Hi everybody!
I am trying to do a build with my step son. He is 12 and this will be his first PC build. He is in some sort of mathematics challenge (I left for Afghanistan before it started, so I didn't get many details) but I guess the highlight of the competition is building a robot to perform a series of exercises for points. He enjoys it. Last year for Christmas we bought him a programmable robotic arm that he seems to really like. I figure he should really enjoy building a computer. I do not want him to feel overwhelmed by all the options though as I did the first time I built a computer (which was at the age of 20 during my freshman year at college). Along those lines, I am putting together some options so he can pick the components from a list which we will then build together, everything from the case down to whether to go with a stock heatsink or buy an aftermarket cooler for the CPU. I, personally, prefer AMD, mainly because for the price range I operate in, they give more bang for the buck. He does not play many games right now that place high demand on the GPU (thank you, Minecraft!) however the types of games he does like to play are CPU intensive like the Total War series and Sins of a Solar Empire. I don't think he'll be doing much database editing, video editing, etc. so I question whether or not he needs a six core processor. Seems like he would pretty much be doing one thing at a time, which will be playing games since he has a laptop that he can use for typing his school work.
So, that's what I consider to be plenty of back story, my question is this: in this scenario, does the number of cores truly matter that much? I have three processors on the AMD side picked out for him to choose from right now, and two from intel. For the purpose of this question, we'll stick with the AMD processors for now. An AMD Athlon II X2 270 @ 3.4 ghz, AMD FX-4130 @ 3.8ghz, and AMD FX 6300 3.5ghz. Given that these are all in a similar range for their frequency, will there be a notable difference in performance between the three? I don't think my fifth and sixth processor have ever been used when I play games on my AMD FX 6100 system so I don't want to spend money on a six core system if those cores will be unused. Also, part of what I'm trying to do is teach my step son about budgeting and having to pick and choose. I will provide $350 and everything after that my step son will have to pay for. I have a used Ati 6770 that he can use for now which will reduce the cost up front. He is a good kid who works hard and gets an allowance of $20 every other week which he more than earns with his chores and is very good at saving, so I also want to make sure whatever we build, he can add on to it in the future with upgrades if he so chooses.
Thanks in advance for all the help on this.
I am trying to do a build with my step son. He is 12 and this will be his first PC build. He is in some sort of mathematics challenge (I left for Afghanistan before it started, so I didn't get many details) but I guess the highlight of the competition is building a robot to perform a series of exercises for points. He enjoys it. Last year for Christmas we bought him a programmable robotic arm that he seems to really like. I figure he should really enjoy building a computer. I do not want him to feel overwhelmed by all the options though as I did the first time I built a computer (which was at the age of 20 during my freshman year at college). Along those lines, I am putting together some options so he can pick the components from a list which we will then build together, everything from the case down to whether to go with a stock heatsink or buy an aftermarket cooler for the CPU. I, personally, prefer AMD, mainly because for the price range I operate in, they give more bang for the buck. He does not play many games right now that place high demand on the GPU (thank you, Minecraft!) however the types of games he does like to play are CPU intensive like the Total War series and Sins of a Solar Empire. I don't think he'll be doing much database editing, video editing, etc. so I question whether or not he needs a six core processor. Seems like he would pretty much be doing one thing at a time, which will be playing games since he has a laptop that he can use for typing his school work.
So, that's what I consider to be plenty of back story, my question is this: in this scenario, does the number of cores truly matter that much? I have three processors on the AMD side picked out for him to choose from right now, and two from intel. For the purpose of this question, we'll stick with the AMD processors for now. An AMD Athlon II X2 270 @ 3.4 ghz, AMD FX-4130 @ 3.8ghz, and AMD FX 6300 3.5ghz. Given that these are all in a similar range for their frequency, will there be a notable difference in performance between the three? I don't think my fifth and sixth processor have ever been used when I play games on my AMD FX 6100 system so I don't want to spend money on a six core system if those cores will be unused. Also, part of what I'm trying to do is teach my step son about budgeting and having to pick and choose. I will provide $350 and everything after that my step son will have to pay for. I have a used Ati 6770 that he can use for now which will reduce the cost up front. He is a good kid who works hard and gets an allowance of $20 every other week which he more than earns with his chores and is very good at saving, so I also want to make sure whatever we build, he can add on to it in the future with upgrades if he so chooses.
Thanks in advance for all the help on this.
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