Budget PC : FX6300, Suggestion for Motherboard and Graphics card?

[asmittal]

Hi,

I am planning to upgrade my PC from Core 2 Duo (2700mhz) to new budget PC. I will not be gaming and pc will be used mainly for normal surfing, watching movies etc. But I will like to have a system with 2-3 year life hence selected motherboards with UEFI and USB 3

Below is what I have selected
1) CPU – AMD FX 6300 (it comes up as best on price/performance index)
2) Motherboard: Should have UEFI and USB3.0 (Would have love to see onboard graphics but looks like none with UEFI have that.). I could shortlist following motherboards:
1. ASUS M5A97 R2.0 AM3+
2. GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3P
3. ASRock 970 PRO3 R2.0 ATX
4. MSI 970A-G46 ATX

Any suggestions to select or any other cheap MB?

3) Graphics Card: Would like to go for PCI Express 2, as thats the best above motherboards have. Any suggestion for cheap and best

Please let me know your inputs.
TIA

 

[maurelie]

Definitely the ASUS one, good quality overall, if you want to overclock that FX 6300 even more, i would suggest you to get M5A97EVO, because it has power phase design of 6+2, while the regular M5A97 has 4+2
About the PCIE slots, it doesn't matter if the GPU is PCIE 3.0, it can work on PCIE 2.0. I have the same setup, i run GPU PCIE 3.0. on motherboard that has PCIE 2.0. slots

 

[Someone Somewhere]

No modern AM3+ motherboard has integrated graphics. Given you'd be paying for a GPU, you may be better off getting an i5, with integrated graphics.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($184.87 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock B85M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $244.86
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-20 05:41 EST-0500)

Or if you do go AMD:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 LE R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 6570 1GB Video Card ($48.57 @ Newegg)
Total: $233.55
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-20 05:42 EST-0500)

 

[asmittal]

No modern AM3+ motherboard has integrated graphics. Given you'd be paying for a GPU, you may be better off getting an i5, with integrated graphics.

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($184.87 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock B85M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $244.86
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-20 05:41 EST-0500)
Or if you do go AMD:
CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 LE R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 6570 1GB Video Card ($48.57 @ Newegg)
Total: $233.55
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-20 05:42 EST-0500)

Thanks for the alternate solution Someone Somewhere. I also liked it specially for the overall less wattage. But I checked the motherboard and looks like its not UEFI based (please correct if I am wrong). Rather I checked other MBs and seems like there are no economical option for Intel MBs with UEFI. Let me know if you are aware of any.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

What? Pretty much every current board is UEFI. Including that one - look on Newegg's features page.

It's not pushed quite as heavily as it used to be, because almost every board is UEFI.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M5A97_LE_R20/

Dual Intelligent Processors - TPU + EPU
USB 3.0 Boost - Faster USB 3.0 Transmission with UASP
Network iControl - Real-time Network Bandwidth Control
UEFI BIOS - Flexible & Easy BIOS Interface
Auto Tuning - Auto System Level Up
Quad-GPU CrossFireX Support!
True USB 3.0 & SATA 6Gb/s Support - Fully Unleash Performance
Windows 8 Ready – Assured Compatibility

 

[asmittal]

What? Pretty much every current board is UEFI. Including that one - look on Newegg's features page.

It's not pushed quite as heavily as it used to be, because almost every board is UEFI.

My bad. I went to the newegg page but out of habit directly moved to ‘Specification’ page which is not having mention of UEFI, though the overview page does.
Your alternate config actually was eye opener, because one of the main reason to choose AMD was its less price, which was getting negated by the need of extra graphics card. I did bit of search on APU from AMD and realized that they are coming up with new range of processor with new socket FM+. (I checked with FM+ mother boards and they start at very cheap price with UEFI option) I think it will be worth a wait for new socket anyways. Thanks for the inputs from all you guys.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

I would assume you're talking about FM2 or FM2+? That's been around for a while.

They're for lower end systems, and top out at quad cores. They end where FX begins.

However, for your stated intentions, an i3 or A8/A10 should be plenty.

(Sorry this is a bit late; I've been on holiday).

 

[asmittal]

Sorry for the typo, Ya I meant FM2+.
As suggested by you, I am holding my plans for the Kaveri range of processors (A10/A8)

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Tom's just released their review of Kaveri. Looks like it performs similarly, but is more efficient.

However, if you're not doing hugely stressful stuff, something like an i3 or A10 should be plenty for a few years.