University £650 first build (amd/radeon vs intel/nvidia)

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John Hattam

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Okay, so this will be my first build and im pretty excited

absolute budget was 650 but ehh nevermind

This is designed to be a build to last me at least 3 years.

Purposes include:

matlab work - nvidia gpu allows parallel computations in this making up for its small gaming deficit to the 280,
crystal modelling software, crystal maker, diffract etc

reasonable multitasking, i use virtuawin pretty extensively to manage my workload so i will have a screen or two for each of the above mentioned tasks aswell as maybe another 6 for different web resources

the pc will be used for approx 6-7hrs a day for these purposes

some gaming 1-2hrs a day

yeh so it would be nice to get 60+ on every game on ultra, but 40+ on high on battlefield, fifa, the new f1 game does me fine


the reason neither of these builds inlude i5s is because i was under the impression i could do with the extra threads... if that is not the case please correct me

Obviously the 8320 gives me the option to OC whereas the xeon does not

Build 1- Intel

CPU Intel Xeon E3-1230 V3 3.3GHz Quad-Core £185.94
Motherboard MSI H81I Mini ITX LGA1150 £47.11
Memory Crucial Ballistix Sport XT 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 £119.99
Storage Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" SSD £39.45
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM £39.99
Video Card Gigabyte GeForce GTX 760 2GB WINDFORCE £149.98
Case Cooler Master Elite 130 Mini ITX Tower £37.20
Power Supply EVGA 500W ATX12V / EPS12V £37.98
Optical Drive Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer £10.46

Total: £668.10



Build 2- AMD

CPU AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core £101.50
CPU Cooler Cooler Master Seidon 120V 86.2 CFM Liquid £31.79
Motherboard MSI 970 GAMING ATX AM3+ £74.54
Memory G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 £110.86
Storage Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" SSD £39.45
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM £39.99
Video Card MSI Radeon R9 280 3GB TWIN FROZR £147.60
Case Corsair SPEC-03 Red ATX Mid Tower £45.81
Power Supply Silverstone 700W ATX12V / EPS12V £58.44
Optical Drive Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer £10.46

Total: £660.44



if anyone can come up with a better build for my uses by all means let me know, as said before budget 650, not entirely fixed but dont really want it getting towards 700 if i can help it


Thanks


 
Solution
bicycle_repair_man
Assuming things are as I described, then yes, the 8320 or 8320e would be more beneficial than a 6300. My only reservation is that the 8xxx series don't have particularly good single-thread performance, so if the software you're running on the VMs can only utilise a single thread, then you may see a performance bottleneck. Intel is much better in this regard.
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Cristi72

Cristi72

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Hello,

In that budget, go for the AMD build, but add a second fan to the Seidon 120 (push-pull configuration) and also add at least an additional fan on top of the case (to cool the CPU surroundings). I would personally go for its bigger brother, Seidon 240M, or Corsair H100i, but your case of choice cannot accomodate such coolers.

60FPS+ on ultra? No way, with 760 or R9-280. For 1080p resolution, you'll need a GTX780, an R9-290x or the new kid in town, GTX970.
 
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bicycle_repair_man

bicycle_repair_man

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As a general rule of thumb, virtualisation software will benefit from extra processor threads. For example, in VMware, one virtual processor occupies one thread on the physical processor. I can't speak for VirtuaWin, but I wouldn't be surprised if it took the same approach. The same principle applies to RAM, at least in VMware.

A gaming GPU can be a mixed bag, as some will favour Nvidia over AMD and vice-versa. Typically this is only a day-one problem and once Nvidia/AMD get their hands on the game and release a new driver, it's no longer an issue.

Between the two builds, I'd recommend the Intel. The strong single-thread performance will handle your VMs better and the GTX 760 is still good for gaming.
 
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John Hattam

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Cristi, thanks for your help

with regards to the fps i was wasnt serious about the 60fps ultra, like i say above 40 on high is fine for me

bicycle man, if i were to say compare an unlocked i5 to the amd, would you still say the same or would the extra threads be more beneficial?



 
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bicycle_repair_man

bicycle_repair_man

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The first thing I would do is establish exactly how VirtuaWin uses physical resources. If it is as I described, then I would only recommend an i5 if gaming was your primary use or you only wanted to run a maximum of three basic VMs at once.

The fact the processor can be overclocked is moot if it's used in a virtual environment. The extra clock speed will help, but the lack of threads mean that the VMs won't multitask particularly well and you can't run as many of them simultaneously.
 
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John Hattam

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okay thanks, i will look into it re virtuawin, cant find anything as of yet

im guessing in this case then the 8320 would perform markedly better than the 6300, and i would be okay using an 8320e for less power draw since the clock is less significant? assuming things are as you described that is correct?
 
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bicycle_repair_man

bicycle_repair_man

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Assuming things are as I described, then yes, the 8320 or 8320e would be more beneficial than a 6300. My only reservation is that the 8xxx series don't have particularly good single-thread performance, so if the software you're running on the VMs can only utilise a single thread, then you may see a performance bottleneck. Intel is much better in this regard.
 
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madmatt30

madmatt30

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http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3zxLjX

Dropped the seidon for a 212 - the seidon is honestly not that good & is noisier than a evo
Swapped the Msi board for a gigabyte ud3p - its a tenner less & is the best 970 series board around bar none.
Swapped the case for a zalman z3 (best budget case around by miles imo) - good cable management & £20 worth of fans+controller preinstalled)
Swapped the Silverstone PSU for a xfx 550 (seasonic manufactured)
Swapped the Kingston for a sandisk (better drive than the new Kingston models)
Squeezed a 280x in for the same budget you had for the 280.
DONT buy a 8320e ,its a tenner more & is simply a downclocked/undervolted 8320.
Its a pointless CPU IMO much like the 8370 - you can do the same in bios yourself & save the money if you really must.
 
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Cristi72

Cristi72

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For virtualization, the FX will be better as it has 8 integer cores, so you will have the possibility to use twice as many virtual machines comparing with i7 or Xeon (from my knowledge, for a virtual machine you can allocate only real cores). If you want faster VMs however, Intel is the way to go (more IPC).

The best solution: go for Intel, but use the R9-280, the PSU and the Seidon 120V from the AMD build (Intel has lower power consumption, but in that little case it will quickly go on fire).
 
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John Hattam

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maddmatt thanks a lot for your help, just two things

i know the gigabyte is a fantastic motherboard, but is the msi not comparable? (if it was i would pay the extra 10 for aesthetics as ive kind of fallen in love with that mobo)...

secondly again xfx are a great psu brand but will i not be a tad short on wattage?

 
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madmatt30

madmatt30

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^ the xfx will run a 8320 & a 280x all day long - you're looking at 350w max on those components at full tilt.its a 550w continuous minimum rated PSU (much closer to being 620-650w) - xfx down rate their supplies rather than uprate them.
I love Silverstone as a case manufacturer but the 1 year warranty on their psu's makes me very wary of them ,xfx offer 5 year which gives more confidence in them for me personally.
& yes the msi is still a good board - if the red/black scheme is worth the tenner to you then go for it.
 
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John Hattam

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Sep 11, 2014
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Thanks a lot for your help

i am pretty much going for the build mattmatt suggested, with the msi mobo and a 280, since i can not justify >£150 on a gpu for the amount of gaming i will be doing :)

as i said i cant get the parts until january due to finances...but i will be sure to update!
 
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