opinions for my new possible system

[alexd2104]

looking to upgrade my pc, could just do with some opinions the set up i'm thinking off:

what i had in mind is:
amd fx 6300
Sapphire Radeon R7 250 2GB
Asus M5A97 LE R2.0 Motherboard

and my current psu is a atx 500w

any problems with it or alternatives i could use just let me know i guess

 

[sadams04]

The FX 6300 on a 970 chipset board is a very nice setup (...and you have a good motherboard listed). Don't forget a CPU cooler if you go that route. It will need an overclock to keep up with a comparable non-overclocked Intel build.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($89.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($33.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($85.79 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R7 250 1GB Eyefinity Edition Video Card ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $309.76

By comparison, an Intel build can get you into a larger GPU... The CPUs will go head-to-head in most cases between these two builds.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4150 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor ($97.27 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($67.98 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 270X 2GB DirectCU II Video Card ($139.80 @ Newegg)
Total: $305.05

 

[alexd2104]

The FX 6300 on a 970 chipset board is a very nice setup (...and you have a good motherboard listed). Don't forget a CPU cooler if you go that route. It will need an overclock to keep up with a comparable non-overclocked Intel build.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($89.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($33.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($85.79 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R7 250 1GB Eyefinity Edition Video Card ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $309.76

By comparison, an Intel build can get you into a larger GPU... The CPUs will go head-to-head in most cases between these two builds.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4150 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor ($97.27 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($67.98 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 270X 2GB DirectCU II Video Card ($139.80 @ Newegg)
Total: $305.05

ah thanks i'll keep that other option in mind but i might stick with 6300 route because i work a lot with Photoshop and such i know more cores sort of helps in those sort of cases.

And if you don't mind could you say if any of these motherboards are decent at all, they were just a bit cheaper than the one i listed first; Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 Motherboard and the Gigabyte SKT-AM3+ 78LMT-S2P Rev 5.1,

And would it be essential to replace the stock cooler straight away or could i just leave that for a bit? thanks

 

[sadams04]

And if you don't mind could you say if any of these motherboards are decent at all, they were just a bit cheaper than the one i listed first; Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 Motherboard and the Gigabyte SKT-AM3+ 78LMT-S2P Rev 5.1,

And would it be essential to replace the stock cooler straight away or could i just leave that for a bit? thanks

Those boards have a 780 chipset. They would be ok (with a BIOS update), however the 970 chipset is a much better way to go. If you want other options, check out the ASRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0, Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3P, Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P, or MSI 970A-G43.

You don't have to replace the stock cooler now, but you will likely have to pull the motherboard out to install one later (depending on if your case has a cut-out on the back), and the noise can be a bit much with the AMD stock coolers. Best to just do it now.