Holiday 2014 Buyer's Guide - Full Component List

[79wjd]

hey guys, I have the FX-6300 and R9 270X OC version, I'm planning to switch to GTX 970. I wonder if the processor won't bottleneck my GPU. Linus paired FX-6300 with GTX970, is it a good match? Thx in advance

it depends what games you'll be playing. Would I go out and buy an fx6300 to pair with a gtx970? No, but for most games an fx6300 will be able to keep up with a 970.

[cwancyk]

it depends what games you'll be playing. Would I go out and buy an fx6300 to pair with a gtx970? No, but for most games an fx6300 will be able to keep up with a 970.

 

World of Tanks, Battlefield 4, CS GO, Shadows of Mordor, Witcher 2 (and 3 when it's launched) etc

[cwancyk]

I don't know what to upgrade first, I have a tight budget, just enough for a GTX 970 or a MSI Z97 Mobo with i5 4690K, either the CPU or GPU. What would be best for me? thx for all Your help

[EricX2]

I don't know what to upgrade first, I have a tight budget, just enough for a GTX 970 or a MSI Z97 Mobo with i5 4690K, either the CPU or GPU. What would be best for me? thx for all Your help

Well, do you HAVE to purchase something now or can you save more?

[cwancyk]

no I don't, I can wait, what's Your point?

[79wjd]

I don't know what to upgrade first, I have a tight budget, just enough for a GTX 970 or a MSI Z97 Mobo with i5 4690K, either the CPU or GPU. What would be best for me? thx for all Your help

Get the 970 and stick with the fx6300 for now. It's still a very capable cpu in any multi threaded game. I wouldn't go and buy an fx6300 now since there are better choices, but for non 144hz gaming it's still fine.

[cwancyk]

thx, guys, so now to choose which 970, decisions, decisions

[john 117]

thx, guys, so now to choose which 970, decisions, decisions

Go for Msi as I am going to do.All these guys helped me out like you came here for what I seek.But its still your decision.I remember a guy posted a link showing comparison of msi asus evga in this guide.Check it out.Game on!

[john 117]

thx, guys, so now to choose which 970, decisions, decisions

djdwosk97 this guy game this link which helped a lot

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2014/09/19/nvidia-geforce-gtx-970-review/11

[79wjd]

Go for Msi as I am going to do.All these guys helped me out like you came here for what I seek.But its still your decision.I remember a guy posted a link showing comparison of msi asus evga in this guide.Check it out.Game on!

the gigabyte g1 gaming is still the best 970, but the rest are all quite good.

[Emceeschw3pp3]

 

"Game On" ~$1700 System (Luxurious & more "futureproof")

 

CPU: Intel Core i5 4690K - NCIX, Amazon

Cooling: Cooler Master Nepton 280L - NCIX, Amazon

SSD: Intel 730 Series 480GB - NCIX, Amazon

Hard Drive: WD Green 6TB - NCIX, Amazon

Motherboard: ASUS Z87-A - NCIX, Amazon

Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro - NCIX, Amazon

Video Card: Dual GTX 970 SLI - NCIX, Amazon

RAM: HyperX Fury Black 16GB - NCIX, Amazon

Power Supply: Corsair HX750 - NCIX, Amazon

 

Optional Stuff:

Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 - NCIX, Amazon

NVIDIA Shield - NCIX, Amazon

OS: Windows 8.1 - NCIX, Amazon

 

With the new information regarding VRAM usage on the GTX 970 do you believe that going with the GTX 980 would be a better option for this build?

[79wjd]

With the new information regarding VRAM usage on the GTX 970 do you believe that going with the GTX 980 would be a better option for this build?

Considering SLI 970s was never a great option for 4k anyway, this news hasn't changed much. So if you intend to game at 4k then yes, SLI 980s would be a much better choice. (I'd actually try to hold out for the R9 380/390x if you're actually interested in 4k though). 

 

At sub-4k resolutions, 970s are still great cards. 

[john 117]

I had to come back to my first topic for help in regarding some comments from none other than gtx 970 users that its only using 3.5gb memory.But the card has 4gbvram.Do nvidia going to do something about it? Google time! :huh:

[skydoesminecraft]

Here is my mid tier pcpartpicker link! lowers the price by 300$

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/n37Mgs

[d4rkwizo]

Is it really necessary for the "Game On" to go with dual GTX 970? If I were to go with a single GTX 970, will the extra saving I get worth the decrease in performance?

[MegaDok]

I was on PCpartpicker today, and it came up with two possible errors about the build and i was wondering if any one had an answer to them

 

Some AMD 970 chipset motherboards may need a BIOS update prior to using Vishera CPUs.

Unable to verify the NZXT Source 210 Elite (White) ATX Mid Tower Case has sufficient space to fit the Zotac GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card.

[Faceman]

I was on PCpartpicker today, and it came up with two possible errors about the build and i was wondering if any one had an answer to them

 

Some AMD 970 chipset motherboards may need a BIOS update prior to using Vishera CPUs.

Unable to verify the NZXT Source 210 Elite (White) ATX Mid Tower Case has sufficient space to fit the Zotac GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card.

Please ignore the builds in this guide, they are not good. Most people in the comments will agree. If you need help with a build, ask in the new builds and planning section.