can a new CPU increase performance (not wow) for this build?

[Deleted]

DISREGARD TITLE; I MEANT A NEW GPU, NOT CPU

Hey all!
a friend has a PC with an first gen i7 (i7-920) and a radeon 5860 gpu and thinks to upgrade the GPU.
It might be a dumb question, but can a motherboard of this generation (a good one at that) handle and use a current-gen CPU?
Or will the increase be bottlenecked somehow?
thanks for any input. Oh and he doesn't play wow, I know that here the potential would probably lie with a new cpu.

[nbm02ss]

Nope, a current-gen CPU won't be supported (different sockets) so your friend would have to buy a new motherboard as well.

[Deleted]

Nope, a current-gen CPU won't be supported (different sockets) so your friend would have to buy a new motherboard as well.

Sorry, I meant a current-gen GPU, not cpu.

[Deleted]

A new GPU will not be bottlenecked by the cpu or mobo.

[Deleted]

A new GPU will not be bottlenecked by the cpu or mobo.

Thanks for that!

But what do you think, could there be some kind of limit (game performance-wise) where the CPU bottlenecks the perormance so that a new, top end GPU would be just overkill? or is that what you said?

And besides that, what about this mantle interface thing, is it so good that one should definitely buy a n AMD card? Or am I just crudely mistaken (by not knowing too much about the topic )?

[Arbiter]

When the game starts maxing out CPU loads causing FPS drops and not the GPU. WoW would be a common one. Most games that aren't open world aren't very CPU dependent (like Battlefield).

For a game like WoW there is no actual difference between lets say a GTX 760 or Quad SLI GTX 780ti's to be honest.

[Daws]

Your only bottleneck really with GPU is if you buy beyond your motherboards capability when it comes to the PCI Express version (variants of 1, 2 and 3 exist with 4 just round the corner)

[Deleted]

Your only bottleneck really with GPU is if you buy beyond your motherboards capability when it comes to the PCI Express version (variants of 1, 2 and 3 exist with 4 just round the corner)

A-ha! that's interesting. Given that the motherboard is 3+ years old, so it will have PCI-E 2 - what does this mean for the capability to use a newer (PCI-E 3) card?

Edit: This says it should work. If I'm reading it correctly.

[Daws]

A-ha! that's interesting. Given that the motherboard is 3+ years old, so it will have PCI-E 2 - what does this mean for the capability to use a newer (PCI-E 3) card?

Edit: This says it should work. If I'm reading it correctly.

All GPU should be fully backwards compatible but if you get a PCIe v3 card and run it on a v2 motherboard you'll miss out on all the benefits of a v3 slot (so basically it won't run as fast as it could).

[Deleted]

All GPU should be fully backwards compatible but if you get a PCIe v3 card and run it on a v2 motherboard you'll miss out on all the benefits of a v3 slot (so basically it won't run as fast as it could).

Good thing that gpu's arent even fully utilizing PCIe 2.0, let alone 3.0. So it won't matter one thing.

And if we gonna nitpick, difference was between 1-4% or something.

[Deleted]

okay, thanks for all the input guys!

So that basically means he can buy whatever he likes (and take the new gpu with him when e decides to buy a new mobo+cpu later on).


Two things still:

one

And besides that, what about this mantle interface thing, is it so good that one should definitely buy a n AMD card? Or am I just crudely mistaken (by not knowing too much about the topic )?

two: What GPU would you guys recommend? price range €350-500, 500 only if it's a significant (i.e. proportional to the price increase) increase in performance.
It's also importantthat the fans are of good quality and durable, what manufacturer would you guys recommend?

[Deleted]

AMD 290. Best price/performance in that price bracket.
I would probably go for a custom cooled model from Sapphire/Asus/Gigabyte.

[Deleted]

AMD 290. Best price/performance in that price bracket.
I would probably go for a custom cooled model from Sapphire/Asus/Gigabyte.

thanks for this. If he wants to spend more, is the next go-to-gpu the 290x?
About manufacturers, what do you think about XFX or MSI?

[Deleted]

I dont think the increased cost of the 290x is worth it performance wise, but you can look up benchmarks and decide that for yourself

XFX is good as well. I have read some issues regarding the fans from MSI models, hence I didnt name them

It's also importantthat the fans are of good quality and durable, what manufacturer would you guys recommend?

[Deleted]

Sure, I understand. I thought MSI was okay, but if they aren't, I'm not gonna recommend them.

Could someone give me an insight on these offers (these are 290x):

http://www.mindfactory.de/product_in...l-_946570.html
http://www.mindfactory.de/product_in...l-_949156.html
http://www.mindfactory.de/product_in...--_947316.html

just because they're all not too expensive - what's the difference, e.g. between the ASUS one and the XFX (same price, but only one is on sale)?

[Deleted]

The cooling is different, and the Asus one probably has a custom pcb. Just look up some reviews of both cards.

I dont think you can go wrong with either one.