My Once in 4 year upgrade cycle.. need advice

[Fr3@k3r]

Havent upgraded since DX9 came out... its been a while..

need something sub $400, gaming on low/med settings. Already have hdds, psu, case..

My games list (thanks to steams damn summer sale) now include along with others

*The Witcher 2
*Torchlight 2
*Two Worlds 2
*Just Cause 2
*Far Cry 3
*CS:GO

and some other games that are coming out .... I want to be able to play these games and some newer ones when they arrive comfortably not highest quality omg its like amazing.. Gaming Requirements at 1600x900

but this is what I have purchased

$70 - SeaSonic M12II 850 SS-850AM 850W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Semi-modular Power Supply New 4th Gen CPU Certified Haswell Ready
$100 - SAPPHIRE 100355-1GOCL Radeon HD 7850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card OC Version

anyone got any suggestions, im thinking a FX-6300, 8GB DDR3 and a Motherboard

Im thinking about going with

GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard (8+2 Phase CPU/VRM)
AMD FX-6300 Vishera 3.5GHz (4.1GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 95W Six-Core Desktop Processor FD6300WMHKBOX
Team Vulcan 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model TLD38G1600HC9DC01

I would like to keep the total under $250 for the Mobo, Ram and Processor

 

[EarthDog]

What resolution are you gaming at? I would try to go a bit bigger than a 7770 personally. 7850 and 2GB vram would be my landing spot. 1GB vram just isnt enough these days, and most certainly will not be tomorrow.

You can save some money by moving back to DDR3 1600 MHz ram as that isnt needed. I would also go 2x4GB instead of 4x2GB.

 

[ssjwizard]

Get a 2x4Gb kit of 1866. Dont get a Zambezi based CPU you absolutely want a Vishera if your going for an AMD CPU. Myself and a few others have spent hours and hours doing comparisons between them, and the verdict is that Zambezi got left holding the bag of stuff that could be but isnt.

I would second the recommendation to try and stretch for a 7850 if you can. There is a huge difference in performance between them for very little $$

 

[Fr3@k3r]

ok so did some tweaking and this is what I came up with..

and gaming resolutions are below 1600x900

PowerColor AX7850 2GBD5-DH Radeon HD 7850 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
AMD FX-6300 Vishera 3.5GHz (4.1GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 95W Six-Core Desktop Processor FD6300WMHKBOX
GeIL 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory Model GEV38GB1866C10DC
ASUS M5A97 LE R2.0 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

$435.. but im sure if I wait for sales i can get it cheaper..

 

[ssjwizard]

I think you will be alot happier with that setup than the first one. If your planning to do any overclocking your going to need a CPU cooler also. The coolermaster 212+ is a great value if you case will fit it.

 

[Theocnoob]

You can't overclock on that motherboard. Low phase count and no VRM cooling. For overclocking you need a much better board.

I don't even know if that board will handle the six core stock. I know it wouldn't handle an 8 core stock from the looks of it.

 

[Fr3@k3r]

ok so how does this look

GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
AMD FX-4300 Vishera 3.8GHz (4.0GHz) Socket AM3+ 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor FD4300WMHKBOX

 

[Knufire]

Stuck with the hexa, the quad isn't worth it.

 

[Fr3@k3r]

Stuck with the hexa, the quad isn't worth it.

in what way?

and ill be gaming in 1600x900 99% of the time, and dont really need/want to overclock

 

[ssjwizard]

The 6 core has more compute power when running 3 calculation heavy threads VS the 4 core because it has a 3rd floating point unit. More and more games are coming out supporting greater than 4 threads of execution, and this trend will continue for a long time. Given the amount of time your planing to keep this setup and the minimal price difference between the 4300 and the 6300 it would be silly to not go with the 6 core chip.

If you truly have no plans to ever OC the system then the M5A97 that you listed in your second revision will run a 6300 at stock speeds fine and dandy. If there's even a small chance you will try to OC the system later down the road then the UD3 you looked at is a better choice.

Regardless of which you choose its going to be a massive upgrade from what your pushing right now.

 

[EarthDog]

and ill be gaming in 1600x900 99% of the time, and dont really need/want to overclock

Shouldnt he get more CPU if he is gaming at such a low resolution? Personally, at that res, you will want a lot of CPU horsepower as that resolution will not lean on the GPU as hard as 1080p will.

7770 shuld be plenty, but he may want to step up to 3570 and a low end board since he is not overclocking?

 

[Fr3@k3r]

I edited the post to reflect some changes

This is what ive purchased

$70 - SeaSonic M12II 850 SS-850AM 850W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Semi-modular Power Supply New 4th Gen CPU Certified Haswell Ready

$100 - SAPPHIRE 100355-1GOCL Radeon HD 7850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card OC Version

 

[||Console||]

At your rez you will prob get pretty good fps with that card and any current cpu

 

[Fr3@k3r]

At your rez you will prob get pretty good fps with that card and any current cpu

so I shouldn't necessarily have to upgrade fully, just increase cooling and overclocking the cpu a little..

but the problem I forsee is that my motherboard doesnt work with windows 8