So my computer is dying a slow and very irritating death. I've traced the culprit to either the motherboard, CPU, or GPU but unfortunately the issue isn't consistent enough for me to easily test which it is. Since I was planning on replacing them all about a year from now anyway, I guess I'm about ready to just make my peace and move up the schedule.

I'm looking at building a machine around a 970 of some kind. Since that's a pretty standard video card, I was thinking maybe someone here has already done the legwork to figure out what the best bang for buck solution is in that range of performance and could spare me the trouble. My thanks for any help in advance!

If anyone is going to be able to help you, you should probably provide some kind of budget for the whole system.

Also, I moved this to the PC platform forum. There are hundreds of build topics here, have you looked through any of them?

Don't buy a new video card, the new ones will be released in the next 2 months.

@mike: Nah, I didn't even know that this forum existed. Thanks. I'll come back if I still have questions after browsing.

What's your budget? Are you only looking to replace MB, CPU, and GPU or are you building an entirely new tower? When I was building my PC I found PCPartPicker.com to be a great tool to check prices and compatibility on all the components I was thinking of getting.

Here's my first PC build from just a month ago:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/mjmWnQ

I got it from this video over on Tested: http://www.tested.com/tech/pcs/565826-how-build-1000-virtual-reality-gaming-pc/

First off, I'll second how incredibly useful pcpartpicker.com is. I'll also mention that the build I link to hear, which is what I went with, is slightly more expensive than theirs because I opted for a 1TB SSD rather than their 500GB. My only advice for deviation here would be to go with a larger case. I went with a different GPU than they recommended because every other site on the internet seemed to recommend the MSI, but unfortunately the MSI card requires a stiff cable converter to be plugged into the top of the GPU at the end of the power supply cables. Considering the case only had about 1/2" above the card...I had to remove the optical disk drive entirely, then remove the top of the case, plug that power cable into the top of the card, and then jam the top of the case down over it, which I'm worried must be putting some amount of stress on the port. But [deep breath], moving on.

The thing runs like a dream. So far, Tomb Raider 2013 is the most visually taxing game I've played and it ran at a constant 60fps when maxed out without any dips. On the other end, Kerbal Space Program also runs maxed out at a flat 60. I played about ten minutes of The Division, which came with the GPU, and I got a steady 60 in that, as well, with everything maxed out besides a texture slider which was at 80% (I tried comparing that 80% to 100% and couldn't tell a difference, anyway). The best part is that, unlike my last desktop which I bought from Dell in 2009 and died spectacularly two years later, this thing runs just above a whisper 99% of the time. The only game the fans seem to pick up on, weirdly, is Saints Row 4. I was playing Rocket League yesterday when I suddenly realized that I couldn't even hear the tower at all. Coming from a jet-engine PS4 (despite regular compressed air cleanings), this alone is huge for me.

So, to cap off an unexpectedly long post: I've been extremely satisfied with this build. But if you decide to go this route, my only advice would be to use a larger case, as the guys in the Tested video only mention the length of the case being sufficient, but I found the height to be the real limiting factor.

What issue is your current pc having?

@oursin_360: Usually during graphically intensive activities (but not always), blue screens, hard locks, or sudden resets that are traced back to one of the central system .dlls. I can't remember its name off the top of my head (something starting with n, I think), but I did google it and the general sentiment was generally that it means there's a hardware problem. I did a memtest, subbed out a power supply, reinstalled Win 10, tried reseating things, checked my driver set. Those three things are the remaining possible culprits.

Here is a mid-level system that will play some games. I went for solid rather than cheap, but you won't have any issues with nice even power flow. With that said this has enough power for high on the charts 1080p gaming and 1440p at decent settings.

Good Enough

@monkeyking1969: Thanks man; exactly what I was looking for.

@veektarius: hmm well if you know your going for a 970 i would try that first and see if the rest of your system is stable. If so then you could still wait and upgrade it all a year from now and save some immediate money.

Have you monitored your temps?

@veektarius: I think this is a much better build and substantially cheaper as well: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Jh6Pyc

A few notes:

1.No need to get another cpu cooler as the 6500 can't be overclocked. Stock will suffice and save you $80+.

2. That motherboard is built for overclocking (which the cpu can't do). No need to pay $100 extra for features you can't use.

3. No real gaming performance improvements when using more than 8Gb of ram.

4. That seagate hd seems overpowered for what you need.

5. 390 over a 970. The mostly trade blows at 1080p (a few games do better on each side but nothing earth shattering), but AMD has better driver support for legacy platforms, and the 8gb of ram will age much better than the 970's 3.5 gb of ram.

Neither, wait for Polaris and Pascal in June. Seriously, buying a new video card at the moment is a bad idea and you'll get significantly more for your money in around 2 months.

@korwin: Totally agree with you. It sounds like OP was ready to build now though so just wanted to throw out some suggestions.

My machine is broken, the option here is between fixing my system or not playing games on the PC for two months.

At the end of the day I can't tell you what to do with your cash, however I'd still suggest a exercising a small amount of restraint. You could simply build the rest of the machine and sit on the old GPU, stick with some lighter games for a short period.