Help with rig

chilas123 · March 12, 2015

Hi everybody,

I am currently planning on upgrading an old gaming rig. I have a Radeon 6850 from my old one that I will still be using, at least until the end of the year, and my case and psu will probably also be the same.

So my question is more in terms of motherboard and CPU, I am planning on going with an AMD FX-8350 and an MSI 970 Gaming, both of which go for about $175. I was wondering if there is an Intel based combo that would be equivalent with a similar price tag, or if I should go for a lower end CPU, considering I will be using my computer for playing some first person shooters like Battlefield 4, Advanced Warfare and the like, and maybe some Dota 2 (although that doesn't require that much horsepower). I know gaming depends more on the GPU, but I need the computer now for some schoolwork with virtual machines (octa-core is not necessary, a quad-core is still fine). That's why the GPU upgrade can wait, but I'll go with an R9 285 or a GTX 970, depending on the budget.

Thank you in advance for the help.

CoolaxGaming · March 12, 2015

Instead of that, go for a 4690k + Z97 - E and a 290x cost same as the 970.

However, since you mentioned virtual machines, take some more advice...

Imakuni · March 12, 2015

Hi everybody,

I am currently planning on upgrading an old gaming rig. I have a Radeon 6850 from my old one that I will still be using, at least until the end of the year, and my case and psu will probably also be the same.

So my question is more in terms of motherboard and CPU, I am planning on going with an AMD FX-8350 and an MSI 970 Gaming, both of which go for about $175. I was wondering if there is an Intel based combo that would be equivalent with a similar price tag, or if I should go for a lower end CPU, considering I will be using my computer for playing some first person shooters like Battlefield 4, Advanced Warfare and the like, and maybe some Dota 2 (although that doesn't require that much horsepower). I know gaming depends more on the GPU, but I need the computer now for some schoolwork with virtual machines (octa-core is not necessary, a quad-core is still fine). That's why the GPU upgrade can wait, but I'll go with an R9 285 or a GTX 970, depending on the budget.

Thank you in advance for the help.

DON'T go with the FX 8350. It´s bad. Like, REALLY. An i5 is much more worthy nowadays. Just get any h81 (~45$) + i5 and you'll be a lot better.
Wait for AMD 3xx series.

If you really need a lot of horsepower, I supposed you could get a locked i7 or a Xeon with HT.

chilas123 · March 13, 2015

And what about an FX-6300 or FX-6350? I've seen Linus use the first in his mid-range holiday build, and the latter in his 4K build (although that one was sponsored by AMD)