Time for a new CPU and motherboard?

[jimbouk]

So I'm wondering whether my CPU (and motherboard) are holding back my systems a bit much. Playing Natural Selection 2 wasn't as smooth as I would have hoped at 1080p. I'm thinking it might be time for an incremental update of my system. Currently we have:

Motherboard: ASUS M2NPV-VM
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 940
Memory: 4GB DDR2
Storage: 128GB SSD + 500GB HDD
Graphics card(s): Asus GTX 560 Ti
PSU: Corsair HX 520W
Case: ATX
Operating System: Windows 7
Monitor(s): Dell U2713HM
Internet: Orange...

The motherboard is a bit of a budget AM2 one, now many years old and the CPU is AM2+ which isn't the best combination I know.

So I was thinking of updating the motherboard, CPU and ram, with a budget of about £200. Does it make sense keeping the graphics card and doing this?

Looking at the Intel sector I seem to get significantly less bang for buck for a £100 CPU so I was probably going to stay with AMD. Not interested in overclocking, really.

AMD FX6-6300 seems to be a good buy around £100 and is 95W so not too hot running. This also seems to benchmark about twice what I'm currently using. I'll probably nab the 8GB of ram from my media box and buy 4 for that for £20, and £80 should get me a 990FX based motherboard.

Am I well behind the times? FM2 / Fusion seems to be rather limited on CPU performance and at this price bracket Intel doesn't seem that competitive either (£150 for an equivalent CPU). Is a £200 system refresh money well spent? Will my graphics card be holding my back when I do upgrade?

So many questions!

[Preacher]

Pick up a cheap z77 mobo and a 2nd hand i5 CPU. 8gb of DDR3 can be had for about £20 used as well.

Would give you a spamming system that would last you a few years and a gpu upgrade.

[scaryjim]

I'd definitely go with FX6300. If you get a 970-based motherboard it'll save you a few tenners, and 8GB of cheapish DDR3 is, well, cheap (on an AM3 platform the memory speed isn't anywhere near as important - some bog standard 1333MHz or 1600MHz should be fine ) - there's very little saving between buying 4GB and 8GB nowadays.

Whether your graphics card will be holding you back depends on what games, settings and resolution you're playing at The problem is there's no easy way to tell unless you can find benchmarks in those exact games, with your GPU but different CPUs. There are plenty of faster graphics cards available, but the only way to know if your graphics card is the problem is to upgrade it!

If you're looking for a long term upgrade I definitely wouldn't touch second hand as you don't know how it's been treated and you have no comeback if it dies in 6 months: all new products means warranty, and therefore a measure of longer term security.

[Preacher]

I have bought used CPU and memory since an 1.8ghz core2duo and never had a problem. Always buy new mobo though

[jimbouk]

Well my current CPU is from a fellow Hexus member so I'm not entirely against the idea. I'll keep my eye out for something in the right price range. Won't count my chickens though. New i5s are £150 for the same performance as the FX6300.

If you get a 970-based motherboard it'll save you a few tenners

Having another look there doesn't seem to be any features I need missing from the 970 (mostly multi-gpu stuff which doesn't seem necessary).

I'm thinking my PATA DVD-RW drive might be needing an upgrade now, looks like it isn't easy to find a new motherboard with IDE sockets...

Games wise, well Natural Selection 2 is the latest one I bought really and what got me thinking. Generally older games (L4D2, Civ 5) which play ok atm. Whilst my screen does silly resolutions I'm happy with 1080p. My graphics card is also a Hexus second hand special, but after looking at a few numbers it looks like I'd need to be spending at least £200 to get something with a noticeable performance increase.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would get a better quality 970 motherboard over a cheaper 990FX one TBH,especially if you intend to overclock.

[ty2010]

I'm thinking my PATA DVD-RW drive might be needing an upgrade now, looks like it isn't easy to find a new motherboard with IDE sockets...

I use one of those IDE>sata bridge cards and it still works great, much better than the usb2 I was stuck with for a while.

[deejayburnout]

ever though about overclocking your Phenom 2?

You could buy a stonking AM3+ motherboard just now, OC the phenom by about 400Hz if your lucky then AMD chip a few months down the line when you can afford to buy a new one.

That way you have all new kit. Youb would probably get a few quid back for the phenom As well.

[unholy_war]

you can easily pick up mobo, cpu,ram for less than £200

[tooCoded]

1. Because of your budget, I think your Graphics Card can definitely be kept As it's still comparable in some ways to many of the newer cards. You might not be able to max out on newer games but you will definitely get decent game-play on above average settings.

2. Get a new motherboard. Because you have a budget to work with go AMD. Be smart and choose a good AM3+ board and make sure you have money left over to purchase the next component.

3. Compatible AM3+ processor.

4. Let's hope there is change for an additional 4Gb or Ram

Hope that helps.