Compare these five budget gaming rigs.

[StarTrek2013]

I will mostly be playing Blacklight Retribution, Ghost Recon Online, Star Trek online, world of tanks, world of planes, etc.
First one:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($115.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Kingston HyperX T1 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($65.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: HIS Radeon HD 7870 2GB Video Card ($174.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Antec One ATX Mid Tower Case ($34.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($88.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $640.92
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-13 11:54 EDT-0400)

Second one:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4430 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($184.97 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: Asus H87-PLUS ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($104.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Team Vulcan 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB Video Card ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Tempest 210 ATX Mid Tower Case ($45.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Gaming 600W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($69.99 @ Microcenter)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($94.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $660.90
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-13 11:55 EDT-0400)

Third one:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($119.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 EXTREME4 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston Predator Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($58.61 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB Video Card ($174.99 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT Tempest 210 ATX Mid Tower Case ($45.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($88.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $653.51
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-13 11:56 EDT-0400)

Fourth one:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($188.75 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Team Vulcan 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB Video Card ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Tempest 210 ATX Mid Tower Case ($45.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($44.99 @ Microcenter)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($94.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $634.68
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-13 11:57 EDT-0400)

Fifth one:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 EXTREME4 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston Predator Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($58.61 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7770 1GB Video Card ($110.38 @ Newegg)
Wireless Network Adapter: Asus PCE-N10 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($21.10 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT Tempest 210 ATX Mid Tower Case ($45.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($44.99 @ Microcenter)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($88.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $680.00
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-13 11:57 EDT-0400)

 

[Tradesman1]

I'd go #4, and see if you can wait a week or two to put away another $40 and kick it up to the 7870 that is shown in the other selections

 

[StarTrek2013]

The fourth has a 7870.

 

[Tradesman1]

5th, my bad, the 8350 rig, better performance overall for gaming and other uses

 

[StarTrek2013]

If I were to get rid of the aftermarket cooler and just use the stock cooler and upgrade my GPU for the fifth build, would that be better?

 

[Tradesman1]

, that would work too, but would hold off any major OCing of the CPU till you can get a CPU cooler

 

[StarTrek2013]

Would it be worth overclocking it?

 

[Tradesman1]

Can be (I tend to try OCing everything I can just to see if the ability is there )

 

[jack773]

The 8350 is very nice for ocing. But for as hot as that suckers gonna get doing it, you'd want a good cooler. Hell even at stock id still want a good cooler. Winters fine, summer plays against me.

 

[StarTrek2013]

Compare this to my previous builds: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1TMmZ
Which is better?

I am going for a sub $700 (firm budget).

 

[StarTrek2013]

How about this build also: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1TMAz