[Need Advice] Gaming, streaming and rendering

[JordanR44]

So i have spent the last week racking my brain trying to figure out a build for my PC

I want the PC to play games on high/ultra (for the next year or two), leave room to be upgraded and not break my bank doing it

The trouble i am most having is the CPU

I plan to use this PC to a) play games b) stream/capture me playing those games c) render videos of a/b

So this leads to believe that I will need a 6 or 8 core CPU for all the multi-tasking i will be doing (xsplit, FRAPS, skype/vent, the game etc) but also needs to have good FPS for the games I will be using

So i think i have narrowed down my choices to 3:

1) FX-8120
2) Phenom ii x6 1100T/1090T (the 1100Ts are impossible to find but would be my preferred)
3) i5 2500k

they are all in the same ballpark for price (my price range).

The reason i am having so many problems is the following:

the 1100T and i5 are solid performers, there isnt much doubt. I have looked at a buttload of graphics comparing the CPUs and (though i dont understand most of them) they show the two to be fairly close together. This makes me think the 1100T would be better in my situation, since as a 6-core (which can be OC'ed to similar GHz) will handle my multi-tasking better. If it was just gaming performance, the i5 would be the winner, but its not so its more complicated.

but im lending towards the FX for the following reasons:

the FX is new tech, which seems to be competitive with the other two CPUs (give or take) but also seems to be highly under-used/not optimal at this time. But with the release of Windows 8 in the near future and constant software updates, it seems like the FX might be the more long-term choice. The i5 and the 1100T have been around awhile and seems like their performance has peaked (so to speak) where the FX can only get better.

Wow that was long.

So any help would be great

TLR i5/1100T better now, but FX has a lot of room to grow so maybe more future proof?

 

[phyco126]

I would get the 1100T now, if budget minded performance is what you are going after. Its not a bad chip, so I think it should perform admirably in the tasks you are wanting to do. Get the 2500K if you have the extra money.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/146?vs=288

Look at those benches in encoding and rendering. The processors are close in some cases, but the 2500K mostly wins that game. Overclock the 2500K, and you have a better performing and less power hogging platform, but at a bit of a higher cost. So its up to you.

Also, make sure you get at least 8 GB of RAM if you are going to be doing that much multitasking.

 

[esrever]

Get the 6 core phenom, it will probably give you the best middle ground since bulldozer is so new its not worth it to pay to be a beta tester of new technology while it doesn't perform like it should.

The i5 is not a bad idea either, if its the same price then its worth it but if the phenoms are cheaper, get the phenom.

 

[amuffin]

i5-2500k.

 

[CaedenV]

the FX is simply a bad design, it has nothing to do with OS optimization. Stay the hell away from it unless you are running some sort of 24/7 rendering farm where the FX is in fact faster. Not saying it is a totally bad design, in fact it is a great idea, but they botched it very badly. The next version may be really great if they can get it right.

What you really want is the i7 2600K which is quite affordable if you go to Microcenter. The i5 2500K is also a decent performer which will game fine, and just take a little longer at rendering.

You will want SSD or RAID to get proper bandwidth for recording low compression HD video from your games.

8 or 16GB of ram, speed dosn't matter much, but quantity is key.

good luck