$450 gaming upgrade

[Funhaus]

My brother likes gaming and he has an FX-6300, GA-970A-UD3P, 8gb RAM, XFX 550w and R9 270. He has $450 and wants this upgrade: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/77HxQ7 . Is it good or is it a waste of money?

 

[i7Baby]

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.98 @ NCIX US)
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste ($6.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card ($332.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $468.45

Yep that's OK. OCing the FX6300 will help. But the fx6300 will hold it back in high end games. He should look at an i5 down the track.

 

[Funhaus]

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.98 @ NCIX US)
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste ($6.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card ($332.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $468.45

Yep that's OK. OCing the FX6300 will help. But the fx6300 will hold it back in high end games. He should look at an i5 down the track.

He said he was going to get an FX-8350. Is there a big difference?

 

[i7Baby]

The 8350 will be better. Nearly as good as an i5. See http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-5.html

And you can even OC the 8350 on that mobo to help a bit further.

 

[Funhaus]

The 8350 will be better. Nearly as good as an i5. See http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-5.html

And you can even OC the 8350 on that mobo to help a bit further.

How important is the upgrade to an 8350? He's turning 16 this September so he's saving for a car, but he said he would get the 8350 if it would give him a huge performance increase (he's a super nerd so he doesn't go anywhere anyway)

 

[Icaraeus]

Depends what you want to do. If you want to develop software or something, you could even consider going the route of Intel i7 4790K and Z97 motherboard.

 

[Funhaus]

Depends what you want to do. If you want to develop software or something, you could even consider going the route of Intel i7 4790K and Z97 motherboard.

No software development, moderate video editing and no photo editing. He mostly just plays games, watches anime and makes YouTube videos. I'm not sure, but I think the 4790k would be more than he needs.

Also he has 3 monitors and wants to drop 1 of them and get a 1440p monitor. What hardware does he need for that?

 

[i7Baby]

The 8350 will be better. Nearly as good as an i5. See http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-5.html

And you can even OC the 8350 on that mobo to help a bit further.

How important is the upgrade to an 8350? He's turning 16 this September so he's saving for a car, but he said he would get the 8350 if it would give him a huge performance increase (he's a super nerd so he doesn't go anywhere anyway)

He'd have to work out how important it is. OCX the 6300 and see how it runs. Then decide.

 

[madmatt30]

For gaming ,the 8350 won't perform any better than a 6300 clocked at 4ghz.

Is the case change to accomodate the cooler ??
As this cooler will fit most smaller cases.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA4UF2DZ6565&FM=1

 

[Funhaus]

For gaming ,the 8350 won't perform any better than a 6300 clocked at 4ghz.

Is the case change to accomodate the cooler ??
As this cooler will fit most smaller cases.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA4UF2DZ6565&FM=1

No his case only supports a 10.5" GPU.

 

[madmatt30]

What case is it ?? That's a big expenditure just to accommodate a gpu upgrade imo.
The MSI card may actually fit .

Also if he's buying an evo there's no need to buy thermal paste - you get a big tube of silver based compound with it & its as good as the arctic silver stuff IMO.

A 970 & an over clocked 6300 makes a decent gaming setup - a huge upgrade over a 270.
I know this because there's one in my sig below😉

Regarding the monitors he needs to make sure the card he buys supports the 3 connections he's going to be using.

 

[Funhaus]

What case is it ?? That's a big expenditure just to accommodate a gpu upgrade imo.
The MSI card may actually fit .

Also if he's buying an evo there's no need to buy thermal paste - you get a big tube of silver based compound with it & its as good as the arctic silver stuff IMO.

A 970 & an over clocked 6300 makes a decent gaming setup - a huge upgrade over a 270.
I know this because there's one in my sig below😉

Regarding the monitors he needs to make sure the card he buys supports the 3 connections he's going to be using.

The case is an Antec One. It doesn't fit and it's not even close.

Also the monitors will work out. There's adapters and such for that.