New Build For Light Gaming

[WackyWRZ]

Hi,

Recently had a motherboard failure on my old system so I am looking for some advice in building a new machine. I will be re-using pretty much all my old parts, so really I am just looking for a CPU/Mobo/GPU. My old system was an A4-3400 and it was not impressive, except for the price... As for use - I do quite a bit of surfing, and a LOT of light gaming (LoL, SC2, SimCity). I am running dual monitors at 1080p also if that matters - not streaming or anything.

I would prefer to stick with AMD - they seem to be the most cost effective. I am stuck between getting an Athlon X4 760K, FX6300, or one of the new Kaveri A10s (7700K). I am a little bit concerned that the AM3+/990 is EOL and that the FM2+/A88X has a lot more to offer for the price. What I have come up with is:

X4 760K + ASUS-A88X-PRO + HD7770 - $269
A10-7700K + ASUS A88X-PRO - $258
FX6300 + ASUS M5A99FX PRO 2.0 + HD7770 - $296

I have an Antec Neo Eco 520C PS, 8GB RAM (2x4GB PC1600 Gskill Ares), CM 212 EVO, and Samsung 830 SSD that I plan on reusing for this build. I do plan overclocking it (haven't OCed since the days of the AMD Athlon using the pencil trick on the bridges)!

I appreciate any input that can be given!

 

[Theocnoob]

Hi,

Recently had a motherboard failure on my old system so I am looking for some advice in building a new machine. I will be re-using pretty much all my old parts, so really I am just looking for a CPU/Mobo/GPU. My old system was an A4-3400 and it was not impressive, except for the price... As for use - I do quite a bit of surfing, and a LOT of light gaming (LoL, SC2, SimCity). I am running dual monitors at 1080p also if that matters - not streaming or anything.

I would prefer to stick with AMD - they seem to be the most cost effective. I am stuck between getting an Athlon X4 760K, FX6300, or one of the new Kaveri A10s (7700K). I am a little bit concerned that the AM3+/990 is EOL and that the FM2+/A88X has a lot more to offer for the price. What I have come up with is:

X4 760K + ASUS-A88X-PRO + HD7750 - $269
A10-7700K + ASUS A88X-PRO - $258
FX6300 + ASUS M5A99FX PRO 2.0 + HD7750 - $296

I have an Antec Neo Eco 520C PS, 8GB RAM (2x4GB PC1600 Gskill Ares), CM 212 EVO, and Samsung 830 SSD that I plan on reusing for this build. I do plan overclocking it (haven't OCed since the days of the AMD Athlon using the pencil trick on the bridges)!

I appreciate any input that can be given!

FX6300 + ASUS M5A99FX PRO 2.0 + HD7750 - $296
^I'd build this and swap the GPU for a 7770. That'd make for a decent system.

Why the 6300? Sure, it's EOL more or less, but who really upgrades the CPU on their system after it's built? Maybe 0.1% of all systems receive a CPU upgrade in their lifetime.

With the 6300 you get 6 threads, which will be beneficial for future games using more than 4 threads, and they are coming, believe me. You also have the option with the 6300 of upgrading the GPU at some point in the future to something beefy, like a GTX760 or something like that. Then you can go from light gaming to heavy gaming.

The other options cut your future possibilities off at light gaming due to weak CPU performance. The 6300 leaves the door open to a significant performance upgrade in the form of a GPU in the future.

 

[WackyWRZ]

Good points. The original post should have been 7770 not 7750 anyway. I don't know why I put 7750... I will fix it.

I am kind of shying away from the A10 because there isn't enough info really, and I question whether I'd have to get a separate gpu anyway. Lately LoL has been adding effects and causing FPS drops. Used to be able to run it on a toaster...

 

[Theocnoob]

Good points. The original post should have been 7770 not 7750 anyway. I don't know why I put 7750... I will fix it.

I am kind of shying away from the A10 because there isn't enough info really, and I question whether I'd have to get a separate gpu anyway. Lately LoL has been adding effects and causing FPS drops. Used to be able to run it on a toaster...

Sorry for taking so long to respond. My view is this- let's equate it to a car. You're considering building on an A10 or Athlon X4. Let's call that the Ford Fiesta. It'll get you there. It'll get you to your current job (MMORPG, etc) just fine. The FX6300, for just a few dollars more, is more like a BMW 328i. It'll get you to your job even better than the other processors will. Not to mention that, if in future, you want a better job (FPS, Simulators, console ports, etc), you can accomplish that.

A10 and Athlon X4, because of their comparatively weak CPUs with very little cache, are sort of performance dead ends in terms of future GPU upgrades. An FX6300 with a 7770 now gets you enough performance for what you need with some CPU power to spare. It also gives you the choice of swapping out to a much better GPU in the future so you can take full advantage of your CPU. You wouldn't want to put a GTX 770 on an A10 system. Know what I mean?

 

[WackyWRZ]

Thank you very much for your responses and information - you talked me into the 6300. Is my choice of motherboard a good one? It seems like the 990 chip set is the only real option. I have always had good luck with Asus products, and this board seems to have a nice high end feature set.

 

[kichirou88]

The fx6300 is a good choice,
My girlfriend and myself play pretty much the same games and everything runs smooth.
And pretty much the same system only difference Hd7850.
Motherboard it's a good choice.
If you do some heavy overclocking i would pick something a bid higher though.

 

[Theocnoob]

Thank you very much for your responses and information - you talked me into the 6300. Is my choice of motherboard a good one? It seems like the 990 chip set is the only real option. I have always had good luck with Asus products, and this board seems to have a nice high end feature set.

That is a good board choice and is probably the board I would have recommended for you if you asked me.

Motherboard it's a good choice.
If you do some heavy overclocking i would pick something a bid higher though.

I disagree. The board is an 8 phase board. You only really need six phases to run a 6300 cpu. With 8 phases and decent cooling that board will easily get the 6300 up past 4Ghz