Hiya guys,
So I am trying my damnedest to make good and informed upgrade decisions, I've recently purchased a 27" 1440p monitor which is awesome but iv found, as i guess you would, that my games are no longer running the way I want them to at that resolution. I currently have the following setup:
CPU: Phenom II X4 955 BE
MOBO: Gigabyte 990FXA-UD5
GPU: MSI Radeon HD 6970
RAM: 8gb Corsair XMS3 RAM
HDD: OCZ Vertex 4 SSD boot drive
I am looking for good upgrade ideas? Is my CPU currently bottle-necking my rig at 1440p? will I see a good gaming improvement by moving to the FX-8350?
I am already set on buying the new HD 9970 when it comes out in October as I think it will kick ASS !!
Any words of wisdom (especially if from real genuine experience) would be highly appreciated.
the games i am currently playing are: Borderlands 2, DOTA 2, Tomb Raider, and Trine 2.
Peace :-)
(somewhat recent) Genuine experience: I have done exactly what you are thinking of doing and swapped my 955 BE for the 8350 a couple of weeks ago. In terms of general productivity, the computer is a lot more responsive and in cpu "heavy" games like Arma 3, I have gained on anywhere between 1 to 10 fps in multiplayer, depending on the mission code and optimisation while in singleplayer scenarios with plenty of ai, the 8350 soars :)
For the games you intend to play, you will see a far better improvement in fps when switching to the hd 9970 especially at 1440p. As noted in Logan's 780 benchmark vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bsRcp8z8Gw , older cpus like the 955 keep up quite nicely with newer more expensive cpus in less cpu intensive games even at 1440p :)
From my short experience, bottom line is great for a snappier pc in general. It's not an expensive cpu, easily overclockable and I imagine you will most definitely run into bottle-necking issues down the road when you decide to upgrade to the 9970 should you choose to keep the 955.