A friend asked me for advice on a build and this is what I came up with (note that he is running an i3 3110m and plays Dota 2 + games like Batman Arkham City using the iGPU which is a REALLY lackluster and suboptimal experience):
Now, onto my situation:
I've been running on an r7 240 + i5 4460 for a year now and it's a meh combination in the sense that it actually lets me play games but at reduced resolution and settings which is better than NOT playing any games in that year or using really low quality settings had I chosen to run games using the HD 4600. I haven't played any games for the last 3 or so months as my HDD's failed on me after a year (probably because of how often Windows 10 was reading and writing to it non-stop) so I'm planning for an upgrade in a couple of months.
Since these new games are being developed for this gen consoles, the r7 240 isn't cutting it anymore and I was wondering what I should do. I'm not sure if I should buy a Polaris/Pascal card straight when they come out(I'm guessing they'll be really expensive), to wait a while for those prices to drop (if they ever do!) or to just buy a 960/50 once their prices fall too. I'd absolutely love to get more performance out of my PSU by buying a 14nm card considering the fact I can only run cards that use one 6-pin cable... but I'm not sure if it'll be worth the massive asking price, especially here in Australia due to our weak currency.
So, just to clarify: asking for recommendations for both me and my friend as I'm not the brightest when it comes to tradeoffs vs $ even as an economics undergrad I don't feel confident in my assessment that prices will be higher and trickle downwards after a while because of the fluctuating prices of second hand graphic cards here in AUS where a 270 can still be sold for $150 after 2-3 years of use.
Planning to buy from here:
http://www.msy.com.au/nsw/ultimo/ (you can view all items in pdf format here: https://www.msy.com.au/Parts/PARTS.pdf)
Thanks!
He's on a strict budget of $500 and wants his PC to last for 4-5 years. I decided to skip on the graphics card so he can either buy one once Pascal and Polaris are released (and thus prices for older cards drop OR he can save up and buy one of those). Also, I feel like the HD 530 itself is almost on par with my current r7 240 so he'll enjoy a massive IQ and performance boost, especially considering how his HD 4000 barely plays games at 30 fps low @ 800x600 settings let alone the 30fps 1440x900 low-medium he can achieve with the 6100's iGPU.
Now, onto my situation:
I've been running on an r7 240 + i5 4460 for a year now and it's a meh combination in the sense that it actually lets me play games but at reduced resolution and settings which is better than NOT playing any games in that year or using really low quality settings had I chosen to run games using the HD 4600. I haven't played any games for the last 3 or so months as my HDD's failed on me after a year (probably because of how often Windows 10 was reading and writing to it non-stop) so I'm planning for an upgrade in a couple of months.
Since these new games are being developed for this gen consoles, the r7 240 isn't cutting it anymore and I was wondering what I should do. I'm not sure if I should buy a Polaris/Pascal card straight when they come out(I'm guessing they'll be really expensive), to wait a while for those prices to drop (if they ever do!) or to just buy a 960/50 once their prices fall too. I'd absolutely love to get more performance out of my PSU by buying a 14nm card considering the fact I can only run cards that use one 6-pin cable... but I'm not sure if it'll be worth the massive asking price, especially here in Australia due to our weak currency.
So, just to clarify: asking for recommendations for both me and my friend as I'm not the brightest when it comes to tradeoffs vs $ even as an economics undergrad I don't feel confident in my assessment that prices will be higher and trickle downwards after a while because of the fluctuating prices of second hand graphic cards here in AUS where a 270 can still be sold for $150 after 2-3 years of use.
Planning to buy from here:
http://www.msy.com.au/nsw/ultimo/ (you can view all items in pdf format here: https://www.msy.com.au/Parts/PARTS.pdf)
Thanks!
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