which is best bang for buck ultra settings?

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daRkKon

Member
Dec 12, 2005
135
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system:
phenom II x4 3.2ghz
4gb gskill 1600 ddr3
6850


i want to upgrade my graphics to a 270x or 280x even but will another bottleneck appear? also my motherboard does not have SLI/crossfire capabilities.

i mostly play bf4 32 player maps at 1920x1080 but want to have all settings ultra.

i realize, the ram is most likely the next bottleneck, i have another on the way, but first need to decide on which graphics card is best bang for buck right now around the holiday? thx
 
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nwo

Platinum Member
Jun 21, 2005
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CPU and RAM are definitely your biggest bottlenecks in the system. You should be able to get all high @ 1080p in BF4 if you upgrade CPU and RAM without having to upgrade your GPU.
 
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daRkKon

Member
Dec 12, 2005
135
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i am curious to know, how is my cpu a bottleneck? doesnt it compete with other quad core chips today? what is a better step up that is actually worth the upgrade without dropping hundreds?
 
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nwo

Platinum Member
Jun 21, 2005
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Your CPU is several generations old and it is an AMD CPU from back in the day that did not shine back then, and it certainly isn't shining now. Unlike Intel's previous generations, AMDs previous generations of CPUs are not capable keeping up with modern games and the are not capable of running them smoothly at high settings.

I am not too knowledgable about AMDs sockets and compatibility, so I am not sure if your current motherboard would be compatible with an AM3+ CPU since you currently have an AM3 CPU. If it is compatible with AM3+ CPUs, then great, you can get a really good upgrade for $100-150.

I see you are from Ohio, do you live near a Micro Center? They have some killer deals on both Intel and AMD CPUs. They also have great deals on CPU and motherboard combos if you need to upgrade your motherboard as well in order to accommodate a new CPU.
 
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nwo

Platinum Member
Jun 21, 2005
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Do yourself a favor, go in there and grab an i5 3570k for $149.99 and pick a motherboard combo for it as well, I think you get something like $30-40 off when you buy CPU and mobo, both of which are already lower priced than online.

For some reason I am not seeing the combos online anymore, but I have seen them in this month's newspapers so you should still be able to get a good deal on it.

You shouldn't have to upgrade your graphics card, and now is a pretty bad time to upgrade since 95% of Radeons are sold out everywhere or insanely overpriced. Pick up an i5 combo, OC it, and you should be good to go. It would also be advisable to get another 4GB of RAM.
 
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tulx

Senior member
Jul 12, 2011
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nwo said:
Do yourself a favor, go in there and grab an i5 3570k for $149.99 and pick a motherboard combo for it as well, I think you get something like $30-40 off when you buy CPU and mobo, both of which are already lower priced than online.

For some reason I am not seeing the combos online anymore, but I have seen them in this month's newspapers so you should still be able to get a good deal on it.

You shouldn't have to upgrade your graphics card, and now is a pretty bad time to upgrade since 95% of Radeons are sold out everywhere or insanely overpriced. Pick up an i5 combo, OC it, and you should be good to go. It would also be advisable to get another 4GB of RAM.
Click to expand...

Or, since he specifically mentioned BF4 as the main reason for upgrading, it very well might be worth considering an AMD FX 8320 for that, since the Mantle API is supposed to bring significantly improved multithreading support. Though he'd need to get a Radeon HD 7xxx video card to take full advantage of that, I suppose.
 
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rancherlee

Senior member
Jul 9, 2000
707
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Your chip is about perfectly matched for your 6850 in BF4. A 3.5ghz x4 phenom would only push my overclocked 7950 to around ~70% usage in BF4. Tossing in an x6 @ 3.8ghz pushes the card to 99% just about the whole match running 1080p ultra with all 6 cores hovering around 80%
 
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raghu78

Diamond Member
Aug 23, 2012
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Attic

Attic

Diamond Member
Jan 9, 2010
4,282
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If your budget doesn't allow you to do both a modern intel quad core CPU and a 280x GPU then do one or the other. The phenom 2 cpu@3.2 has some life left in it. The 6850, not as much IMO.

I'd personally go with a 280x GPU upgrade first priority and then the CPU.

Basically both should be upgraded, but for games impact the 280x will be biggest improvement.
 
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nwo

Platinum Member
Jun 21, 2005
2,308
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raghu78 said:
get a MSI R9 270X gaming. fantastic cooler. low noise. 1120 mhz clocks out of the box. try and overclock your cpu to 3.6+ ghz. your cpu is not a good match for R9 280X.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/msi_radeon_r9_270x_gaming_review,10.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OU5kDhFodo

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127761
Click to expand...

I would not recommend a 270x. Its performance is on par with the much cheaper 7870 which overclocks just as well if you get a crad from a manufacturer that has good cooling. I would however recommend a 280X if he is going to upgrade his CPU.
 
blastingcap

blastingcap

Diamond Member
Sep 16, 2010
6,654
5
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rancherlee said:
Your chip is about perfectly matched for your 6850 in BF4. A 3.5ghz x4 phenom would only push my overclocked 7950 to around ~70% usage in BF4. Tossing in an x6 @ 3.8ghz pushes the card to 99% just about the whole match running 1080p ultra with all 6 cores hovering around 80%
Click to expand...

This.
 
Yuriman

Yuriman

Diamond Member
Jun 25, 2004
5,530
141
106
There's a bit of debate about the legitimacy of GameGPU's numbers, but this is their BF4 CPU chart:

http--www.gamegpu.ru-images-stories-Test_GPU-Action-Battlefield_4-test-bf4_proz_2.jpg


I feel it's pretty indicative of real-world performance. Most reviews that show BF4 as not being CPU bottlenecked do their benchmarks in single player. Your chip probably falls somewhere around the FX-4100, which suggests a potential (best-case) ~50% increase in framerate by upgrading to an i5.
 
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