CPU decision HELP please.

get the i3 and get a 7850.

id get a i3 but id suggest posting what is your budget for the entire build. would make your rig a lot more balanced as well

My initial budget is about 500 dollars, although i might be able to punch in 600.

FX-4300 also works and is a bit cheaper than i3.

I've never used AMD for gaming... is it worth it?

From what I see, FX 4300 is actually faster in skyrim and diablo 3. Skyrim is a CPU intensive game. But of course, thats the only 2 games i can find.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6396/the-vishera-review-a...

Both reviews are using windows 8 which is supposedly to be optimizd for multithreading, so FX-4300 may indeed be better than i3.

no. draws way too much power (fx) but APUs are worth looking at

since you are only playing source games and some MMOs that arent too demanding, APUs are my choice to go for

here you go
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/lRFX

no graphics card since the onboard stuff is good enough for your usage. no where near a 560 but will accomplish what you want it to play.

also, please overclock the CPu and Onboard GPU for max perforamnce

the i3 and 4300 are similar. for direct comparison, you essentially have to judge your choice on either: having the ability to overclock, at the cost of higher power consumption vs lower power consumption but little to no clocking ability


to fuirther back up previous post, APU's arent that bad of a performance. they are budget oriented, and can work well. I think ive seen a bench somewhere that the APU can actually perform similar to amds last gen 4170 to some extent, so its under the i3, but can give you time to buy a gpu as the igpu is useable to some extent(about as strong as 5570ish at standard clock)

BTW. If the information is required:
I do not need an OS.
I do not need a Monitor.
Fitting a 6Gb/s HDD would be rather appreciated.
I am planning to use it for gaming/video editing.
I do not have mouse or keyboard.
I plan on buying it ASAP.
Not sure if going SLI/XFire (opinions please).
As stated before, I have a budget of 500-600 dollars.
THANKS

Amd is the king of budget processors. Just make sure you get a 3rd party cpu cooler.

Also, I want to leave the system open for further upgrading. I know I'm asking a lot, but I really want to get back to PC gaming.

if its upgrading cpu, you dont have much of a choice. AM3+ might be upgradeable, but who knows the performance of steamroller will be as well as the motherboards itself is a bit dated now, because there wasn't any motherboard refreshes with piledriver.. the fate of FM2 is unknown. LGA 1155 is dead end socket, next platform will be LGA 1150 for intel.

pick your poison.

Ok, I see... By the way, couldn't help but to check out your rig... How much did you pay for it??

without os monitor peripherals, at the time, ~700$. It should be much cheaper now with cheaper ram, gpu prices down etc. closer to 600$.

basically major price changes since i bought the parts mid april:

250$ 7850 > 200$(?) now
i3(127) > newer i3 at ~125$
advent of cheaper b75 mobos can decrease cost
ram prices 40$>35$

etc

Ok, i see. That somehow gets closer to my budget. Would you mind helping me out building a similar system like yours?? If it isn't too much of a bother.

really sketch rough quick mopup without using promos:

Gtx 660
Rosewill Blackbone + 450w capstone-m(has almost the same amps as 550w hive unit
MSI-Z77A-G41 + 2x4 gb crucial ram
i3-3220 + dvd drive

the total together is about 580$. this does not include HDD. if you don't need the dvd drive drop it use money somewhere else. only used motherboard as a reference point, it gives you only very basic cpu overclocking abilities if you ever buy a k series i5 chip. mobo can only crossfire, if you want to sli, it will be out of budget. you can cheapen the mobo if you want if you are price concioused, but will block the ability to overclock if upgraded(gpu is fine to overclock, but the 660 doesnt get far with them)


note, this is just a mock up of what prices to expect. if you need to fit a tighter budget, lower motherboard and downgrade gtx 660 to a 1gb 7850 and call it a day

Would it be better so save a little more money to use an i5 2500k? O should I stick with this setup for my uses and purposes?

ideally saving more money will always make you more content. an average build will have an i5/~200$ gpu for covering most games at respectable frame rates to an extent. whichever option you choose is totally up to you.

Best answer selected by mfms94.