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Mooncheesebaby

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Jul 8, 2013
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So I'm going to be building a gaming system in the near future and since I'm on a ~$700 budget I was leaning towards an AMD FX 6300 or 8320 but I've heard they 1. run hot and 2. use more electricity than an intel. I'm a single guy living in Southern California (hot and expensive electricity) and wondering if a cheaper Intel option would be a better choice in terms of overheating and electricity bill. I would definitely buy an aftermarket cooler for the CPU but could I still possibly be running into problems?
 
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cmi86
Just to set the record straight no FX's do not run hot. Their max core temp is only 62c, I have a basic aftermarket cooler on my 6300 @ 4.5 and I rarely ever see over 50c even under full load and it's been lingering around 100 here in Minnesota for a couple weeks now. On the other hand the new haswell stuff from intel has a max temp of 100c and I have already heard quite a few stories about people buying aftermarket coolers for their non overclocked haswell chips because they were hitting 80-90c with the stock cooler. Power usage is in the same ballpark as each other and not really enough to amass a noticeable difference. If you do go intel try and find a 3rd gen Ivy Bridge chip as the run significantly cooler and use less power, those...
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envy14tpe

envy14tpe

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Mar 3, 2012
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If you get a i5, such as the i5-3470, then you don't need a special cooler. I know cuz I used to live in SoCal too. It gets hot but not really too much of an issue if you can use AC. If not then a $25 cooler is enough. Also, don't worry about the power consumption on your build. Get good components and a i5 if possible. The cost of electricity isn't too much between components, fx-6300 vs i5-3470.

Just add a good extra case fan and you'll be good to go.
 
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geofelt

geofelt

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Oct 9, 2006
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I can't imagine that electricity costs can be that high to be worried about.
What are your rates?

The intel 22nm cpu chips particularly haswell do take less power.
It is the graphics cards that consume the bulk of the power.

Your $700 budget can budget about $400 for the combined cpu and graphics card. The graphics card is more important for the gamer.
I would allocate $135 for the cpu and $265 for the graphics card.
$135 is about the dividing point for gaming cpu's. Below that, amd is usually a better value; above that, intel is better.
I might suggest a haswell i3-4130(54w max) @$130 and a B85 based motherboard.
For the graphics card, take your pick. A GTX760 will be about $250, a 7850 will be about the same.
 
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ddpruitt

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Jun 4, 2012
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SoCal doesn't really get hot, it may feel that way if you live in a place with high humidity but I wouldn't worry. I live in the southwest and we regularly run weeks with 100+ degrees. I OC my Phenom II under these conditions and don't have any problems with it.

As for power usage I've found that any difference between two processors can be mitigated by properly enabling power savings options. Keep in mind that you don't just have concern yourself with the power the CPUs use but the entire build and the efficiency of your PSU. You may want to see what kind of savings you'll actual see from the typical load of one system to the next.
 
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dingo07

dingo07

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I won't be sad when I'm breezing through real-time charts - however, with the suggestion of a 660ti I'd be waiting minutes for the charts to render

you lil guys need to think outside the box sometimes... not everyones' world revolves around gaming
 
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envy14tpe

envy14tpe

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Mar 3, 2012
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says the guy staring at toy cars. 660ti is miles above a 2 years ago 7850.
 
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cmi86

cmi86

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Sep 29, 2010
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Just to set the record straight no FX's do not run hot. Their max core temp is only 62c, I have a basic aftermarket cooler on my 6300 @ 4.5 and I rarely ever see over 50c even under full load and it's been lingering around 100 here in Minnesota for a couple weeks now. On the other hand the new haswell stuff from intel has a max temp of 100c and I have already heard quite a few stories about people buying aftermarket coolers for their non overclocked haswell chips because they were hitting 80-90c with the stock cooler. Power usage is in the same ballpark as each other and not really enough to amass a noticeable difference. If you do go intel try and find a 3rd gen Ivy Bridge chip as the run significantly cooler and use less power, those are nice chips.
 
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