Dual-Monitors Or Crossfire?

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KittyFish62

KittyFish62

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Dec 13, 2016
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I'm going to do a build with an ASUS (ecx-Fry-US-8327837) Micro ATX AMD 760G Motherboard, two XFX Radeon HD 6450 (HD-645X-ZQHP) 1024MB PCIe Gen 2.1 GPUs, an AMD Athlon II 620 x4 CPU, and a Corsair CX430 PSU. The thing is, however, I'm going to buy the parts one by one. The motherboard first, then PSU second, the GPU and whatever monitor I decide on.

I already have one of the GPUs, the CPU, and the PSU but I want to use the computer right away, and it's not like I actually have a real job, so don't think I can make $200 in only a week. The integrated graphics and the GPU both have 1GB of vram, which is nice, but I really can't decide on dual-monitors or crossfire. Both of the monitors I have are equal quality, but they only a 1440x900 resolution, which isn't bad, and I kinda want a better monitor. One of the is 75hz and the other one is 60hz though. I really love dual-monitors for recording and working, but I also want the feel of a Gaming PC for once.
 
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What games are you planning to play on a AMD Athlon II 620 x4 CPU? That may not run the newer games that well without turning the settings way down. Personally I wouldn't spend any more money on old hardware unless you are only planning on play games from 10 years ago. I'd save my green stamps for the more current and up to date hardware. New platforms are coming out early next year from AMD & Intel so prices on last gen platforms will be dropping. They will give better performance and more flexibility going forward if you can afford the newest platforms.
 
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Can I suggest you re-think your plan. But before getting to that, let me answer your question first.

Crossfire on low end cards is a really bad idea. Unless you're getting those for next to nothing, you're almost certainly better served getting a higher end single card. Even second hand.

Now for the re-think... Those parts you're looking at are really old and low quality. I'm not sure they're going to do what you want them to. There's also a good chance you can do much better, even if your budget is extremely limited.

So. What are you trying to do? Build a gaming machine? You're talking about "recording"? Are you wanting a youtube channel or similar?

I'd be suggesting you look at picking up a cheap second hand Dell/HP tower with an i5-2400 or similar, and then putting something like an RX 460 in it. You can usually do that (assuming US pricing here) for under $250. And that gets you a capable e-sports gaming machine that will handle light recording and editing duties just fine.

Post back with what you want from the machine, and your specific budget. You must be able to do better than an Athlon II and 6450.
 
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Well, I wasn't really going for the highest settings in games. I just wanted to buy some cheap components and later on get better ones. I already have the CPU in stock, so that's why I'm using it. What AMD CPU would you reccomend? I'm unemployed so I won't be able to make a couple hundred dollars in a week. I'm on mobile right now so I don't wanna type much now. I'll put in more details later.
 
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I hear you and get the restricted budget thing. The problem with your plan is that you're locking yourself into such outdated and low-end components that you can't really "upgrade" later on. You'd basically have to start again.

That's why I'm suggesting you grab a second hand i5. That's a solid start. Ex-lease machines often have Intel quad cores, an OS, and 4-8GB of RAM and go for really cheap. If you avoid any small form factor models, you can just put a low-power GPU like a 1050ti, or 460, or if your budget is really limited, even a 750ti.

If you save up and keep your eye out, you can probably pick up a decent one for maybe $150. That'll have integrated graphics which you can get by on for a while until you can afford a GPU.
 
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Hi,

The ONLY recommendation I can make is to get the best, NVidia card you can for the budget.

Your CPU is relatively low performance so you'll lose performance in DX11 with AMD drivers. Crossfire isn't a good idea as mentioned above.

You want a bare MINIMUM of 2GB of video memory (VRAM).

*Hands down the absolute best card I can recommend is a GTX1050Ti (4GB of VRAM).

Here's how the GPU's compare (if we ignore a CPU bottleneck):
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_1050_Ti_Gaming_X/27.html

It's similar to a GTX770 4GB card. Example:
http://pcpartpicker.com/product/wrmxFT/evga-geforce-gtx-1050-ti-4gb-acx-20-video-card-04g-p4-6251-kr

(A GTX1050Ti is almost 2x the performance of a GTX750Ti though that will vary)
 
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What motherboard would you recommend then? The motherboard I mentioned only supports AM2+/AM3.

Btw I have an i5 in a laptop that I fixed. Could I use that?
 
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What about a GeForce GTX 950?
 
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Until we know what your budget is, we're just stabbing in the dark.

How much do you want to spend?

Do you already have the Athlon II, because your first post sounds like you're intending to buy it.

It's worth you taking some time, posting here exactly how much you have/or intend to spend, and what sort of games (and streaming/recording?) you want to do with the PC. All we're doing right now is throwing random suggestions around which may or may not be in budget or suit your needs. Take the time, list your requirements and budget in detail, and then we can give you some proper, targeted recommendations.
 
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Yes, I already have the Athlon II, and I did mention that I already have it in my first post. My budget is probably around $200, don't wanna go any higher than that. Most of the games I'm going to play are f2p games, which most of them only need 2-4GB of RAM (not VRAM). The only non-f2p games I'm going to play are Terraria and Shellshock Live. 4 CPU cores is fine with me, and I was planning to use 2GB of vram on one monitor and 1GB on the other. The only things I really record are anime openings and anime memes. I don't stream anything.
 
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I looked on Intel's website for a motherboard and the cheapest one was like $100. The motherboard I mentioned is much better and is about half the price. Then again, on newegg, the cheapest desktop motherboard is only $35, but, AMD once again beats intel with the cheapest AMD motherboard being only $24, although that's not a very big difference.
 
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Here's my revised list:

GPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125922&cm_re=GeForce_GT_740-_-14-125-922-_-Product

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113326&ignorebbr=1&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-Advanced%20Micro%20Devices-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=5257136&SID=ShopAMD

PSU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817438015&cm_re=evga_430W_power_supply-_-17-438-015-_-Product

Motherboard:
http://shop.amd.com/en-us/components/motherboards/ecxFryUS8327837

Total: $255

The new list is a "little" over my budget, but I can make it work. I already have spares to use in substitute of some of the other parts, so I don't have to wait till I get enough money or till the new ones get here; I can use the computer as soon as the motherboard gets here. I'm not going to get any monitors yet as I already have a few. Thanks for your help.

I can't really mark it as solved because marking a random post would be strange, so I'll just mark it as solved as soon as somebody posts something.


 
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