I’ve got my doubts about those Radeon RX 280 cards listed on Craigslist. I’ve scrolled through their ads a dozen times now, and they just won't sell 🤷.
If that's the case, there's a high probability they were used for heavy crypto mining the entire time.
1 x Intel Core i5-4460 3.5GHz,14MB,95W,LGA1150 1 x Gigabyte 970A-DS3P, AM3+, AMD 970 SB950, 4x DDR3 2000(O.C.)/1866 1 x DDR3 8GB (1x8GB) Crucial, 1600MHz CL11 1 x Seagate Barracuda 1TB, Serial ATA III, 7200 rpm, ST1000DM003 1 x Fortron 500W, Hyper, PPA5005003, 12cm fan 1 x Zalman Z3 mid tower case. 192(W)x465(H)x430(D)mm. Standard ATX 1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 760, Dual Fan Edition 1 x Spire Kepler Rev.2 cooler, 1156/775/FM1, 96.5×51×125 mm, 92mm 1 x Samsung DVD Writer, DVD±RW, 24x DVD±R, 8x DL, 40x CD-R
Look, if you don't mind stretching your budget a bit further, you could go with an AMD FX-6300 build instead, or just opt for a more powerful graphics card—which is where you'll see the biggest impact in gaming, assuming that's your main priority.
1 x AMD Athlon II x4 860 3.70GHz 4cores, cache: 4MB 1 x GIGABYTE GA-F2A88XM-DS2, mATX, AMD A88X, DDR3, audio, G-LAN, SATA 1 x DDR3 4GB (1x4GB) Crucial, 1600MHz CL11 1 x Intel SSD 120GB, 2.5", SATA III-600, R/W:550/520MB/s 1 x Sapphire R7 265, 2GB GDDR5 256bit, 28nm 1 x MS GRIFFIN case without PSU, Midi tower MBO: ATX 1 x NVIDIA Kepler Rev.2 cooler, 1156/775/FM1, 96.5×51×125 mm, 92mm 1 x Fortron 400W power supply, HEXA 400, 12cm fan, Active PFC
$1158
If you want maximum gaming performance right out of the gate, stick with the list above and see how far it takes you (you might want to add another 4GB of RAM later). However, if you're planning on upgrading to much beefier graphics cards down the road, then go with the FX-6300 configuration.
Sandra Foster6 said:Just wondering why you'd pick the Sapphire R7 260x over the 2GB version... and what's the deal with those motherboard suggestions versus the one I had in mind? I'm fine with the CPU and everything else, just need to clear this up before I pull the trigger. Thanks 🙂
Look, you're basically tweaking the build just to squeeze in an Intel SSD, and honestly, you aren't losing anything significant in the process. In fact, you're actually walking away with a better CPU compared to the 740.
1 x Intel SSD 120GB, 2.5", SATA III-600, R/W:550/520MB/s 1 x AMD Athlon II x4 860 3.70GHz 4cores,cache : 4MB 1 x GIGABYTE GA-F2A88XM-DS2, mATX, AMD A88X, DDR3, audio, G-LAN, SATA 1 x DDR3 4GB (1x4GB) Crucial, 1600MHz CL11 1 x Sapphire R7 260x 1GB GDDR5 OC, 1GB GDDR5 128bit, 28nm 1 x Fortron 500W, Hyper-Threading, PPA5005003, 12cm fan 1 x NVIDIA Kepler Rev.2 cooler, 1156/775/FM1, 96.5×51×125 mm, 92mm 1 x MS GRIFFIN case without PSU, Midi tower MBO: ATX
$1089 adm
The SSD and power supply come with a 5-year warranty
You could go slightly cheaper on the PSU, motherboard, and SSD (for example, grab a Patriot Blaze 120GB at a local Best Buy) In my opinion, a 64GB SSD isn't worth the investment
Just toss in another 4GB of RAM later on and you're good to go
You might want to look into a better cooler. A "standard" graphics card with dual fans would be a much smarter move—you’ll likely get lower temperatures and a quieter experience if you check out some reviews. The one you're looking at is really designed specifically for ITX builds rather than general use.
1. Sure, provided the graphics card is a decent model.
2. An EVGA 500W works; I could go with something cheaper, but it’s honestly not worth the hassle since they're only a few bucks less and usually lower quality anyway.
Dragon Age: Inquisition just isn't going to run (at all) on a dual-core setup—it looks like even three cores won't cut it. Users are going to run into constant lag and massive frame drops. This is becoming the new norm with modern titles. For a while now, developers have been targeting quad-core processors as the baseline, so honestly, there shouldn't be much of a surprise here.
It could be the power supply. A Chieftec unit isn't exactly built to handle a 280x; I can only imagine what kind of wattage we were dealing with back then when it was just 400W...
Is the GPU new or used? Based on the reviews, those temps are running a bit high—not quite in the danger zone yet, but still. You think it might have been used for crypto mining?
Regardless of what's causing this specific issue, that CPU is definitely going to bottleneck a 280x, and 2 GB of RAM is way too little for any modern gaming.
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti actually succeeds the HD7850, and it’s even a bit more powerful—clocking in at about an 8% lead on average R9 270 is essentially the same as the HD7870
urbantiger53 said:I'd say the temperatures look fine... I don't think that would be the issue here.
It’s pretty obvious—your system is crashing because of overheating. You're much less likely to see those kinds of crashes while idling since the GPU isn't being pushed at all, unlike when you're actually running games.
urbantiger53 said:Honestly, I’m struggling here—where am I even supposed to look for this?
I already gave you a list of three programs to use in my previous post.
The graphics card would handle it just fine, though you won't be hitting maximum performance levels (which honestly varies from game to game depending on the title)
The AM3+ socket has these integrated graphics included - but don't expect to actually game on them; they're barely enough to boot Windows or maybe play some retro titles from the 90s.
By the way, regarding the Intel Core i3 - it is a truly fantastic CPU for single-player gaming, especially if you overclock it. According to all tests, it outperforms the 750K, 760K, and 860K models (though keep in mind these tests weren't conducted during multiplayer sessions). It is likely the best budget CPU released so far, BUT I avoid recommending it whenever possible simply because it is still just a dual-core. Apparently, the new Dragon Age: Inquisition won't run on dual-core processors (and the developers have explicitly stated they won't support them). Most modern AAA titles require at least a quad-core to avoid lag, and it was only a matter of time before we saw the first game that refuses to run on dual-cores entirely. It's just the natural progression of technology; it was expected. On the flip side, these dual-cores with Hyper-Threading might actually pull through—much like seeing an i5 in a laptop or an i3 in a desktop—because Windows sees them as having 4 logical cores (4 threads). Furthermore, newer titles like Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor utilize Hyper-Threading very effectively, which essentially "saves" an i3.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare scaled incredibly well on our hexa-core. In order to find out whether this title can be played with constant 60fps on a variety of PC systems, we simulated a dual-core, a tri-core and a quad-core system. All of the aforementioned systems were able to push constant 60fps. However, we do have to note that on our simulated dual-core system there was noticeable stuttering issues that went away as soon as we enabled Hyper-Threading. Owners of really Old dual-core CPUs may be able to overcome those stuttering issues by overclocking their CPUs.
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is a open-world game, meaning that it should normally be a CPU-bound title. Well, it appears that Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is the exception to that rule. Even though Monolith Productions’ game scales well on six cores, it runs amazingly well even on dual-cores (with HT enabled). We did notice some minor drops to 45fps in some scenes with our simulated dual-core system but for the most part, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor ran with constant 60fps. A quad-core, on the other hand, was behaving exactly the same with our hexa-core (it didn’t matter whether HT was enabled or not). Ironically enough, Monolith suggests an i7 3770; a far better CPU than our simulated one. So rest assured i3 owners, you will be able to run Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor without issues unless you are GPU limited.
While it looks like a Pentium can handle Far Cry 4, we really need to see if it actually performs better than an Athlon—it’s entirely possible it won't. Besides, other videos show people running it on weaker dual-core CPUs, though it's likely a stuttery mess and they might run into the occasional BSOD.
