CPU that can work well with the 980?

[Normalcey]

Hello, I have an AMD motherboard, and would like to stick with AMD CPU's. I am currently looking at the FX 6300, and would like your input on that CPU for gaming. I would like to run something like No Man's sky with no stuttering while it loads all that stuff.

I'm getting the 980 soon, and would like to set the framework for something like that, I have a 500 GB SSD, some decent gaming ram, and I need a cpu that can keep up with the 980.

Keep in mind, I'm not a graphics junkie, I don't need max settings. I just like having a smooth gameplay experience, stutters kind of ruin that. I only run in 1600x900 resolution. Thanks ahead of time.

 

[Calculagator]

You should not be getting a 980 to only run at 900p. For a GPU as powerful as the 980, you should get at least an intel i5. An overclocked FX 8XXX might be ok, but for anything less, it won't "keep up."
If I were you, I would be looking to pick up a 970, 960, 280x, 290, 290x, etc. and I wouldn't spend more than about $200. Any of those should give you more than enough performance for your resolution.
Alternatively, you could take the money you save in buying a $250 card instead of the 980 and buy a new monitor.

 

[Normalcey]

You should not be getting a 980 to only run at 900p. For a GPU as powerful as the 980, you should get at least an intel i5. An overclocked FX 8XXX might be ok, but for anything less, it won't "keep up."
If I were you, I would be looking to pick up a 970, 960, 280x, 290, 290x, etc. and I wouldn't spend more than about $200. Any of those should give you more than enough performance for your resolution.
Alternatively, you could take the money you save in buying a $250 card instead of the 980 and buy a new monitor.

Hmm.. So the 970 would be fine with the 6300? I've got to admit I'm not sure what the difference is in the two cards. I currently have a 660, and it seems to be pretty outdated now.

I just want not to stutter anymore, the 970 and 6300 could do that for me at this resolution? (IE games like the witcher 3)

 

[turbopixel]

You should not be getting a 980 to only run at 900p.

With DSR, he could even play at 4k or 1440p in example. Off course, it would be down scaled to his monitors resolution at 900p, but 4k down scaled to 900p looks better than native 900p. And in future he only need a new monitor. So, its not wasted money in my eyes.

Btw, The GTX 970 is enough for Witcher 3 at high settings (but not ultra) to play it at 1080p and 60 fps. But my cpu is Xeon 1230v3. Save some money by taking the GTX 970, instead of 980 and use that saved money for getting a new processor. AMD processors aren't good as Intel processors for todays gaming.

 

[spacejunk]

For the purposes of future proofing, may I recommend going with a 980ti instead, they cost about 20% more but with roughly 170% performance increase over the standard 980, so in 2-3 years you are still good to run games smoothly.

For the CPU, I've never used AMD so I can't recommend any, but numbers usually speak for themselves.

 

[Calculagator]

If you currently have a GTX 660, my guess is that your "stuttering" is due to your CPU. Unless you plan to do some serious overclocking, I would not recommend FX cpus for gaming. The 6300 has similar gaming performance to an Intel i3

Re DSR, of course it is possible to artificially turn up settings to bring any GPU to its knees, but it's arguable whether or not that actually makes things look better on your screen. I like to spend my money so that I will get the best experience for the money. If you don't care about that, then by all means get a $500+ GPU. It will give you better performance than your current GPU; whether you will be able to see it or not is questionable.

For the $600 you sound like you are planning to spend, you could get a new motherboard, solid i5 for gaming, and an R9 290 suitable for high quality gaming at 1080p
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.2157966

If you really want to stretch your dollar, you can get a used i5 2500k and motherboard for ~$200, a $200 gpu (R9 280x or 380,GTX 960) and have $200 to spend on a decent 24 or 27in screen.