have a fx-6300. what graphic card should i buy?

[malshan]

My processor is amd fx-6300 on 970 chipset. Currently have a hd6670 1GB DDR5 card, fit to full HD display.
I can allocate up to US$150-200 (assume card prices in USA).

Considering following
- CPU bottleneck
- chipset is PCI express 2.1 only (again, bottle neck)
- ram is DDR3 1333MHz in dual channel
- targeted games are BF, FarCry, crisis 2

Can you guys tell me about a good card to buy.

 

[hang-the-9]

PCIe lanes will have no bottleneck at all, even PCIe 1 should be able to handle any card.

For an even match to a FX 6300, R9-280 or nVidia 960 should be enough, those are at the top end of the budget though. R7-260X if you want to save a bit of money, and it will play all those games with at least Medium settings at smooth rates.

 

[gwapito]

difference between pciE 2.0 vs 3.0 is minimal to none

http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Impact-of-PCI-E-Speed-on-Gaming-Performance-518/

CPU bottleneck
- it depends on the game or application but in general, don't go higher than 280x and bottleneck will be minimal

 

[gwapito]

with your budget

r9 280
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-video-card-r9280gaming3g

gtx 960
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-video-card-gvn960wf2oc2gd

 

[Wayfur]

That version of PCIe isn't a bottleneck if you are running a single GPU setup. I'd shoot for a R9 270x. or a GTX 750 Ti. The 270x will give you better performance, the 750 Ti is something to look at if you need less heat and power consumption on the Nvidia side.

 

[maddogfargo]

Hang the 9 and gwapito recommended the R9 280 and GTX 960. These are exactly what I would recommend.

As for CPU bottleneck, it will depend on the games. Older games that only use 1-2 cores will be a bit slower than an Intel, but will still run well over 60FPS on average. So it will be a non-issue. Most modern games will be fine. You'll max your GPU before the CPU in most cases.

Your RAM might have a mild impact on performance. If it is very low latendy DDR 1333 it won't be so bad. But 8GB of DDR3 1600 or even 1866 would be better and is the sweet spot for gaming. You'll be OK for now, but I would upgrade the RAM next.