PC upgrade for next gen games. Now or later?

I wanted to upgrade later next year but my old PC can't handle these next gen ports. I don't know what to do, probably I'll only upgrade if I'll find some good Black Friday deals ( I'm from Europe but we also have that for a few years now :P ).

Do you guys think it's safer to go all AMD now that the next gen consoles have AMD GPUs and CPUs and also because of AMD's Mantle API? I want to get only the CPU, MOBO and RAM and only get a GPU later (I have HD 6850). I was considering the AMD FX 6300 but I'm worried since I saw that a dual core i3 Haswell is faster than the 6 core AMD CPU.

So should I get an i3 or i5 or is this FX 6300 enough? Will a 4 core or 6 core CPU be enough for future next gen games? Cause after the COD Ghosts 6 GB RAM min req I'm worried that 8 core CPUs will be the min req very soon. :|

So can you guys recommend me a budget build that's better than these next gen consoles? Keep in mind that I'll get only the CPU, mobo and RAM now and I'll get a better GPU later, maybe when they'll release DX 12 GPUs.

@not_wanted: any decent computer will be better than a console, PC doesn't have "next-gen", it's the console catching up always.

I can give you my opinion on Intel since that is what I use. For gaming you need at least an i5, and go at least 8GB RAM.

Don't mean to diss amd cpu, but I'll go with intel particularly the i5 setup. Cpu is going to last you longer into the life of your system, so do it right than you don't have to think about it for a good few years.

i5 4670k(oc unlocked model) + z87 board + 8gb 1600mhz ram. Sell the 6850, get a 760 gtx or 280x if you can right now. If not you can wait for the gpu. A simple cpu upgrade will smooth out your overall game play already, not sure what if you have right now though. If you must get an amd than go for the latest 8 core.

Mantle will not give as much performance boost as some will think. Also i3 is not faster then a FX 6300 where were you looking? BF4 is a prime example where if fully used an i3 runs slower then a Phenom 2 X4 955, and much less then a FX 6300, the 6300 ran better then a i5 2500k and almost as well as an i5 4670k.

If your on a budget FX6300 is a much better buy then an i3, and if you budget is more to allow an i5 or 8350, its a toss up. COD ghosts is a joke since its requirements are bogus. 8 cores wont be an requirement for awhile yet and by the time it does there will be faster cpu's. intel 4th gen quads at or above 3.4 ghz will be around for awhile since their processing performance rivels AMD's eight cored. 8gb is more then enough for awhile you can always add more later if need be.

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/amd-fx-6300-black-edition-vishera-six-core-s-am3plus-35ghz-14mb-total-cache-95w-retail

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/gigabyte-ga-970a-ds3p-amd-970-s-am3-am3plus-ddr3-sata-iii-6gb-s-sata-raid-pcie-20-%28x16%29-atx

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/8gb-%282x4gb%29-corsair-ddr3-vengeance-jet-black-lp-pc3-12800-%281600%29-non-ecc-cas-9-9-9-24-xmp-15v

Thanks guys. So you would recommend a 4 core i5 4440 at 3.1 GHz over an 8 core AMD FX 8320 at 3.5 GHz?

GPU is out of the question for the moment cause a GTX 760 cost (here) almost as much as all those parts combined. :(

fx 8320 over a i5 4440.

here it says i3 Haswell is better than FX 6300 for gaming link

Thanks :)

Also what's up with the RAM prices? I think they doubled since last year. :|

And I now realized that we (in Romania) have higher prices than in the UK. lol :(

I just picked up a FX-8320 just because of the price and I really liked an AMD build I did for a family member. Hoping to have a great future with the processor. If you want a good I5 you will want 3570K

lol toms...... with games that even only use four threads the FX 6300 would perform close like the FX 4300 or Phenom 2 X4 955. The only way the i3 would be better is if the game/s only used one or two cores. buying a dual core in this day and age is a dumb idea.

Memory prices in general have increased

i5 4670 with G.skill 8Gb 1600Mhz Sniper/Ripjaws/Trident , I recommend

For my PC build I am going to use the i7 4770K. It's $350 and atm I recon the second best CPU around. Also I think you should be fine with your current GPU but just in case next years games are ridiculously fancy you might want to look at going CrossFire with your 6850. Btw you should definitely look at at least 8GB of RAM, if you want to be smart go for 16GBs/ 32GBs and you'll be set for a long time to come.

lol I wish I could get an i7 but as I said, I can build only a budget PC, plus a i7 3770K ( not a 4770K which I guess costs more) is around $450 here. I will get a better GPU later.

Now about the RAM. I want to get 8 GB but the mobo I want to get only has 2 memory slots, so the noob question is, can I get only one 8 GB RAM module and get 8 GB later or will it work only with 2 modules(2x4 GB)?

Before deciding on a CPU I would wait until we actually have some 'next gen' game benchmarks. It's possible that the consoles having 8 threads will mean AMD 8 core CPUs are better than Intel quad cores despite being slower clock for clock, but we can't really confirm yet.

If you're on a budget (like me) I don't see the point in upgrading now. Better to wait until there are more next gen games actually worth getting.

It will be interesting to see how AMD vs. Intel shapes up with AMD making the CPU's for consoles. Regardless, running x86 instead of RISC processors is going to be a good thing for ports I hope!

We have already started seeing the advantages of having an six or eight core cpu over even an intel quad even though the massive difference in processing power core vs core. Look at what the i7 six core can do in BF4... Next gen consoles are only going to use 6 of the 8 cores for games , lowering the processing power even more. Until AMD actually increases the clock per clock performance out of their cpu's intel quads will be competitive.

I'd wait. If you're buying a new PC on a budget, waiting is golden. You can save up more money and hardware prices will drastically decrease (even over the course of half a year, depending on what has come out). Even though new technology is constantly rolling out, I don't think there are enough "next-gen" PC titles out at the moment warranting an upgrade. Less than ever are exclusive PC titles pushing the graphics envelope. The only ones attempting to do are multi-plat titles which were designed with consoles primarily in mind anyways.

What are your current specs?

@KHAndAnime: @Cobra_nVidia: I think I will wait unless, as I said, I'll find some good Black Friday deals. But yeah, you guys are right about not being worth to upgrade yet.

Pentium dual core 2 GHz lol, 2 GB RAM, AMD HD6850.

It's worth it to upgrade big time with that Pentium dual core.......

@not_wanted: Yeah, you definitely need to upgrade.. What's your budget?

I was running a dual core 2 duo and just upgraded my CPU and ram. Got a pretty good deal off newegg with rebates.

I don't have a fixed budget cause I wasn't even sure what to get or even if I'll upgrade this year. Also waited for the Black Friday deals.

Black Friday started here already and although the prices went down, they're still pretty high compared to newegg. But that's how it's always been here, higher taxes and greedy retailers.

The FX 6300, mobo and 8 GB RAM will cost me around $300 and probably another $100 for case and PSU (don't know if I can use my old PSU, it's a no name 550W but it worked great), so around $400.

But nobody answered my RAM question. If the mobo has only 2 memory slots, can I use only one 8 GB RAM module? Not because it's cheaper but because maybe I'll want to get another 8 GB later.

Certain mobos are capped at how much ram they can hold. I just picked up a mobo that caps at 32GB of memory. So if you pick up a mobo that can only hold up to 8GBs then you will want to pick up 2 4GBs for the dual channel capabilities.

Well I guess it depends what you have right now. If you can squeak by with a better GPU go all out and buy a decent one, then in a year or so upgrade the rest of your rig.

If you absolutely can't wait it's much better to go Intel. Intel is still far superior to AMD CPUs.

lol That's not what I've asked. I understand that about the max amount of RAM a mobo can support. But I want to know if let's say the mobo supports a max of 16 GB RAM and it has only 2 memory slots, can I get only one 8 GB module or stick or whatever they're called (1 x 8 GB) instead of using the mobo's both slots with two 4 GB modules (2 x 4 GB) ?

Damn English language :| , sorry English is not my native language so don't know how else to explain this. :(

@not_wanted: An 8GB stick of RAM will work fine in a newer board. You can check the manufacturer site to find out for sure...

Still running duo core 6600 on Vista with limit of 3.5 gig ram and still running everything just fine. Don't think Next gen really hit Pc yet.

question is... what are you playing.....?

@not_wanted:

Oh sorry, yeah that would be fine.