Core i3 HD7950 or Core i5 HD7870?

LBend

Honorable
Sep 16, 2013
5
0
10,520
Hello,

I'm building a mini-ITX gaming system. Due to heating nothing is going to be overclocked as my budget is too low for decent cooling solutions.
So far here is what I have got from our local store:
CTG-550C: CHIEFTEC 550W PSU, 85+,230V W/CABLE MNG
Fractal Design Node 304 M-ITX Case
DDR3 Adata 4GB 1333MHz CL9, Retail x1 (later I will add another one)
Gigabyte GA-B75N, B75, DualDDR3-1600, SATA3, HDMI, DVI, GBLAN, mITX Motherboard
So the remaining money could be spent like this:
Option #1 Intel Core i3 3240 and Sapphire Radeon HD VaporX 7950
Option #2 Intel Core i5-3470 and CLUB3D AMD HD7870 2GB DDR5 13SERIES
(or bit more expensive equivalent)

I will be playing on 1680x1050 resolution, unless current LCD monitor goes faulty and I purchase a new one. I will not be upgrading PC for another 3-4 years (besides adding some RAM and a SSD). No multiplayer games will be played. What would be the most viable option?
 

LBend

Honorable
Sep 16, 2013
5
0
10,520
Thank you, I will be going for Intel Core i5-3470 along with HD7870 card then.
In a few weeks I will assemble the new PC and I will post temperatures of both CPU and GPU inside Fractal Design Node 304 M-ITX Case. Really curious on how it will go!