Gaming Rig : Intel / AMD ??

Ahmad Magdy

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Jun 8, 2015
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I Want to play today's games on high or very high at 1600 x 900 Resolution With R7 265
i want to upgrade my cpu , board so which one to chose :-
1- FX 8300
MSI 970 Gaming

or : 2 - I5 4460
ASUS H81M-V3 LGA1150
notice : i am not going to oc any of them .
 
Solution
CPU has little to do with this equation when you have only an R7 265. There is NO CPU in the world that is going to allow you to play modern demanding games at anywhere near high or very high setttings with that GPU card. You need a more powerful graphics card more than you need a powerful CPU. When it comes to the CPU, Intel is almost always the better choice, even when it means choosing a model with fewer cores or a lower clock speed, as they have much have IPC, but even with the highest end i7's you are not going to achieve what you want to achieve using a low end GPU card.

Even your relatively low resolution isn't going to offset it by that much that an R7 series card is going to achieve high settings on anything demanding.

Given...
CPU has little to do with this equation when you have only an R7 265. There is NO CPU in the world that is going to allow you to play modern demanding games at anywhere near high or very high setttings with that GPU card. You need a more powerful graphics card more than you need a powerful CPU. When it comes to the CPU, Intel is almost always the better choice, even when it means choosing a model with fewer cores or a lower clock speed, as they have much have IPC, but even with the highest end i7's you are not going to achieve what you want to achieve using a low end GPU card.

Even your relatively low resolution isn't going to offset it by that much that an R7 series card is going to achieve high settings on anything demanding.

Given the choice between those two though, clearly the 4460 is a no brainer as the better option.
 
Solution
What you have now is not clear to me.
If you already have a amd motherboard, it takes a better than average motherboard to support a FX-8xxx.
And, all FX chips have about the same single thread performance, about 1500. The FX-8300 is 1377.
It is a $150 part.

A GTX970 is a $325 part.
I might assume your budget is around $400.

For that, I suggest you split the difference.
A $125 intel i3-6100 will generally outperform a FX-8, mainly because the single thread rating is stronger, 2102.
You can use any lga1151 motherboard, starting about $50.
You will want ddr4 ram, budget $35 for 8gb.

That leaves you a budget of about $200 for the graphics card.
You can get a RX480, GTX960, or perhaps an upcoming GTX1060 for that price.
 
There are a variety of graphics card options, from the last few generations, that would all fit within that budget scenario and would offer vastly better performance than the R7 265. My guess though is that he already HAS the R7 265. If he doesn't, and wants to game at high to ultra settings, he needs to rethink the entire strategy.
 

bwen1

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May 28, 2015
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I think he is referring to the motherboard for MSI 970 Gaming.
 

popeyetyty

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May 7, 2016
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Wait modern games high-very high with a r7 265 i hope you like 5-15 frames cause the r7 265 is not that good of a GPU go for a R9 380 or RX 480 aftermarket.