New To PC Gaming Looking To Upgrade Current PC.

[syndicating96]

As the title implies, I've never built a PC and just recently within this year started playing more avidly. I'd like to upgrade my PC so I can easily play newer games on the highest quality at 1080p, hopefully at 60ish (or close too) FPS. The PC I have now is pretty terrible, but I got it really cheap. It's supposedly a gaming Pc but has problems playing Far Cry 3 on low settings at around 20-25 FPS.

The PC's specs are 8 GB of Ram, Nvidia 730, AMD FX (tm) 6300 Six Score Processor. and the motherboard is ga-78lmt-usb3. Not too sure of any other info needed, As of right now my budget is pretty open, as i'll be buying everything within the span of a couple months.

Thanks,
Thomas

 

[Frag Maniac]

Just get a GTX 1070, I saw an ASUS on a Newegg promo price for $390 this morning. However you might also need a more powerful PSU to run it (500w). Al lot of cheap PCs that have weak GPUs only have 400w PSU at best. Note that a PSU is a critical part and running one that is less power than you need can damage a lot of parts in your PC.

(Note this promo deal ends midnight tonight)
https://promotions.newegg.com/neemail/latest/index-landing.aspx?cm_sp=Homepage_EMC-_-P1-_-14-126-119-_-10192017

Great PSU for $30 if needed.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151094

Honestly, that's about all you need do with that rig, and IMO is all that's warranted since it's an old platform and would become a money pit otherwise.

If you miss that promo, don't sweat it too much, because holiday deals will be going soon. Plus rumor has it a 1070 Ti will release soon, and that may drop prices on the regular 1070s.

Anyways, the 1070 is the sweet spot for best performance at 1080p without being overkill or yielding less FPS than you want in some of the more demanding titles.

 

[syndicating96]

So would it be better to just build a new PC? Biggest problem with that is I've never done a PC Setup (although I'd like to). I got that promotion today too. I was thinking about it, my PC has a 500w Power Supply.

 

[Frag Maniac]

So would it be better to just build a new PC? Biggest problem with that is I've never done a PC Setup (although I'd like to). I got that promotion today too. I was thinking about it, my PC has a 500w Power Supply.

Honestly, unless you have like $800-$1000 to easily afford a new PC, I would just get the 1070. The FX-6300 might bottleneck it a little on some games, but when you look at the kind of FPS a 1070, even just a reference model, achieves on most modern games at 1080p, you'll still get over 60 FPS average on most games.

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_1070/

Here's Ghost Recon Wildlands being played on a 1070 with FX-8350 on pretty good settings averaging about 50 FPS. This is likely worst case scenario.
[video="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Z_l0OMh2js"][/video]

However, if you DO have enough to afford all the parts, just take a look at some build videos. Newegg has a pretty good 2 part series on assembly and OS/Driver install.

Assembly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIF43-0mDk4

OS/Driver Install
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zAdwedmj1M

Honestly, this is actually easier than operating and maintaining a PC, and helps you not only save money, but understand your build and keep a better eye on it.

 

[syndicating96]

So would it be better to just build a new PC? Biggest problem with that is I've never done a PC Setup (although I'd like to). I got that promotion today too. I was thinking about it, my PC has a 500w Power Supply.

Honestly, unless you have like $800-$1000 to easily afford a new PC, I would just get the 1070. The FX-6300 might bottleneck it a little on some games, but when you look at the kind of FPS a 1070, even just a reference model, achieves on most modern games at 1080p, you'll still get over 60 FPS average on most games.

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_1070/

Here's Ghost Recon Wildlands being played on a 1070 with FX-8350 on pretty good settings averaging about 50 FPS. This is likely worst case scenario.
[video="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Z_l0OMh2js"][/video]

However, if you DO have enough to afford all the parts, just take a look at some build videos. Newegg has a pretty good 2 part series on assembly and OS/Driver install.

Assembly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIF43-0mDk4

OS/Driver Install
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zAdwedmj1M

Honestly, this is actually easier than operating and maintaining a PC, and helps you not only save money, but understand your build and keep a better eye on it.

Alright y the graphics card you had listed. I'll likely be back when I get some more understanding of computers. I plan to spend around $1,200- $1,500 on building one when I get around to it. Do you have any recommendations for a decent 1080p monitor?

 

[Frag Maniac]

Do you have any recommendations for a decent 1080p monitor?

I've not kept up on monitors as much since I switched to an HDTV for a display years ago. I live in an apt with fairly small living room and prefer something I can do everything on. I plan on getting a Sony 49" X900E soon, which is rated very good by RTINGS.com for gaming, and has low input lag even on HDR content. I'm waiting for it to drop to $900 or less, which should happen soon.

The basics as always are prioritizing what kind of uses your display will be for. I used to like ISP displays, and have one now. They have lifelike looking color, but very low brightness, and thus are not good for HDR. They can also have a lot of what's called "black crush", meaning in dark scenes it's hard to see detail on darker colors, such as lapel lines on a black suit.

Also consider what kind of gaming you do. If you game a lot online and play fast shooters, you'll want something with low input lag and fast response time. The trick is trying to balance low lag and fast response with good color depth if you also for instance watch movies, or even videos on YouTube.

RTINGS.com also reviews monitors btw, and they test for input lag, response time, and motion blur. They regard gaming use as a very necessary thing to test for. Some hardcore online FPS gamers insist on 144Hz displays, which come in 1080p and 1440p. They can take a very powerful GPU to run though.

Lastly, the fast response, low lag "TN" type monitors used to all be 6 bit color depth, but there are 8 bit ones now. However I'm not really sure what the prices are.