Hypothetical Core 2 Quad System Replacement

[RubyRoks]

PREFACE: This is a hypothetical build and i likely won't be putting anything more than a rough plan together until the end of summer.

 

1) Budget: Under $650 USD BEFORE REBATES AND SALES and nothing more. I play PC because it's POTENTIALLY cheaper than console (and because i don't have a Wii U). $650 is cheaper than $500 for an Xbox One, games, and a year of XBL Gold. If i want to go further from there, then I will.

 

2) Aim and reasoning: Get better performance than my current system. My Core 2 Quad is out of date and not possible to overclock thanks to my motherboard, so it has to go. My GTX 560 is also needing an upgrade. I play anything from Battlefield to visual novels to emulators to DOS games. I don't want 60 FPS in Star Citizen at 3xUHD, but i'd like 75+ FPS at my monitor's native 1366x768 (yes, i know it's balls.) It'd also be nice to record and render video faster than my C2Q can (even though that isn't something i "should" do at this price). I also plan on this being "somewhat" upgradeable (keep the SSD and cooler from this hypothetical build when making my next one)

 

3) Monitors: 1x 1366x768 for now. I figure i'll pony up for a much better system when i get my 3x 1080p setup that i wish i had.

 

4) Peripherals: I put a Logitech G602 in the build. Any follow up recomendations WILL have it in there. This is my dream mouse. I WILL have it

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/4Q3ZP6

Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/4Q3ZP6/by_merchant/

 

CPU: Intel Core i3-3220 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($121.99 @ Best Buy) 

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 612 Ver.2 44.2 CFM Rifle Bearing CPU Cooler  ($45.99 @ Newegg) 

Motherboard: Asus P8H61-M LE/CSM R2.0 Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard  (Purchased For $0.00) 

Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($59.98 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (Purchased For $0.00) 

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($71.99 @ NCIX US) 

Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card  ($199.00 @ NCIX US) 

Case: Enermax OSTROG ATX Mid Tower Case  (Purchased For $0.00) 

Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($74.99 @ Micro Center) 

Mouse: Logitech G602 Wireless Optical Mouse  ($54.99 @ Amazon) 

Total: $628.93

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-27 20:37 EST-0500

[spartaman64]

you should probably get a 212 evo instead and a r9 280

[RubyRoks]

you should probably get a 212 evo instead and a r9 280

I wanted a beefier cooler so i could transfer it over for an upgrade. I also have some dumb, but sound reasoning behind not wanting an AMD GPU.

[spartaman64]

I wanted a beefier cooler so i could transfer it over for an upgrade. I also have some dumb, but sound reasoning behind not wanting an AMD GPU.

dont believe everything people say about amd if you dont buy the reference card it wont be hot

[RubyRoks]

dont believe everything people say about amd if you dont buy the reference card it wont be hot

It's not that. Their drivers wouldn't work at all on the R series on 2 cards that my brother and his friend had. I've seen these failures first hand

[spartaman64]

It's not that. Their drivers wouldn't work at all on the R series on 2 cards that my brother and his friend had. I've seen these failures first hand

they did intensive driver testing and came out with their omega drivers so its fine now if you download those

[RubyRoks]

they did intensive driver testing and came out with their omega drivers so its fine now if you download those

How do you download them when all you see through the card is NOTHING?

[spartaman64]

How do you download them when all you see through the card is NOTHING?

? windows has drivers for video and your gpu will use those until you install the amd ones

[RubyRoks]

? windows has drivers for video

The cards, whether or not they had drivers, or were seated properly in the PCIe slot, wouldn't display anything

[spartaman64]

The cards, whether or not they had drivers, or were seated properly in the PCIe slot, wouldn't display anything

you friend was unlucky then it happens. nvidia cards also break 

[RubyRoks]

you friend was unlucky then it happens. nvidia cards also break 

Happened to my brother's R7 260x as well. If I see a repeat of what should be a freak statistical anommaly, i'm not buying from them unless AMD/Card manufacturer offers to replace the card with either a working one, or one of similar price of NVidia's. 

[spartaman64]

Happened to my brother's R7 260x as well. If I see a repeat of what should be a freak statistical anommaly, i'm not buying from them unless AMD/Card manufacturer offers to replace the card with either a working one, or one of similar price of NVidia's. 

there is RMA if it comes broken then they replace it

[RubyRoks]

there is RMA if it comes broken then they replace it

My brother RMA'd the card at Newegg and i'm not sure if they gave him a refund(minus the restocking fee) or not.