Seeking Upgrade Advice

[SneakyStuff]

Hello All,

After doing research on my own I have stumbled back to square one yet again... My current setup consists of a (presumably) defective Thuban hexcore sold as a quad core Phenom X4 960T. I say defective because I have only succeeded in unlocking 5/6 of the cores and it is only stable with the 4. I am looking to upgrade my CPU, possibly motherboard, and memory. My primary uses include mainly Blizzard titles such as WoW and HoTS, live streaming, and limited multi-tasking sessions. I cannot effectively play and stream now without my system coming to a choppy stutter-fest during 20 man raids.

Here is a screenshot of my CPU-Z

I am running that alongside a Gigabyte 970A-UD3 and 4GBx2 G.Skill 1333 safely oc'd to 1600. If it makes a difference I am also running an overclocked GTX 750 alongside that and it performs admirably for my uses.

I originally considered just slapping in an Athlon FX-6300 but the more I looked around the consensus was that it would offer a marginal upgrade to my current setup. I had also explored the option of a modestly priced Haswell Core i3 setup with a Z97 based motherboard for future upgrade potential.

My goal is to make this a cost effective upgrade, and I would love to keep the total cost under $300. I have no particular brand loyalty and I will explore and and all recommendations so long as they meet the "best bang for the buck" mindset. My main roadblock now which is causing me to "kick the tires" is the thought that I will be getting an underwhelming upgrade unless I shell out the big bucks. Any help or guidance is greatly appreciated.

A Sincere Thank You,

-Rob

 

[LTC8K6]

FX-8350 and some 1866 ram?

 

[AtenRa]

Get the FX-8320E and OC to 4.4GHz or higher. I assume you have a good cooler since you already have OC the 960T to almost 4GHz.

 

[NTMBK]

Yeah, I'd go for an 8350 or 8370E.

 

[Ken g6]

While researching HoTS, I ran across this thread. So it's possible that no upgrade will fix that.

 

[Yuriman]

I'm not sure how CPU or GPU dependent HoTS is, but framerate is tied to the quality of your internet connection. I live in a rural area with a pretty narrow pipe, and if someone in the house starts watching Netflix, my framerates tank and I have stuttering and freezing similar to what you'd expect if you were swapping RAM to a traditional spinning hard drive.

Most Blizzard titles are not well threaded, and will run about the same on an FX-8xxx @ 4ghz as on a Phenom X4 @ 4ghz. My information may be outdated about WoW, but you may find these charts useful:

 

[NTMBK]

I'm not sure how CPU or GPU dependent HoTS is, but framerate is tied to the quality of your internet connection. I live in a rural area with a pretty narrow pipe, and if someone in the house starts watching Netflix, my framerates tank and I have stuttering and freezing similar to what you'd expect if you were swapping RAM to a traditional spinning hard drive.

Most Blizzard titles are not well threaded, and will run about the same on an FX-8xxx @ 4ghz as on a Phenom X4 @ 4ghz. My information may be outdated about WoW, but you may find these charts useful:

Remember, he is livestreaming as well as playing HoTS. The extra threads of the 8350 will help with that.

 

[Hi-Fi Man]

An i3 would make far more sense because these are blizzard titles, even with livestreaming, after all you can use shadowplay to stream. I would wait a bit for the skylake i3 though.

 

[SneakyStuff]

I had not even considered the AMD FX 8320-E as an option. I noticed that my local Micro Center has them in stock/on sale for $109.99. If I kept my current RAM @ 1600 that wouldn't have much of an adverse effect on the gains from overclocking right?

 

[richierich1212]

I had not even considered the AMD FX 8320-E as an option. I noticed that my local Micro Center has them in stock/on sale for $109.99. If I kept my current RAM @ 1600 that wouldn't have much of an adverse effect on the gains from overclocking right?

This is your best option. Do not consider an i3 at all in your situation.

 

[LTC8K6]

I had not even considered the AMD FX 8320-E as an option. I noticed that my local Micro Center has them in stock/on sale for $109.99. If I kept my current RAM @ 1600 that wouldn't have much of an adverse effect on the gains from overclocking right?

Yes, 8350 if you aren't an overclocker, 8320E if you are.

 

[Yuriman]

As a current i3 owner, I think it would be up to the task, and a better performer by a large margin for OP's needs outside of streaming. An i5 gives you more room to breathe, but I would definitely consider a Skylake i3.

 

[LTC8K6]

Yes, if he were willing to spend more, and go with a new system, a Skylake i3 would be very good, and it would have upgrade possibility for a few years.

But right now, the easiest and cheapest thing to do is to drop in an 8 thread FX chip.

It is a dead end, though.

 

[frozentundra123456]

What is your cpu usage when you are having the choppy performance? Are you sure you are cpu limited? Even for such a cpu intensive scenario, seems like a GTX 750 is not very powerful.

 

[myocardia]

I cannot effectively play and stream now without my system coming to a choppy stutter-fest during 20 man raids.

Your problem isn't your CPU. It isn't even your GPU, unless you are trying to run with the in-game settings too high. It's your internet access. You're attempting to shove double the data through a pipe that isn't big enough. Call your internet company tomorrow, and make arrangements to have a larger pipe installed.

 

[SneakyStuff]

Quick Update: Just snagged the FX 8320-E for $105 at Micro Center (after promo code) along with some new Arctic Silver and based off your responses I also upgraded my wireless adapter to a faster, dual band, option. Thank You all again!