[SOLVED] What can I upgrade my AMD FX4300 and R7 200 series to for gaming?

albertopierluissi

Commendable
Jan 18, 2018
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What can I upgrade my AMD FX4300 and R7 240 series to for gaming?

I have a desktop and I've got the ga-78lmt-s2 mb, and a ss-620w the 80+ bronze psu. My budget im trying to keep less than $400 but i'm not sure what all I'd need to upgrade. hit me with what you got! Thanks in advance!
 
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kanewolf

Titan
Moderator
What can I upgrade my AMD FX4300 and R7 200 series to for gaming?

I have a desktop and I've got the ga-78lmt-s2 mb, and a ss-620w the 80+ bronze psu. My budget im trying to keep less than $400 but i'm not sure what all I'd need to upgrade. hit me with what you got! Thanks in advance!
Don't spend money on upgrading that motherboard. You need to replace the CPU/motherboard/RAM as a combo to get a beneficial improvement.
 
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What can I upgrade my AMD FX4300 and R7 200 series to for gaming?

I have a desktop and I've got the ga-78lmt-s2 mb, and a ss-620w the 80+ bronze psu. My budget im trying to keep less than $400 but i'm not sure what all I'd need to upgrade. hit me with what you got! Thanks in advance!
And don't forget the GPU... Suggest 3400G to slip under your budget. It's got a pretty good iGPU, certainly better than what you have.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/pqF7zY

That will get you a good start in AM4 and well under your budget. You could go with some faster memory if you want, but improving on the 3400G in a meaningful way means moving up to a CPU and discrete GPU combo that will blow through your budget pretty quick. Keeping it small right now will let you upgrade sooner to get into power gaming.
 

DSzymborski

Titan
Moderator
The best course of action also depends on what your GPU is. R7 200 is just the name for a whole series of GPUs and there's a very large difference in performance from an R7 240/250 to an R7 260x. This is pretty important; for example, the integrated graphics on a Ryzen APU are much more powerful than an R7 250 but less powerful than a 260x.
 

albertopierluissi

Commendable
Jan 18, 2018
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The best course of action also depends on what your GPU is. R7 200 is just the name for a whole series of GPUs and there's a very large difference in performance from an R7 240/250 to an R7 260x. This is pretty important; for example, the integrated graphics on a Ryzen APU are much more powerful than an R7 250 but less powerful than a 260x.

You're right. Its a 240. I completely blanked on that lol
 

InvalidError

Titan
Moderator
This is pretty important; for example, the integrated graphics on a Ryzen APU are much more powerful than an R7 250 but less powerful than a 260x.
My main problem with buying an APU when you already have a GPU you can carry over and were already contemplating an GPU upgrade is that once you do go back from IGP to GPU, you now have a likely under-powered CPU for the GPU you now have and may need to upgrade CPU again.

Personally, I don't mind downgrading graphics by almost any amount necessary to get performance I deem playable when none of the GPUs currently available deliver the bang-per-buck I want, so I would only consider buying an APU as an in-between if I have no plan to upgrade the GPU in the foreseeable future.
 
Why buy an APU when his budget is $400

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD Ryzen 3 3200G 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor | $94.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard | Gigabyte B450M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard | $72.99 @ B&H
Memory | Team T-FORCE VULCAN Z 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory | $67.99 @ Newegg
Video Card | Gigabyte Radeon RX 570 4 GB GAMING Video Card | $114.99 @ Newegg
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | $350.96
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-29 19:06 EDT-0400 |

Could buy this and keep everything else in your system.

I'd suggest to wait for the 1600af to be back at $85 but if not the 3200g can work.
 
Why buy an APU when his budget is $400

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD Ryzen 3 3200G 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor | $94.99 @ Amazon
....
Why buy an APU...and then advise him to buy an even less capable APU? Just to change out one 4-core/4 thread clunker for another?

crazy schemes...simplest is just buy that RX 570 and overclock the FX 4300 to 4.5Gig. Sure, the FX will throttle it some...but the gaming experience (which is what this is all about) won't be that much different. Money saved is a nice nest egg to add to for getting a real processor/motherboard/memory.

I like upgrade strategies that have a next step, not upgrade dead-ends.
 
My main problem with buying an APU when you already have a GPU you can carry over and were already contemplating an GPU upgrade is that once you do go back from IGP to GPU, you now have a likely under-powered CPU for the GPU you now have and may need to upgrade CPU again.

Personally, I don't mind downgrading graphics by almost any amount necessary to get performance I deem playable when none of the GPUs currently available deliver the bang-per-buck I want, so I would only consider buying an APU as an in-between if I have no plan to upgrade the GPU in the foreseeable future.
Although, my idea was to get him into a platform where the next step was a GPU upgrade and 4 cores/8 threads is a lot better than 4/4 when moving up to a discrete GPU.

But I agree, if the idea is to get him better gaming action then probably a better choice is just pop in as much GPU as he's willing to shell out for...up to all $400 even. It will be bottlenecked, but overclocked that FX4300 is still going to push it to give him a lot better gaming action than he's getting now, which is what this step is about. Then, when he puts together the money for the next step (real processor/motherboard/memory) he's got ANOTHER upgrade to his gaming experience coming because the GPU was well-bought.

Whatever you say, though: if you try to put together a $400 gaming machine, clearly it's going to be compromised. So you really need to think of the next step, not just the first.
 
Why buy an APU...and then advise him to buy an even less capable APU? Just to change out one 4-core/4 thread clunker for another?

crazy schemes...simplest is just buy that RX 570 and overclock the FX 4300 to 4.5Gig. Sure, the FX will throttle it some...but the gaming experience (which is what this is all about) won't be that much different. Money saved is a nice nest egg to add to for getting a real processor/motherboard/memory.

I like upgrade strategies that have a next step, not upgrade dead-ends.
Huh.

No, a 3200g is not "less capable" than an FX4300. The 3200g will absolutely embarrass an FX4300.

Here is a 2200g beating an 8350 by a large margin.
Https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVUj0CvdbKQ

Even a Ryzen 3 1200 will destroy an FX8350
I suggested to get the Ryzen 5 1600af, however if its not available a 3200g is still very capable in comparison to any FX.
I like upgrade strategies that have a next step, not upgrade dead-ends.
Since when was AM4 an upgrade dead end? I suggested an entry-level B450. You could upgrade to a Ryzen 5 3600 easily when he needs more CPU performance.

You want to talk about bad upgrade path just stay on AM3+.
 
Huh.

No, a 3200g is not "less capable" than an FX4300. The 3200g will absolutely embarrass an FX4300.
...
I'm not going to debate the relative merits like a teenager...you missed the point. Same as a 4300, a 3200 is a 4 core/4thread part that's a terrible basis to try and build upon.

The idea isn't to build on the am3 platform...it's to give him something that improves gaming while he saves for a real upgrade to motherboard/cpu/memory.

have a good day.
 

Karadjgne

Titan
Ambassador
There's some assumptions being made. Psu. Can it even handle an upgraded gpu. Cooling, could it handle OC on that 4300...

The APU is a bandaid. It's a stop-gap just to get into the platform. Not a great choice for discrete gpu usage, but it is a first step.

A stronger gpu now won't do much more than improve detail levels. The old 4c FX is a serious hamper to fps limits, and depending on the op's gaming, could very easily be limiting even the rx240 fps output.

There's no easy, one thing fix, only babysteps and with a budget of $400 choices must be made on what's doable now, or risk loss of pc function entirely. OP needs a new platform. No ifs or ands or butts.

The question is $. And just how far it can be stretched. I'd not be above scouring ebay or Craigslist or other such for a used cpu or gpu or even ram.

There are options, it's a matter of how much OP is willing to invest in time and money and effort.

My i7-3770K, nzxt Kraken X61, fractal design R5 Window, Evga G2 550w, 16Gb Patriot 1866MHz, Asus gtx970, Samsung 840Pro 128Gb etc cost $600 almost 7 years ago, and $300 was just on the psu/gpu new. Everything else came to $300 from eBay. A $1600 new build for $600....

Shop around.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/124160712743

Leaves $100 ish for a mobo, plenty doable. That's not bad for ram, a gtx1060 and a R5 1600. No further need of upgrade.
 
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InvalidError

Titan
Moderator
in your opinion what would be a decent gpu to go with this?
Depending on resolution, minimum target frame rate in your most demanding games and details you want to play at, anything from RX5500/GTX1650S to Titan RTX. None of these will fit in your $400 budget so if you go with the 1600AF/2600 option, you will have to continue using the R240 until you have $150+ to spare for a GPU.
 

86zx

Upstanding
Nov 1, 2019
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Personally I would get a decent b450 board like a msi tomahawk and look for a used cpu on eBay maybe a ryzen 5 1400 which are fairly cheap and comparable to a i7 6700 and get 16gb if atleast 3000mhz ddr4 keep the gpu for now maybe overclock it as far as it will go the cooler you have for the fx4300 should work if it doesn’t not to big of a deal can get a am4 cooler for fairly cheap that should come out to around 200$ and you will have a good upgrade path for the future.