A guide to the REAL cost of an AMD FX-9XXX

If you have read my previous guide "A guide to CPUs and common misconceptions" you might have noticed that the 9590 falls behind the i5s and i7s. But what is the real cost of this chip? Since it is cheaper than the i7 shouldn't it be a decent buy for the price? Lets break down the recommended minimum parts for both builds.

We can assume that the user of this PC will likely pick a GTX 970 equivalent graphics card so we can judge the recommended power based on that for both builds. The RAM, case, and hard drives will not make much of a difference and we can assume all of that will be the same as well.

Lets start off with the Intel build.
550W Minimum PSU recommended (Only tier 1 or 2 for obvious reasons)
Z97 recommended for overclocking
i7-4690k
Decent cooler to overclock (Also note that the Intel build has an overkill cooler even for a medium overclock. )

Now what would that look like on paper?
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($328.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($74.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-Gaming 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($111.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($80.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $596.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-29 01:54 EDT-0400

^ Included one of the best PSUs period.

Now for AMD.
FX 9590
1000W PSU (Same quality as the build above)
Decent 990FX chipset motherboard with decent PWM.
Good cooler to cool this monster.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-9590 4.7GHz 8-Core OEM/Tray Processor ($217.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($89.75 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock 990FX Extreme9 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($159.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 1000G2 1000W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $597.72
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-29 01:56 EDT-0400

Hmm a dollar you say? Well that is not the only cost you should be looking at. Do not forget that the AMD will also cost you 10 dollars a year in energy, perform slower in every category, and bottleneck any graphics card equal to or faster than a GTX 980.

Do's of homebuilt systems

Read reviews from other sites such as JonnyGuru. Try to be open minded and take input from as many unbiased sources as possible.
Ask others what they think of your build/parts-list. Ask for criticism and get multiple opinions. Try to micro-scrutinize every part in a build and prove why part A is better than part D for your needs.
Do your own research. (Watch a lot of independent youtube reviews from all kinds of people)
Shop around for parts. Use pcpartpicker.com to guide the building of your PC.
Do get 2x4GB or 2x8GB (LGA1150) [2x4 or 4x4 for LGA2011v3] of RAM over 1x8GB 2x8GB thinking you might upgrade in the future to 4x8GB. It is pointless to have more than 16GB of RAM unless you need it for virtual machines. 32GB is overkill and does your system no benefit over 16 for gaming and VERY little benefit in renders (less than 1/2%-2% faster renders).


Do not's of homebuilt systems

Do not get “overkill” parts. Such as a Pentium G3258 with 32GB of RAM and a 980ti for gaming.
Do not fall for the upgrade blues. (New Intel CPUs get released and you think you MUST upgrade with only a year on a build.)
Do not buy a cheap power supply (Cannot stress this enough).
Get a quality Power Supply: Tier 1 or 2 for gaming / overclocking / editing / any other stressful use of the computer.
http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1036
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html
Do not believe "I can satisfy my needs for 1000 dollars. If I therefore use the double, 2000 dollars, my needs would be satisfied twice as long and twice as much."

Useful links:
PSU Tier List: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html
Jonny Guru: http://jonnyguru.com/
Toms Charts: http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/
Motherboard tier list: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2383150/motherboard-tier-list.html
Intel Mega thread: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2491286/intel-core-haswell-cpus-megathread-links-faq.html
Intel temp guide: www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-1800828/intel-temperature-guide.html

If you have something to add or edit for this guide send me a PM here and I will edit this if the advice seems reasonable.