Upgrading Rig for Crysis 3

[Tinsley847]

Original Setup:

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Processor 3.41 GHz
VIDEO CARD : HIS Radeon HD 6990 4GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready
HDD : Single Hard Drive 300GB (Not Solid State)
MOTHERBOARD : Asus M4A79T Deluxe, AMD 790FX Chipset
MEMORY: 8GB (2GBx4)
MONITOR: 27” LCD – Samsung (MAX RESOLUTION = 1920x1080)
OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
POWER SUPPLY: 1000 WATT PSU

So my plan is to upgrade the CPU. Which of course means I need to upgrade my MB & memory as well.

Going from...
AMD Phenom II X4 965 Processor 3.41 GHz >>> AMD FX-8350 Vishera 4.0GHz (4.2GHz Turbo) Eight-Core

Will this allow me to take better advantage of my HD 6990?

Is this a pointless upgrade?

 

[guskline]

Have you tried to OC your 965? I have both an 8150 and 8350 rig and crysis 3 plays well.

If you are going to replace both the cpu and mb the 3770k might be a bit better in crysis 3 AND faster in other games.

 

[Tinsley847]

Is there a downside to combining Intel CPU with AMD GPU?

I was going with AMD because of my current GPU investment.

Edit: I have not OC on anything before. It is above my head. I used the catalyst driver to OC one time but I don't know what i'm doing & it instantly became unstable and I reverted back.

Edit 2: The 3770k is $330 vs the FX-8350 @ $199.

Is it going to be $130 better?

 

[shingletingle]

Is there a downside to combining Intel CPU with AMD GPU?

LOL

 

[Tinsley847]

LOL

If I knew alot about custom computers, I wouldn't be asking the community.

Thank you for the insight though. It is much appreciated.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Overclock your current system and call it good.

Otherwise you're looking at getting new CPU and motherboard.

 

[tweakboy]

Your fine, just OC the CPU you already have a top notch video card.

gl

 

[raildogg]

I have used an AMD CPU and Nvidia GPU before and it was just as it would be if it were switched to any other combination.

Tinsley, your CPU isn't that bad but I'm sure the newest tech. will be faster. Not sure if it will make a noticeable difference that you can actually see and feel. Your resolution isn't that high so if I had that CPU along with that GPU I would not upgrade for another year or so, at least.

 

[Tinsley847]

I have used an AMD CPU and Nvidia GPU before and it was just as it would be if it were switched to any other combination.

Tinsley, your CPU isn't that bad but I'm sure the newest tech. will be faster. Not sure if it will make a noticeable difference that you can actually see and feel. Your resolution isn't that high so if I had that CPU along with that GPU I would not upgrade for another year or so, at least.

I feel like something must be wrong then. Because there are many times in Crysis 3 where I have to turn down everything to Low in order to have playable frame-rates. I was assuming this was a CPU issue because its the oldest part of my setup.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

I feel like something must be wrong then. Because there are many times in Crysis 3 where I have to turn down everything to Low in order to have playable frame-rates. I was assuming this was a CPU issue because its the oldest part of my setup.

Lot of "free" upgrade in overclocking your CPU.
If you want to spend $500 buy an Intel CPU.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Edit 2: The 3770k is $330 vs the FX-8350 @ $199.

Is it going to be $130 better?

You decide. There is plenty of information on the subject.

If I were you, I'd probably just overclock what you have to 3.8 (should be doable on stock voltage) and do a complete upgrade "when" it is clearly not enough.

 

[Tinsley847]

Well I guess to switch gears a bit.

Beware, my questions may seem dumb to you experts.

I was just reading about my Phenom II X4 965 Processor 3.41 being OC'd and stable @ 4.0ghz. Is this something that you can do with stock cooling? Or will I require a 3rd party sink &/or liquid cooling?

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Never mind. I didn't know your CPU was already at 3.4. Im use to Intel CPU's where they run at 2.6GHz and can overclock to 4ghz. Find a used 2500k or 2600k and a z77 motherboard IMO.

 

[Tinsley847]

Thanks to everyone that has posted so far. I'm learning a lot.

 

[InfoTiger]

Upgrade to a SSD is very noticeable in speed.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

Upgrade to a SSD is very noticeable in speed.

Not for games

 

[Magic Carpet]

Well I guess to switch gears a bit.

Beware, my questions may seem dumb to you experts.

I was just reading about my Phenom II X4 965 Processor 3.41 being OC'd and stable @ 4.0ghz. Is this something that you can do with stock cooling? Or will I require a 3rd party sink &/or liquid cooling?

You can, but you don't want to. My chip had a sweet spot @ 3.8 Ghz, I could do 4.0 but performance wasn't much better, yet it consumed quite a bit more power. Get this if you want to go cheap, or this if you want a premium product (this should be more future-proof).

Your questions are fine, feel free to ask more

 

[notty22]

You have a 6990, which is basically 2...- 6970's in crossfire. So a better AMD driver with a more efficient crossfire cap profile, will probably expose a ton of performance.
You can go from having the performance of 1 6970 to 140%-190% of one. Because you have 2 - 6970 gpu's in that card. They just need software to get them to work efficiently.
Have you ever flipped the switch on your 6990 to the 2nd setting.
It raises the clock speeds from 830mhz to 880mhz.
See here. http://www.amd.com/US/PRODUCTS/DESK...6990/Pages/amd-radeon-hd-6990-overview.aspx#3

To wrap up. I'd wait and try new AMD drivers and CAP's profiles , and try the 2nd bios switch on the video card. For a quick boost.

• Default (BIOS1)
  • Up to 830MHz Engine Clock
  • 5.10 TFLOPs Single Precision compute power
  • 1.27 TFLOPs Double Precision Compute Power
• Overclocked (BIOS2)
  • Up to 880MHz Engine Clock
  • 5.40 TFLOPs Single Precision compute power o 1.37 TFLOPs Double Precision Compute Power

edit: Make sure the computer is off, and the power cord unplugged before you open up your computer and flip that switch.

 

[Tweak155]

Lot of "free" upgrade in overclocking your CPU.
If you want to spend $500 buy an Intel CPU.

Uh huh... I just spent $220 for my I5 3570k + MSI mobo combo new.

 

[Face2Face]

You have a 6990, which is basically 2...- 6970's in crossfire. So a better AMD driver with a more efficient crossfire cap profile, will probably expose a ton of performance.
You can go from having the performance of 1 6970 to 140%-190% of one. Because you have 2 - 6970 gpu's in that card. They just need software to get them to work efficiently.
Have you ever flipped the switch on your 6990 to the 2nd setting.
It raises the clock speeds from 830mhz to 880mhz.
See here. http://www.amd.com/US/PRODUCTS/DESK...6990/Pages/amd-radeon-hd-6990-overview.aspx#3


edit: Make sure the computer is off, and the power cord unplugged before you open up your computer and flip that switch.

Notty22 brings up a good point. What AMD driver and/or Cap config do you have installed now?

A 6990 should run Crysis 3 pretty good @ 1080, even with a Phenom II. If you wanted to spend the time and learn how to overclock your CPU I would recommend it. You should be able to get 3.8-4.0Ghz out of that chip. You can do that even with this cooler

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835103064

This is a nice and cheap cooler if you don't feel comfortable removing your motherboard. Not sure what your tech level is? Sorry if this sounds demeaning...


You can see what kind of gains you would get here

http://www.overclock.net/content/type/61/id/1311513/width/500/height/1000
http://www.overclock.net/content/type/61/id/1311515/width/500/height/1000
http://www.overclock.net/content/type/61/id/1311512/width/500/height/1000

A 4Ghz Phenom II is not that far off from a 8350 stock in this game.

 

[looniam]

the 6990 is fine.
you can spend ~$30 and get a third party heatsink for your PIIx4, read a few guides on overclocking it and get a nice performance increase.

or spend an additional ~$185 and get a 8350 (providing you mobo supports it) to get a really good increase.

though you may want to take a look see at this thread for more info:
Crysis 3 CPU performance test

and i stress the whole thread . . the beta benchmarks may be misleading . .

 

[Durvelle27]

Have you tried to OC your 965? I have both an 8150 and 8350 rig and crysis 3 plays well.

If you are going to replace both the cpu and mb the 3770k might be a bit better in crysis 3 AND faster in other games.

Not true for Crysis 3. The FX 8350 outperformed the 3770K but in other games the i7 would be a little faster but i wouldn't recommend it over a i5-3570K.

 

[Tinsley847]

What AMD driver and/or Cap config do you have installed now?

I just run whatever the Catalyst software suite tells me to >.<

At the moment, its the 13.1 driver. But 13.2 is in beta stage 6 and should be out within a few weeks.

I'm not sure what a CAP config is?

Am I running the wrong drivers? I hadn't really thought of that...

 

[Tinsley847]

You have a 6990, which is basically 2...- 6970's in crossfire. So a better AMD driver with a more efficient crossfire cap profile, will probably expose a ton of performance.
You can go from having the performance of 1 6970 to 140%-190% of one. Because you have 2 - 6970 gpu's in that card. They just need software to get them to work efficiently.
Have you ever flipped the switch on your 6990 to the 2nd setting.
It raises the clock speeds from 830mhz to 880mhz.
See here. http://www.amd.com/US/PRODUCTS/DESK...6990/Pages/amd-radeon-hd-6990-overview.aspx#3


edit: Make sure the computer is off, and the power cord unplugged before you open up your computer and flip that switch.

I was going to try the boost switch when i switched my CPU. I thought it wouldn't make a difference with my CPU bottleneck.

I would love to hear more about crossfire cap profiles though. Please elaborate.

 

[tweakboy]

The game is incredible with a 690 or 790. Other then those two cards, the rest will just struggle with its engine, especially if you want high def high quality ultra high quality and what not.