New motherboard advise for a computer illiterate

[ahlayna]

I currently have an Asus m2n68-AM SE2. My max ram on this thing is only 4. It still runs the old ddr2. My processor is an AMD I x4 965, 3.4 ghz. My graphics card is a Nvidia GTX 460. I play alot of games that require a decent card. This one had done well. My brother seems to think I need dual cards...I'm shying away from this.

What would ya'll recomend for my needs. I would prefer to stay under $300. I gather I would have to replace the processor too?

Thanks very much in advance.

 

[rolli59]

You can buy any AM3+ board and reuse your CPU. Example http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131754 Can run dual cards if you want.

 

[EzioAs]

A 460 still holds pretty well if you ask me. I'm using one

 

[smorizio]

right now it your cpu and lack of ram that holding the gpu back that you have. but your lack of funds going to make upgrading the pc hard if you want to game. in real world game system your looking at 100-125.00 for micro atx/atx z77 mb. (msi g45 or asus mb ) the nyour looking at 150-170. for and i5-3300/i-5 3570 online prices from know sellers. the i5-3330 is just as fast as the old i-5 3540 it just has under powered gpu built in the 2500 chipset for video and not the 4000 in the 3540. most new mb are all sata now. if your old hard drive and cd-rom are ide. you be looking at 100.00 for a hard drive and 20.00 for a cd-rom.
myself so that the new mb last as long as it can i drop it into a new case with a new power supply. case 50.00 and 100.00 for a good bronze rated power supply. now that you gone that far your looking at 200.00 for 660 or the 7800 line of video cards.
somthing like this posted above going to last you a few years. the poor man gaming system...wont be as fast as the one up top but it be faster then your old system would be to pick up a amd fm2 cpu and mb and reuse the 460 video card.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131885
64.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113288
104.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211457
36.00
the rest use for a newer case or a larger power supply if your going to put in a faster gpu latter on. the amp apu is faster then intel i3 but not as fast as there i5 cpu. you will be getting a newer gpu that built into the cpu an amd 7000 gpu.

 

[Newf]

You could just buy a GTX 660ti. It uses the same 2x6 pin power connectors as the 460.
This will not bust your budget and will speed up gaming big time.

Newf.

.

ps. I know someone will chime in about bottlenecks, but you have $300 and this will work.

 

[rolli59]

Sticking with the 965 and getting a decent motherboard and an aftermarket cooler http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233082 and overclock the CPU is better solution than APU and costs less http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cpu-performance-comparison,3370-16.html
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/102?vs=676

 

[ahlayna]

Wow!! Thanks ya'll. I want to try and reuse my cpu and card. I don't mind spending some money on a mb if I could just have more ram and speed things up a little. My power supply is decent, I think (thermaltake tr2-600w). If ya'll think I should replace my cpu then so be it. I wanna get some years out of whatever it is I end up purchasing.

 

[rolli59]

For you budget I would keep the CPU for know. You can with a AM3+ board upgrade the CPU later to FX if you feel the need.

 

[ahlayna]

Thanks again ya'll.