Upgrades for Gaming PC

chefshawn · Aug 6, 2014

I want to get some ides for potential upgrades for my son's gaming PC, something that we can do ourselves. below is his current set up...

thanks for your advice

Processor 1 x AMD FX-6300 CPU (6x 3.50GHz/6MB L2 Cache)-
iBUYPOWER PowerDrive 1 x None-
Processor Cooling 1 x Liquid CPU Cooling System [AMD]-Standard 120mm Fan
Memory 1 x 8 GB [4 GB X2] DDR3-1600 Memory Module-Corsair or Major Brand
Video Card 1 x AMD Radeon R7 240 2GB - FREE Upgrade to R7 250 2GB-
Motherboard 1 x ASUS M5A97 R2.0 -- AMD 970-
Power Supply 1 x 400 Watt - Standard-
Primary Hard Drive 1 x 1 TB HARD DRIVE -- 32M Cache, 7200 RPM, 6.0Gb/s-Single Drive
Data Hard Drive 1 x None-
Optical Drive 1 x 24x Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive-Black
2nd Optical Drive 1 x None-
Flash Media Reader / Writer 1 x None-
Meter Display 1 x None-
Sound Card 1 x 3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard-
Network Card 1 x Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100)-

TopLuca · Aug 6, 2014

A good upgrade in gaming would be a better Graphics Card like this one R9 270X and a better Power Supply like this one : http://www.amazon.com/XFX-ATX-550-Power-Supply/dp/B004RJ8EKI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407360265&sr=8-1&keywords=XFX+550w
Other than this maybe an SSD will give it a faster boot time.

Tom_Taplin · Aug 6, 2014

I would recommend for pure performance point of view, maybe getting a more powerful GPU, such as an AMD R9 270, or similar as these are currently a great price. An SSD is also a great way to speed up any computer, something like a Samsung 840 evo as his main storage for windows and programs would make a huge performance increase over his current computer. This step would require mirroring the disk and shifting all hid main programs to his SSD, which can be quite a challenge however.

Hopefully I gave you a few ideas

Onus · Aug 6, 2014

^Exactly. The R7 240 is weak sauce for games, and the "standard" "400W" PSU is probably something like a 250W unit with a liar-label on it. Both of TopLuca's solutions are good choices.

Novuake · Aug 6, 2014

The build has great potential.

Only 2 things need changing to make it a potent gaming machine.

The PSU. A quality 550w - 650w unit is enough for pretty much any graphics card.
The graphics card.

Now what is your budget? Are you purchasing in the US, any specific retailer?
What resolution is the monitor that your son games on?

chefshawn · Aug 6, 2014

Thanks for the tips so far...

Novuake... budget would be around $300 or so, potential to grow slightly. online purchase most likely; out of the US. Resolution HD1920 x 1080 ASUS

chefshawn · Aug 6, 2014

Novuake :

Thanks for the tips so far...

Novuake... budget would be around $300 or so, potential to grow slightly. online purchase most likely; out of the US. Resolution HD1920 x 1080 ASUS

TopLuca · Aug 6, 2014

So Consider these three products for your budget : Video Card: https://pcpartpicker.com/part/sapphire-video-card-112170120g
Power Supply : http://www.amazon.com/XFX-ATX-550-Power-Supply/dp/B004RJ8EKI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407360265&sr=8-1&keywords=XFX+550w
SSD : https://pcpartpicker.com/part/crucial-internal-hard-drive-ct120m500ssd1

Total : ~311$

For this price you'll take your son's mediocre PC to a very good PC.

Novuake · Aug 6, 2014

If rebates is something you do then :
http://www.ncixus.com/products/?usaffiliateid=1000031504&sku=59616&vpn=P1650SNLB9&manufacture=XFX&promoid=1013

If not then this will do just fine :
http://www.ncixus.com/products/?usaffiliateid=1000031504&sku=89067&vpn=100-B1-0600-KR&manufacture=eVGA&promoid=1013

Now for 1080p gaming these cards are all good options, a GTX760, GTX770, R9 280, r9 280x.

The R9 280 fits your budget the best in my opinion, it will also give a hell of an improvement.

Here :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202099&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

chefshawn · Aug 6, 2014

Novuake :

Thanks... I will go with your suggestions. what are your thoughts on a SSD?

Novuake · Aug 7, 2014

chefshawn :

They are great, but they DO NOT improve gaming performance, if the 300$ budget does however go up, then a Crucial M500 or MX110 128/120GB would be a nice addition to the PC.
It will mean you need to fresh install Windows however. (I do not like cloning software

)

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