I’ve just bought my first PC game of 2017 – Forza Motorsport 7 as I used to be a huge Forza fan back in my youth (Xbox 360).

Now I think I need to upgrade my PC before it comes out and I’m well out of touch…

Currently I have:
CPU: AMD FX-6100
Mobo: Asus Sabertooth FX990
Ram: 16gb Corsair Vengeance
GPU: Asus R9 280x
HDD: Various SSDs & standard

I’m thinking the bottleneck will be the CPU??

I think my options are:
1) Upgrade to the FX-8350 for marginal gains for 75?
2) Upgrade to the Ryzen processor for circa 250 with:
CPU: Ryzen 5 1600 180
Mobo: Asus X370 prime 120
Corsair DDR4: 16gb for 130
Potentially sell the old stuff for 200?

Thoughts/Is it worth it?

Why don’t you run the game and check your resource monitor to see what struggling, then make the decision? I’ve no particular experience of this game or its requirements but I wouldn’t upgrade the CPU on the old Mobo, unless cheap 2nd hand,(but that’s another can of worms), dead money IMO & a good contribution towards a modern processor. How’s about upgrading your graphics card 1st, as you make no mention of it on your upgrade list, then upgrade the cpu/mobo later?

I’d install MSI Afterburner and use that to find what is the bottleneck.

I think the graphics card is good for it?

I ran this on it earlier and the bottleneck is the CPU: http://www.game-debate.com/games/index.php?g_id=35278&game=Forza+Motorsport+7&p_make=AMD&p_deriv=FX-6100&gc_make=ATI&gc_deriv=Radeon+R9+280X+Asus+Matrix+3GB+Edition&ram=16&checkSubmit=#systemRequirements

Will check out the afterburner thing now, thanks!

Looks like you might be ok as-is.
Although your cpu is only just over minimum requirements

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/wccftech.com/forza-motorsport-7-pc-system-requirements-revealed/amp/?espv=1

Yeah I’m thinking I may pick up an FX-8350 for 75, sell my current one and be done with it. Will upgrade the whole lot next year if needed…

nathb – Member
Currently I have:
CPU: AMD FX-6100
Mobo: Asus Sabertooth FX990
Ram: 16gb Corsair Vengeance
GPU: Asus R9 280x
HDD: Various SSDs & standard

If you are selling your RAM I might be interested if it is compatible with my mobo.

Don’t really want to split, I’ve stuck it up on a few sites as a bundle 😆

Based on:
Sabertooth 85
Case & 3xCD drives 5
Ram 70
FX6100 40

If someone bites I may grab a Ryzen…

nathb – Member
Don’t really want to split, I’ve stuck it up on a few sites as a bundle 😆

I want RAM only … 😀

That case … that case … Did you just buy the cheapest available case? 😆

I sure did!! It’s bloody awful, but at the time I was a student haha.

I’m using a nice one now, a Coolermaster N400, moving up in the world.

nathb – Member
I’m using a nice one now, a Coolermaster N400, moving up in the world.

That’s a much much better looking case … 😀

Just to point out that the Sabertooth 990FX was one of the better boards for over-clocking. You could probably get all the cores on the FX 6100 to 4GHz without much effort, you might want a better cooler is all.

If you did get the FX 8350 you would likely be able to run all the cores at 4.3GHz without getting into the more complex side of over-clocking.

Still might not compare well to the latests CPU’s but probably gets that game running just as well – car racing games tend to be GPU limited rather than CPU limited.

Cooler wise I have a huge Be Quiet! Shadow Rock 2

It’s ridiculous:

Blimey, that’s almost as big as the Noctua I used to have, almost 😉

Maybe treat the CPU to some new thermal paste before overclocking. If that works the money saved might be well spent on a decent monitor or SSD etc.

Actually this is looking like a better prospect:

Ryzen 1200 OC to 3.8 (performs better than the 1300x) – 84
Asus B350 prime (X370 only adds dual GPU and I wont be doing that) – 76
8gb DDR 4 – 70

Total = 230

or 16gb ram for 290….

Then that leaves me room to expand to the 1600 if required next year…

Just bought new monitors and SSDs are fairly recent too.

nathb – Member

Cooler wise I have a huge Be Quiet! Shadow Rock 2

It’s ridiculous:

That’s not huge … 😀

I bought a Noctua NH-U12S recently to move away from my Corsair H50 coz I just want to try air cool. 😛

Sounds good, especially if you manage to get ~£200 for the old stuff.

Ordered!!

I went for:
Ryzen 1200 – I’ll OC to 3.8/3.9
Asus B350 Plus Mobo
Corsair 2x8GB 3000mhz (mobo only does up to 2666 but it was the same price 😆 )

Also I get to choose a free game from: https://uk.gamesplanet.com/promo/asus-am4-ryzen

I’m thinking project cars!

Slightly over budget at 310 but hey ho.

Only problem is my CPU cooler wont fit AM4, but bequiet is offering free kits so I’ll just use the stock one for now.

Now to make back some money!

Can’t help but think I should just lump he extra £100 and get a 1600 over the 1200?

Thoughts? 😆

Just completed my new build and went for the 1600, the stock cooler is pretty impressive and can easily be overclocked to 3.8/3.9. Ram is an issue with AM4 boards though, bought 3000hz and currently only at 2666hz, hopefully a bios update will come along and fix it all.

Okay,

1200 cancelled 1600 ordered 😆

I have read that ryzen can be very sensitive with ram type when overclocking, certainly check for a bios update but if the ram is new could you return the ram for a different set?

I’ve not read into it too much as I have an intel machine but there’s a long thread on it here.. The thread started before ryzen was released so the latter pages will be more relevant than the earlier ones.

I checked the Asus boards QVL and it’ll run at 2933mhz fine with the ram sticks I have bought.

Cheers for the link will check it out later.

Using this promo: https://www.asus-promotion.eu/am4/index_pc_eu.html

I’ve now got 2 games to choose 🙂

Yeah my GPU is definitely still up for the task: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ryzen+5+1600+r9+280x

Is it worth buying an M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD to run Windows off? 😈

I splashed out on a 1TB NVMe for my new PC – it’s certainly fast. I’d been out of the PC hardware loop for a few years and didn’t even know they existed before I started specing up the new PC, seems mental to me something that looks like a small DRAM stick holds that much data.

They are good aren’t they, less cables, Sleek design fitting nicely onto the mobo no need for another mounting bracket or trying to find some SSD bay on your case, I should have bought one…

Had a right faff trying to get my sata power cables to reach from the 3.5 bay to the ssd bay over the psu whilst maintaining some slight dignity with cable management.

Cable management, what’s that? 😆

Be Quiet! have dispatched a mounting kit!

Is it worth buying an M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD to run Windows off?

You won’t notice the difference over a decent ‘normal’ SSD in general use.
I just went for a Samsung evo SSD as it was cheaper.
If the m.2.

They are technically faster though and neater, if you can get one for a comparable price to the equivalent SSD.

Maybe this M2 250gb £120 = https://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-MZ-V6E250BW-250GB-Express-Solid/dp/B01M211K53?th=1

It’s not too much more than a standard ssd..

Its on special offer here at £109, I’d probably go for it at that price.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/samsung-960-evo-polaris-250gb-m.2-2280-pci-e-3.0-x4-nvme-solid-state-drive-hd-22g-sa.html

Does the m.2 slot on that board support NVMe though or is it sata, in which case that drive won’t perform any different to a regular SSD.

Heres an interesting article: http://techreport.com/review/29221/samsung-950-pro-512gb-ssd-reviewed/4

Notably: Though those prices are far lower than what PCIe storage has commanded in the past, it’s still hard to recommend these fancy NVMe drives to the average enthusiast. SATA drives perform just as well in everyday productivity and gaming scenarios, despite their theoretical AHCI handicap.

Thanks, it can with this caveat:

When a SATA / PCIE mode M.2 device is installed, the M.2 Socket shares bandwidth with the SATA6G_5/6 ports

I think I’ll leave everything as is for the time being.

I wish I would have bought a modular PSU a few years back, just finished pulling everything out of the case:

😆 😆

Finally got everything up and running!

Had to reset windows 10 (great feature – removes all apps & drivers not on the standard install, but keeps al your files/saves etc).

GTA V on old PC = 40-50fps
New PC while copying a partition from one disk to another = 60+ (think the game is set to cap at this)

Overclocked to 3.8 @ 1.33 ish bolts too, stress tested and caps at 70 ish degrees.

Very happy with it so far! Got Forza 7 pre ordered, plus my free Project cars 2 and another game to choose.

Cool!
Might be a V-sync thing, try the game with and without V-sync. Depending on the monitor it can help or hinder.