Buy new gpu (cpu: phenom ii x6 1090t)

[thestbar]

I want to buy new gpu but I am afraid that my old cpu will bottleneck it..
My cpu is amd's phenom ii x6 1090t..
My budget is about 200-250€ so my first options were gtx 960 4gb, r9 380 4gb and r9 380x.. What is the best option according to my cpu? Should I wait until the release of amd polaris and nvidia pascal to buy the new models or even buy the older models on a better price? Like a gtx 970 on reduced price..
PS: I think that I will go for r9 380x which I can buy for 230-240€ but I must be sure that my cpu won't bottleneck it..
PS#1: Sorry for bad english.. Not my native language..

 

[poofyhairguy]

Should I wait until the release of amd polaris and nvidia pascal to buy the new models or even buy the older models on a better price? Like a gtx 970 on reduced price..

Yes, if you can wait, wait.

Every new generation of GPUs leads to a reduction in value of old hardware.

 

[NTMBK]

I'd wait until the new cards come out. Polaris 11 is meant to be the new low-end part from AMD.

 

[thestbar]

Yes I think that patience will lead me to the best choice.. But will my cpu bottlenecks these GPUs ?

 

[RussianSensation]

Yes I think that patience will lead me to the best choice.. But will my cpu bottlenecks these GPUs ?

Yes, your CPU will bottleneck every single GPU above the GTX960. It's time to upgrade. Even an i3-6100 to start would be a massive upgrade but given how long you kept your CPU, try going for at least an i5-6600K.

Even the FX8350 Max overclocked bottlenecks a 970 OC. Get Intel Skylake and move on from that ancient AMD rig.

 

[thestbar]

Yes, your CPU will bottleneck every single GPU above the GTX960. It's time to upgrade. Even an i3-6100 to start would be a massive upgrade but given how long you kept your CPU, try going for at least an i5-6600K.

Even the FX8350 Max overclocked bottlenecks a 970 OC. Get Intel Skylake and move on from that ancient AMD rig.

Yes I know but atm there is no cash to both upgrade cpu and gpu so for this cpu you say that the best choice is gtx 960 ? (what about r9 380/380x??)

 

[Zodiark1593]

Nvidia drivers tend to have a somewhat lower cpu overhead (though their recent releases may be questionable), however, I'd recommend the 280X or 380(X) over the 960. The 960 is held back too much by it's 128 bit bus even at 1080P in many games.

Alternatively, a Polaris 11 chip may be a good match if you're willing to hold off. If you can get some additional clocks on your cpu as well, you should have a capable enough combination until you can get to upgrading your CPU and Mobo.

 

[sm625]

It cant hurt to hope, so I am hoping 970 will drop to under $200 before it vanishes completely. Worst case, there should be ample supply of used 970s coming onto the market.

 

[Zodiark1593]

Could also wait for mining to collapse/move to Polaris, and capitalize on a cheap 290.

 

[RussianSensation]

Yes I know but atm there is no cash to both upgrade cpu and gpu so for this cpu you say that the best choice is gtx 960 ? (what about r9 380/380x??)

Then go into the used market and find a used after-market (open air cooled card with 2 or more fans) HD7970. You should not be paying 200-240 Euro for a 380/380X under any circumstances. HD7970 with a mild overclock is as fast as 380X and in the used market they can probably be found for way less. In your price range, unless prices are ridiculous in your country, you should be able to find a used 290/970 for less than 240 Euro. Either way, no matter what modern GPU you purchase, your cpu will bottleneck it.

Even with 980Ti SLI, FX6300 barely gets 47 fps in Forza 6. That CPU is faster than yours.

Start saving up for a new CPU platform and in the meantime a used 7950/7970 is more than enough fit for your CPU, or try to find a used GTX950/960.

 

[thestbar]

So would it better to give this money for a i5 6600 cpu and a mobo.. And the next time I have some money I can go upgrade my gpu.. What do you say ?

 

[R0H1T]

So would it better to give this money for a i5 6600 cpu and a mobo.. And the next time I have some money I can go upgrade my gpu.. What do you say ?

Actually a GPU upgrade would be much better in the short to medium term, especially with 16nm cards just round the corner, if nothing else you'll soon get great deals on previous gen cards.

Now with Zen launching later in the year there's a good chance one could get a cheap hexa (or even octa) core CPU+mobo for $400~600. The equivalent Intel platform starts from 500~550$ & only offers six cores at that price.

 

[MangoX]

Well it depends. What card are you currently running now? And what resolution? This can help us determine a solution.

 

[thestbar]

Well, I have an ancient GT 430 1GB DDR3..
Also I do not care about 1440p or 4K, I just want to upgrade my PC just to play everything smoothly on 1080p

PS: Most of the people say R9 380X is the king on 1080p

 

[omek]

Honestly if you can find yourself a used 7970 or something you should be good to go. The bottleneck depends on the games that you play but the only place for CPU utilization to go from here is down and efficiency, up. Of course that platform may be missing some of the features and extensions that a newer platform offers, I still feel that the x6's have life left especially with DirectX 12 in the upswing. You're going to see a lot of the CPU load reduced with tasks off loaded onto the GPU in the near future.

Some examples of newer games
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXCxSqdFApc the new Doom on a x4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2JCaL-WHMk new Doom on a x6, GTX660 GPU bottlenecked
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKftddOsa_U Forza 6

If your playing a lot of DX11 games and have little intention to play newer games than you would be best off going with something like a 960 as others have said. Though if your looking toward the future and a GPU which could possibly transfer to a newer platform if need be while retaining it's longevity I'd pony for a used 290 (if you can find it at a decent price), alternatively a 380/380x.

Well, I have an ancient GT 430 1GB DDR3..
Also I do not care about 1440p or 4K, I just want to upgrade my PC just to play everything smoothly on 1080p

PS: Most of the people say R9 380X is the king on 1080p

Yeah, that amplifies the difference that you would see from any type of GPU upgrade. Get a 7970, 280x, 380 ect. but make sure your PSU can handle it.

 

[nurturedhate]

Well, I have an ancient GT 430 1GB DDR3..
Also I do not care about 1440p or 4K, I just want to upgrade my PC just to play everything smoothly on 1080p

PS: Most of the people say R9 380X is the king on 1080p

If you were to upgrade your cpu/mbo how long would it take you to save up to buy a graphics card?

With as long as cpu's have been lasting getting a 6600k or stretching it a little more would get you a platform that has the potential to last you for the next 5 years. Simply put, in today's landscape a cpu lasts a LOT longer than a gpu. If you would be able to save back up before the end of the year I would go the cpu upgrade route.

Matter of fact I'd upgrade the cpu regardless. We can almost always lower graphics settings but there's nothing to really do to move a cpu bottleneck.

 

[thestbar]

Honestly if you can find yourself a used 7970 or something you should be good to go. The bottleneck depends on the games that you play but the only place for CPU utilization to go from here is down and efficiency, up. Of course that platform may be missing some of the features and extension that newer platform offers, I still feel that the x6's have life left especially with DirectX 12 in the upswing. Your going to see a lot of the CPU load reduced with tasks of loaded onto the GPU in the near future.

Some examples of newer games
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXCxSqdFApc the new Doom on a x4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2JCaL-WHMk new Doom on a x6, GTX660 GPU bottlenecked
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKftddOsa_U Forza 6

If your playing a lot of DX11 games and have little intention to play newer games than you would be best off going with something like a 960 as others have said. Though if your looking toward the future and a GPU which could possibly transfer to a newer platform if need be while retaining it's longevity I'd pony for a used 290 (if you can find it at a decent price), alternatively a 380/380x.

The games I play mostly are Dota, Football Manager, WoW etc, that's why I kept this machine without upgrade it.. I hadn't issues on playing these games, but from now and on I wanna try new games.. Not on enthusiast level just play eveything mid-high settings on 1080p..

If you were to upgrade your cpu/mbo how long would it take you to save up to buy a graphics card?

With as long as cpu's have been lasting getting a 6600k or stretching it a little more would get you a platform that has the potential to last you for the next 5 years. Simply put, in today's landscape a cpu lasts a LOT longer than a gpu. If you would be able to save back up before the end of the year I would go the cpu upgrade route.

Matter of fact I'd upgrade the cpu regardless. We can almost always lower graphics settings but there's nothing to really do to move a cpu bottleneck.

I assume that September-October I will have the cash..

 

[R0H1T]

If you were to upgrade your cpu/mbo how long would it take you to save up to buy a graphics card?

With as long as cpu's have been lasting getting a 6600k or stretching it a little more would get you a platform that has the potential to last you for the next 5 years. Simply put, in today's landscape a cpu lasts a LOT longer than a gpu. If you would be able to save back up before the end of the year I would go the cpu upgrade route.

Matter of fact I'd upgrade the cpu regardless. We can almost always lower graphics settings but there's nothing to really do to move a cpu bottleneck.

Not sure how you missed the obvious one, DX12 D:

Also the new age CPUs, especially from Intel, are getting more & more prohibitively expensive with a new chipset/socket each alternate gen. Zen could
force Intel's hand to bring six cores to the mainstream platform, Zen itself could be something great (hex or octa core for cheaps) that many users are waiting for.

 

[AtenRa]

Wait for Polaris, or get a used R9 290. But i would really wait for Polaris.

 

[omek]

The games I play mostly are Dota, Football Manager, WoW etc, that's why I kept this machine without upgrade it.. I hadn't issues on playing these games, but from now and on I wanna try new games.. Not on enthusiast level just play eveything mid-high settings on 1080p..

Yeah, get a used 7970 or something like that. Make sure your PSU can handle it. The difference between a GT430 (or whatever it was) and a 7970/280x/380x level of performance is astronomic. It will spin your head just how much faster that card is and completely transform that machine. That CPU is also a 1090t? Don't change it.

 

[thestbar]

Not sure how you missed the obvious one, DX12 D:

Also the new age CPUs, especially from Intel, are getting more & more prohibitively expensive with a new chipset/socket each alternate gen. Zen could
force Intel's hand to bring six cores to the mainstream platform, Zen itself could be something great (hex or octa core for cheaps) that many users are waiting for.

DX12 will use more efficient the multi-core CPUs ? So is there a chance older AMD's multi-core CPUs perform better than DX11 apps ?
Also, I believe my current mobo is a good-one (for AM3+ socket) Asus Sabertooth 990FX R2.0.. So is there any chances AMD release new cpus that can perform near the Intel beasts ? (Having in my mind that AMD constructs new cpus using the same socket)

EDIT:

Wait for Polaris, or get a used R9 290. But i would really wait for Polaris.

Do we know anything about Polaris ? Like when they will release them, price or something?

Yeah, get a used 7970 or something like that. Make sure your PSU can handle it. The difference between a GT430 (or whatever it was) and a 7970/280x/380x level of performance is astronomic. It will spin your head just how much faster that card is and completely transform that machine. That CPU is also a 1090t? Don't change it.

Yes, my CPU is the 1090T.. Why I should not change it ? (Most of the people say this machine is really old and will surely bottleneck cards like 960,970,290,380(X).. So, it will clearly bottleneck Polaris cards too..)

 

[R0H1T]

DX12 will use more efficient the multi-core CPUs ? So is there a chance older AMD's multi-core CPUs perform better than DX11 apps ?
Also, I believe my current mobo is a good-one (for AM3+ socket) Asus Sabertooth 990FX R2.0.. So is there any chances AMD release new cpus that can perform near the Intel beasts ? (Having in my mind that AMD constructs new cpus using the same socket)

EDIT:


Do we know anything about Polaris ? Like when they will release them, price or something?



Yes, my CPU is the 1090T.. Why I should not change it ? (Most of the people say this machine is really old and will surely bottleneck cards like 960,970,290,380(X).. So, it will clearly bottleneck Polaris cards too..)

They already do, especially FX 8xxx cores, so under win10 with DX12

IMO the upcoming Zen CPUs should be competitive against any of the mainstream rivals from Intel, six/eight core zen should beat four/six core Haswell especially in MT tasks. This is just a guesstimate, so don't take it for anything more than that.

A month or two at most, paper launch should be in June.

Not necessarily, depending on the game resolution &/or details that you select it'd shift the bottleneck away from the CPU onto the GPU.

 

[omek]

Yes, my CPU is the 1090T...Why I should not change it ? (Most of the people say this machine is really old and will surely bottleneck cards like 960,970,290,380(X).. So, it will clearly bottleneck Polaris cards too..)

Because of stuff like this:

That is becoming more and more prevalent and given that the 1090t has about the same IPC as an FX 8370 it's performance can be very close depending on how the developer threads the engine. I could imagine that the 1090t is very close to the FX in this benchmark.

 

[thestbar]

They already do, especially FX 8xxx cores, so under win10 with DX12

IMO the upcoming Zen CPUs should be competitive against any of the mainstream rivals from Intel, six/eight core zen should beat four/six core Haswell especially in MT tasks. This is just a guesstimate, so don't take it for anything more than that.

A month or two at most, paper launch should be in June.

Not necessarily, depending on the game resolution &/or details that you select it'd shift the bottleneck away from the CPU onto the GPU.

Yes, but I guess that skylake will be for sure performing better than zen..

Anyway zen architecture will be on the new am4 socket.. So whatever I do sooner or later I should upgrade mobo

 

[thestbar]

That is becoming more and more prevalent and given that the 1090t has about the same IPC as an FX 8370 it's performance can be very close depending on how the developer threads the engine. I could imagine that the 1090t is very close to the FX in this benchmark.

Hmm, but a guy on this post told me that FX6300 is close to 1090T (in fact he said FX6300 outperforms 1090T)..

Here:

Then go into the used market and find a used after-market (open air cooled card with 2 or more fans) HD7970. You should not be paying 200-240 Euro for a 380/380X under any circumstances. HD7970 with a mild overclock is as fast as 380X and in the used market they can probably be found for way less. In your price range, unless prices are ridiculous in your country, you should be able to find a used 290/970 for less than 240 Euro. Either way, no matter what modern GPU you purchase, your cpu will bottleneck it.

Even with 980Ti SLI, FX6300 barely gets 47 fps in Forza 6. That CPU is faster than yours.

Start saving up for a new CPU platform and in the meantime a used 7950/7970 is more than enough fit for your CPU, or try to find a used GTX950/960.