Should I Keep My Phenom 2 x4 955 For Gaming Or Start Anew?

[hippiass]

To clarify, this is my very first home build and I'm pretty much lost. Which graphics cards, mobo, etc to use is very much over my head currently so any opinions or help would be very much appreciated.

I'm looking to make it a mid-range gaming rig. I'm not trying to play Crysis 3 or any of the like on high settings, but I would like to play strategic games as well as MMO's (WoW, Mass Effect, etc).

Thus far I have an AMD Phenom 2 x4 955 Black Edition 3.2 GHz 8.0MB cache with heat sink fan (couldn't find a link on Newegg, sorry) and 2x4gig AMD Memory Performance Edition PC3 1333MHz 1.5V. I didn't spend very much on these components and I'm willing to go to the $500-$600 dollar range (Canadian) as far as the build goes. Obviously I'd prefer the cheaper the better but I can be flexible.

I'm wondering if the Phenom 2 would be able to handle the types of games that I specified and if I'd need to upgrade to the AMD FX series (or comparable CPU) in the near future. If anyone could also give me some tips or opinions on which motherboards, graphics cards, etc which the system could handle I'd really appreciate.

Thanks a lot for any help.

 

[skitz9417]

im using the x4 955 and i can play them games fine and for a gpu t go with the cpu is a hd 7870 or gtx 660

 

[yasserBasha]

it's a very good cpu , but try to upgrade to what skitz9417 said about graphics or if you have money get th geforce gtx 680

best wishes

 

[skitz9417]

well whats ur gpu u have now ?

 

[hippiass]

well whats ur gpu u have now ?

Right now, I don't have one. I was looking into the 7000 series Radeons but they seemed pretty high end for a CPU thats already a couple years old, but then again, I'm brand new at this. In the future I'd also like to try out a Crossfire setup if the Phenom can handle it.

 

[skitz9417]

if u can get a hd 7950 and overclock that phemon to 3.6ghz u will be fine if u dont want to overclock just get a hd 7850 or hd 7870

 

[hippiass]

if u can get a hd 7950 and overclock that phemon to 3.6ghz u will be fine if u dont want to overclock just get a hd 7850 or hd 7870

I'd prefer not to overclock just yet, but the other options sound good. Thanks for the help & input.

 

[skitz9417]

no worries