Posts by Raymond Anderson14

I've got a 120GB SSD on hand

Kimberly Gomez34 said:The AMD Ryzen 5 1600 2 x is currently the most budget-friendly option at Micro Center, and pairing it with a B350 motherboard is easily your best value move right now. Just keep in mind you'll need some DDR4 RAM to get up and running. What kind of total budget are we working with here?

I'll let you know everything soon, friend, probably around $1667

fadedorca66 said:Where exactly is the CPU struggling? It’s an older chip, but I wouldn't call it a complete disaster.

Honestly, the Skylake i7 feels like a bit of a missed opportunity right now since you're getting way more bang for your buck with Ryzen, specifically an R5 or R7. Plus, Intel is dropping that new Coffee lake platform around October, which should hopefully step up to the plate against Ryzen by bumping up core counts—think i3 moving to quad-core, i5 to hexa, and i7 hitting hexa with SMT. I guess it might be worth waiting to see what Intel actually delivers, because planning anything right this second seems a little premature. Then again, even if you decide to grab a Ryzen tomorrow, you probably won't regret it.

Is Ryzen really the better bet right now? I don't know... I feel like I'm hitting a bottleneck in certain games. It doesn't seem to be hitting its full potential. I can notice these tiny stutters—nothing huge, almost imperceptible—but it's still not quite smooth. You know what I mean?

So, I’m planning on upgrading my gaming rig this coming October.

Last year, I just swapped out the graphics card, but my processor is really starting to struggle.
Since I'm currently running an AMD, I’m looking to make the jump over to Intel—specifically moving to a Skylake i7.
I’ll be shopping at Micro Center, where I originally bought this whole setup since they handled the full build for me.

I could use some guidance on what exactly needs replacing. I assume I'll need a new motherboard too, but I'm stuck on which one to pick.
I actually had this entire configuration put together by the experts here about two years ago, so I figured I'd come back to the community for some advice.

Current specs:

CPU: AMD FX-8320
Cooler: LC-CC-120 Liquid Cooler
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P AM3 RAM
RAM: Kingston HyperX 2x4GB 1866MHz
GPU: Nvidia GF GTX 1060 6
PSU: XFX TS Series 550W 80+
Cooler: LC-CC-120 Liquid Cooler

My main goal is to get an i7-6700K. My budget would be around $1667.

P.S. There's also a bit of a buzzing noise coming from somewhere—not sure if it's a fan or something else. Should I look into replacing that as well? Thanks in advance! 🙏

It’s not happening in every single title, but you can definitely notice those FPS drops in some of the newer releases. You really start to feel that bottlenecking kick in 😁

I mean, if 😁 we see how things look about a month before I actually pull the trigger on the purchase, we can jump back in here and figure out the best setup 😉
But at this point, I definitely need to swap out the processor. Once I get that sorted, we'll have to see what else needs an upgrade to make sure everything runs smoothly together 🙂

As for an SSD, I might just hold off until I'm ready to grab the CPU, so I can just pick up the whole bundle at once.

MSI Gaming GTX 1060

Intel Core i7-4770K
8GB DDR3 RAM (2x 4GB) 1866 Mhz
Gigabyte-970A-DS3P AM3+
Power Supply: XFX TS Series 550W 80+
Cooler: CPU cooler LC-CC-120

I'm planning on making the jump to a new Intel setup toward the end of this year or maybe early next. I have a few other things on my plate right now that need my attention first, so I'm focusing on those priorities for the moment. Once things settle down, I'm looking at a budget of roughly $1,100. That should cover a new processor, a motherboard, and whatever else I might need to swap out if the new parts aren't compatible with what I'm currently running.

But wait, won't they just keep eating away at it forever? haha 😁

So, I'm looking to pick up an SSD specifically to load up with my game library. I’m trying to keep the budget under $333 if possible.

I definitely want to buy it from Best Buy! Thanks 😁

Thanks for all the help, everyone. It turns out the issue was actually with the graphics card itself. I had it swapped out, and everything is running perfectly now with the latest drivers installed! 🙂

P.S. If you're looking for an upgrade, I can't recommend the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 - Screen Tearing 6GB version enough—you won't regret it!

So, I picked up a new GPU today and had some buddies help me get it installed. Once I got home, I made sure to wipe all my old drivers completely before installing the new ones. Everything seemed perfect at first—I fired up a game and it was running exactly how it should. But then, after about an hour of play, the screen tearing/flickering started out of nowhere... just little blocks popping up everywhere.
I’ve tried pretty much everything to fix this. I read online that some people have issues with the 1000 series, and apparently, some folks fixed it by tweaking their monitor's refresh rate (either bumping it up or down) or changing the resolution. Others found success toggling V-Sync on or off. I even saw some mentions of users on Windows 7 enabling Windows Aero to solve it, but nothing has worked for me so far. I've gone through every trick in the book, and I'm currently running the latest drivers listed above. :/

If anyone happens to think of something else or has any other solutions we could test out, please let me know. I really don't think there's anything wrong with the card itself; it performed beautifully right out of the gate, and everything works perfectly except for this one annoying issue.

Timothy Kim60 said:They’re essentially the same GPU, just with different overclocking headroom. Honestly, I wouldn't even pay extra $33 just for a factory overclock. Also, looking at that second link, it mentions 3G in one spot—likely a typo if they're implying it's a 3GB model. Regardless, a 3GB card and a 6GB card are completely different beasts when you look at the specs, specifically the CUDA core count.

In that case, I'll just go with the standard version. It seems like the right call. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

- stock
- overclocked

(Just to be clear, I know what overclocking entails... but looking at these two, I don't see any meaningful difference between them, aside from the $33 price tag)

Could someone please explain the actual difference between these two cards? In the end, I've decided to just go with the 1060. It feels a bit silly to pick up both a new monitor and a 1070 at once, especially since I just bought my current monitor about a year ago.. 🙂
Anyway, I'm not seeing much of a distinction here... plus, someone suggested I should stick with this 1060. So.. 🙂

Thanks, guys!

wiredotter14 said:thanks for the link
I managed to overclock my Core i7 920 to 3.8GHz today and it seems rock solid. I might need to repaste it soon, though, since temperatures are creeping up toward 90 on Prime95—but hey, it is summer, so that’s understandable.
I suspect my CPU is still a bit behind a Vishere running at 4.0GHz, but the bottleneck is actually pretty minimal when playing at 1440p.

I already have an SSD. My alternative to that combo would be a 1440p monitor plus something like a Radeon RX 480. It would actually cost me a few bucks less because if I went the other route, I'd have to buy a new CPU, motherboard, GPU, and RAM, which means saying goodbye to my X58 platform :'( And even then, I’d likely end up back at 1080p, where things currently run fine on my Pitcairn card (for instance, Grand Theft Auto V runs without any issues on Normal settings and can even hold steady on High).

The moral of the story is... insisting on Ultra settings is just a massive waste of money.

Raymond Anderson14, if I were in your shoes, I would definitely aim for 1440p, especially if you're eyeing a GTX 1070. You'd only be changing two things: the graphics card and the monitor. Once you do that, you'll have a configuration that's a whole tier higher; otherwise, you'll be chasing tiny detail improvements that are hard to even notice. 1440p offers nearly double the resolution, and the GTX 1070 was practically built for that sweet spot.

As for the monitor you have now, just set it up as a second screen. Having a dual-monitor setup is absolutely phenomenal for productivity.

Those two items are $2500, right within the budget. 🎉

Would those two components definitely work if I just added them to my current build? 🙂 If so, that would be awesome... and having a second monitor would be a huge plus for me (running a 1080p side monitor alongside a 1440p main one).

Timothy Kim60 said:It’s more about 1440p than 144Hz 😬

If you decide to go with a monitor like that, I honestly don't think it's overkill to pair it with even an RTX 3080 if that's what you're leaning toward. If you're sticking with 1080p and focusing on high frame rates, then maybe an older card would suffice. But if you want to stay at 1080p while using a card like an RTX 3080, that's when you should really look into upgrading your platform—maybe moving up to a Core i9 or something similar.

I'm actually leaning towards pairing an RTX 3080 with a 1080p setup... I picked up a monitor along with my current build last year.
Which Core i9 would be a good match for an RTX 3080? And what else should I be looking at, since you mentioned "and so on"?🙂

So, if I'm aiming for high-end graphics with a 144Hz monitor, should I look at pairing a GTX 1070 or a GTX 1080 with a newer processor? I feel like that setup should be enough to get everything running smoothly enough.

My buddies are telling me that if I'm going to upgrade my GPU, I should really aim for a GTX 1070 or even an 1080 instead. They also mentioned that I’d likely need a new processor to go along with it... what do you all think about that? Is it worth saving up a few extra hundred bucks now just to have some peace of mind for the next few years, or am I overthinking it?

wiredotter14 said:Have you overclocked your CPU? Which specific games are giving you those FPS drops? Are you running the latest drivers? What kind of frame rates are we talking about here? It’s possible some specific settings are just putting too much strain on your GPU.

The FX8320 is actually a very capable processor, especially when you're playing a Vulkan game or anything utilizing DX12. You'll also find that any potential bottleneck from the FX becomes less noticeable at higher resolutions, and honestly, I think it's plenty powerful enough to keep most modern titles running at a steady 60FPS.

If you want to push for better performance at 1080p, you could pair it with a card like an RX470/480, a GTX 1060, or maybe a GTX 970 if you can find a good deal on one.
However, if you really have $1,000 to spend, my advice would be to invest in a better monitor instead. Dumping a full grand into a 1080p setup that's already performing decently feels a bit excessive to me.

P.S. All of these GPUs will be compatible with motherboards from roughly the last seven years.

You could definitely pick up one of these three options:



Each of these offers great value—you get exactly what you pay for—but the last one would likely be your best bet. For 1080p gaming, you don't really need anything more powerful than that. The RX480 4 GB is also a solid value, and for 1080p, you won't really need more than 4GB of VRAM anyway.
As for the GTX 1060, that would be a massive overkill for your current needs.

I've got Kloko set to 4.0!

Thanks for all the input, everyone. So, does it sound like the 1060 is a solid upgrade? Do you think I'll run into a bottleneck with the processor I'm using right now?

wiredotter14 said:Raymond Anderson14, first things first: what’s your actual goal with this upgrade? And what kind of monitor are you planning to play on?
If you’re sticking with a 1080p 60Hz monitor, you could put some money into an NVIDIA GTX 1050 or maybe an NVIDIA GTX 970, but honestly, it isn't much of an upgrade, and you won't see a massive difference. Anything beyond that feels like overkill if you just want to play at 1080p. However, if you’re looking to jump to a 1080p 144Hz setup or move up to 1440p, then you definitely need to think about a serious upgrade—just keep in mind you'll have to factor in the cost of the new monitor plus upgrading the whole rig.

That CPU and GPU combo is actually quite decent for 1080p. In my opinion, if you overclock the processor, it could likely handle a more powerful card for 1440p gaming, like an NVIDIA GTX 1060 or even an NVIDIA GTX 1070. You might run into some bottlenecking, but future titles will actually help mitigate those bottlenecks for processors like yours. Of course, we also need to consider whether you have the budget for a proper CPU overhaul. Moving to a non-overclocked i5 wouldn't really be much of an upgrade for you.

P.S. There's no point in upgrading your RAM; you won't gain anything from adding more capacity or faster speeds. Plus, if you decide to move to a Skylake platform, you'll need DDR4, which adds another expense. Personally, given your current situation, I might even look into a DDR3 motherboard compatible with Skylake since you already have good RAM available.

I'm talking 1080p gaming at max resolution... I agree that my current card is still okay, but I can't enjoy playing when everything hitches for a few seconds or I get these FPS drops that drive me absolutely crazy. I'd love a high-quality card, preferably NVIDIA, and a better processor. Since I'm not entirely sure about compatibility with my current peripherals and motherboard, that's why I'm asking here. 🙂 Thanks!