Budget PC for a buddy

xElevationsx · Mar 13, 2016

So, I've been restoring my parents old computer as a project for my friend so we could play games together. I've picked up a GT 740 for $30 off eBay and a $15 500GB HDD. Im gonna put Windows on it but I'm wondering. It has an i3 2120 CPU and 6GB of ram. How well will this perform in games that'd he'd play like BF3 Modern warfare 2 and maybe Minecraft. The i3 2120 and the GT 740 would be pretty good together right?

smorizio · Mar 13, 2016

the i3 not a bad cpu. the gpu the 740 is a very weak card due to having very little cuda cores. when he can save up have him look at the 950/960 and the 370/380 gpu cards or the newer ones dropping after june of this year.

audie-tron25 · Mar 13, 2016

They can be a good combo as long as you know their limits. It should be fine for Minecraft and Modern Warfare 2 but the GT-740 may not be up to the task of BF3. You might be alright if you lower the settings and you are happy with ~40-50fps however. The GT-740 is definitely holding back the CPU but it's not too bad for casual gaming.

If you do upgrade at a future date, consider a GTX 750ti as they are very good for the price. A GTX 950 is a bit of a weak spot for an upgrade, a GTX 750ti is such good value (about 2/3 the cost) and the GTX 960 is marginally more expensive than the GTX 950 but noticeably better.

xElevationsx · Mar 13, 2016

audie-tron25 :

Cool, if he get's a GTX 960 in the future would the i3 2120 bottleneck it?

audie-tron25 · Mar 13, 2016

xElevationsx :

Possibly, with my i3 4160 (which is fairly similar to it), it can struggle in games like Cities Skylines once there is a lot of traffic as well as Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege which is quite demanding given the destructive nature of the game. It can handle 64 player maps in Battlefield 4 easily however.

Long story short, it would probably be a good idea to upgrade the CPU if he gets a GTX 960 but it is an easy install and doesn't require a windows re-install so there is no harm in just seeing how it goes.

smorizio · Mar 13, 2016

if the pc has a newish mb you should be able to drop in a i5 for the mb.

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