Is my GPU used to its full potential?

RoloFanatic

Honorable
Dec 4, 2013
17
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10,510
Hi, im building a budget gaming pc. The CPU ive been looking at is an A10 6800K which is £115 and the GPU im considering is the Radeon HD 7870 for £140.

What im wondering is; is my CPU good enough to get the most out of the 7870?

Also the motherboard im now looking at is the Asus F2A85-M, is this suitable? Or do I need a PCI express 3.0 ?

Thanks
 
Don't get that apu (it's not called a cpu). That isn't really designed to use a discrete gpu as a decent one is built onto it. For 115 pounds you should be able to get an FX-6300 or better. Newegg has an 8320 on sale for around $130 right now, but I have no idea what prices are like in your neck of the woods. Also, don't get a 7870. Get an R9-270x instead. They're pretty equal in terms of power, but the 270x is cheaper. Just so you know, the 6300 will need a different motherboard. If you pick a website you want to buy it from I can give you some ideas.
 

RoloFanatic

Honorable
Dec 4, 2013
17
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10,510


Hi, thanks for the reply, as you can probably tell im pretty new to this. So ive decided to go for the r9 270 (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Graphics+Cards/AMD+Radeon/Radeon+R9+270/MSI+Radeon+R9+270+Gaming+2G+AMD+Graphics+Card+-+2GB+?productId=58957) and the FX-8320 (http://www.scan.co.uk/products/amd-fx-8320-black-edition-vishera-8-core-s-am3plus-35ghz-16mb-total-cache-125w-retail).

Ive also been looking for motherboards, would something like this be ok? http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards/AMD+Socket/Socket+AM3%2B+Piledriver+FX/MSI+970A-G46+AMD+970A+%28Socket+AM3%2B%29+DDR3+PCI-Express+ATX+Motherboard+?productId=50393

and if not any suggestions would really be appreciated.

Thanks again.

 

RoloFanatic

Honorable
Dec 4, 2013
17
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10,510
Yeah, I could afford to get that. But why do I need it? Is the stock cooler not good enough?

And if its to do with overclocking; I am thinking about trying to overclock, but not straight away. Is it possible to stick with the standard cooler for now and upgrade later?