MSI Main board desktop AMD A68H AMD CPU Kaveri Athlon x4 840 (3.1GHz,4MB,65W,FM2+) box Toshiba P300 1TB, 64MB, 7200rpm MS ARMOR case without power supply Fortron power supply Hexa plus 400 w Kingston DDR3 HyperX Fury Kingston DDR3 HyperX Fury, 1866MHz, 8GB Black HX318C10FB/8 Inno3D GeForce GTX950 2GB, INO-N950-1DDV-E5CMX
It’s a decent mid-range option—okay quality, I guess, but nothing to write home about.
An EVGA Series might be a better way to go; it doesn't have a ton of extra connectors, but it offers plenty of power and feels a bit more solid than Intel. My only real gripe is the warranty, since it's only for two years.
I wouldn't go for it... the motherboard is subpar, the CPU isn't worth the price, the GPU is both overpriced and weak, and that power supply looks pretty low-quality to me.
Well, you'd need at least an R9 280X($650), though I'm not entirely sure if a jump to 1440p actually offers much of a meaningful upgrade (maybe 60-80%?). Honestly, I'd probably lean toward trying for an RX 580 instead, but then you'd likely need to grab a beefier power supply too.
Ryan Hayes82 said:I feel like the 970 is the more complete card. Even if the 390 pulls higher FPS, you probably wouldn't notice since they're in the same tier anyway. Plus, the 970 is way better when it comes to power draw and noise levels and it has some nice features.
It's significantly better in that regard, and average power consumption during actual gaming is pretty close to what you see in Furmark—which is where those power stats usually come from, I guess.
A 24" IPS should be totally fine—that Samsung is solid, though you might find some comparable Acer or LGa models in that same bracket up to $433. It really comes down to how far he sits from the screen; if he’s more than 3 feet away, he definitely needs a 24". If he’s sitting just about half a meter out, maybe a 22" would work.
Skylake isn't exactly a massive leap in speed, maybe just a tiny 5-7% bump as usual. For gaming, it's probably more like 0-5%. But you get all those modern perks like SATA-Express and USB 3.1, so why not? Motherboards and DDR4 RAM cost a little more than the 1150 setup, but the processor is only $83 more.
I probably wouldn't go with an FX, but if the budget allows, I’d definitely lean toward the 1151 platform. As for the GPU, the R9 390 has been outperforming the GTX 970 lately, and you won't have to worry about VRAM issues. Then again, if they're really interested in some of the specific software Nvidia offers, sticking with the GTX 970 might make sense.
MSI Main board desktop B150_PRO-DH Intel Core i5-6500 INTEL Core i5-6500 2x Crucial RAM 4GB DDR4 2133 MT/s (PC4-17000) CL15 Patriot SSD Blaze R545/W430, 120GB, 7mm, 2.5" PB120GS25SSDR Zalman mid tower case black, ZAL-R1 ZAL-R1 GIGABYTE video card AMD Radeon R9 390 gaming GDDR5 8GB/512bit SEAGATE HDD desktop Barracud 7200 ST1000DM003 super Flower FX 550 w - 80 plus Bronze Power supply super Flower FX 550W - 80 Plus Bronze power supply
Oof, even a GTX 950 wouldn't handle that; it pulls power like a lighter. If you're looking for the absolute cheapest way out, maybe go with the Fortron Hexa + 400 w. Beyond that, you've got:
Hexa + 500 w Fortron Hyper 500 w LC Power Silent Giant GP3 560 w
Maybe it's just because CoH2 is such a specific kind of game, but the difference feels huge there. Honestly, I thought the performance would be closer than this benchmark suggests... it looks like Nvidia might have been a bit lazy with the drivers for the older series.