Upgrade path? ( I want to play games again. )

[x0red]

Current System specs.

Phenom II X4 955 black edition.
12 GB DDR3
Asus M4A87TD EVO
x2 Radeon HD 6870 ( x1 Asus / x1 Saphire )

Even fortnite lags.... I just can't seem to play anything anymore.

It is a decent pc , can run some games , but i'm obviously way behind.

I do not need to game in 4k. I'm ok with 1080p and would like to go max details in games.

Preferably a video card that will be capable of handling VR should i ever get a new mobo/cpu.

If i upgrade my video card can i expect a decent gaming experience?

Which card , best value would allow me to game in 1080p max details or will my cpu end up being a bottleneck?

There are times i want to throw the pc out the window. Like right now.

If one were to resell the 2 video cards i have what would they be valued at?

thanks...

 

[VirtualLarry]

It is a decent pc

Maybe for web browsing. Maybe for gaming in 2016. But not for AAA gaming in 2018.

Consider an i5-8400 or 8600K, Z390 motherboard, and at least a GTX 1070 (ti) or better (or Vega 56/64). Along with 16GB of DDR4-3600 or better RAM.

It's going to cost you a few $$$ though.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Even fortnite lags

Considering, that you can play Fortnight on a cell phone, yeah, your PC ain't quite state-of-the-art no more. Sorry.

You can also consider a Ryzen 5 2600X, B450 micro-ATX mobo, DDR4-3200 CAS14 RAM, and an RX 580 8GB, if you wanted to save a little money, in exchange for maybe 5-10% less FPS than the Intel rig.

 

[VirtualLarry]

If i upgrade my video card can i expect a decent gaming experience?

No, you would be severely bottlenecked. Phenom II is an old architecture from 2011-2012 era, and would bottleneck any modern card. It's basically AMD's equivalent to Intel's Core2Quad lineup, which is... from 2006-2008 era. It's nearly 10-year-old tech.

 

[VirtualLarry]

There are times i want to throw the pc out the window. Like right now.

If one were to resell the 2 video cards i have what would they be valued at?

LOL. Good choice.

BTW, check the site rules, "Price Checks are NOT allowed on these forums".

Let me tell you, though, unless you meet a gamer that is time-travelling back to 2014, those cards aren't worth much... at all. Sorry.

Edit: You have what I call, a "rip van winkle rig". It was a great and glorious rig, back in the day when it was built, but you've been living with it all this time, whereas most of us have moved on, multiple times, to new tech platforms. You've suddenly woken up out of your snooze, and realized, that it's not state-of-the-art tech anymore, if it ever was.

So, yeah, time to upgrade! We'll be glad to help.

Btw, the current state-of-the-art landscape, as far as CPUs go, is between Intel's 8th-Gen Core, of which starting with the i5-8400 six-core, and going up to the new 8-core 5Ghz-stock-turbo-capable i9-9900K (expensive, and very hard to find right now), and AMD's Ryzen 2000-series (2nd-Gen) CPUs, like the 2600(X) (6C/12T) and 2700(X) (8C/16T). The 2nd-Gen Ryzen CPUs have an auto-overclock feature, that as long as you supply sufficient power (mobo VRMs are responsible for that), and cooling (AIO liquid-cooling kits abound, go with a 240mm rad or better), they will stay boosted over 4Ghz. But Intel will OC to nearly 5Ghz, so it currently has a slight advantage in lower-res (1080P is considered lower res these days) gaming. For 1440P or 4K gaming, the differences in CPU power between Intel and AMD are far less pronounced.

 

[SPBHM]

well, your GPU configuration sadly aged very poorly, AMD stopped supporting it in 2015 so CF is kind of useless now, and also this generation of cards, with the TeraScale2 architecture aged very poorly once AMD focused on GCN (2012), and 1GB of vram is just... not enough.

so I think the main priority is replacing that, even with your CPU a 1050 ti or 570 would be a massive upgrade,

still your CPU is also far from optimal and will make some games unplayable I think (like the new AC), but overall, I think the priority if you don't want to upgrade everything at once is replacing those graphics cards.

there are some pretty affordable Ryzen 2600s... and RX 570s which would be enough for 1080P for now I think.

 

[Triloby]

Yeah.... if you're aiming for 1080p max details on today's games, then your computer is just barely cutting it. Crossfire is beyond useless now and even if you did upgrade your GPU, your CPU would still hold you back by several magnitudes. There's a massive performance difference between the old Phenoms and the new Ryzen CPU's. It gets even bigger if you go for an Intel CPU instead.

Get a brand new system altogether. Either an Intel Core i5-8400 or a AMD Ryzen 5 2600 for your CPU, 16 GB of DDR4 RAM (2666 MHz minimum recommended), and either an RX 580 8 GB or GTX 1060 6 GB for 1080p high to max details (get whatever is the cheapest between those two).

Of course, if you're talking about VR, you'll have to spend extra on your GPU like a GTX 1070, GTX 1070 Ti, or a Vega 56.

Yes, it is a big purchase, but it will be well worth it considering on what you want to do with your system.

 

[Spjut]

A GTX 1050 Ti would at least make it able to play modern games again, it would perform around 30 FPS in most games, in many cases comparably to the original PS4. It's definitely worth getting a new graphics card now, if the other option is to wait for months to save up for a new build.

 

[Paul98]

Watch for deals, there have been some great deals on the 1070 and others, I have seen new 1070 for $290

 

[VirtualLarry]

A GTX 1050 Ti would at least make it able to play modern games again, it would perform around 30 FPS in most games, in many cases comparably to the original PS4. It's definitely worth getting a new graphics card now, if the other option is to wait for months to save up for a new build.

https://www.game-debate.com/games/index.php?g_id=35431&framesPerSecond=SoulCalibur VI

A GTX 1050 ti 4GB still doesn't hit an average of 30FPS on High settings, on new games like Soul Calibur VI PC. (Edit: @ 1080P)

I think that if you're in any way a "serious" gamer, with a custom rig, and not a branded OEM rig with a proprietary PSU that you need to be limited to cards that don't take supplemental power, then you should shoot for a GTX 1060 6GB at minimum (or an RX 580 8GB).

 

[Arkaign]

Do you have a budget that you'd like to stay at? I find, even as a 30-year veteran of custom builds comprising thousands of systems, that lately the right deal on a prebuilt can be the best $/perf.

 

[psolord]

Your motherboard supports all the Phenom II X6 Thuban processors.

https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M4A87TD_EVO/HelpDesk_CPU/

Get one of the middle ones, like the 1055T and give it a slight OC boost.

Throw in a Nvidia card, to get advantage of the better multithreaded driver, like the 1060 6GB and you will be good to go for many games.

This guy tested a 1070 with the 1055T.

You can see the test in my signature, which I did a while back , with a 970 including a Q9550 which should be quite slower than a Thuban. You can follow my video links as well. No clickbait. My channel is hobbyist, amateurish and as such, non monetized or sponsored.

 

[x0red]

I want to cry right now ( after i smash the hell out of my pc )

Frustrated. The fact a card costs 300$ Canadian + tax ( 580 8GB )

The fact i need to upgrade cpu / ram and mobo... ( i guess i could carry my power supply over.. ( I hope )....

I'm fed up. Shell out 3 bills for a xbox one ( i hate consoles ) or 3 bills MINIMUM for a gfx card , plus another 6 for a cpu/mobo/ram combo...

I may as well give up now.

fml.

 

[yepp]

Phenom 2 lacks SSE4.X, so some games won't work or until patched, if ever.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I'm fed up. Shell out 3 bills for a xbox one ( i hate consoles ) or 3 bills MINIMUM for a gfx card , plus another 6 for a cpu/mobo/ram combo...

Being a serious PC Gamer isn't exactly cheap. That said, the current state-of-the-art desktop parts ARE more expensive (IMHO) than 10 years ago, in an absolute sense. But performance/$ is way up too.

 

[Justinbaileyman]

You dont need to spend tons of money for a new system!! Just go to ebay and get a $100 AMD x6 1100t as a drop in replacement upgrade to your x4 and over clock it to 4.0Ghz-4.2Ghz. Then go spend another $200 on a RX 580 8GB model of your choice and your all set.
Anything past a quad core will last you several years still.
If you are using below DDR3 1600 I would consider upgrading to 16GB of DDR3 1600 or 1866.

 

[Arkaign]

This is a Xeon 3.6Ghz/3.9Ghz Turbo socket 2011. 40 PCIe lanes, 8 Ram slots, supports quad channel memory. Excellent power supply with 8+6 pin PCIe power connections. W7 COA will activate W10 no problem. I often build these as budget gaming rigs for people on a budget. Can upgrade to 256GB of Ram and 8 Core/16 Thread pretty easily. When matched with a GTX 1060 or RX580 they run games like AC Odyssey, Battlefield 1, etc extremely well. Your existing DDR3 will drop in here, same with your drives. Then save up for an SSD and perhaps CPU upgrade later on. These make for a beast relatively speaking, and would be a massive improvement from Phenom II. Intel CPU performance didn't move much from Sandy to Kaby, so even though these are SB cores, the quad channel RAM, extra PCIe lanes, and extra cache make for a very smooth performing box. In my experience actually better than PS4 Pro at 1080p, due to much better CPU. With a 1060/580, getting 60fps vs 30fps in open world titles makes a world of difference.

Hell, a decent PSU and case alone is about this much money by themselves lol.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/223150288995

For reference, here is a Xeon E5 Sandy running with a GTX 970 (which can be scooped for 100ish used if you're really penny pinching) :

 

[Stuka87]

I want to cry right now ( after i smash the hell out of my pc )

Frustrated. The fact a card costs 300$ Canadian + tax ( 580 8GB )

The fact i need to upgrade cpu / ram and mobo... ( i guess i could carry my power supply over.. ( I hope )....

I'm fed up. Shell out 3 bills for a xbox one ( i hate consoles ) or 3 bills MINIMUM for a gfx card , plus another 6 for a cpu/mobo/ram combo...

I may as well give up now.

fml.

The 955BE came out 9 years ago (April 23, 2009). I don't think you can complain about how long that system has lasted. Quite impressive really. No console will give you that kind of life. PC's don't last forever, they need to be replaced every so often. Build your new system right, and it should also have a great life span.

 

[akyp11]

I want to cry right now ( after i smash the hell out of my pc )

Frustrated. The fact a card costs 300$ Canadian + tax ( 580 8GB )

The fact i need to upgrade cpu / ram and mobo... ( i guess i could carry my power supply over.. ( I hope )....

I'm fed up. Shell out 3 bills for a xbox one ( i hate consoles ) or 3 bills MINIMUM for a gfx card , plus another 6 for a cpu/mobo/ram combo...

I may as well give up now.

fml.

It really isn't a good time to buy a new GPU now -- I would wait for 7nm.

And if keyboard & mouse support is more widespead on consoles, it would be the final nail in the coffin of PC gaming, at least for me.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

It really isn't a good time to buy a new GPU now -- I would wait for 7nm.

And if keyboard & mouse support is more widespead on consoles, it would be the final nail in the coffin of PC gaming, at least for me.

-Its never a good time to buy, but it might be a better time than it's ever been thanks to the absolute crawl hardware progress has been reduced to.

If OP really wants to stretch his/her dollar look around in the used market for an old 980ti or 1070 and up. Solid 1440p performance for the price of something a tier or two down.

Alternatively a RX 580 and a 1080p Freesync monitor.

Honestly anything is an upgrade from the relic OP is running.

 

[Hans Gruber]

I want to cry right now ( after i smash the hell out of my pc )

Frustrated. The fact a card costs 300$ Canadian + tax ( 580 8GB )

The fact i need to upgrade cpu / ram and mobo... ( i guess i could carry my power supply over.. ( I hope )....

I'm fed up. Shell out 3 bills for a xbox one ( i hate consoles ) or 3 bills MINIMUM for a gfx card , plus another 6 for a cpu/mobo/ram combo...

I may as well give up now.

fml.

Set fire to it, your computer is a piece of junk.

 

[mohit9206]

Set fire to it, your computer is a piece of junk.

No its not. This is an enthusiast forum hence you feel its junk but in the real world that PC is not bad at all. He could swap out the 955 for an 8350 and 6870 for a used card like 970 and he's good to go

 

[Arkaign]

No its not. This is an enthusiast forum hence you feel its junk but in the real world that PC is not bad at all. He could swap out the 955 for an 8350 and 6870 for a used card like 970 and he's good to go

Definitely not set on fire, but it does max out with Thuban.

https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M4A87TD_EVO/HelpDesk_CPU/

Selling the Mobo, CPU, GPUs on eBay would get him most of the $ for the S30 Xeon I linked up there though, which would be a fantastic match for a 970. Thuban are a bit overpriced i feel due to not amazing IPC and gaming performance compared to say an E5-1620+.

 

[Hans Gruber]

I have a Dell Optiplex with an i5 2400. I got it for $73. I swapped out the ram and put in 8GB of ram @ 1600mhz. An upgrade from 4GB of ram that it came with. I can swap out the PSU and add a graphics card if I wanted to. Just an idea for something cheap for the OP. I would suggest a RX 470 or RX 480 for a GPU.

You can find these sort of systems on Ebay. Just a few upgrades and you have a decent gaming box.

 

[Dribble]

I want to cry right now ( after i smash the hell out of my pc )

Frustrated. The fact a card costs 300$ Canadian + tax ( 580 8GB )

The fact i need to upgrade cpu / ram and mobo... ( i guess i could carry my power supply over.. ( I hope )....

I'm fed up. Shell out 3 bills for a xbox one ( i hate consoles ) or 3 bills MINIMUM for a gfx card , plus another 6 for a cpu/mobo/ram combo...

I may as well give up now.

fml.

You don't need a 1060 or 580 to play modern games - that's just elite speak on this forum speaking. I have 2 kids that both play whatever they want and one has a GTX 770 (bought for £80 of ebay 6 months ago), the other an even older GTX 570 and yes even the GTX 570 is still up to the task for games like fortnite, rainbow 6 siege, etc. The 770 still plays lots of games at high settings at full hd.

So really something for $120-150 off ebay should do the trick - when I was looking I just looked for the a gpu that wasn't of interest to miners. I will probably replace the 570 this Christmas for a second hand GTX 1060 3gb as they are getting pretty cheap. Sure you can spend a lot more if you want to but if you just want a decent gaming experience you don't need to spend $300.

Mind you both my kid's machines have better cpu's - intel i5's, the older one is a i2500k (with o/c) which amazingly still works fine after 6+ years. I did put SSD's in their machines as well so that helps.