Looking for new motherboard and processor

[camacaneta]

I’m a total newbie to PC components and building them. I had received a couple piles of parts from friends and in random trades and whatnot and decided to build a PC. I have two Nvidia GTX 950 cards that I wanna run with a SLI bridge but my current motherboard’s (MSI 970a-g43+) specs says only crossfire compatible. Also, I’d like to upgrade my AMD FX 6300 cpu for something better. Is it possible to keep it ddr3 for the sake of the 8gb ram I already have? I’m looking to spend around $300 or less on a new processor and motherboard, without having to upgrade more components. (I will if I have to though)
Any suggestions help, TIA!

 

[profoundnoah]

If you want to upgrade to any of the newer platforms, DDR4 is a must. I'd see if you could sell that RAM and use it in your budget (expect $30-40'ish, don't know the exact specs). This CPU and Board are SLI capable and come right within your budget. (Expect to spend $80 on DDR4 RAM). Just ensure your PSU has the right connectors/power specs to support both of those cards.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4GHz 6-Core Processor ($169.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI - X470 GAMING PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $299.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-07-27 02:44 EDT-0400

 

[camacaneta]

If you want to upgrade to any of the newer platforms, DDR4 is a must. I'd see if you could sell that RAM and use it in your budget (expect $30-40'ish, don't know the exact specs). This CPU and Board are SLI capable and come right within your budget. (Expect to spend $80 on DDR4 RAM). Just ensure your PSU has the right connectors/power specs to support both of those cards.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4GHz 6-Core Processor ($169.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI - X470 GAMING PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $299.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-07-27 02:44 EDT-0400

Okay great. Moving to DDR4 shouldn'tt affect any other components besides the ram and other parts im replacing, right? And yeah, I'll probably end up selling off all of the extra parts I have. Would you have any suggestions for ram? I've installed a 1000W EVGA SuperNova, so I think that shall work too. Thanks for the help!

 

[profoundnoah]

It depends on how much you can get for the other components you're selling, but this is quite a good kit of 16GB https://pcpartpicker.com/product/tMvZxr/gskill-memory-f43000c15d16gvgb. I would look for similarly-branded 8GB units if need be. DDR4 won't affect anything as long as the parts that you're upgrading to are compatible with it (they are). Glad I could be of service.

 

[camacaneta]

It depends on how much you can get for the other components you're selling, but this is quite a good kit of 16GB https://pcpartpicker.com/product/tMvZxr/gskill-memory-f43000c15d16gvgb. I would look for similarly-branded 8GB units if need be. DDR4 won't affect anything as long as the parts that you're upgrading to are compatible with it (they are). Glad I could be of service.

looking at the specs of the msi motherboard you sent, I dont see SLI compatible anywhere. any other suggestions?