Posted: 3/9/2016 11:11:43 AM EDT
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Budget gaming build and I and going to piece it together, I have power supply and case/fans. Replacing old AMD Walmart box that was gifted to us. It is an ok machine but I need/want better and my son needs a PC so 2 birds/1 stone thing.
My parts picked Is the AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor and EVGA GeForce GTX 960 4GB SuperSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card going to be a decent set-up? I know there are some dire hard I7 folks here, but the I7 will blow my budget. If I get SSD after I buy the 1TB HD will it be a PITA to xfer the OS and some other files to the SSD? Or should I wait. Then I see a footnote stating: – Some AMD 970 chipset motherboards may need a BIOS update prior to using Vishera CPUs. Is this something I just D/L onto a flash drive then install into the Bios? I can get around doing something but I am no PC expert. Thanks for the help! |
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Budget gaming build and I and going to piece it together, I have power supply and case/fans. Replacing old AMD Walmart box that was gifted to us. It is an ok machine but I need/want better and my son needs a PC so 2 birds/1 stone thing. My parts picked Is the AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor and EVGA GeForce GTX 960 4GB SuperSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card going to be a decent set-up? I know there are some dire hard I7 folks here, but the I7 will blow my budget. If I get SSD after I buy the 1TB HD will it be a PITA to xfer the OS and some other files to the SSD? Or should I wait. Then I see a footnote stating: – Some AMD 970 chipset motherboards may need a BIOS update prior to using Vishera CPUs. Is this something I just D/L onto a flash drive then install into the Bios? I can get around doing something but I am no PC expert. Thanks for the help! You know intel makes i5 processors, right? Cheaper than an i7 without having to resort to gimping your computer by going with an amd processor. Can easily find i5 processors around the ~$200 mark. Also while it isn't hard to copy over one drives contents to another, it would be easier if you just started with the ssd. |
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You know intel makes i5 processors, right? Cheaper than an i7 without having to resort to gimping your computer by going with an amd processor. Can easily find i5 processors around the ~$200 mark. Also while it isn't hard to copy over one drives contents to another, it would be easier if you just started with the ssd. Quoted:
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Budget gaming build and I and going to piece it together, I have power supply and case/fans. Replacing old AMD Walmart box that was gifted to us. It is an ok machine but I need/want better and my son needs a PC so 2 birds/1 stone thing. My parts picked Is the AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor and EVGA GeForce GTX 960 4GB SuperSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card going to be a decent set-up? I know there are some dire hard I7 folks here, but the I7 will blow my budget. If I get SSD after I buy the 1TB HD will it be a PITA to xfer the OS and some other files to the SSD? Or should I wait. Then I see a footnote stating: – Some AMD 970 chipset motherboards may need a BIOS update prior to using Vishera CPUs. Is this something I just D/L onto a flash drive then install into the Bios? I can get around doing something but I am no PC expert. Thanks for the help! You know intel makes i5 processors, right? Cheaper than an i7 without having to resort to gimping your computer by going with an amd processor. Can easily find i5 processors around the ~$200 mark. Also while it isn't hard to copy over one drives contents to another, it would be easier if you just started with the ssd. Yep. I play everything with a I5, the video card does most the work. |
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I built my current computer back in 2011 and was recently looking to upgrade my CPU. I finally settled on the FX -8350 as well. But further digging I found my current CPU was still comparable (Phenom II X6 1100T) so I did not bother. This was about a year or so ago. I have recently upgraded the video card to the GTX960, increased RAM to 16G and put in a 1TB SSD.
So I am basically running what you want to build and I can still play just about everything on max max settings with no problems what so ever. Games like ARMAIII and the like will get the GPU fan going but no stutters or anything. I only upgrade when my computer is no longer able to run what I wish to play. The 1TB SSD took about 35mins to transfer everything from my HDD to SDD. Just north of 920G of info. I did have to swap all my music and photos back to the HDD to make some room on the SSD (300ish gig). |
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I built my current computer back in 2011 and was recently looking to upgrade my CPU. I finally settled on the FX -8350 as well. But further digging I found my current CPU was still comparable (Phenom II X6 1100T) so I did not bother. This was about a year or so ago. I have recently upgraded the video card to the GTX960, increased RAM to 16G and put in a 1TB SSD. So I am basically running what you want to build and I can still play just about everything on max max settings with no problems what so ever. Games like ARMAIII and the like will get the GPU fan going but no stutters or anything. I only upgrade when my computer is no longer able to run what I wish to play. The 1TB SSD took about 35mins to transfer everything from my HDD to SDD. Just north of 920G of info. I did have to swap all my music and photos back to the HDD to make some room on the SSD (300ish gig). Ok that is good to know. I am looking at I5 3470 chip as well. I am trying to find something I can get into pretty cheap and possibly upgrade as I go, which was the reason for wanting to add the SSD later. |
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Ok that is good to know. I am looking at I5 3470 chip as well. I am trying to find something I can get into pretty cheap and possibly upgrade as I go, which was the reason for wanting to add the SSD later. Quoted:
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I built my current computer back in 2011 and was recently looking to upgrade my CPU. I finally settled on the FX -8350 as well. But further digging I found my current CPU was still comparable (Phenom II X6 1100T) so I did not bother. This was about a year or so ago. I have recently upgraded the video card to the GTX960, increased RAM to 16G and put in a 1TB SSD. So I am basically running what you want to build and I can still play just about everything on max max settings with no problems what so ever. Games like ARMAIII and the like will get the GPU fan going but no stutters or anything. I only upgrade when my computer is no longer able to run what I wish to play. The 1TB SSD took about 35mins to transfer everything from my HDD to SDD. Just north of 920G of info. I did have to swap all my music and photos back to the HDD to make some room on the SSD (300ish gig). Ok that is good to know. I am looking at I5 3470 chip as well. I am trying to find something I can get into pretty cheap and possibly upgrade as I go, which was the reason for wanting to add the SSD later. My biggest reason for choosing the FX was the AM3 socket and performance with comparably priced chips. The socket is the same as my current setup. I had no desire to go full bore with a new MB. |
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Thanks for that. I have been reading quite a bit today and I now understand why the AMDs are not the best CPUs for gaming. So I have crossed them off the list. I was looking at a cheaper line of I5 and I think I have settled on the i5/4590 Their GPUs are great though. R9 380 and R9 390 are the best cards in their price range IMO. 
The only thing wrong with the FX processors is they are outdated. When they come out they were pretty decent budget CPUs. |
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Save some more cash. I would go with an Intel i5 K CPU. Easy to OC 4-600MHZ without playing with voltage on a K. Get a GTX 970. A 960 is rather slow. A good GTX 970 has some OC headroom without touching the voltage either. I raised the core and memory clocks on my MSI 4G GTX 970 and got roughly a 10% performance jump via MSI Afterburner. I can likely go higher, and again even further if I play with voltage but I'd rather not bother. But a ~10% performance jump was very easy to get with really no risk of harming your PC.
As for cloning your OS use Macrium Reflect Free: http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx I moved from an HDD to an SSD some months back for my OS. I had to delete most of my stuff to make it fit (2TB HDD to 500GB SSD) but it worked wonderfully and I did not have to reinstall certain programs, settings and the OS. Took about 20 minutes? |
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Save some more cash. I would go with an Intel i5 K CPU. Easy to OC 4-600MHZ without playing with voltage on a K. Get a GTX 970. A 960 is rather slow. A good GTX 970 has some OC headroom without touching the voltage either. I raised the core and memory clocks on my MSI 4G GTX 970 and got roughly a 10% performance jump via MSI Afterburner. I can likely go higher, and again even further if I play with voltage but I'd rather not bother. But a ~10% performance jump was very easy to get with really no risk of harming your PC. As for cloning your OS use Macrium Reflect Free: http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx I moved from an HDD to an SSD some months back for my OS. I had to delete most of my stuff to make it fit (2TB HDD to 500GB SSD) but it worked wonderfully and I did not have to reinstall certain programs, settings and the OS. Took about 20 minutes? Tbh the performance difference between an overclocked CPU and a locked CPU in games is pretty negligible overall. (with the exception of a few select games) He is better off spending every last bit of his budget on the best GPU possible. A R9 390 would be a better choice right now than the GTX 970. While they perform basically the same at 1080p, the higher VRAM, better DirectX 12 support, and better performance at higher resolutions makes it a much more future proof GPU for the $300 range. If OP can't afford the 390, they should go with a R9 380 4GB or R9 380X over a GTX 960. Even on whored out Nvidia GameWorks titles like The Witcher 3, the 960 gets beat by the 380. 960 vs 380 |
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Also, OP check out the quality of your PSU. You may need a new one because I've seen so many builds with cheapo PSUs that crap out. There are some ~$50 power supplies that are really good. This SeaSonic unit would handle pretty much anything with a locked i5.
As far as your build, this is what I'd probably go for if you can spend about $50 more. PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($174.89 @ OutletPC) Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-DS3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($56.99 @ SuperBiiz) Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($61.99 @ B&H) Storage: Sandisk SSD PLUS 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($43.82 @ Amazon) Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.89 @ OutletPC) Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 390 8GB Nitro Video Card ($309.99 @ SuperBiiz) Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.89 @ OutletPC) Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($89.99 @ NCIX US) Total: $807.45 Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-10 05:39 EST-0500 |
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I have a ThermalCake 500W PS that I was planning on using so I should be good there at least to get going anyway.
Here is my revised shopping list PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ SuperBiiz) CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($25.75 @ OutletPC) Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97MX-Gaming 5 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($124.99 @ NCIX US) Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($61.99 @ Newegg) Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($86.75 @ OutletPC) Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 380 4GB SOC Video Card ($198.98 @ Newegg) Total: $688.45 Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-10 10:15 EST-0500 I decided to forego the 1THD for now as I have a 2T external and I do not have a plie of stuff on my HD now other than OS and some gaming stuff. Most of my pics/music/video is on the External drive. I had read more and decided on the R9380 GPU, but I may move up to the R9390 if I can save some money using the MB suggested. This should beat the pants off the AMD A6 box I have now. |
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I have a ThermalCake 500W PS that I was planning on using so I should be good there at least to get going anyway. Here is my revised shopping list PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ SuperBiiz) CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($25.75 @ OutletPC) Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97MX-Gaming 5 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($124.99 @ NCIX US) Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($61.99 @ Newegg) Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($86.75 @ OutletPC) Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 380 4GB SOC Video Card ($198.98 @ Newegg) Total: $688.45 Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-10 10:15 EST-0500 I decided to forego the 1THD for now as I have a 2T external and I do not have a plie of stuff on my HD now other than OS and some gaming stuff. Most of my pics/music/video is on the External drive. I had read more and decided on the R9380 GPU, but I may move up to the R9390 if I can save some money using the MB suggested. This should beat the pants off the AMD A6 box I have now. Why would you get a micro atx motherboard? Less space and ports/expansion options to work with. You can save a bit of money going with 8GB of RAM. (Though I would up the speed to 1866Mhz, and make sure to go with low CAS latency sticks) |
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Quoted: I have a ThermalCake 500W PS that I was planning on using so I should be good there at least to get going anyway. Here is my revised shopping list PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ SuperBiiz) CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($25.75 @ OutletPC) Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97MX-Gaming 5 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($124.99 @ NCIX US) Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($61.99 @ Newegg) Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($86.75 @ OutletPC) Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 380 4GB SOC Video Card ($198.98 @ Newegg) Total: $688.45 Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-10 10:15 EST-0500 I decided to forego the 1THD for now as I have a 2T external and I do not have a plie of stuff on my HD now other than OS and some gaming stuff. Most of my pics/music/video is on the External drive. I had read more and decided on the R9380 GPU, but I may move up to the R9390 if I can save some money using the MB suggested. This should beat the pants off the AMD A6 box I have now. Keep 16 gig of ram but ditch the cooler master hyper 212 if you're not overclocking. Unless your case doesn't support it you should go with a standard size MB. You could aways take the external hd apart and use it in your computer. Better yet buy hotswap bays so you can acces you drives. Most don't need it but for me it makes my life easier. |