Intel Processor or AMD Processor with better graphics Card

JustMnM · Feb 7, 2014

Hi, hoping someone can give me a little advice -

So I can afford to buy a gaming system with an AMD six core processor and a GTX 770 graphics card, along with a 120GB SSD and 16GB ram OR a system with an Intel i5 4670 processor but with a GTX 760 graphics card and a 500GB HDD.

Which should I go for and which will last the longest without needing an upgrade?

Hope that all makes sense.

Cheers!

If it makes a difference I have 2 portable hard drives (320GB (USB 2.0) and 740GB (USB 3.0) )

Novuake · Feb 7, 2014

OK so while a better graphics card is always the way I suggest it. If you can sqeeze in both, why not?

Fill this out and watch us get the best of both

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/353572-31-build-upgrade-advice

JustMnM · Feb 7, 2014

Novuake :

Thanks for you reply. Unfortunately, trying to squeeze in both will cost me another 100 quid which, unless I can sell a few things, isn't going to happen just yet. That said, I think I'm leaning more towards the better graphics card rather than the processor.

Thanks

Novuake · Feb 7, 2014

Again, fill that out, and we can figure it out.

A budget would be enough.

For example just going for 8GB of RAM already frees up 50 "quid".

filippi · Feb 7, 2014

For gaming a FX-6300 / GTX770 would be my choice. imho forget about SSD and 16GB. Get only 8GB and a good motherboard and cpu cooler instead. FX-6300 usually overclock nicely.

Trustdesa · Feb 7, 2014

For the not so huge different I'd go with Intel you also save on heat, power and noises

Scremin34Egl · Feb 7, 2014

I would take the fx6300 with the gtx 770. The GPU always comes before the CPU unless the CPU is causing a bottleneck but that doesn't apply here. Make sure you have a good motherboard with at least a 970 chipset and not one of those old 760g motherboards

JustMnM · Feb 7, 2014

Novuake :

Fair enough, here we go - the two systems I'm working with --- My budget is around the £650 - £660 mark. Specs have been taken from dinopc.com as they seem to have the best deals/prices

Intel H81/H87 Chipset (custom-h81-h87)

CPU: Intel Core i5 4670

Motherboard: -Gigabyte H81M-S2PV

Memory:- 16GB DDR3 1333mhz (2x8GB)

Hard Drive: - 500GB S-ATAIII 6.0Gb/s

Graphics card:- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 2GB

PSU: - 650W Corsair VS

---------------------

AMD 760G Chipset (custom-760g)

CPU:- AMD FX 6300 Black Edition

Motherboard: - Gigabyte 78LMT-USB3

Memory:- 16GB DDR3 1333mhz (2x8GB)

Hard Drive:- NEW! Crucial 120GB M500 SSD

Graphics card: - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 2GB

PSU:- 650W Corsair VS

JustMnM · Feb 7, 2014

Incidentally, I read somewhere that BF4, highest settings would need 8GB RAM. Would more games in the near future (as in the next couple of years) start to need the same if not more RAM?

I'd really like to put together a system that could potentially last the next 3-5 years without having to upgrade or add anything (if that's possible)

Pr3di · Feb 7, 2014

@ OP - why do you ask for everyone`s opinion, if you`re not going to listen to anyone?
As it`s already been said, 8Gb is more than enough for starters, and lose the SSD at this point in time.
I know the SSD is a huge improvement, but do you really want to cut out of GPU or CPU performance just to have the SSD nou, rather than waiting for 1/2 more months for it?

Get an R9 280x, a 990FX mobo, and if you lose the 8GB of ram and SSD at this point, check if you can get a FX 8350, or at least a FX 8320.
However, you can just get a good CPU cooler, and OC that thing, since the FX 6300 OC`s rather well.

So, do you want to take the advice of people with experience and/or research done? Or just to show that you are stubborn and you will decide what to get, because you know best?

Novuake · Feb 7, 2014

OK your builds are both lopsided.

Let me make 2 around 600 that would be better.

That 760 chipset board with the 6300FX is especially bad.
So is the 650W overkill PSU that is of lower quality.

JustMnM · Feb 7, 2014

Pr3di :

A rather rude response to a first time request for advice...

Actually, I haven't made any decisions yet. The list of specs I included in my earlier post were created prior to my initial request for help/advice/opinions.

I'm open to all responses and wish to make an informed decision after I've taken all replies into consideration. So as I've already stated, the specs I detailed earlier were written up before my original post and are therefore completely open to amendments.

Hope that clears things up a little and thank you for your advice as it will be considered.

JustMnM · Feb 7, 2014

Novuake :

I am still pretty new to PC gaming generally, can you please explain why the 760 chipset board is bad? Which PSU would you recommend? To be honest, the 650W overkill PSU was the cheapest option based on the graphics card chosen at the time.

Thanks again

Pr3di · Feb 7, 2014

@OP - Sorry for the rude comment, I was just put off a bit by the fact that you were recommended 2 times to stick with the 8GB of RAM, and once to lose the SSD at this point, and you still posted the builds that included 16GB and the SSD.

As for the PSU, you should buy a quality one, not a cheap one. Think of it this way, the PSU is the only one (I think) that has the ability to burn off all the rest of your parts. That`s why I spent like 3 times what I was planning to pay for the PSU in my build.

If you plan to overclock, the 6300 will do a good job at this, and I think that OC vs OC, it sometimes will do even a better job than the 8320.

Now I`m not sure if AMD CPU + AMD GPU will give you a bit more power, or if it`s irrelevant.

Novuake · Feb 7, 2014

Well here, Intel I5 AND a GTX 770.

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2OQJL
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2OQJL/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2OQJL/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£139.92 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: ASRock H87 Pro4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£58.09 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£65.76 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£39.98 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card (£242.90 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Zalman Z9 ATX Mid Tower Case (£36.98 @ Dabs)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£45.00 @ Aria PC)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£11.92 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £640.55
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-02-07 12:25 GMT+0000)

The 760G chipset was never designed to run the FX series. Its an ancient chipset and extremely low cost boards that are prone to failure.
My PSU recommendation is above.

By the way, I removed the SSD. Its just not worth it to compromise on CPU and GPU just for an SSD that can be added later, to change out a GPU or CPU will be a lot harder and more expensive later than a simple SSD change.

JustMnM · Feb 7, 2014

Pr3di :

Are you choosing the R9 280X over the GTX 760 or 770? Or is the R9 280X a good mid-way point?

With bringing the ram down to 8gb and swapping the SSD for HDD I should be able to go with the 8350 or 8320. my next question though is - Are 8 core processors necessary right now or is this future-proofing?

Thanks

Novuake · Feb 7, 2014

The R9 280x is equal to a GTX770, they trade blows depending on the game played.

The 8 core CPU are up to par in gaming to the Intel I5s.

Pr3di · Feb 7, 2014

I think that the AMD 8 cores are not required at this point in time, if we`re talking about gaming, but things might evolve.
Don`t get my word for it, as I haven`t done a lot of research on AMD CPU`s (I have an i5 4670k + Rn 280x Matrix).
The R9 280x is rather similat with the 770, trading punches depending on games and benchmarks.

I went with the R9 due to the Battlefield games, being AMD optimised, the fact that at this point the R9 was cheaper at that point for me, and also the 3GB of Vram (I see that in BF3 I reach 1.8 GB of VRAM usage at some points).

But the above build is a very solid one.

JustMnM · Feb 7, 2014

Pr3di :

No worries, I can see why you got to that conclusion.

Thanks for the info. Guess it'll be a case of choosing between Intel or AMD as well as cost for both. I've seen posts in the past when the question "AMD or Intel" was asked, it caused a right storm and an unbiased answer wasn't actually given haha!

JustMnM · Feb 7, 2014

Novuake :

Well here, Intel I5 AND a GTX 770.

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2OQJL
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2OQJL/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2OQJL/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£139.92 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: ASRock H87 Pro4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£58.09 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£65.76 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£39.98 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card (£242.90 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Zalman Z9 ATX Mid Tower Case (£36.98 @ Dabs)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£45.00 @ Aria PC)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£11.92 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £640.55
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-02-07 12:25 GMT+0000)

The 760G chipset was never designed to run the FX series. Its an ancient chipset and extremely low cost boards that are prone to failure.
My PSU recommendation is above.

By the way, I removed the SSD. Its just not worth it to compromise on CPU and GPU just for an SSD that can be added later, to change out a GPU or CPU will be a lot harder and more expensive later than a simple SSD change.

Good point, I definitely like the look of those specs. Food for thought.

Used to think RAM, GPU and CPU was all I needed to think about but a decent motherboard and PSU definitely seem pretty vital too.

Many Thanks

Novuake · Feb 7, 2014

Motherboard and PSU are the 2 MOST important things, they can make or break a build.

sora · Feb 8, 2014

filippi :

Great if you're gaming, but no matter which one you choose there will be little performance difference imo.

ibrahimasghar · Feb 8, 2014

Go with Intel, always reliable in the long run.

Intel Processor or AMD Processor with better graphics Card

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