Want to upgrade my computer for this game, need some advice.

[NoahArks]

snip

It's powerful enough to run it on 30-40fps. I ran this game on a GTX660, 8gb ram and a i7 3770k till february and it ran fine. Not like this game gives you benefits playing on 60fps. also if you consider his budget being 300-500, then it's the obvious choice to not touch the gpu till later when he has more money to spend. I can pretty much vouch for saying that the gtx 960 would be able to run this game on 60fps constantly. Though, if he's going for a gpu in the 200-400 range, it's gonna be either the 380 or the 390, because those blow it out of the park. I own a 390 myself atm, and it's maybe 61 degrees in a crowded area or in void ark, lower when there isnt as much to render.

When changing systems, you actually want to work on the full system, instead of just the gpu, since those tend to cost more than most components combined. Also a 300+ costing gpu will bottleneck with the fx6300. So it's cpu/mobo > ram (if you can't reuse) > gpu. SSD is a luxery item in a gaming build. It's not a must have.