- Mar 26, 2015
- 15
- 0
- 4,510
Hi. So I've been trying to assemble a new budget gaming rig for 2 days now through a ton of researching and looking up online and stuff. It also doesn't help that I live in Croatia and am buying locally so I have to cross reference all the prices and compare them to the situation over here and it all takes a lot of time but I am about halfway done I reckon. I just need help with a couple components (arguably the two most important ones).
Note 1: Keep in mind that the goal of this upgrade is to be able to run new games like Witcher 3, Fallout 4, Lords of the Fallen etc. at 1080p 30fps with at least medium settings as the first half of this article claims is perfectly plausible: (link)
Note 2: I would prefer to have something that works as-is, so that I may optionally overclock if I want a better experience. I understand that overclocking would mean investing in a non-stock cooling system which I cannot cover at this time (maybe later this year).
Note 3: Finally, this build should last me at least 3 more years before I need to upgrade again.
So far I got this: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/g6Wbqs
Just to illustrate the prices in Croatia - this combo of CPU+RAM+HDD that supposedly goes for about $200 I can't get under $250. And that's after extensive searches on local equivalents for Newegg and such. Still, I would rather buy locally for certain reasons. Since I already have a good case and PSU (Scythe Stronger 700W), what I still lack are the motherboard and graphics card.
First Question - Motherboard
I tried googling stuff like "best motherboard for FX6300" but surprisingly this has left me just as confused as I was. I have no idea how to choose one besides that it has to support my chosen AMD CPU, support DDR3 RAM, and most likely a PCI Express 3.0 too because the graphics card will most likely state that. I heard about some possible backwards compatibility when it comes to 3.0 vs 2.0 but if my budget allows it I would prefer to get as good as I can, which also means AM3+ support as well instead of just AM3. Other than this, I don't know how to choose. A friend recommended his Gigabyte model (he has an FX8350 I think) but I also heard some Gigabyte boards have been causing voltage problems with AMDs CPUs.
Can you please recommend me a couple motherboards that would work best for me? My budget allows for a $100 motherboard and I am looking to spend as much if it means getting something solid. So let's say $75-$100. Thank you.
Second Question - Graphic card
This is probably more difficult. Right now I am leaning towards nvidia but that is probably because the card used for the Witcher 3 article was a GTX 750Ti. AMD on the other hand seems to have more options out there which threw me off for a bit. I just don't see the difference between many of those cards when both are 2 GB of memory and similarly clocked, yet the price can fluctuate quite a bit. Why? Is there something else important that I am forgetting? Once again, I am looking to get the card that will perform best as-is, so if one can be overclocked higher then that is not a deciding factor for me. I may or may not try oc'ing later on when I can afford the cooling upgrade.
Potential nVidia choices:
Gigabyte GTX 750Ti GDDR5 2GB OC
This is the one that was used in the article. For now I am leaning mostly towards this one, after having looked at Asus and EVGAs variants (namely FTW). A few votes were tipped in EVGAs favor but it is not immediately available here and I do need to upgrade as soon as possible and if it is such a small difference then I am fine with Gigabyte's card. I can buy it here for about $170.
Gigabyte GTX 950 GDDR5 2GB OC
This looks to me like a bit of an upgrade from GTX 750Ti. The only actual differences that I can tell is that the core clock values are slightly higher both on base and oc modes, as well as what appears to be significantly higher when it comes to memory speed. The only thing that I don't like in fact is that it only has 1 fan, but then again I have always had 1 fan cards so I suppose for as long as it keeps cool it isn't a downside really. Only looks that way when you compare it to 2 fan cards. Maybe it doesn't need two fans because it's kinda small for a video card? Or am I wrong? My budget might leave just enough space to go from GTX 750Ti to this, so I'd like to do that if it means a significant improvement. This card I can buy here for $200.
And potential AMD choices:
MSI R7 370 Gaming 2G
Now, at first I was drawn to this most likely because of the fancy packaging and big GAMING label across, but I know that by itself doesn't mean anything. I would have skipped on it, but it seems to be very close to the GTX 750Ti so I was wondering if it's a contender. It has slightly faster memory speed and another thing it does better is being 256bit compared to both above GTX cards that are only 128bit. I googled and some people say it's just to sell better and doesn't have a big impact, while others say it has just as much impact as the other specs... I understand that if two cards were unique, then the 256bit would outrank it but otherwise it may not. This card here costs $185.
???
I don't really have many. If anyone can recommend something on par with GTX 750Ti and GTX 950 I would take it into consideration. AMD is supposed to deliver the same thing a bit cheaper, so maybe there is a card out there that I can buy for the same money or a bit more to get something significantly better? Otherwise I guess my choice will be between the two nvidia cards most likely (unless there is a yet another nvidia you guys recommend
)
So that's basically it. I need a motherboard and graphic card to complete the build. The CPU, RAM, and HDD I have already chose after extensive searching but if you see a problem feel free to criticize those as well, maybe even recommend something else. For example it was a hard choice between Kingston and Corsair (and Crucial was close too). Still not sure if Kingston's HyperX Fury is a better choice than Corsair Vengeance.
Well that is all for now, ask me for more info if you need it. I would like to say thanks in advance for the time and effort put into helping me out. This community is always my first place to go to not just when posting questions but also for reading and learning more about IT - like these last two days... I don't think I did anything at all with my free time but sit and research this new build. I learned a lot and understand way more than before but still need help. Hope it gets sorted out soon with your help.
*woof*
Note 1: Keep in mind that the goal of this upgrade is to be able to run new games like Witcher 3, Fallout 4, Lords of the Fallen etc. at 1080p 30fps with at least medium settings as the first half of this article claims is perfectly plausible: (link)
Note 2: I would prefer to have something that works as-is, so that I may optionally overclock if I want a better experience. I understand that overclocking would mean investing in a non-stock cooling system which I cannot cover at this time (maybe later this year).
Note 3: Finally, this build should last me at least 3 more years before I need to upgrade again.
So far I got this: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/g6Wbqs
Just to illustrate the prices in Croatia - this combo of CPU+RAM+HDD that supposedly goes for about $200 I can't get under $250. And that's after extensive searches on local equivalents for Newegg and such. Still, I would rather buy locally for certain reasons. Since I already have a good case and PSU (Scythe Stronger 700W), what I still lack are the motherboard and graphics card.
First Question - Motherboard
I tried googling stuff like "best motherboard for FX6300" but surprisingly this has left me just as confused as I was. I have no idea how to choose one besides that it has to support my chosen AMD CPU, support DDR3 RAM, and most likely a PCI Express 3.0 too because the graphics card will most likely state that. I heard about some possible backwards compatibility when it comes to 3.0 vs 2.0 but if my budget allows it I would prefer to get as good as I can, which also means AM3+ support as well instead of just AM3. Other than this, I don't know how to choose. A friend recommended his Gigabyte model (he has an FX8350 I think) but I also heard some Gigabyte boards have been causing voltage problems with AMDs CPUs.
Can you please recommend me a couple motherboards that would work best for me? My budget allows for a $100 motherboard and I am looking to spend as much if it means getting something solid. So let's say $75-$100. Thank you.
Second Question - Graphic card
This is probably more difficult. Right now I am leaning towards nvidia but that is probably because the card used for the Witcher 3 article was a GTX 750Ti. AMD on the other hand seems to have more options out there which threw me off for a bit. I just don't see the difference between many of those cards when both are 2 GB of memory and similarly clocked, yet the price can fluctuate quite a bit. Why? Is there something else important that I am forgetting? Once again, I am looking to get the card that will perform best as-is, so if one can be overclocked higher then that is not a deciding factor for me. I may or may not try oc'ing later on when I can afford the cooling upgrade.
Potential nVidia choices:
Gigabyte GTX 750Ti GDDR5 2GB OC
This is the one that was used in the article. For now I am leaning mostly towards this one, after having looked at Asus and EVGAs variants (namely FTW). A few votes were tipped in EVGAs favor but it is not immediately available here and I do need to upgrade as soon as possible and if it is such a small difference then I am fine with Gigabyte's card. I can buy it here for about $170.
Gigabyte GTX 950 GDDR5 2GB OC
This looks to me like a bit of an upgrade from GTX 750Ti. The only actual differences that I can tell is that the core clock values are slightly higher both on base and oc modes, as well as what appears to be significantly higher when it comes to memory speed. The only thing that I don't like in fact is that it only has 1 fan, but then again I have always had 1 fan cards so I suppose for as long as it keeps cool it isn't a downside really. Only looks that way when you compare it to 2 fan cards. Maybe it doesn't need two fans because it's kinda small for a video card? Or am I wrong? My budget might leave just enough space to go from GTX 750Ti to this, so I'd like to do that if it means a significant improvement. This card I can buy here for $200.
And potential AMD choices:
MSI R7 370 Gaming 2G
Now, at first I was drawn to this most likely because of the fancy packaging and big GAMING label across, but I know that by itself doesn't mean anything. I would have skipped on it, but it seems to be very close to the GTX 750Ti so I was wondering if it's a contender. It has slightly faster memory speed and another thing it does better is being 256bit compared to both above GTX cards that are only 128bit. I googled and some people say it's just to sell better and doesn't have a big impact, while others say it has just as much impact as the other specs... I understand that if two cards were unique, then the 256bit would outrank it but otherwise it may not. This card here costs $185.
???
I don't really have many. If anyone can recommend something on par with GTX 750Ti and GTX 950 I would take it into consideration. AMD is supposed to deliver the same thing a bit cheaper, so maybe there is a card out there that I can buy for the same money or a bit more to get something significantly better? Otherwise I guess my choice will be between the two nvidia cards most likely (unless there is a yet another nvidia you guys recommend
)So that's basically it. I need a motherboard and graphic card to complete the build. The CPU, RAM, and HDD I have already chose after extensive searching but if you see a problem feel free to criticize those as well, maybe even recommend something else. For example it was a hard choice between Kingston and Corsair (and Crucial was close too). Still not sure if Kingston's HyperX Fury is a better choice than Corsair Vengeance.
Well that is all for now, ask me for more info if you need it. I would like to say thanks in advance for the time and effort put into helping me out. This community is always my first place to go to not just when posting questions but also for reading and learning more about IT - like these last two days... I don't think I did anything at all with my free time but sit and research this new build. I learned a lot and understand way more than before but still need help. Hope it gets sorted out soon with your help.
*woof*
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