New to PC gaming

[caliban7]

Hi!
I just recently acquired an AMD A8-5500 with a built in Radeon 7560 graphics card, and while for the time being I am using it for basic operations I am looking to eventually get into PC gaming. I was wondering how powerful my system is on a gaming level and how much farther it would need to go to become a decent (not super serious or badass) gaming computer. I'm a little short on cash, so expensive solutions won't work for me, but any inputs would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for your time!
p.s. I'm a serious console player and am just barely getting into PC gaming, so eventually I'm going to try to build something that can outperform my XBOX 360 (just not right now)

 

[simon12]

At the moment its an entry level gaming PC, a Radeon 6670 set to hybrid crossfire is a good upgrade or a Radeon 7770 is even better anything much above that and you would want a new CPU and motherboard.

 

[caliban7]

Thanks for the advice, seeing as this is a fairly new computer I'm probably gonna wait before doing a motherboard/cpu overhaul but a graphics card crossfire will probably work for now. I was wondering how well games like Skyrim or BF3 would play if I did install a second graphics card like the 7770, or if it would be better to just play it on my XBOX instead.

 

[simon12]

a 7770 will play the games much better than an Xbox. I would think it will play them better without but not that noticeably.

 

[caliban7]

Awesome, thanks for the advice! I'll start researching the 7770, but I was wondering: does the crossfire work on any combination of video cards (within the computer's limits) or can it only work between similar cards (same strength/manufacturer/series etc)? And how can I figure out which cards my computer can handle, is there a website that shows which cards are compatible with my motherboard/cpu?

 

[simon12]

I can't find any good info on which graphics cards can be used in hybrid crossfir with the new A8 chips. This from AMD recommends a Radeon 6570 http://www.amd.com/us/products/technologies/dual-graphics/Pages/dual-graphics.aspx#3 which I would avoid as is not much cheaper than the 6670 which I think will work. I don't think and GPU above a 6670 will work with it so I suggest you just get the 7770 and forget hybrid crossfire.

 

[ikica1996]

Hi!
I just recently acquired an AMD A8-5500 with a built in Radeon 7560 graphics card, and while for the time being I am using it for basic operations I am looking to eventually get into PC gaming. I was wondering how powerful my system is on a gaming level and how much farther it would need to go to become a decent (not super serious or badass) gaming computer. I'm a little short on cash, so expensive solutions won't work for me, but any inputs would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for your time!
p.s. I'm a serious console player and am just barely getting into PC gaming, so eventually I'm going to try to build something that can outperform my XBOX 360 (just not right now)

not bad not bad youl run games just fine with that rig

 

[caliban7]

Awesome, thanks for all the help I really appreciate it!