Doubt before upgrading. Can fx 6300 last 2-3 years?

[batmanisblue]

I have a very limited budget on which I had planned to upgrade my son's pc. Currently his pc has fx 6300 and gt 610. I had planned on upgrading to gtx 960 and a hd monitor. Ideally I'd want this to run for next 3 years. My major concern is whether the fx 6300 is powerful enough to last 3 more years or if I'm throwing my money down the drain. 

 

I am from India. So please do not suggest me to buy a gtx 970 because here in India, gtx 960 is priced as much as 970 and 970 almost as much as 980. Also amd cards are significantly more expensive here. PS4 is double the price here.

 

Back to the topic, can the fx 6300 keep up with the new games as they come? Even upgrading to fx 8350 would make this impractical. I've learnt my lesson and I'll never buy amd again.

 

 

Tl;DR Can fx 6300 handle two to three more years of gaming?

 

Any help will be deeply appreciated. 

[Agazed]

Well if your son isnt complaining then it works

 

All depends on the games he plays

[Guest Kloaked]

So please do not suggest me to buy a gtx 970 because here in India, gtx 960 is priced as much as 970 and 970 almost as much as 980. 

 

I don't follow. You're saying the 960, the 970 and 980 are the same price?

[Faceman]

Yes, a 6300 + 960 is a very nice mid range gaming PC that should last for 2-3 years, maybe longer, at reduced settings.

 

Not all games will be played at optimal levels because of the poor single core performance, but it comes down to which game(s) are being played.

 

Overall, its a very nice and balanced rig.  I am surprised to hear that AMD is more expensive than Nvidia in India.

[Hackzzila]

lease do not suggest me to buy a gtx 970 because here in India, gtx 960 is priced as much as 970 and 970 almost as much as 980. 

Wait What?

[Skybane]

The 6300 will bottleneck the 960 , even my FX 8350 does . I learned this the hard way . My advice is upgrade the mb/cpu first . Intel I5 4690 will handel that 960 just fine .

[Rockwell]

I don't follow. You're saying the 960, the 970 and 980 are the same price?

He's saying the 960 in India has the price of a 970 in the US. In other words, its way more expensive there.

[DeViLzzz]

OP overclock the cpu and run games at 1080p to 1440p and pair the cpu with the right video card and your son will have a good gaming experience with many games.  Thing is yes in the future there will be games that will be the next Crysis and crush it.  Heck the game, The Witcher 3, is one that is very demanding right now. Also if you want to make the pc last 2 or 3 years make sure you create a gaming library that is appropriate for the pc.  There are more than a kajillion titles that will run well on the rig with a graphics card upgrade.

[batmanisblue]

 

Well if your son isnt complaining then it works

 

All depends on the games he plays

 

Ah. He mainly played online shooter games and adventure games on his ps3 and Civilization 5 on pc. I think he would stick to that. 

 

I don't follow. You're saying the 960, the 970 and 980 are the same price?

 

 

Wait What?

 

 

No. The gtx 960 here costs as much what a 970 would cost in the US. The Gtx 970 here costs around 75$ less than what a gtx 980 would cost in US.

 

Edit: Now after the release of gtx 980 ti and the subsequent price drop of gtx 980, the 970 here officially costs as much as 980 in US. I hate my country for imposing taxes on imports.

 

 

He's saying the 960 in India has the price of a 970 in the US. In other words, its way more expensive there.

 

This basically. Sorry for being so ambiguous. It is 5 am here and I was up all night abusing google search.

 

 

 

Yes, a 6300 + 960 is a very nice mid range gaming PC that should last for 2-3 years, maybe longer, at reduced settings.

 

Not all games will be played at optimal levels because of the poor single core performance, but it comes down to which game(s) are being played.

 

Overall, its a very nice and balanced rig.  I am surprised to hear that AMD is more expensive than Nvidia in India.

 

AMD in general is significantly cheaper than intel in case of cpus. But in the case of gpus, amd is more expensive than nvidia. 

 

 

The 6300 will bottleneck the 960 , even my FX 8350 does . I learned this the hard way . My advice is upgrade the mb/cpu first . Intel I5 4690 will handel that 960 just fine .

 

 

Did 6300 bottleneck 960 in most games or was it only those which are known to be poorly optimized? Basically the point of this whole venture was to upgrade and hence keep the price as much as that of a next gen console. This is my dilemma here. To upgrade or not to upgrade. If I were to scrap the current pc away and build a powerful new one, I'd have to save for an year. 

 

 

OP overclock the cpu and run games at 1080p to 1440p and pair the cpu with the right video card and your son will have a good gaming experience with many games.  Thing is yes in the future there will be games that will be the next Crysis and crush it.  Heck the game, The Witcher 3, is one that is very demanding right now. Also if you want to make the pc last 2 or 3 years make sure you create a gaming library that is appropriate for the pc.  There are more than a kajillion titles that will run well on the rig with a graphics card upgrade.

 

Will do. My apprehension is mainly due to such games (like Dying Light for another example) which already can not be played on fx 6300. 

 

 

Perhaps I should rephrase my question. Should I upgrade right now and then build a new computer in a couple of years or not upgrade and build a new pc in a year?

 

 

 

 

[Faceman]

@batmanisblue

 

You already have the 6300, and while not the best CPU, it is capable.  The real weak spot in your son's build is the GPU.  Upgrade that to the 960 and thats all there is left to do before having to do a complete rebuild in order to get truly better performance.

[batmanisblue]

I guess that is the best way to go then. Thank you for helping me make my decision. 

[miagisan]

The 6300 is a good CPU especially if you overclock it a bit. If not it is still a capable CPU.

In regards to pricing, what does a r9 280x price out in your area? It would be a better option if prices similarly.

[Hieb]

The FX-6300 will not provide phenomenal performance but it should make do. As long as you turn down some CPU intensive options like ambient occlusion, shadows, particle density and draw distance you should be able to get pretty smooth gameplay out of it. GTX 960 is not a bad way to go. I would suggest R9 280 for the extra gig of VRAM but I can see that costs about as much as a GTX 970 in India. That's unfortunate

 

One thing that might be worth considering is an R9 270X 4GB version. I don't know where you do your shopping since I'm not familiar with India's pricing and whatnot, but from what I can tell at flipkart.com you can get a 270X 4GB for less than a GTX 960. Generally speaking the GTX 960 will be about 20% faster, however.

 

Up to you if you want the extra gig of VRAM to allow for things like anti-aliasing, higher quality textures, etc. or if you want the Nvidia route for better framerates. Basically the R9 270X is a better route if you want higher quality settings at maybe ~30-50 fps, while the GTX 960 is a better way to go if you want the smoothest gameplay possible. The 960 will be better for maintaining close to 60 FPS but there will be some games where you can't have high/ultra textures or anti-aliasing.

 

I think the GTX 960 is your best bet in this scenario, just pointed out the other option in case your son is more concerned with eyecandy and smooth edges than high framerates.

[batmanisblue]

 

The 6300 is a good CPU especially if you overclock it a bit. If not it is still a capable CPU.

In regards to pricing, what does a r9 280x price out in your area? It would be a better option if prices similarly.

 

It costs around 80 dollars more and is far less available from the local dealers. I usually buy locally and not order online because sorting out the issues that arise later are much easier this way. Even if I do buy a better card like say a gtx 970, wouldn't it be a waste because of the fx 6300 as the limiting factor?

 

r9 280

http://www.flipkart.com/msi-amd-ati-r9-280-gaming-3-gb-gddr5-graphics-card/p/itmdv8qbuge7gy7x?pid=GRCDV8QBUGZ8Y3FK&ref=L%3A-7486264462438284361&srno=p_1&query=r9+280&otracker=from-search

 

r9 280x

http://www.flipkart.com/sapphire-amd-ati-dual-x-r9-280x-radeon-3-gb-ddr5-graphics-card/p/itmdrubpf9bchtfz

 

r9 285

http://www.flipkart.com/asus-amd-ati-radeon-r9-285-2-gb-gddr5-graphics-card/p/itmefr6zrc3krg8npid=GRCEFR6VFGKKRQSP&ref=L%3A8070054688210963443&srno=p_2&query=r9+285&otracker=from-search

 

r9 270x

http://www.flipkart.com/msi-amd-ati-r9-270x-gaming-2g-2-gb-gddr5-graphics-card/p/itmdpvgbm5mfapyv

 

r9 270x 4 gb

http://www.flipkart.com/sapphire-amd-ati-radeon-r9-270x-boost-oc-4-gb-ddr5-graphics-card/p/itmdryxf7efcuzsy?pid=GRCDRYXF7EFCUZSY&ref=L%3A6428996145368811167&srno=p_2&query=AMD%2FATI+R9+270X+&otracker=from-search

 

gtx 960

http://www.flipkart.com/zotac-nvidia-geforce-gtx-960-2-gb-ddr5-graphics-card/p/itme44qbdszr6e9h?pid=GRCE44Q9JFXH6ZPU&ref=L%3A2800171202472003183&srno=p_1&query=gtx+960&otracker=from-search

 

gtx 970 

http://www.flipkart.com/zotac-nvidia-geforce-gtx-970-4-gb-gddr5-graphics-card/p/itme2w4hn4mn28ev?pid=GRCEY7N4BUVSVJZN

 

The lack of demand and supply often inflate the prices of amd cards to beyond what are shown online. The bigger issue that arises is that in case of manufacture defects, getting a replacement becomes a hassle. But considering how rarely they fail, I'd rather go through the hassle for a more powerful card.

 

 

The FX-6300 will not provide phenomenal performance but it should make do. As long as you turn down some CPU intensive options like ambient occlusion, shadows, particle density and draw distance you should be able to get pretty smooth gameplay out of it. GTX 960 is not a bad way to go. I would suggest R9 280 for the extra gig of VRAM but I can see that costs about as much as a GTX 970 in India. That's unfortunate

 

One thing that might be worth considering is an R9 270X 4GB version. I don't know where you do your shopping since I'm not familiar with India's pricing and whatnot, but from what I can tell at flipkart.com you can get a 270X 4GB for less than a GTX 960. Generally speaking the GTX 960 will be about 20% faster, however.

 

Up to you if you want the extra gig of VRAM to allow for things like anti-aliasing, higher quality textures, etc. or if you want the Nvidia route for better framerates. Basically the R9 270X is a better route if you want higher quality settings at maybe ~30-50 fps, while the GTX 960 is a better way to go if you want the smoothest gameplay possible. The 960 will be better for maintaining close to 60 FPS but there will be some games where you can't have high/ultra textures or anti-aliasing.

 

I think the GTX 960 is your best bet in this scenario, just pointed out the other option in case your son is more concerned with eyecandy and smooth edges than high framerates.

 

Is the r9 280 really a better card than gtx 960? When available, it costs as much as a 960. The r9 270x 4gb also costs as much a 960. In cards like r9 270x and gtx 960, do the extra 2 gbs of 4 gb make a difference? Especially in case of a single monitor setup.

[Blackie Sheen]

If he can tolerate a little bit more stutters and lower overall fps then you might just stick with the current config. But, if he seems to think that it is lacking then my suggestion would be to go for an i3 if at all possible because there is no true upgrade path on the AMD side at the moment

[miagisan]

 

 

 

It costs around 80 dollars more and is far less available from the local dealers. I usually buy locally and not order online because sorting out the issues that arise later are much easier this way. Even if I do buy a better card like say a gtx 970, wouldn't it be a waste because of the fx 6300 as the limiting factor?

 

r9 280

http://www.flipkart.com/msi-amd-ati-r9-280-gaming-3-gb-gddr5-graphics-card/p/itmdv8qbuge7gy7x?pid=GRCDV8QBUGZ8Y3FK&ref=L%3A-7486264462438284361&srno=p_1&query=r9+280&otracker=from-search

 

r9 280x

http://www.flipkart.com/sapphire-amd-ati-dual-x-r9-280x-radeon-3-gb-ddr5-graphics-card/p/itmdrubpf9bchtfz

 

r9 285

http://www.flipkart.com/asus-amd-ati-radeon-r9-285-2-gb-gddr5-graphics-card/p/itmefr6zrc3krg8npid=GRCEFR6VFGKKRQSP&ref=L%3A8070054688210963443&srno=p_2&query=r9+285&otracker=from-search

 

r9 270x

http://www.flipkart.com/msi-amd-ati-r9-270x-gaming-2g-2-gb-gddr5-graphics-card/p/itmdpvgbm5mfapyv

 

r9 270x 4 gb

http://www.flipkart.com/sapphire-amd-ati-radeon-r9-270x-boost-oc-4-gb-ddr5-graphics-card/p/itmdryxf7efcuzsy?pid=GRCDRYXF7EFCUZSY&ref=L%3A6428996145368811167&srno=p_2&query=AMD%2FATI+R9+270X+&otracker=from-search

 

gtx 960

http://www.flipkart.com/zotac-nvidia-geforce-gtx-960-2-gb-ddr5-graphics-card/p/itme44qbdszr6e9h?pid=GRCE44Q9JFXH6ZPU&ref=L%3A2800171202472003183&srno=p_1&query=gtx+960&otracker=from-search

 

gtx 970 

http://www.flipkart.com/zotac-nvidia-geforce-gtx-970-4-gb-gddr5-graphics-card/p/itme2w4hn4mn28ev?pid=GRCEY7N4BUVSVJZN

 

 

 

Is the r9 280 really a better card than gtx 960? When available, it costs as much as a 960. The r9 270x 4gb also costs as much a 960. In cards like r9 270x and gtx 960, do the extra 2 gbs of 4 gb make a difference? Especially in case of a single monitor setup.

 

the usual order of heirarchy for those cards is 280x > 960 > 285 / 280 > 270x

 

and vram in some games makes a difference in performance

[batmanisblue]

If he can tolerate a little bit more stutters and lower overall fps then you might just stick with the current config. But, if he seems to think that it is lacking then my suggestion would be to go for an i3 if at all possible because there is no true upgrade path on the AMD side at the moment

 

I've seen stuttering on consoles as well. Would this config be on par with consoles?

 

Can someone suggest me a good side for benchmarking? 

 

 

the usual order of heirarchy for those cards is 280x > 960 > 285 / 280 > 270x

 

and vram in some games makes a difference in performance

 

Seeing how 960 is the most available and cheaper, I'd go for that. Thanks. 

[miagisan]

I've seen stuttering on consoles as well. Would this config be on par with consoles?

 

Can someone suggest me a good side for benchmarking? 

 

 

 

Seeing how 960 is the most available and cheaper, I'd go for that. Thanks. 

no worries, just giving you some options and best bang for the buck

[Hieb]

Is the r9 280 really a better card than gtx 960? When available, it costs as much as a 960. The r9 270x 4gb also costs as much a 960. In cards like r9 270x and gtx 960, do the extra 2 gbs of 4 gb make a difference? Especially in case of a single monitor setup.

 

Generally speaking the GTX 960 is slightly faster than the R9 280... within about 10%, though, so not a massive gap. The benefit to the R9 280 is the extra gig of VRAM opens up options for anti-aliasing and higher texture quality that the GTX 960 doesn't have. For example in GTA 5 the GTX 960 will get slightly better framerates, but the R9 280 will allow you to run with maximum texture quality without hitting the VRAM ceiling.

 

The R9 270X 4GB is iffy. The GTX 960 is significantly more powerful, like I said around 20%, the 270X 4GB just appeared to be a pretty cost effective option. My train of thought was that the 4GB would allow you to enjoy higher quality textures (while sacrificing some framerate vs the 960) and save some money that could be saved towards future upgrades or other expenses.

 

One thing to keep in mind is that at the time being, AMD's GPU drivers use more CPU power in DirectX 11 than Nvidia's... so even though the R9 280 is only slightly slower the GTX 960 in most cases, in CPU intensive games where the FX-6300 is a limiting factor the gap between the R9 280 and GTX 960 in framerate could grow to be larger. Apparently AMD is working on a more CPU-efficient driver, and when DirectX 12 rolls out and games start using it this won't be of concern.

 

I think right now the GTX 960 is your best bet. If the R9 280 is about the same price, it's an alright way to go as well... but the 960 will almost always provide slightly higher framerates.

[Blackie Sheen]

I've seen stuttering on consoles as well. Would this config be on par with consoles?

 

Can someone suggest me a good side for benchmarking? 

 

 

 

Seeing how 960 is the most available and cheaper, I'd go for that. Thanks. 

Its not because you stutter on console, that you should accept stuttering on PC. You should not choose stuttering by choice. Just search for gaming cpu benchmarks. Some result should pop up but there isnt that much on cpu performance out there. You kinda have to take our advice for straight up cash

[SteveGrabowski0]

I guess that is the best way to go then. Thank you for helping me make my decision. 

 

Yeah, don't listen to the people saying you need an i5 to get a good gaming experience out of a GTX 960. If you were talking a GTX 970, 980, 980 Ti then things would be different, the cards would be wastes of money without an i5, but a 960 is a midrange card that works well with a midrange CPU like an FX 6300, FX 8350, or i3.

[batmanisblue]

The entire discussion went under the assumption that the gtx 960 and fx 6300 will be used for 1080p resolution.

My son told me that if I don't upgrade the monitor to a 1080p one, then the fx 6300 and gtx 960 wouldn't be a problem. Is this true? Can gtx 960 and fx 6300 perform well on 900p resolution? Because if it can, then I'll be able to both upgrade right now and buy a new one later without having him stick to the ps3.

I was under the impression that resolution makes little difference for cpu but is almost entirely dependant on gpu.

[IateMApoo]

Yes, a 6300 + 960 is a very nice mid range gaming PC that should last for 2-3 years, maybe longer, at reduced settings.

 

Not all games will be played at optimal levels because of the poor single core performance, but it comes down to which game(s) are being played.

 

Overall, its a very nice and balanced rig.  I am surprised to hear that AMD is more expensive than Nvidia in India.

Why are you not reccomending i3 or G3258 here ? What changed you stance against AMD LOL ?

[batmanisblue]

Why are you not reccomending i3 or G3258 here ? What changed you stance against AMD LOL ?

Because, no matter how the fx 6300 performs, that would be impractical. If I were to buy intel and by extension a new motherboard, I'd atleast buy a 4690k and z97 as upgrade to i3 would not be worth the price. This would further mean scrapping the current pc away and building a new one, which I can not do right now. The point of this venture is to decide whether adding a 960 prolongs the life a couple more years or if it would be better to wait the same time without an upgrade.

Tl;dr Building a new pc immediately is not an option while upgrading is. But is it a smart one?

Edit : The question about impact on cpu performance due to lower resolution in my earlier post still stands.

[Faceman]

Why are you not reccomending i3 or G3258 here ? What changed you stance against AMD LOL ?

My stance hasn't changed.  If building new, you go Intel.

 

Why can't you be smart like the OP, he gets it.