B59. I was able to unlock the 2 dormant cores to make it a stable 559 quad core. I now have it at a stable 3.74 GHZ, so I just used the 980BE to keep things simple since it now has the same specs. I think I might be at the fastest I can run it, so that is why I said I don't OC. Sorry, I should have said that originally.

 

[Attic]

@ lehtv and Attic:
Very good information. Much appreciated. I see what you mean about the HD 7950 after digesting all this. I will have to reconsider it after all. Now I owe you an explanation of why I said "assume I don't overclock". Actually, I do...

My processor isn't really a PhII X4 980BE. It started out life as a Phenom II X2 B59. I was able to unlock the 2 dormant cores to make it a stable 559 quad core. I now have it at a stable 3.74 GHZ, so I just used the 980BE to keep things simple since it now has the same specs. I think I might be at the fastest I can run it, so that is why I said I don't OC. Sorry, I should have said that originally.

Nice, and I get why you'd just call the proc what it most closely represents.

I previously owned four of the 7950 MSI TFIII cards and had good experience like lehtv, they all ran over 1100+mhz on the core. Only complaint on them was the twin 80mm fans were smaller than I thought they should have been and the card got a bit noisy and ran a bit hot when pushed. But I had two in my Lian Li HTPC case so it was not ideal for xfire.

Watch Dogs bundle with the GTX 760 is a very nice addition, pretty much will be a must play game IMO.

Looking at the 7950's, it's a bit unfortunate AMD didn't do the R9 280 rebrand on the 7950 (yet?) if only because a game bundle could get with the R9 280.

 

[Termie]

Nice, and I get why you'd just call the proc what it most closely represents.

I previously owned four of the 7950 MSI TFIII cards and had good experience like lehtv, they all ran over 1100+mhz on the core. Only complaint on them was the twin 80mm fans were smaller than I thought they should have been and the card got a bit noisy and ran a bit hot when pushed. But I had two in my Lian Li HTPC case so it was not ideal for xfire.

Watch Dogs bundle with the GTX 760 is a very nice addition, pretty much will be a must play game IMO.

Looking at the 7950's, it's a bit unfortunate AMD didn't do the R9 280 rebrand on the 7950 (yet?) if only because a game bundle could get with the R9 280.

Actually, the R9 280 does indeed exist. It's right here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202099

It's essentially identical to the HD7950, but if the OP values the three free games, the $20 higher price may actually be worth it.