"Pre-Built" PC Upgrade

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1

Hey guys. I'm here asking for some advice on what parts I should upgrade in my system.

Back before I realized custom building my PC was the way to go, I bought a pre-built computer that was the Studio XPS 7100. (Bought it from Dell for $600ish)

It came with these specifications:

CPU - Phenom II X4 945 3.0GHz (AM3 Socket)

CPU Cooler - Stock Heatsink/Fan

GPU - Radeon HD 6450 1GB

Motherboard - Unknown. AM3 socket.

Memory - 6GB or 8GB... Unknown.

HDD - 1TB 7200RPM Hard Drive. 

OS - Windows 7 (I have Home Premium, but I had a tier below that when I got it I think.)

Power Supply - 400/450W (Unknown)

Optical Drive - Unknown. CD/DVD Drive I believe.

Alright so that WAS my build before I upgraded two things. Here's what I upgraded:

*Memory - Upgraded to 12GB, but was way before this following upgrade.

GPU - Upgraded to a Sapphire 7870 GHz Edition

Power Supply - 800W Topower PSU

(Got Bioshock Infinite and Tomb Raider with it for free. Nifty little deal.)

Now I want to upgrade again. This time I think it should be my CPU and Motherboard. I really need to get a new CPU, Motherboard, Case, another Hard Drive, an SSD, a new headset, and a new monitor (I'd like two), but we're not all made of money, eh?

I am thinking getting this: 

CPU - FX 8350 4.0GHz

Motherboard - ASUS M5A97 ATX AM3+ (Or the LE version, whichever is better)

Onto what I want in this upgrade! I can play most of my games on max and maintain 30FPS+, sometimes more, render a 720P video relatively fast, and host minecraft servers pretty well for my friends. I play at 1360x768 resolution on a 32" HDTV, by the way. Weird, I know...

I want to be able to play most if not all my games on max still, with 30-40FPS+ all the time even in multiplayer. The only game exception I can think of is Arma and possibly Crysis 3. I want to play Arma 2/3 soooooooooo bad, but my CPU is terrible for it at the moment. Will a 8350 allow me to do this? I want to be able to play multiplayer fluently with decent graphics. That's my top priority. Play Arma 2/3 with decent settings on multiplayer FLUENTLY. Geez.. Poorly optimized, CPU intensive piece of crap. :P

I'm sure any CPU I upgrade to will render videos somewhat faster/better than my 945. The 945 is a great chip, but it's time I be able to do the stuff I want to be able to. I don't care much for rendering videos as I don't want to start my channel just yet. 

Any suggestions? Is my upgrade pretty good? I'm also on a budget build, so don't offer me no i7 3770k. I'd say that I'd prefer to stay AMD, but 8350 is their best CPU for price at the moment I think. I'd go Intel if I had too, though. 

Thanks for the help in advance!

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What sort of budget did you have for the upgrade? If it was me i'd go for a FX8320 if you can swing it, as its just a lower clocked version of the FX8350 and you could overclock it to FX8350 levels if you wanted. If you didn't have that much for a processor then the FX6300 is a great buy for the performance you get. 

 

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Well my budget is basically the FX 8350 price + that motherboard. I can go a little higher. But why are you suggesting me worst, per se, parts than what I was initially buying?

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I don't know if upgrading to the FX 8350 will help you with Arma 2/3. I have the AMD A-10 5800k and an HIS 7850 Ice-Q Turbo Edition and I can play Arma 2 and DayZ with all settings pretty much maxed with no noticible frame lag or drop. Now with that said maybe your motherboard and CPU do need upgraded and thats the reason you are having issues.Or it could be your graphics  card. Does your card have 1Gb or 2Gb of memory?

And on the other hand Buxly had a great point. The FX 8320 or the FX 6300 are amazing chips for the money. Try and keep an open mind with the help you are recieving. When I first bought my A10 I didn't know if the APU was even going to be good. And now I would recomend it all day.

Try and list the specifics of your build and we can help you even more. Things like memory speed, and other specifics will help on the recomendations you recieve.

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Arma is all about your graphics settings the server you are on and the cpu.  My reccomendation for that game is a fx6300 or fx 8350 and the i5 4670k and 3570k or even a 2500k if you can get one cheap.  These will work good for arma as well as every other game.

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I know Arma 2/3 isn't, or supposedly, optimized for more than four cores, but my 945 can't run the game efficiently enough to the point where I can play it. The game is very CPU heavy like I said. And I'm sure you know this. I haven't devled too deep into APUs because I already have a graphics card that can run every game on maximum if it had the correct CPU. Sapphire 7870 GHz Edition 2GB GDDR5 is what I have. I know it can run Arma 2/3 on max graphics fine because of the theory that with lower graphical settings, there's more load on the CPU and it runs slower with a worst CPU. I crank my graphics up to high and I yield a few more FPS than if I lower them. It's because Arma is CPU heavy as I've said. 

As for memory wise, not sure, but here's a snapshot of CPU-Z under the Memory Tab. Not sure if it tells you what you need. 

http://gyazo.com/2cf730c408fc6e5eb0db084a223f433a

I am keeping an open mind, but wouldn't a 8350, and I'm not basing this off numbers, be better than the 6300? Even for rendering videos? I think my budget is $400 for a CPU and a motherboard. Preferably $300, though. 

 

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Arma is very pretty yes, but you can have a 690, Titan, 780, etc. but with a lackluster CPU, it will run at less than 30 FPS. I'll take a look at your suggestions, though. Thanks. :]

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Thats 12 GB

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I know I have 12GB of memory. He was asking for the speed. Not sure if the snapshot gave it. 

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What he is suggesting is (basically) an underclocked 8350, so you can save some money, and overclock it yourself.

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Ah I see. Well I'm not sure I want to delv into overclocking just yet. On top of that, I'd have a stock cooler and overclocking with that, I'm sure, is a no no.

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I would inspect the motherboard before purchasing anything. I recently dismantled a couple of Dells and there was an issue with the motherboard having non standard standoffs. Doesn't sound like a big deal but it was a twist and lock into the motherboard instead of standoff and screw. 

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Ah yea. I nearly forgot about the case and how the standoffs were. I'll look into a new case or something too maybe. I'm just trying to keep it low on money, because I'm buying a pretty expensive bit for what I'd like to be doing.