- Jun 21, 2013
- 13
- 0
- 10,510
TL;DR incoming. Sorry to add to the countless topics about this, but I'm stumped.
So I want to build my first PC, primary use would be gaming, then the usual day to day stuff, internet browsing, watching movies, listening to music, and the very occasional photo editing (no video editing, 3d modelling and rendering or anything like that).
The only thing I've bought so far is the GPU, a GTX 660 Ti. I was pretty set on buying an i5 3570k (seeing a lot of people regarding it as the best for gaming) until I read about Haswell coming out, so a 4670k was my next choice, even though I keep reading that it's not that much of an upgrade and the 3570k overclocks better, but since apparently the LGA1155 is now a "dead socket", it would be better to go with the 4670k if you're building from scratch and not upgrading, right?
I then looked at AMD, looks like an FX8350 would be sort of the equivalent (opinions are divided, but the 3570k/4670k are still better for gaming from everything that I've read), it's a bit cheaper, mobo as well, and it would make for a cheaper upgrade down the road, though I don't really know how long they will keep the AM3+ socket. There's also that whole "console games will be optimized for 8 cores" so PC games will also start using more than 2-4 cores, but I don't know how distant is that future (I've also read about AMD's 8 cores not exactly being 8 real cores).
Here's what I want though:
- games that I would play: mostly sandbox games, shooters and racing games. The last "new" game that I've played was the first Left 4 Dead, so there's a lot of catching up to do
- I'm not really a graphics whore, but I do want to play at least current games and let's say at least next year's games at max settings (note: I could live without 16xAA or whatever the highest is)
- I won't be doing any heavy multitasking, just ordinary stuff
- whatever I end up buying, I want to keep it without upgrades for at least 3 to 5 years, I won't mind going to lower game settings as long as the framerate is still smooth.
- I have no idea how to overclock yet, but I am willing to learn how to do it and try it
- my initial budget was about $1000, after reading about parts in general it had to go up a bit, and if I were to go for the i5 4670k I would need about $1350-1400 for everything (except peripherals, so it's actually more than that), and I feel like it's too much.
Mind you, prices where I live are higher than what I see in other countries. I bought the GTX 660 Ti for $325 after a $75 discount (lowest that I could find), that's how high prices are here. The usual prices in my country (for a good rig, but this is coming from a newbie) are as follows:
- i5 4670k - $300 (lowest)
- Z87 mobo - $250 (there are cheaper variants, not sure which one to go for)
- 8GB DDR3 1600MHz - $85 (lowest)
- 1TB HDD - $80 (lowest)
- 620-650W PSU - $145 (could probably go lower, still haven't decided on a brand and model)
- aftermarket cooler - $45 (if 212 Evo is good enough)
- case - $130 (could probably go $10-20 lower, haven't decided on a model)
- no SSD as you can see, don't feel the need of getting one
An FX8350 is $260, I'm not sure which mobo to choose for it, it should be around $150. That's already $150 less than going with Intel. If I go even lower, to let's say an FX6350, CPU + mobo would cost around $270. That's less than half of the Intel CPU + mobo.
I know you can't exactly "future proof", but which is better, buying something pretty good but expensive now, and hoping to last for as long as possible without upgrading, or go cheaper and upgrade every two years or so?
So I want to build my first PC, primary use would be gaming, then the usual day to day stuff, internet browsing, watching movies, listening to music, and the very occasional photo editing (no video editing, 3d modelling and rendering or anything like that).
The only thing I've bought so far is the GPU, a GTX 660 Ti. I was pretty set on buying an i5 3570k (seeing a lot of people regarding it as the best for gaming) until I read about Haswell coming out, so a 4670k was my next choice, even though I keep reading that it's not that much of an upgrade and the 3570k overclocks better, but since apparently the LGA1155 is now a "dead socket", it would be better to go with the 4670k if you're building from scratch and not upgrading, right?
I then looked at AMD, looks like an FX8350 would be sort of the equivalent (opinions are divided, but the 3570k/4670k are still better for gaming from everything that I've read), it's a bit cheaper, mobo as well, and it would make for a cheaper upgrade down the road, though I don't really know how long they will keep the AM3+ socket. There's also that whole "console games will be optimized for 8 cores" so PC games will also start using more than 2-4 cores, but I don't know how distant is that future (I've also read about AMD's 8 cores not exactly being 8 real cores).
Here's what I want though:
- games that I would play: mostly sandbox games, shooters and racing games. The last "new" game that I've played was the first Left 4 Dead, so there's a lot of catching up to do
- I'm not really a graphics whore, but I do want to play at least current games and let's say at least next year's games at max settings (note: I could live without 16xAA or whatever the highest is)
- I won't be doing any heavy multitasking, just ordinary stuff
- whatever I end up buying, I want to keep it without upgrades for at least 3 to 5 years, I won't mind going to lower game settings as long as the framerate is still smooth.
- I have no idea how to overclock yet, but I am willing to learn how to do it and try it
- my initial budget was about $1000, after reading about parts in general it had to go up a bit, and if I were to go for the i5 4670k I would need about $1350-1400 for everything (except peripherals, so it's actually more than that), and I feel like it's too much.
Mind you, prices where I live are higher than what I see in other countries. I bought the GTX 660 Ti for $325 after a $75 discount (lowest that I could find), that's how high prices are here. The usual prices in my country (for a good rig, but this is coming from a newbie) are as follows:
- i5 4670k - $300 (lowest)
- Z87 mobo - $250 (there are cheaper variants, not sure which one to go for)
- 8GB DDR3 1600MHz - $85 (lowest)
- 1TB HDD - $80 (lowest)
- 620-650W PSU - $145 (could probably go lower, still haven't decided on a brand and model)
- aftermarket cooler - $45 (if 212 Evo is good enough)
- case - $130 (could probably go $10-20 lower, haven't decided on a model)
- no SSD as you can see, don't feel the need of getting one
An FX8350 is $260, I'm not sure which mobo to choose for it, it should be around $150. That's already $150 less than going with Intel. If I go even lower, to let's say an FX6350, CPU + mobo would cost around $270. That's less than half of the Intel CPU + mobo.
I know you can't exactly "future proof", but which is better, buying something pretty good but expensive now, and hoping to last for as long as possible without upgrading, or go cheaper and upgrade every two years or so?
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