CPU questions I'd like answered

[SnowAkechi]

Hello everyone, I've been here a few times asking for gaming rig advice; and well...I'm back again for some more advice from anyone that can give it to me.

I recently bought a brand new gaming computer from Newegg.com for my birthday, it was roughly $850 I believe. (Not sure exactly on the price due to my mother buying it for me.)

The specs of the computer are as follows:

AMD FX(tm)-6300 Six-Core Processor 3.5GHz
Gigabyte GA-78LMT-S2 motherboard
AMD Radeon R9 280x 2.1GB dedicated memory

That's the base of what the system is, it has a 1tb hard-drive, and I believe a 500w power supply.

Now my question to everyone/anyone willing to answer is, this Christmas I'm getting roughly $400 give or take a few bucks; and I was wondering if it's worth investing in a new motherboard and CPU; most likely an Intel CPU as from research I've done it's hard to find a AMD processor that's as good as the Intel ones right now. I'm mostly going to use this system for Streaming and Gaming on CPU intensive games, so I really need a good one.

I also would like to know if it's a good idea to upgrade RAM to 16GB's of ram.

The last thing I need to know/would like to know is; is it worth buying a second Hard Drive to increase my storage from 1TB to 3-4TB's, or perhaps buying an SSD.

Thanks everyone for your time, and I hope someone can answer these questions for me.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

Upgrade the motherboard, power supply, and CPU.

 

[SnowAkechi]

Upgrade the motherboard, power supply, and CPU.

Any recommendations on them? Is it better to buy AMD over Intel? Also; since upgrading the motherboard would mean having to unplug all my stuff; is it a good idea to find someone who can help me rebuild/back the stuff on it up? I'm still nervous to try and put a computer together myself since if I mess up a part I'm boned.

If you could give me a few suggestions on them all for around $400 I'd really appreciate it. If not I can do some research on it and try to come up with them through reviews and stuff.

 

[Mark Angelo]

Do you not have a GPU? That would be a red alert if you're going to be using it for gaming. For the $400, get a GTX 970.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

Do you not have a GPU? That would be a red alert if you're going to be using it for gaming. For the $400, get a GTX 970.

Actually I take my previous back, sounds like a better idea! Also would not even require a new PSU. Your 500watt PSU must be under some major stress while gaming with the 280x. Those manufacturers put the lowest they can fit in.

 

[Mark Angelo]

I think the 500w should be enough for one GTX970 plus whatever you have there already, but I'm not a PSU expert so it might be better to ask others.

Without a graphics card, you can't expect good gaming.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

I think the 500w should be enough for one GTX970 plus whatever you have there already, but I'm not a PSU expert so it might be better to ask others.

Without a graphics card, you can't expect good gaming.

The 970 draws in less power than his current graphics card.

 

[SnowAkechi]

Do you not have a GPU? That would be a red alert if you're going to be using it for gaming. For the $400, get a GTX 970.

Actually I take my previous back, sounds like a better idea! Also would not even require a new PSU. Your 500watt PSU must be under some major stress while gaming with the 280x. Those manufacturers put the lowest they can fit in.

I have an R9 280x GPU, is it that much of an increase to the GTX 970 from the 280x? Mind you I play mostly CPU intensive games like Minecraft, Starcraft 2, etc; if you guys think the AMD 6300 is good enough for those then I can look into the GPU.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

Do you not have a GPU? That would be a red alert if you're going to be using it for gaming. For the $400, get a GTX 970.

Actually I take my previous back, sounds like a better idea! Also would not even require a new PSU. Your 500watt PSU must be under some major stress while gaming with the 280x. Those manufacturers put the lowest they can fit in.

Probably 30% improvement. Might not be worth the money. You could always just spend $150 on a better AMD CPU.

I have an R9 280x GPU, is it that much of an increase to the GTX 970 from the 280x? Mind you I play mostly CPU intensive games like Minecraft, Starcraft 2, etc; if you guys think the AMD 6300 is good enough for those then I can look into the GPU.

 

[Mark Angelo]

Do you not have a GPU? That would be a red alert if you're going to be using it for gaming. For the $400, get a GTX 970.

Actually I take my previous back, sounds like a better idea! Also would not even require a new PSU. Your 500watt PSU must be under some major stress while gaming with the 280x. Those manufacturers put the lowest they can fit in.

I have an R9 280x GPU, is it that much of an increase to the GTX 970 from the 280x? Mind you I play mostly CPU intensive games like Minecraft, Starcraft 2, etc; if you guys think the AMD 6300 is good enough for those then I can look into the GPU.

Oops. I'm sorry. I didn't see that you already had a GPU. I believe the 280x is already enough and although a GTX 970 is definitely an improvement, I wouldn't recommend it since you already have a fairly good GPU.

You could test your current system out, and then be open to the idea of CrossFire-ing 280x's (using 2 280x's in one system).

That would be costly if you're not willing to add the GPU yourself though.

tl;dr A single 280x should be enough for today's games.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

Do you not have a GPU? That would be a red alert if you're going to be using it for gaming. For the $400, get a GTX 970.

Actually I take my previous back, sounds like a better idea! Also would not even require a new PSU. Your 500watt PSU must be under some major stress while gaming with the 280x. Those manufacturers put the lowest they can fit in.

I have an R9 280x GPU, is it that much of an increase to the GTX 970 from the 280x? Mind you I play mostly CPU intensive games like Minecraft, Starcraft 2, etc; if you guys think the AMD 6300 is good enough for those then I can look into the GPU.

Oops. I'm sorry. I didn't see that you already had a GPU. I believe the 280x is already enough and although a GTX 970 is definitely an improvement, I wouldn't recommend it since you already have a fairly good GPU.

You could test your current system out, and then be open to the idea of CrossFire-ing 280x's (using 2 280x's in one system).

That would be costly if you're not willing to add the GPU yourself though.

tl;dr A single 280x should be enough for today's games.

I doubt the mobo supports crossfire in a prebuilt.

 

[SnowAkechi]

Do you not have a GPU? That would be a red alert if you're going to be using it for gaming. For the $400, get a GTX 970.

Actually I take my previous back, sounds like a better idea! Also would not even require a new PSU. Your 500watt PSU must be under some major stress while gaming with the 280x. Those manufacturers put the lowest they can fit in.

I have an R9 280x GPU, is it that much of an increase to the GTX 970 from the 280x? Mind you I play mostly CPU intensive games like Minecraft, Starcraft 2, etc; if you guys think the AMD 6300 is good enough for those then I can look into the GPU.

Oops. I'm sorry. I didn't see that you already had a GPU. I believe the 280x is already enough and although a GTX 970 is definitely an improvement, I wouldn't recommend it since you already have a fairly good GPU.

You could test your current system out, and then be open to the idea of CrossFire-ing 280x's (using 2 280x's in one system).

That would be costly if you're not willing to add the GPU yourself though.

tl;dr A single 280x should be enough for today's games.

I doubt the mobo supports crossfire in a prebuilt.

So, keeping in mind my GPU is good enough, what would be a good mobo/CPU since the Mobo I have is AMD only; so I don't know if I'd need to change that or not.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

Get the AMD FX 8350 which would work with the same mobo.

 

[SnowAkechi]

Get the AMD FX 8350 which would work with the same mobo.

And that should be good enough for the games I play + livestreaming?

 

[Mark Angelo]

If you have money left over, you can get a 2.5" 120gb/250gb SSD and install your OS from there if you like to boot fast. But if you're buying it pre-built with the OS already installed you'd have to do it from scratch which might be a little work.

 

[f-14]

get an SSD and switch the m/b and cpu to core i-5 and you should be more than good to go. 8gb memeory is about all you're going to need with out an ssd, with and SSD the more memory the bigger the swap file and less wear and tear on the SSD saving read and write cycles.