Advice on Graphics Cards

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Originally Posted by Abriael

It's definitely worth upgrading, and if she wants to fully upgrade she doesn't even need a new motherboard, as her socket AM3 can host some definitely good processors and RAM.

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You act like everyone knows how to upgrade their CPU/Motherboard like its no big deal. It is a big deal for a lot of people and they are going to run into issues - whether it is with cabling/drivers/mismatched components. So pairing a GTX 660 with a dual core athlon2 because they 'might' upgrade in the future is a terrible idea. Better to buy a properly matched card like a 6670 and then just buy a complete new system pre-configured at a later date. That is the advise you should be giving people.

Link1

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Originally Posted by Soukyuu

I doubt the thermal paste can change the temps by ~15°C, but might look into it. Does the paste lose it's features over time? I used the paste provided with the cooler this time, but before that it was arctic silver. Didn't really change the temps.

Wrote to AMD to see if they will be willing to do anything, if not, then I guess I will be looking around for a different CPU. My budget is as low as it gets atm, I'm usually aiming for best bang for the buck though.

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Ignore the FX-6200 and FX-8150 i recommended earlier and go with FX-6300 and FX-8320, same price as the first 2 but newer and better performance. I would recommend the FX-8320, if that's to much go with the FX-6300 and if your willing to spend more then go with the FX-8350.

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Originally Posted by Quesse

You act like everyone knows how to upgrade their CPU/Motherboard like its no big deal. It is a big deal for a lot of people and they are going to run into issues - whether it is with cabling/drivers/mismatched components. So pairing a GTX 660 with a dual core athlon2 because they 'might' upgrade in the future is a terrible idea. Better to buy a properly matched card like a 6670 and then just buy a complete new system pre-configured at a later date. That is the advise you should be giving people.
Link1

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I think the reason he saying that if you going to upgrade later like 5-8month or 1year you have the card 660. But buying the 6670 then wasting the money for 660 would cost more.

I think that it's point

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Originally Posted by Quesse

You act like everyone knows how to upgrade their CPU/Motherboard like its no big deal. It is a big deal for a lot of people and they are going to run into issues - whether it is with cabling/drivers/mismatched components. So pairing a GTX 660 with a dual core athlon2 because they 'might' upgrade in the future is a terrible idea. Better to buy a properly matched card like a 6670 and then just buy a complete new system pre-configured at a later date. That is the advise you should be giving people.

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I give people the advice I know works well and optimizes their budget, not the advice you want me to give for some mysterious reason.

Your solution is simply not money efficient. Buying something only to throw it away in a few months is a waste of money.

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Originally Posted by Soukyuu

I doubt the thermal paste can change the temps by ~15°C, but might look into it. Does the paste lose it's features over time? I used the paste provided with the cooler this time, but before that it was arctic silver. Didn't really change the temps.

Wrote to AMD to see if they will be willing to do anything, if not, then I guess I will be looking around for a different CPU. My budget is as low as it gets atm, I'm usually aiming for best bang for the buck though.

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Good paste doesn't deteriorate for several years if at all, so I wouldn't think that's the cause. At the moment I'm simply thinking about a defective CPU, unless your case ventilation is REALLY horrible. But even in that case it shouldn't be that bad.

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Originally Posted by Shura

Ignore the FX-6200 and FX-8150 i recommended earlier and go with FX-6300 and FX-8320, same price as the first 2 but newer and better performance. I would recommend the FX-8320, if that's to much go with the FX-6300 and if your willing to spend more then go with the FX-8350.

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Thanks, I will look into that. I read some people saying the FX series underperformed compared to same spec phenom II (some saying to go for a 965BE instead of a FX-6200), what's your stance on that?

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Originally Posted by Abriael

Good paste doesn't deteriorate for several years if at all, so I wouldn't think that's the cause. At the moment I'm simply thinking about a defective CPU, unless your case ventilation is REALLY horrible. But even in that case it shouldn't be that bad.

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I have the cooler master 690 II, with most of the fans installed, air pulled from front+bottom and exhausted from top+back, so that shouldn't be the cause either.

Still waiting for a reply from AMD, but not really holding my breath.

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Originally Posted by Soukyuu

Thanks, I will look into that. I read some people saying the FX series underperformed compared to same spec phenom II (some saying to go for a 965BE instead of a FX-6200), what's your stance on that?

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Your right, a FX-6200 is not really an upgrade from 965BE, the FX is just newer technology. If you were building a new PC, i would say go with the FX-6200 but if you were upgrading from a 965BE, normally i would tell you to stay with the 965BE and save up for a FX-8320 or FX-8350.

In your case though, your CPU seems defective and also forget the FX-6200, that was a mistake on my part. If you need to change go with the FX-6300 instead which does performs better then the 965BE for the same price. If you think the 965BE can hold for a while longer though, then i would say, save up for a FX-8320, which is a better investment overall; if you must change now and need a cheaper solution, then go with a FX-6300.

Here is a comparison between the 965BE vs FX-6300. You can change the selected CPU to a FX-8320 to see how that compares to the first 2 too.

Thanks. I will probably have to keep this CPU till it dies anyway and from what I see, there isn't that much of a difference between them anyway. I've read an extensive review of the Vishera based FX models here and it seems that AMD CPUs are pretty damn good in multithreaded tasks, but Intel is way ahead of them when it comes to single-threaded performance. Reading more about this (same site), it seems that CPU intensive games, especially MMOs will underperform on AMD systems... causing bottlenecks. Not that I expect my CPU to bottleneck my dated 260GTX...

If u know how or if u do know someone who got experience, u can Overclock the 965BE.
Its a pretty good CPU if it comes to overclocking, as i heard.

I stay with my 965BE for a few more months too and i think about getting it to 3,8 / 3,9 GHz.

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Originally Posted by Alegis

If u know how or if u do know someone who got experience, u can Overclock the 965BE.
Its a pretty good CPU if it comes to overclocking, as i heard.

I stay with my 965BE for a few more months too and i think about getting it to 3,8 / 3,9 GHz.

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Overclocking a 965 BE is very easy (you really need to raise the multiplier and the vCore a bit until it's stable and doesn't heat up too much), mine is running easy at 3.8 ghz, and I could probably push it to 4 with no problems, but Soukyuu is already suffering from overheating problems, so overclocking is probably not a good idea.

He should get a new cooler then. Its less expensive than a new CPU.
I get a new one before too, still have the boxed one...

But i wait till my new GPU arrives (tomorrow or the day after i think) and look how it increases my performance on the Benchmark.