In practice, hardly anyone actually bothers with an upgrade. It’s honestly a bit sad how often a new series ends up being virtually identical to the last, or maybe just 10% better—which makes the whole thing a total waste of money. If you look at all the different platforms available through the years, nobody is going to jump from a 750K to a 760K. Most people just ride their PC for a few years and then scrap the whole thing to buy something brand new. If you're actually looking for a meaningful upgrade path, you're much better off sticking with Intel—where you can, for example, move from an i3 straight up to an i5 or even an i7 right now.
You might run into a bit of a bottleneck—meaning your GPU won't be working at its full potential—in certain CPU-heavy titles like Battlefield 4 multiplayer, ARMA 3 multiplayer, or Far Cry 3. And let's face it, more demanding games are only going to hit the market moving forward. If you're looking for something stronger than a 270X, I’d suggest checking out a GTX 760. However, in my opinion, the R9 270 and 270X are absolute steals if you can find them at a decent price, say around $30 or $467. Everything else looks solid to me.
Also, there's no real need to go for a motherboard with four RAM slots if you're just planning on a single 8GB stick. You're definitely not going to need 32GB of RAM on a build like this anytime soon 😬. That said, if you do decide to grab a board with four slots, you might as well pick up this dual-channel kit since it's priced the same as a single 8GB module click
For $550, you can have everything right now if you want—8GB of RAM, an SSD, and a solid graphics card.
1 x Intel Core i5-3350P 3.1GHz (Max Turbo FQ 3.3 GHz) ,6MB 1 x MSI B75MA-E31, Socket : 1155, mATX, Intel B75, 2xDDR3 1066 1 x DDR3 8GB (1x8GB) Kingston, HyperX Blue, 1600MHz, CL10 1 x TOSHIBA 500GB, 7200rpm, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB, DT01ACA050 1 x Kingston SSD 120GB V300, 2.5" 7mm, SATA 3 6G, 7mm to 9.5mm 1 x XFX Core Edition 80+ 450W PSU - EasyRail technology 1 x Samsung SH-224DB sat Bulk Black, SATA 1 x Zalman Z1 mid tower case. 199(W)x432(H)x457(D)mm. MB standard 1 x Sapphire R9 270 2GB + Battlefield 4, OC Boost, 2GB GDDR5 256bit
$1827If you aren't interested in BF4 (by the way, you could always sell it), a 270X would fit just fine too, though there isn't a massive difference in performance.click
You could also lower the price by using one of Zalman's mATX T4 cases, but the Z1 fits everything and gives you an ATX case if you want to upgrade to an ATX platform later. Plus, the Z1 is better equipped—it has decent cable management and two 12cm fans.click With the SSD, you should install your OS and all your main programs, and maybe even one or two games you're currently playing (depending on how much space is left) just to ensure faster loading times.
Alternatively, you could hold off on the SSD if $550 feels too steep, or start with just 1x4GB of RAM and easily add another stick later. If you go that route, you could also opt for motherboards with four RAM slots, like the pro3 mATX or the pro3 ATX
If you aren't really into "high-end" titles and mostly play things like FIFA, PES, WoW, LoL, or World of Tanks, you could go with a cheaper graphics card instead.for example—those games would fly on this setup (though the high-end ones would run well too). Doing that would also drop the total price by quite a bit, maybe under $500 if you want to save more.
So yeah, there are a million different combinations...
What kind of CPU and power supply are you running? Honestly, I’m not sure if those two cards are even worth $1,200$433 at today's prices, considering how much cheaper the slightly weaker 260X is—or even looking at the marginally more expensive R9 270 or the 270X.
Amanda Miller81 said:The PC is mostly for home use... though for younger people running various programs, it’s vital that it doesn't lag and stays fast enough... payment depends on necessity, although the initial plan is to pay in installments...
That really depends on which programs we're talking about. Are we looking at heavy-duty professional software or just basic Office apps?
Take the build I put together above, for instance—it's a true all-rounder. It features a solid processor, plenty of RAM, and a reliable graphics card for gaming, all while staying at a great price point.
Generally speaking, paying upfront with cash is the better move; you usually save about 10%, and you can opt for cash on delivery.
William Hughes16 said:Benjamin King2? Timothy Kim60? crimsonstag84?
If you get the chance, grab one. $233 It’s a steal when they’re sitting on shelves at stores like Best Buy $300. They're essentially the exact same cards; brands like AMD, Sapphire, and others are just different partners that vary mainly in their cooling solutions.
Well, that's great if you've got it sorted out. Honestly, I have no clue what that even is. I've been sticking with Avast for ages and just run Malwarebytes once in a while for a quick scan, and everything works fine—I haven't bothered testing anything else. That said, if your graphics card is actually healthy and this turns out to be some weird software glitch, a clean install of Windows should clear all those issues right up. 😬
So, it works fine for him? If you can successfully record the drivers on his machine without a hitch, then the card itself is solid and the issue lies somewhere on your end.
And honestly, I don't see any reason why an antivirus would block graphics drivers; that would have to be some seriously buggy software.😬
Adam Williams2 said:In the end, I couldn't even get into Safe Mode. After rebooting a few times, Windows finally started working, so I followed all your steps, but as soon as I installed the drivers, it crashed again. It just freezes the image right after hitting the desktop. What's the move here? Is there any chance the card is too powerful or something? I have no idea. 😢 🙂
It definitely isn't "too powerful." Your old card was actually more demanding when it came to power supply requirements and stuff like that.
The best way to troubleshoot this would be to pop the card into a different PC to see if it runs normally there.
I think you'll need to hit F8 (he'll write back to you)
If you’re planning on using that PC to go online and grab that driver sweeper—then I’d definitely suggest booting into safe mode with networking.
Also, I forgot to mention: before you let driver sweeper do its thing, make sure you uninstall the drivers the old-fashioned way through the Control Panel (Add/Remove Programs). Once that's done, you can let driver sweeper clean up whatever leftovers are still hanging around.
It’s possible your old graphics drivers are causing a conflict. I'd recommend downloading Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU), running it, and making sure you check both the ATI/AMD display and the Nvidia display (just in case you had an Nvidia card on this specific Windows installation). Run the analysis, wipe everything it finds, and then try reinstalling the drivers—ideally grabbing the latest versions directly from the web.http://support.amd.com/en-us/download
Amy Vaughn12 and Fl@tron put together a solid build for you; that SSD is going to be a game-changer (make sure to install Windows and all your main programs directly onto it)
As for the case, you can browse through the options on your own—just ensure you pick one that doesn't come with a built-in power supply since you're buying yours separately, and double-check that it's actually in stock.
Don't be crazy. A dual 4870x setup pulls three times the power, lacks DX11 support—meaning modern games are basically dead on arrival—and it runs incredibly loud and hot. Plus, those cards are old enough to be ready for retirement (honestly, most people have already retired them by now), and you’d need a beast of a power supply just to handle it. Anyway, what CPU and PSU are you running?
Regarding the difference between 1GB and 2GB, you won't even notice it at 1920x1080 resolution in current titles. Take the AMD Radeon HD 7790, for example—it's practically the same card since the AMD Radeon R7 260X is essentially just a rebranded HD 7790.
As you can see, the results are identical; the maximum deviation is only 1.5 fps. BTW, the AMD Radeon R7 260X will still have Mantle support (an alternative to DX11) and features Dolby Audio, which provides better sound in certain upcoming games.