Higher Clock Rate or More Cores?

ludus · Jan 8, 2014

I am going to be building my first ever budget gaming pc and I am trying to choose the cpu. I was wondering if I should go with an AMD A10-6800k/A8-6600k quad-core at 4.1/3.9 or go with either an AMD FX 6350/6300 six core at 3.9/3.5. I will be gaming on this PC at 1080p and here is the rest of the build if you need to see it, and where I'm buying the cpu. (pcpartpicker) (microcenter)

PS I am on a budget and would like to stay within the current price range.

DarkSable · Jan 8, 2014

Yeah, the FX is a way way way better option.

You are totally missing the fact that cores and clock rate mean absolutely NOTHING when the architecture is massively different like that.

In addition, the FX series can be overclocked easily, and you have a CPU cooler, so you're just fine - you can GET a higher clock rate if you so choose.

Make sure you get a compatible motherboard, not the FM2 motherboard you have selected there.

whitecat · Jan 8, 2014

AMD A series have built-in gpu . Since you re getting a dedicated video card , avoid A series processor

pair FX 6300 with mobo MSI 970A-G46.

ludus · Jan 8, 2014

DarkSable :

(whitecat)

DarkSable :

Thanks a bunch! Now it's down to choosing which one. Should I choose the 6300 or the 6350? The bundles from Microcenter make it so the only combo with an actually good mobo is out of my price range and the 6300 i can actually afford. (The free gigabyte one is sold out at my store and I am planning on upgrading my ram to atleast 16gb)

DarkSable · Jan 8, 2014

I would grab the 6300 - the only difference between the two is clock rate, and you can overclock just fine.

What are you doing that you need the ram for? If it's just gaming, know that you're going to see absolutely zero benefit over 8GB - 8GB is enough to simultaneously run battlefield 3, photoshop, AND 30 tabs in chrome.

ludus · Jan 8, 2014

DarkSable :

Really? I never knew that! You learn a new thing every day. Well once again, thanks! So then, would it make sense to save myself some money and get myself the combo deal at Microcenter and get the FX 6300 with the FREE Asus mobo? Because it only allows 8gb of RAM, but it didn't seem to great to me. But I'm not actually sure what to be looking for in a mobo.

EDIT: ACTUALLY, i just checked up on the mobo and saw it had no HDMI port! Is that bad? Because i intend to play in HD.

HEXiT · Jan 8, 2014

your not gonna game well with an A8 cpu on a 1080p screen 720p is the sweetspot and even then your gonna be running without the high end filters on new games.
the A8 is a budget part for a build that doesnt have the need for high end gfx. such as a media pc, a set top box media center or some other all in 1 solution.
the 6350 on the other hand isnt a true 6 core. yes it has 6 cores but each pare shares the fpu which seriously hampers the threading performance in some apps. it should be thought of as a 3 module cpu that handles up to 6 threads (so the equivilant of a hyperthreading tri core) not a 6 core.

if your gonna throw in a dedicated gpu then the amd fx is the option will give you a jumping off point to get to 1080p. if your not gonna then the amd A8 but remember 720p max

whitecat · Jan 8, 2014

ludus :

DarkSable :

Really? I never knew that! You learn a new thing every day. Well once again, thanks! So then, would it make sense to save myself some money and get myself the combo deal at Microcenter and get the FX 6300 with the FREE Asus mobo? Because it only allows 8gb of RAM, but it didn't seem to great to me. But I'm not actually sure what to be looking for in a mobo.

EDIT: ACTUALLY, i just checked up on the mobo and saw it had no HDMI port! Is that bad? Because i intend to play in HD.

your GTX 660 has a HDMI port !

DarkSable · Jan 8, 2014

The motherboard video out doesn't matter - your monitor will be connected to your graphics card.

It's not a great motherboard, but it'll do fine if you don't want to overclock too high and are on a budget. Also, just so you know, the ONLY difference between HDMI and DVI is that hdmi carries sound too - DVI is just as good picture quality.

HEXiT, the guy already has a graphics card selected in his rig - he's not going to be using an APU as anything but a CPU. As for performance wise, the 6300 can easily be overclocked to the level of the 6350 even by someone new to the art.

ludus · Jan 8, 2014

DarkSable :

Lol, I knew it did, but I wasn't too sure if I was actually supposed to use it. But I guess I was just being stupid.

Should I go with that mobo or the MSI 970A-G46 ATX AM3+ Motherboard?

DarkSable · Jan 8, 2014

No worries; there are going to be a lot of funky questions like that with your first build.

I would probably go with the Asus, simply for the fact that you'll have better luck with customer service if something does go wrong.

ludus · Jan 8, 2014

DarkSable :

Thanks! Here is the update, does it look up to scratch (ignore the case for now)?

pcpartpicker

whitecat · Jan 8, 2014

ludus :

Why did you pick a microATX !
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-m5a97r20

trust me , the board MSI 970A-G46 is fine.

ludus · Jan 8, 2014

whitecat :

Well I DO have a budget, and that mobo you just selected is outside of my budget. Sorry. And whats wrong with a micro ATX mobo? I thought it only mattered if the case was too small.

DarkSable · Jan 8, 2014

Micro ATX is actually smaller than ATX. Sometimes it can be more expensive, because they have to cram stuff in denser, but if it's cheaper, there's pretty much no downside at all. Don't worry about it.

ludus · Jan 8, 2014

Thank you DarkSable, with both questions. You really helped me LOADS! And I learned a lot! And thank you everyone else too, for helping me figure out computers more.

DarkSable · Jan 9, 2014

Of course, glad I could help!

If you start a new thread or run into trouble with your build, send me a PM.

Higher Clock Rate or More Cores?

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