i5 4690k for gaming in 2017 (Upgrading my old FX6300)

[IAmTheTofu]

Hey all,

I've been thinking of getting an i5 4690k on my birthday. I plan to buy a used processor to save money, and also so I don't need to upgrade to DDR4. The reason why I don't want to upgrade to DDR4 is because of the additional price (like at least ~$70 only for 8GB), and I'm also probably going to get a whole new computer when I head to university. I'm going to use it primarily for gaming, and I was wondering if I should be able to get at least a solid 60FPS in most games (PlayerUnknown's BattleGrounds, for example). Currently, my build is composed of an AMD FX 6300, GTX 1060 3GB, and an SSD.

Also, if anyone has any other suggestions, my budget for the CPU+Mobo+RAM is $200 MAX, the cheaper the better.

Thanks!

 

[Darkbreeze]

The 4690k is still very capable for gaming. I would have no reservations in saying that if you can get a good, functional CPU and board, then so long as you have a capable graphics card you should be perfectly fine. Anybody who currently has a Haswell refresh system would not be somebody I'd immediately think to tell they were in dire need of an upgrade. I know people who are still rocking 2600k chips with modern GPU cards and can mostly do as they wish. The HR is much newer than that, so if that's what you can afford to do it's definitely a major improvement over the FX-6300.

Also, depending on what speed your current memory is, it's likely compatible with that Haswell platform, both being DDR3, so getting additional memory is probably not necessary unless you have very old, slow DDR3.

 

[IAmTheTofu]

Jesus christ why are DDR4 Prices so high? They were like almost the same price as DDR3 a while ago

 

[Darkbreeze]

It is because all of the DRAM manufacturers except for SK Hynix have transitioned to a smaller fab process for DDR4 and beyond. SK Hynix has not but they do not manufacture enough memory to offset the shortfall in production, so when supply is low then demand is high. When demand is high, so are prices.


Not only were they likely NOT making product during this process, but they probably also figure to recoup their costs through increased pricing as well. If SK Hynix does not transition, they will likely end up out in the cold as faster, more dense modules with lower latencies become the norm.

http://www.pcgamer.com/get-ready-for-another-spike-in-ddr4-memory-pricing/

Nobody is manufacturing DDR3 anymore, as far as I know, so what is out there is old stock and is fairly cheap. If there ever becomes a demand for it once supply has run low, those prices will raise up as well much as hardware for the FX and 990fx platforms has done now that manufacturers are focusing on Ryzen based components and are not still pumping out FX(Piledriver) related hardware anymore.