Opening the Bottleneck

[Helikaon]

Over the past few years I've slowly been upgrading my gaming PC.

Current Specs are below:

CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 640
GPU: AMD HD 7970 (3GB GDDR5)
MEM: 8GB DDR3
PSU: 650W
Mobo: GA-970A-DS3
OS: Win 7

Now, I'm aware of the fact that my CPU is causing a bit of a bottleneck. For the most part, it's not a big issue; I can run everything I want to very well. My concern is when The Witcher 3, and other "Next-Gen" games come out, my cpu isn't going to cut it.

Obviously I'm willing to spend a bit of money to get the right component, but I'd rather not needlessly break the bank.

So I come to you, O Wise Ones, seeking advice...

What exactly should I be looking for in my future investment?


Much Love!

 

[FalloutJack]

I'd be looking into the limits of my motherboard versus physical space inside my machine before the next commitment if I were you. You can replace and mod areas of hardware for your computer in numerous clever ways, but none of them overcome the limitation of room to be found in the thing. At some point, that which is the glue holding your pieces in place will have to be replaced. Better find out now if that's a coming necessity, 'cause they ain't cheap.

 

[Helikaon]

I'd be looking into the limits of my motherboard versus physical space inside my machine before the next commitment if I were you. You can replace and mod areas of hardware for your computer in numerous clever ways, but none of them overcome the limitation of room to be found in the thing. At some point, that which is the glue holding your pieces in place will have to be replaced. Better find out now if that's a coming necessity, 'cause they ain't cheap.

Real estate isn't really an issue. My case is massive, and the motherboard is new (although not exactly what I intended - I forgot about the 5.1 sound, but no matter) and is more than capable of taking a new CPU.

The only physical space problem is that one of the spare RAM slots is close to my CPU fan. But that isn't a problem, because I have other slots available.

 

[AWAR]

snip

What's your motherboard? Some late AM3 models can support the FX processors. If you don't know how to find out your mobo's model, download speccy.

 

[Helikaon]

snip

What's your motherboard? Some late AM3 models can support the FX processors. If you don't know how to find out your mobos model, download speccy.

Motherboard is GA-970A-DS3. (Will edit original post)

It does support FX, but I've no idea what that means... Unfortunately I only really know the basics; just enough to build the thing.

 

[AWAR]

snip

What's your motherboard? Some late AM3 models can support the FX processors. If you don't know how to find out your mobos model, download speccy.

Motherboard is GA-970A-DS3. (Will edit original post)

It does support FX, but I've no idea what that means... Unfortunately I only really know the basics; just enough to build the thing.

Good news is that it supports the FX processors, bad news is that it doesn't support the best eight core FX-8350, only up to the six core FX-6350. You have two options:
1. Get a new motherboard + the FX-8350/ FX-8320 CPU (more expensive, you will need to re-install windows)
2. Just get the FX-6350/FX-6320 and keep your current motherboard (cheaper, no need to reinstall windows).

 

[Helikaon]

Good news is that it supports the FX processors, bad news is that it doesn't support the best eight core FX-8350, only up to the six core FX-6350. You have two options:
1. Get a new motherboard + the FX-8350/ FX-8320 CPU (more expensive, you will need to re-install windows)
2. Just get the FX-6350/FX-6320 and keep your current motherboard (cheaper, no need to reinstall windows).

Excellent, thank you very much for your advice!

 

[Hero in a half shell]

Use a potatoe!

If it's good enough for Glados...