Right now I'm going to have $450-$500 to spend on new computer parts. My current rig is as follows: GIGABYTE GA-990XA-UD3 AM3+ Motherboard. AMD FX-4170 Zambezi Quad-Core CPU Overclocked to 4.8GHz. XFX Radeon HD 7870; 2GB 256-bit GDDR5, 1120MHz core/1335MHz memory overclocks. COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 plus 120MM CPU cooler. G.SKILL Sniper 8GB DDR3 RAM; 1600 MHz, 9-9-9-24. intel 530 series 180GB SSD 2 Seagate barracuda 7200RPM HDDs 2TB,1TB COOLER MASTER Storm Scout ATX Mid Tower Computer Case. Rosewill 1000W 80Plus Bronze Certified Modular PSU. Rocketfish 7.1 PCI X-Fi CMSS-3D Sound Card Windows 7 Ultimate 64-Bit. acer S232HL 23" Monitor @1920x1080. I'm mainly looking to upgrade the CPU right now, two I have interest in are the AMD FX-8350, which will fit in my current motherboard, or, Intel 4770k with GIGABYTE GA-Z87X-HD3 LGA 1150 Intel Z87 motherboard: (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...) Now what I'm wondering is if I got the FX-8350 and a second graphics card, (7870), or even a new GPU entirely, would I get better performance than getting an intel+mobo? Or would the hassle of messing with Crossfire not be worth the performance gain (if there is any)?
Do not buy a 4770k for gaming. HyperThreading will not help you enough to justify the extra $, if it helps you at all. Get a 4670k instead. Your Newegg link doesn't work. I personally would not buy that new of a board with so few reviews available, but that's me. Getting a second video card has literally nothing to do with whether or not the FX-8350 will outperform a 4770k or not. It will not. Crossfire sucks. The best option would be an overclocked 4670k and a better video card. Barring the expense of that, get at least an FX-8320 (just up the multiplier a little and it's instantly a cheaper 8350). The 7870 is probably fine, but obviously upgrade = more pretty stuff. Why on earth do you have a kilowatt power supply for a quad-core and a 7870?
I really would just upgrade that CPU and keep the single 7870 tbh with you. There's no real need to upgrade from it any time soon.
Thing about the 4770k over a 4670k, is that I also do video editing and rendering, so it would improve with that, I also play other games such as BF4 that takes advantage of hyperthreading. I have a 1KW PSU because it was cheap at the time and I thought I would be getting a second graphics card at the time.
/mindblown - first person I've seen here to say "buying a x770k" who will actually have a use for it. In that case, 4770k away for the editing/rendering. Don't go in expecting a different in gaming (you mentioned BF4) because it'll be effectively unnoticeable. An 8320/8320 is also very good for editing/rendering. Either one will do very well.
https://forums.station.sony.com/ps2...e-can-i-run-it-upgrade-advice-threads.170564/ Id get a good PSU. Not just one with a big number attached to it. Trash the sound card as most of them just hurt sound quality. Tek Syndicate has a good series of videos that explain exactly why theyre generally horrible. The Realtek ALC 800 series onboard is much better. Id wait for the 800 series and build a new PC with a 4770 or 4820k and 16GB of good RAM like Crucial.
