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Low-Mid end light gaming PC

WackyWRZ

WackyWRZ

Senior member
Hey everyone. I recently bought some parts to build myself a new machine, but am now second guessing myself. I do general web browsing, standard Office stuff for school, and a ton of League of Legends. I am replacing an older laptop with an i7 2nd gen and GT550m as its just not fitting the bill anymore. I re-used some old parts I had laying around and bought:

AMD X4 760K
Asus A88X-PRO FM2+
HD 7770 1GB DDR5

I was thinking that maybe for I should have went with an FX6300 and a 990X mobo for about $50 more. It seems like what I got should do well for me considering my use and I don't play any other games whatsoever. Before I beat myself up too bad is this going to be adequate?


EDIT: This system was DOA so now its back to the drawing board.
 
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LoL evidently doesn't take much in the way of a CPU. Or a GPU for that matter.

Then again, that new laptop should also be adequate, if not at the highest settings. I hope you're getting an SSD for at least one of those. If you returned those parts you could probably afford a good SSD for the laptop.
 
The laptop is about 2-3 years old - and the wife's crapped out so I get a new build and she gets my old laptop... Win - Win 🙂 The laptop does OK on its 768 resolution screen, but once I hook it up to my dual 1080 monitors it really starts to have FPS drops. LoL seems to add new particle effects and stuff with each patch which usually means a bump down in quality settings. Thanks for the links Ken, so it looks like my 7770 will be more than fine.

I guess I don't have remorse necessarily, but I am a very *frugal* person that likes to get the best bang for the buck. I already have a Crucial M4 laying around that I planned on putting in there so SSD all the way. It looks like the X4 will probably do me fine and let me play with OCing as well (why I didn't go Intel), and the extra $50 would probably not gain me much. I already used some of the $50 to get a 212 EVO so I can OC safely. I'm holding out hope that they will come out with a Kaveri Athlon or something in line with FX on the FM2+ eventually, since it seems that AM3+ is fading away.

Now if only I lived closer than 4 hours from a MicroCenter......
 
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There's definitely no point in the 990X motherboard, that's just extra features that you don't need. The FX-6300 is obviously more capable in multithreaded tasks than the 760K, but it's not like LoL (or most games really) is a huge multithreaded beast.

I'd say you're fine with what you've got given the cost differential.
 
So, I need to revive this thread once again unfortunately. I put my new rig together this weekend and either the MB or CPU is bad so they gotta go back. I'm glad I got them from Amazon, their returns are so easy!

So this basically puts me back at square one on the build. I am fine with re-ordering another 760K but I am leery about buying another of the same board. I'm guessing it was just a dud, but it makes me a little nervous still. I am eyeing the MSI A88X-G45 gamer board as well as the Gigabyte GA-F2A88X-UP4 or even the G1 Sniper. They are all very close in price.

At this point it looks like I might be able go with a FX6300 for about the same price as well if I don't need a 990 board. The only reason I picked it before is because I read it was better at OCing. If I go this route I wouldn't know which MB to go with.

I am trying to keep around $200 for the combo but can bump it a bit if it makes cents 🙂 . It seems like for that price anything Intel is going to be i3 and that doesn't appeal to me. I have been out of the component game for too long, and you folks are smarter than I when it comes to this - so any input is greatly appreciated as always!
 
WackyWRZ said:
So, I need to revive this thread once again unfortunately. I put my new rig together this weekend and either the MB or CPU is bad so they gotta go back. I'm glad I got them from Amazon, their returns are so easy!

So this basically puts me back at square one on the build. I am fine with re-ordering another 760K but I am leery about buying another of the same board. I'm guessing it was just a dud, but it makes me a little nervous still. I am eyeing the MSI A88X-G45 gamer board as well as the Gigabyte GA-F2A88X-UP4 or even the G1 Sniper. They are all very close in price.

At this point it looks like I might be able go with a FX6300 for about the same price as well if I don't need a 990 board. The only reason I picked it before is because I read it was better at OCing. If I go this route I wouldn't know which MB to go with.

I am trying to keep around $200 for the combo but can bump it a bit if it makes cents 🙂 . It seems like for that price anything Intel is going to be i3 and that doesn't appeal to me. I have been out of the component game for too long, and you folks are smarter than I when it comes to this - so any input is greatly appreciated as always!
Click to expand...

Actually in a poorly threaded game like LoL, an i3 would be equal to or faster than an AMD cpu, as shown by the link to the TH results. But be that as it may, almost any cpu is adequate, so the 750k should work fine.
 
Yeah that's what I am thinking. The X4 is a good price for what I need, plus it gives me the ability to tinker with it. I mean that's at least 25% of the fun isn't it? The real question is do I roll the dice on Asus again. I've had great luck with their laptops recently, I just had an MSI board fail last month and their RMA is slow as heck. Last time I messed with Gigabyte was in the early 00s.
 
It would help if you told us a bit more about your troubleshooting process. It might have been a different component that failed (one that you didn't return) or it might have been a simple case of user error. In either case, buying a different brand of board wouldn't help.
 
WackyWRZ said:
Hi mfenn. I actually started a thread in the "computer help" section when I started building the machine (http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2373556) where I did my troubleshooting. I figured this section was for advice vs help, if this was not correct I apologize.
Click to expand...

No, that's quite alright. Thanks for linking the thread.

Question: Did you remove the protective plastic from the bottom of the heatsink before you mounted it? The symptoms you describe can be caused by overheating.

Anyway, you can grab another 760K and then this GA-F2A88XM-D3H for $80.
 
mfenn said:
Question: Did you remove the protective plastic from the bottom of the heatsink before you mounted it? The symptoms you describe can be caused by overheating.
Click to expand...

I was actually running the stock heat-sink because my 212 didn't come until yesterday (thanks UPS!! :thumbsdown🙂. It didn't have any protective plastic on it except for the plastic clam-shell. I'll probably order that board and CPU again tomorrow so I can try again this upcoming weekend with my fingers and toes all crossed. 🙂
 
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