Opinion on this rig

joho5

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Dec 28, 2013
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Building my cousin a system on a big time budget and this is what I have came up with.

Would like to know if you guys think I can run some of the new gen games up on 1080p anywhere from med-high settings

CPU: AMD Phenom IIx4 975
MOBO: Asus M4A89GTD PRO/USB3
PSU: Corsair CX 430
GPU: Radeon R7 260x

plan on slightly overclocking the cpu, and possibly the GPU if needed.

Thanks
 
Solution
psu is abit low i would go abit higher a cx600 would be perfect. as for the games you should play games at 1080p maxed out 40+fps and some at 720p maxed out. 60+fps
How much of a budget are we talking about? I notice that you've not included a few other components; do you need those as well?

You should be good at 1080p and medium settings but for how much longer is anyone's guess. As newer titles get released, you may need to turn the resolution down to 720p or ditch post-processing tasks (such as AA) in order to get a smoother ride. I'd suggest you stretch to an R9 270 or GTX 760 if you can. If you do do this then you'd want to look at a 500W or 600W PSU. The Corsair CX range is fine, I have one myself.

A minor point is that the processor socket (AM3) has already been superseeded by AM3+, so future upgradability is compromised. Obviously this is irrelevent if your cousin doesn't plan to upgrade within the next few years.
 

joho5

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Dec 28, 2013
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Yes I have gathered the other components for the most part already.

We have a microcenter close and can get a FX 6300 and ASUS M5A97 R2.0 combo for $169 so I think im going to go that route on cpu/mobo

and we aren't in any big rush, so just waiting on sales and deals.

He is low on cash though that's why we are searching for the best budget for performance that we can possibly get.

so when you streatch to a r9 and it only adds a few bucks here, then you have to upgrade your PSU, etc...its a chain.

Just tryhing to get him going and wanted to do the am3+ now so he has a bit more of an upgrade path.

Can he get away with 4 gigs of system ram? I know 8 is always recommended for gaming and its what I personally have, but wondered about 4.
 


You're absolutely right, one thing leads to another and before you know it, you've blown your budget. I know I'm guilty of it... :no:

I'd go with the FX 6300, ASUS M5A97 and R7 GPU. It's a good combination that will get you what you want and not push your budget too far. If you're waiting for sales and aren't in a rush, go with 8GB RAM, or at least upgrade it to 8GB in the neat future. It's definitely worth doing and not terribly expensive.