@Salt_The_Fries: In a way, I agree. PC or a similar device (as if consoles aren't gimped PCs already) will likely be the central hub for entertainment, with many manufacturers creating either the internal hardware or some proprietary peripheral, which would be required to play specific games. I mean, this really doesn't sound too different from what is happening now, does it?

Facebook.

EDIT: Seriously, Facebook. I feel that in the coming decades (lol, lemme look into my crystal ball a sec), if any of the big three are to leave the video game industry, there are several big companies who could fill in, considering quite a few already have a foot in the door. Look at Apple, Samsung, and even HTC with their Valve partnership for the Vive HMD. Apple and Samsung are primarily mobile now, but as Nintendo has been addressing more and more, the mobile industry is quickly encroaching into the 3DS/DS-space.

With VR experiences appearing to be a pivotal move for many companies, it's hard not to see some of these other big tech manufacturers sidestepping the consoles and offering something completely new.

Half Life 3, 8K, HTC Vive 3.0, coming to a streaming device near you...2023. /s

I'm fairly certain the solution to your problem would be simply to set your speaker configuration in the windows sound options to 2.1, assuming both the sub and stereo speakers are connected to the soundcard. I do not own a soundcard, but the premise should be the same as with a digital receiver/amp (I have a 5.2 setup via HDMI to a digital receiver passing 5.1 PCM). Assuming that KX driver allows you to change the crossover frequency to match the bottom end of your speakers to the sub, you should not experience any issues. Additionally, from the looks of it (as well as my recommendation linked below), this sub has a low pass adjustment built-in, in case the soundcard is unable to do so.

As for the subwoofer, I'm not sure that's the best deal. Are there any other pictures featuring the subwoofer's driver (ie. can you be sure it's intact? It looks like a used product.).

I feel you could probably find a better deal using craigslist or other local exchanging site. In my area, I was able to find this for the equivalent of ~€67 ($75). It has a 254mm (10") driver, which is a substantial leap over the 203mm (8") driver of that JBL, allowing for lower, less distorted bottoms.

As for connecting the sub to the soundcard, you will be needing a RCA-to-3.5mm adapter, such as this. I apologize for using sites based in the US, but these are more just for reference than actual recommendations. =P Happy hunting!

I agree with @04dcarraher; I'd say to wait it out. I have a similar setup: an AMD Phenom II x6 1055T from 2010. Overclocked from 2.8GHz to 3.8GHz, the performance still drops a bit in current games, but it's usually a result of my GTX 660 bottlenecking. Even though the 660 is far less powerful than your 290, my framerates rarely drop below 30fps all settings maxed (w/ 2-4x AA) at 1680x1050 on any game. As 04dcarraher said, DX12 looks to *really* improve threaded performance, which will be making use of those other 4 cores on that 8350. I'm anticipating a bit of an improvement for myself so that I can hold off upgrading for even longer. :P The only thing I hope I have to upgrade anytime soon is the gpu again.

@Salt_The_Fries I like Schweppers Ginger Ale /thumbs_up 2:

@LegatoSkyheart: I'd rather play them on pc with a Wiimote+ :P

@wis3boi: Lol, you're the first person to post with more hours on record than me. :P

I don't know. I'm more of an on-the-cheap type of person. I built my whole system over 2 years ago for a budget of ~$600, and the only time I see any less than 25 fps in a game is planetside 2 during 90+ vs 90+ battles with everything set to ultra at 1080p. The game looks fantastic, but the drops in frames can take away from some of the fun, so intel cores would be better suited for that task. All in all, it's because the game was coded on DX9.

Now, your cpu is still fairly capable. If you took others' advice, you would very unlikely see any less than 45 fps in any game (except maybe Crysis 3 on ultra with MSAA maxed, The Witcher 3 with ubersampling, and maybe a handful of other games) because most other games are not nearly as CPU limiting as that game. Most of the time you see low fps with modern intel processors (Sandy Bridge i5/i7 2xxx series and later) is simply because the graphics card, rather than your processor, is the bottleneck.

DX12 is a completely different story. DX12, set to release later this year...or something... is supposed to offload much of the work from the CPU to the GPU, which is much faster to process large amounts of information at any given time compared to a cpu. DX12 and future APIs are set to breathe new life into even AMD Athlon cpus, assuming your graphics card can handle picking up the extra slack. With newer drivers and support, your graphics card is like 1.7x what my GTX 660 is, and I feel that it is currently capable enough for my needs. At your native resolution with about half the pixels of 1080p, a 280X in its own right could crush just about any game with any settings, I'd imagine.

For the time being though, if you do have the upgrade itch, I would purchase a decent aftermarket cooler and attempt a mild OC. I really think you would be pleasantly surprised with your gains. If not, that cpu cooler will have been an inevitable upgrade for your new intel cpu and motherboard. :P Keep in mind though, that waiting is usually the better deal; why buy top-of-line parts now for top-of-line parts' prices when their potential will not be fully tapped (assuming you do not have a 120/144Hz monitor that actually can refresh fast enough to display every frame above 60+) until much later? I usually research parts, look at benchmarks, and gauge how well I feel a certain component will perform before I buy it. That way, I am able to understand what is the baseline for what I need, so I can swoop in later and pick up a relatively powerful-but-currently-mid-tier part that suits my needs at that point in time with very little out of pocket.

Best of luck on your purchases and tinkering! :)

The easiest option available to find your specs is to hit the start button, type "dxdiag.exe," and hit enter. A box may appear asking for permission (just hit agree, blah blah), and a box with a few tabs will appear. The first tab "System" will have information regarding your motherboard (MOBO) model, processor (CPU), bios version, memory (RAM), etc. The other tabs marked "Display (#)" will tell you the exact model of your graphics card (GPU). The "R9 200" is just an umbrella term for the R9 series (ie. the R9 300 series is set to release later this year).

If you have any number higher than a R9 280, and assuming your resolution really is only 1360x768 and you are really looking for a quick, cheap upgrade, then I would probably suggest that you just buy a $30 CPU cooler such as the "CoolerMaster 212+" or "212 EVO", whichever you feel is worth your money as proper application of thermal paste between the CPU and the cooler seems to make more difference than any variance in cooling performance between those two models. Back on point, a decent $30 cooler should allow you to easily push that FX 6300 from 3.5GHz to around 4.0GHz, depending on the quality of your motherboard. In newer games that take advantage of many threads, overclocking even a modest 500MHz should yield some pretty respectable jumps (25fps in CPU-bottlenecked games may see 28-35fps at that point). Planetside 2 could be a fantastic demonstration for CPU overclocking gains.

I too have a 6 core AMD cpu. It's an old Phenom II from early 2010, and it overclocks like a champ! Because you're really new to PC components and the like, or if overclocking makes you anxious, just watch a few youtube videos. Youtube could probably teach brain surgery. You just have to get familiar with your motherboard and bios and get a feel for what is stable for your system. Hope this helped a little, and sorry if late - and for the wall of text.

Funniest thing I've read all day.