Help with upgrading

[Nathan123]

I'm looking to upgrade a few things in my pc and I need help knowing if my current power supply is good enough to support the new gear. I'm look to put in Newegg.ca - AMD FX-8350 Vishera 4.0GHz (4.2GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 125W Eight-Core Desktop Processor FD8350FRHKBOX

and

Newegg.ca - ASUS SABERTOOTH 990FX R2.0 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

I currently have a 650w corsair power supply, and I'm running a radeon 6870 2g graphics card. Also if I were to add a second 6870 so I can crossfire them. Would I need to upgrade the power supply? If it helps I have the phantom 410 case with stock fans.

 

[PP Mguire]

I'm assuming this will be for gaming? If so, don't waste your money on that and get a 3570k and ASRock Z77 Extreme 3.

I believe dual 6870s requires a 750w PSU. With that amount required you could get a quicker single card solution instead and retain your already good PSU.

 

[Nathan123]

I should have said what I'm upgrading from too. I currently have a I7 2600(3.4ghz). The version that can't be over clocked. The mother board is just some stock one that came with the computer. I bought it at future shop and been doing upgrades to it. All I have left is the cpu and motherboard. Also new graphics cards especially ones that could top the dual 6870's are pretty expensive though aren't they?

 

[PP Mguire]

If you already have that setup then you don't need a new CPU at all. Going from that to the 8350 would actually be a downgrade in gaming.

Well considering a new PSU would be a little over 100 for a Corsair 750, and a 6870 goes for around 150 that's 7950 and GTX 660ti territory right there which are both faster than dual 6870s. You could always save all of that money and grab a 7970 GHz edition or 680 instead which would be the biggest performance benefit over the smaller upgrades.

 

[Nathan123]

Well when I tested and looked into the upcoming games like far cry 3 and such. I'm afraid the locked in 3.4ghz won't be able to handle it. I know far cry 3 recommends the I7 2600k. I was hoping the psu could handle 2 6870's but if not. I will just look into selling the 6870 I have now to cover some of the cost. Also will the 650w handle all the cards you mentioned fine?

Edit: I have no idea what my mother board even is. Should I bother upgrading it? Or leave it for another time? I know for sure I want to replace the graphics card the 6870 will start to fall short in the 2013 games. How big of a boost does the 7950 and the 7970 give over it? I don't mind nvidia but been with amd for awhile now and no problems yet.

 

[PP Mguire]

Yes you only need 650w until you start doubling up on GPUs. The 680 only requires like 550 or 600w tops.

The only difference between those two CPUs is overclock ability, and like I said going to an 8350 would be a downgrade as the game isn't going to utilize all 4 modules fully to give the advantage of going that route. The game will need as much GPU grunt as possible, so that route is going to be your best bet. I mean, I can play any game right now completely stock and clock speed wise the 3960x is slower than the 2600 by 100MHz give you the slight advantage. The game would have to be threaded to use 4 or more cores fully to warrant the need of a faster CPU.

As it stands the current Ubisoft game Assassin's Creed 3 is heavily single threaded using only slightly more than 50% on 1 core of my hex. The wiki for Dunia 2 engine doesn't mention anything about being more multi-threaded. If you like, I will be getting the game when it releases and I can disable 2 cores for you at stock to see if I have any CPU limiting going on.

 

[Nathan123]

Yea I have the game pre-ordered as well. Just concerned me when I failed the opti specs, And It recommend the 2600k and I have the 2600. From my understanding the only difference is the 2600k can over clock.

My 6870 failed the opti as well so I know I need to replace that. If I go the more expensive 7970 or 680 I will have to ditch the motherboard upgrade. Do you think some stock in-store motherboard will be ok? Or is it going to start bottlenecking me? If so I will have to drop down to the 7950 or 660ti. And is there a preferred Manufacturer among the cards? Mine is a XFX atm.

As you can tell I'm still new to the pc building/upgrading world and I'm a VERY curious person so I tend to have a lot of question.

 

[PP Mguire]

System requirements and the likes are simply an estimate of what you need. Your 6870 could probably play it easily for all we know. One thing I can guarantee is, your CPU is fine. Yes like I already said, only difference between the two is the locked multiplier.

As for the motherboard, depending on what it is it should be completely fine. The only thing newer and better boards give you is dual card capabilities, ect. A motherboard can't bottleneck besides a few things which don't apply to this situation.

No problem ask away. I think your best bet would be a 680 or 7970 upgrade.

 

[Nathan123]

I will look into the 7970 then. It is giving out 4 free games with its purchase atm. One of them being far cry 3, so I can give that to my brother for his Christmas present. Which manufacturer do you recommend. Or does it really matter? I was thinking of just going with XFX again since I haven't had any problems with my 6870 so far. And I just read your sig, Is there really a chance gta 5 won't be coming to pc?

 

[PP Mguire]

Make sure it's the GHz edition, and use the 12.11 drivers.

For AMD XFX and MSI for me. eVGA straight up for Nvidia.

According to them they will consider a PC and WiiU version. I wouldn't hold your breath.