R7 260X: The Mantle Baby

Okay, so today, we have the R7 260X. I call this the Mantle Baby because I think when Mantle comes out, this will be the best card to get to give yourself a major boost in performance, especially in 1080p gaming. Let's get started.

Graphics Card: Club 3D R7 260X - $150
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814550005

I've never heard of this card manufacturer before, but I like trying something new. The card looks nice with the black shroud, and the dual fans will keep the card nice and cold. It's a small card, and looks like it'll fit in just about any case nicely. All you need is a 6-pin connector, and you'll be good to go. Did I mention you get 2 free games?

CPU: AMD FX-4350 4.2GHz - $120
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113326

The FX series processors are quite nice for the price. You get good power and performance for the price, and the L2 and L3 Caches are nice and big, with an 8MB L2 and 4MB L3. This means you'll go a lot faster when playing games, which, for us, is all that matters. The trade off is a bit more power consumption and when overclocking, it can get a little hot, so I recommending getting an aftermarket cooler if you want to overclock.

Mobo: MSI 970A-G43 - $60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130679

The MSI 970A-G43 is one of the best mobos for under $80 you can find. It has a fast North Bridge, has an easy overclocking interface, and supports high speed RAM with some overclocking as well. It's a really nice mobo, especially if you aren't planning on going to the top of the line FX processors. This will work just fine.

RAM: Team Xtreem Dark Series 8GB 1600MHz - $52
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820313080

Team Xtreem RAM is by the same people who make the Team Vulcan RAM, which has been featured on this blog numerous times before. The Dark series RAM is pretty much the same, but less expensive, and with a different shroud. We don't need much more than 1600MHz, and this will do the trick.

HDD: Western Digital Blue 1TB - $70
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236339

We're going with the Western Digital Blue HDD again. Since this build will be able to do a lot faster, more intensive gaming, you can put a buttload of games on here.

(Optional!) SSD: SanDisk 64GB SATA III - $65
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820171645

For an optional SSD, this 64GB is a nice deal in the sweet spot for SSDs at a dollar per GB. It'll improve your OS load times a lot, and if you put a few games on here, it'll improve the speeds in load times there, too. Just make sure you don't go over the write limit.

PSU: Corsair CX430W - $45
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026

As always, gonna go with an 80+ Bronze PSU, and the CX430 will do just fine for this build. Although the recommended PSU for the 260X is 500W, you never really need that much. On PCPartPicker, this build only has about 350W, so the 430W gives plenty of overhead. You should get a 500W PSU when the system wattage goes above 400W. Until then, you'll be fine.

Case: APEX PCV-588 - $30 after Rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811154110

Again, cases are completely subjective. I usually just post cases I like, giving you a little idea of what you might like too. I recommend you follow the parameters of front USB 3.0, front USB 2.0 and front audio/mic. That makes it so you aren't routing cables to your motherboard, and it's convenient.


Total price: $527 (592 with the SSD) before taxes and shipping

There, a really nice budget system for about the same as an Xbox One. Why would you ever buy an underpowered console?

I really like this system if you are making a first build. I would recommend the R7 250 build for a first build as well, because both will get you in the running for great gaming.

Happy gaming, everyone.

My game recommendation of the day is Chivalry: Medieval Warfare. A first person fighter, you play as a warrior in medieval times fighting others. The learning curve in this game is steep, and you will die A LOT, but it is a lot of fun. The weapons have impact, the arrows have drop, and the gameplay is solid. It's a great game, and should definitely be supported. You can pick it up at GreenManGaming.