New PC build for my kid

Hello,
Right now, the kid is running an AMD Athlon X4 640 with DDR2 6GB, an SSD, and a Gainward GT 740 Golden Sample. It’s all ancient hardware. I’ve swapped the CPU, upgraded the GPU, added more RAM, and tossed in an SSD, but we’ve hit a dead end.
Now he’s scraped together some cash and wants a new graphics card, but I’m telling him the priority should be this setup first:

1 x ASRock H110M-DGS, LGA 1151, Kaby Lake Ready
1 x Intel Pentium G4560 (3.5GHz, 3MB, LGA 1151, HT) Kaby Lake, box
1 x DDR4 Crucial 8GB DDR4 2400 MT/s CL17
1 x Fortron Hexa + 400W, 80+

Total: $594

After that, we can revisit the GPU situation down the road. In my view, this is a solid budget configuration for the time being that leaves room for future upgrades.

I'm open to suggestions.🙂

If you're mostly worried about gaming performance, maybe prioritize the GPU and PSU first. An AMD Radeon RX 470 should fit fine, along with this Hexa-core setup. I guess the Athlon won't fully max out the GPU, but it'll be a massive jump from the 740, and having 6GB of RAM is plenty.

Maybe down the road something more interesting like a 4-core Ryzen will pop up.

Either way, I don't think you can really go wrong with any of these options.

At the end of the day, performance and FPS are all that matter. The only issue here is that the motherboard is ancient and stuck on DDR2. I’ve been thinking about switching over to an Intel architecture, even if it's just a Pentium. I actually have a motherboard sitting at home with DDR3 and a Core 2 Duo or Pentium, but I can't remember which 775 socket it uses. Maybe I should look into upgrading that instead?

Don't mess around with old sockets unless you are absolutely certain about the condition of the components and how long they'll actually last. The best CPU on the 775 platform is the Intel Core 2 Quad Extreme, though finding one cheap might be a challenge—if you can even find one at all. Aside from that, you could look at a Q8300 or something from the Q9xxx series. I once ran a similar setup, and it died on me within a year; I suspect both the processor and the motherboard just hit their limit. It’s better to scrape something together that's modern. Even if you just pick up an Intel Pentium G4560 and an AMD Radeon RX 460, the performance jump will be night and day compared to those older systems.
My suggestion? Wait for the R3 and R5 releases. As far as processors go, I'd personally wait until June or July. I believe waiting will ultimately pay off.

The AMD Radeon HD 6870 is a card you can find for $100 and it absolutely crushes a GT 740GS

http://www.gpuzoo.com/Compare/AMD_Ra...26018336-3279/

I just wanted to show that the AMD Radeon HD 6870 is actually very close to an AMD Radeon RX 460, looking at 300 vs $333$

http://www.gpuzoo.com/Compare/AMD_Ra...hire_11257-00/

I have a similar rig—a Phenom 965 with DDR2 6GB and an AMD Radeon HD 6870—and you can still game quite solidly on medium or low settings...

Games load entirely into the RAM, and once they're there, it doesn't matter much if it's slow or fast, whether it's DDR2 800 or DDR3 1333... obviously, DDR4 is a different beast altogether

If you need a better GPU immediately, an investment of about $100 will make that machine fly... or just pick up an AMD Radeon RX 460 or an AMD Radeon RX 470

Here is the performance gap between your CPU and mine

http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/655...125W__BE).html

I even ran some games on an Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 at 3GHz with 5GB of RAM and an AMD Radeon HD 7770 at 1280x1024 on an old 19-inch 4:3 monitor, and it actually performed pretty well...

http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/337...Duo_E8400.html

That one really pulled ahead.....In single-threaded applications, the Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 has 47% better performance.

It's fine on an Intel Pentium G4560, but that setup really needs at least an AMD Radeon RX 470, which is a lot of money to drop all at once... and if you're just running it on that old GT 740GS you already have, you haven't really gained anything

I don't have the patience to sit around waiting. If the frame rate takes even a minor dip, the experience is ruined.
I’ll likely just go with this Intel Pentium G4560 for now. If things start lagging, I can easily swap in an i5 down the road if the price stays reasonable. 👍
That’s the strategy.
I just hope the kid is happy with it. I haven't really spent much time gaming myself, so I honestly have no idea how frustrating a bad experience can be.

So what exactly makes the GPU the weakest link here? It looks pretty decent to me, though I’m no expert 🙂
. If I just swap out the graphics card, it ends up being the more cost-effective move. My only concern is that if I'm upgrading the GPU, I probably need a new power supply too. When I tried to overclock my Athlon, the whole thing struggled because the power delivery just wasn't there.
Alright, change of plans. I'm sticking with the old setup and just going with an AMD Radeon RX 460 or an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050.
Is this Fortron Hexa + unit any good?
Which way is the better play?

@Bryan Taylor6

Back at it again with those component comparison sites, I see. 🤦

The AMD Radeon RX 460 actually beats out the AMD Radeon HD 6870 since it performs closer to an HD 7870.

@David Lopez16

I guess you'll see a bigger jump in performance if you upgrade the GPU before the CPU.

https://www.newegg.com/msi-video-card...dmi-dvi-d.aspx

EDIT: A Fortron Hexa + 400W should be a decent choice for a PSU... the AMD Radeon RX 460 only pulls about 80W max anyway.

The AMD Radeon RX 460 only pulls about 70W. Honestly, even my old card didn't draw more than that...

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 is a much better card, especially if you can track down an overclocked version...

http://www.gpuzoo.com/Compare/Sapphi...orce_GTX_1050/

Power draw is basically the same at 75W.

http://fsp-europe.com/hexa-400500w/

It should be just fine...

Much appreciated👍

If we're talking about a ~15% improvement, that's a huge win 😬

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050:

https://www.amazon.com/msi-video-card-geforce-gtx-1050/dp/B01MS9S6G0

I’m with you, crimsonstag84... that RX 460 is going to crush it in 3DMark.

http://hwbench.com/vgas/radeon-rx-460-vs-radeon-hd-6870

The GTX has a slight edge on DirectX 11, but once you switch over to DirectX 12, the RX 460 pulls way ahead... am I missing something here? Hope not...

http://hwbench.com/vgas/geforce-gtx-...-radeon-rx-460

Honestly, I’d just grab the AMD Radeon RX 470 and a decent PSU right away; that’ll run you about $600. Then maybe in a few months (or a year 😬) you can upgrade the whole platform. You’ll still have a solid GPU that’s probably a bit more future-proof than an RX 460 or a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050.

If you’ve got some old LGA 775 socket setup gathering dust somewhere with a decent motherboard, you might want to check out this thread:

http://forum.pcekspert.com/showthread.php?t=255611

Just toss in a cheap Intel Xeon you pick up from one of those overseas sellers on Amazon and you'll get pretty decent performance. I'm not saying you should blow your budget on it, but it's a fun little project if you just want a secondary PC.

I’ve looked over the options, but I don't see much point in picking up another secondary PC right now.
My main focus is building this specifically for gaming, so the real question is where to start without bleeding cash immediately.
For the time being, I'm leaning toward sticking with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050, while my old rig will likely just be retired—it might even still be under warranty,
so that's something. As for the power supply, if that turns out to be a dud, I'll just drop another $500 on an Intel Pentium G4560 and a motherboard, and let the kid play on that instead.😁

Hey there,

I'm looking for some component recommendations with a budget of $1000.
At that price point, I can snag an i5 6600k for $533, which leaves me just enough leftover cash to cover the motherboard, power supply, RAM, and a cooler

A used 6600K? If you're aiming for a Z170 / Z270 motherboard, I guess you might run out of budget for the RAM or the power supply.

crimsonstag84 said:A used 6600K? If you're aiming for a Z170 / Z270 motherboard, I guess you might run out of budget for the RAM or the power supply.

You can find brand new processors at that exact price point on Amazon.

Don't fall for "new" listings on Craigslist; you're just asking to get scammed.

Eric Alvarez said:Don't fall for "new" listings on Craigslist; you're just asking to get scammed.

It doesn't have to be that extreme... I just mean you shouldn't wire any money upfront before they ship the package. It's much better to do a face-to-face meetup so you can actually test the parts and make sure everything is running smoothly—plus, you should always ask about a guarantee.

EDIT: Was that what you were getting at, fadedeagle5? http://www.craigslist.com/cs/pc-computers/listing-21790906?

I mean this one: http://www.craigslist.com/cs/processors/listing-21796285

Larry Ortiz5 said:It doesn't have to be that extreme... I just mean you shouldn't wire any money upfront before they ship the package. It's much better to do a face-to-face meetup so you can actually test the parts and make sure everything is running smoothly—plus, you should always ask about a guarantee.

EDIT: Was that what you were getting at, fadedeagle5? http://www.craigslist.com/cs/pc-computers/listing-21790906?

I mean this one: http://www.craigslist.com/cs/processors/listing-21796285

Yeah, exactly—it looks like there are a few other listings floating around with similar pricing
http://www.craigslist.org/cs/processors/21920419

I'm looking specifically at ones that include a warranty.