Building a budget gaming system. i3-4130 or FX6350?

azaran · Oct 29, 2013

Hey all, hoping I can get some decent views on the matter.

Short Version:
Upgrading/Building up a system for a non hardware tech savvy friend. This rig is for gaming, but the user primarily plays TF2 so its really CPU heavy. He also records/edits game play, but the actual game play is the primary use of the system. Overclocking isn't going to happen, so what I'm looking at is stock performance.

I'm trying to sort out going with an i3-4130 or FX6350 for best performance in what is around the $300 price mark for CPU, Mobo, RAM, + couple system extras that have no bearing on system performance.

For anyone who's going to suggest an i5 or upgrade to GPU, please see below.

Long Version:
Some friends and I are pitching in to build a friend a new computer. I'm putting together a list of hardware specs ranging in the budget system to a moderate system. This is ranging from $300 to $500. Not a hell of a lot, but we are working with some preexisting components and getting college students to give up ramen money isn't the easiest thing.

Right now he's using an AMD 64 X2, so even the budget options are going to be a sizable upgrade. He's also not the most tech savvy in hardware and living a bit away from any of us so OCing and anything else that would involve a tearful call from him for support is best kept to a minimum.

So for now the question is about CPU since the GPU (560ti) is already in place, and the PSU was just upgraded to an XFC 650W. Motherboard/RAM will obviously depend on the Intel vs AMD question. Leaning towards H87 for Intel or 970 for AMD.

I'm hoping I can get funding to bump this project in to an i5 but should that not happen, any advice in this budget build would be appreciated.

System components that will be carried over:
OS: Windows 7 64bit
Case: Lian Li of some sort
PSU: XFX Core Edition Pro 650w
GPU: MSI 560ti
HD: Seagate 500GB Sata II

Viking2121 · Oct 29, 2013

With the i3 you might bottleneck before you would with the FX6350, Simple fact that the i3 is a dual core, and the 2 hyper threading cores are NOT used in any game to date, and will not take load off the CPU if its being taxed out (im gonna get a lot of grief for saying that, lol).

FX6350 wont be the best performing CPU, but its cheap and will do better at recording with the extra cores and clock speed.

Don't get me wrong, the i3 is a good CPU, but for gaming, and dual core is just not enough. He would probably do better with the Phenom II x4 965 or better then what he would with the FX6350 sadly.

azaran · Oct 29, 2013

Viking2121 :

Yeah unfortunately the Phenom II x4 965 isnt an option. New they're past i5 prices and used... well I'm trying to max out as much a warranty as possible with parts due to the gremlins that like to follow him around so I'm trying to avoid used if possible.

The reason i was even looking a the i3 was because a lot of the game benches i saw, in games that didn't use more than 2 cores (which is mostly what he plays) the i3 did better than the X6350, but only marginally. Granted this is only for the base line build i'm doing, but I'd like to get as much performance out of it as possible.

Also keep in mind, this is the base level build. I am gonna push to try and go higher, but I want to make sure the base will at least do the job.

Thanks for the quick response.

8350rocks · Oct 29, 2013

azaran :

Viking2121 :

Yeah unfortunately the Phenom II x4 965 isnt an option. New they're past i5 prices and used... well I'm trying to max out as much a warranty as possible with parts due to the gremlins that like to follow him around so I'm trying to avoid used if possible.

The reason i was even looking a the i3 was because a lot of the game benches i saw, in games that didn't use more than 2 cores (which is mostly what he plays) the i3 did better than the X6350, but only marginally. Granted this is only for the base line build i'm doing, but I'd like to get as much performance out of it as possible.

Also keep in mind, this is the base level build. I am gonna push to try and go higher, but I want to make sure the base will at least do the job.

Thanks for the quick response.

FX 6350 > Phenom II anything.

Look at Tom's Hardware's K10 vs. FX showdown...the FX 6350 walked away from everything else in that review, and when overclocked, ran with the 3570k.

logainofhades · Oct 29, 2013

I would go with FX 6300. I know you said no about overclocking, but I don't consider bumping the multiplier 2 numbers true overclocking. Take that money saved towards something else like an aftermarket cooler or maybe better GPU. I personally never use stock coolers as I think they all suck whether from AMD or Intel.

fatboytyler · Oct 29, 2013

I have seen the FX6300 in action and it does not get enough credit. Its a great CPU especially for the price. I would say go for the FX CPU over the i3. The additional cores will greatly help with recording ingame.

Also, the Asus 970 Mobo for AMD CPUs is a great one!

Viking2121 · Oct 30, 2013

8350rocks :

Im not sure what website you got that from, the FX chips even the newer bulldozers gets pushed around by the Phenom II x4. Now I understand Overclocking ability on the FX is higher, but you got to remember that the FX core for core performance is slower, %10 - %20 slower. that means when you OC the FX to say 4.5ghz, the 965 will still pull ahead at 4ghz in most single threaded games. Once you OC the 965's CPU-NB to near 3000mhz , I seen benches where the 965 at stock 3.4ghz beat the FX 6 core at 4ghz, CPU-NB don't really give much of a boost on the FX's like it did the Phenom's.

Though I can be wrong, Thats just what I kinda gathered from place to place. I'd still say stick with the FX tho due to price.

logainofhades · Oct 30, 2013

Viking2121 :

8350rocks :

Im not sure what website you got that from, the FX chips even the newer bulldozers gets pushed around by the Phenom II x4. Now I understand Overclocking ability on the FX is higher, but you got to remember that the FX core for core performance is slower, %10 - %20 slower. that means when you OC the FX to say 4.5ghz, the 965 will still pull ahead at 4ghz in most single threaded games. Once you OC the 965's CPU-NB to near 3000mhz , I seen benches where the 965 at stock 3.4ghz beat the FX 6 core at 4ghz, CPU-NB don't really give much of a boost on the FX's like it did the Phenom's.

Though I can be wrong, Thats just what I kinda gathered from place to place. I'd still say stick with the FX tho due to price.

Umm the guy said Tomshardware. Bulldozer isn't the newer chip, Piledriver/Vishera is.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/piledriver-k10-cpu-overclocking,3584-19.html

8350rocks · Oct 30, 2013

Viking2121 :

8350rocks :

Im not sure what website you got that from, the FX chips even the newer bulldozers gets pushed around by the Phenom II x4. Now I understand Overclocking ability on the FX is higher, but you got to remember that the FX core for core performance is slower, %10 - %20 slower. that means when you OC the FX to say 4.5ghz, the 965 will still pull ahead at 4ghz in most single threaded games. Once you OC the 965's CPU-NB to near 3000mhz , I seen benches where the 965 at stock 3.4ghz beat the FX 6 core at 4ghz, CPU-NB don't really give much of a boost on the FX's like it did the Phenom's.

Though I can be wrong, Thats just what I kinda gathered from place to place. I'd still say stick with the FX tho due to price.

You're seriously and sadly mistaken. The FX 6350 is better than the Phenom II X4 series across the board. Phenom II beat the FX 6100 in some things...however, the 6350 is quite an improvement over the first gen bulldozer architecture. Logain provided the link above.

Viking2121 · Nov 2, 2013

8350rocks :

Viking2121 :

You're seriously and sadly mistaken. The FX 6350 is better than the Phenom II X4 series across the board. Phenom II beat the FX 6100 in some things...however, the 6350 is quite an improvement over the first gen bulldozer architecture. Logain provided the link above.

Eh, if you say so, It might be, I havn't done much testing on the newer chips. Bulldozer was a waste if you had a Phenom II BE quad. But I don't know about Piledriver, I never trust any of them benchmarks even from Tom's, just simply because literally every site give different numbers of the same tests. When I test the same chip such as the 980x, I get better numbers then most site give. I see any FX chips and think modules = waste of money, guess Bulldozer left a bad taste in my mouth lol.

logainofhades · Nov 4, 2013

Faildozer is why I ended up getting a 3570k. I could have gotten one at microcenter when I needed hardware fast, but faildozer would have been a huge downgrade over the i5 2400 I had been using, and had to install in my file server as an emergency repair.

CTurbo · Nov 24, 2013

Neither. You should be debating between the FX 6300 vs the FX 8320.

Nathan76 · Apr 17, 2014

OK so u probably got this sorted out by now but I'll just mention this incase it helps anyone else-

I just put my GTX 570 in my i3-4130 build that was previously paired with a Phenom II 965 @3.6MHz and 3DMark 11 score went up from 5000 to 5300.

So from this I assume that the i3-4130 is at least as good as the 965 at gaming.

Viking2121 · Apr 17, 2014

Nathan76 :

Depends, In BF3 or BF4, that i3 would not allow the GPU to work at its full potental. Now games like Skyrim or DayZ the I3 would probably win. I don't recommend the i3 anymore around my shop for gaming usage.

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