System Builder Marathon, Q4 2013: $800 Gaming PC
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pauldh
December 26, 2013 12:00:03 AM
This quarter, Paul Henningsen asks for (and gets) a higher budget for better gaming performance. What he didn't expect was that AMD's graphics cards would shoot up in price, shattering the upper limit of his $800 ceiling. Can his system still compete?
System Builder Marathon, Q4 2013: $800 Gaming PC : Read more
System Builder Marathon, Q4 2013: $800 Gaming PC : Read more
More about : system builder marathon 2013 800 gaming
khaledegy200
December 26, 2013 12:06:25 AM
Drejeck
December 26, 2013 1:19:10 AM
i5 3550p is kind of a rare beast, when available, it could be a winner, provided you don't need quick sync. Even 750K and 760K BE are just salvaged chips so their availability is not guaranteed. Anyway this are good ways to save money. One thing I don't understand is why build a system with a DVD burner? The last time used it was in 2007, since then I went for USB boot on new systems and I bought an Asus BD writer usb3 12x just to watch BD movies. All I got is coming from digital distribution, I live in Italy, and I have a 10Mbit/s ADSL. I really hate discs right now, obsolete, slow and still used after 27 years. Consoles please go back to cartridge/flash roms, 1 to 5 seconds loading screens and no PC challenge.
Score
-3
Related resources
- New $1000 gaming system or System Builder Marathon, Q4 2012: $1,000 - Forum
- Help! System Builder Marathon, Q2 2014: Our Budget Gaming PC - Forum
- why is the system builder marathon 2013 based on mini itx plat form? - Forum
- Trouble with 2013 Q4 $800 PC - Forum
- Looking at System Builder Marathon (or any other PC) for New Build - Forum
Drejeck said:
i5 3550p is kind of a rare beast, when available, it could be a winner, provided you don't need quick sync. Even 750K and 760K BE are just salvaged chips so their availability is not guaranteed. Anyway this are good ways to save money. One thing I don't understand is why build a system with a DVD burner? The last time used it was in 2007, since then I went for USB boot on new systems and I bought an Asus BD writer usb3 12x just to watch BD movies. All I got is coming from digital distribution, I live in Italy, and I have a 10Mbit/s ADSL. I really hate discs right now, obsolete, slow and still used after 27 years. Consoles please go back to cartridge/flash roms, 1 to 5 seconds loading screens and no PC challenge.Not all countries have good internet infrastructure. If that wasn't the case Microsoft wouldn't have to reverse its policies on the X1. Another thing is retail game DVDs costs very less in my country. For example, Bioshock Infinite costs only 15.97$ at launch date. If I were to buy it through Steam at launch date it would have cost me 59.99$
Score
5
bemused_fred
December 26, 2013 2:57:56 AM
khaledegy200 said:
is there a huge different between i5 3470 and i5 3550p? if not then why don't save money?I know that the writers of "best CPUs" for the money always make a huge fuss about how "oh, you save 7W (or however much it is) by not having the on-board graphics", but I still think it's worth keeping, for if your discrete card gives out on you. My PC buggered up installing my graphics drivers once, and if it weren't for my intel "backup" GPU, my rig would have been bricked.
Score
4
pauldh
December 26, 2013 5:56:04 AM
khaledegy200 said:
is there a huge different between i5 3470 and i5 3550p? if not then why don't save money?For us, both were available from Newegg at a $10 difference. Either is fine. I chose the -3350P back for the Q1 $600 Gaming PC, and it's OC was limited to 3.5-3.7 GHz with this same Z75 Pro3 mobo. But I actually prefer the -3470 at these prices for reasons stated in the text (higher clocks and backup HD 2500 graphics). It fit in under budget, and its higher Turbo limit provide a 300 MHz boost across the board (3.8-4.0 GHz) when overclocking. That right there is worth $10 in an SBM where value equals a straight bang for buck calculation.
Score
3
As I believe I said I would in a past SBM article, I have deleted a string of off-topic posts. If an alternate build doesn't follow the rules of the SBM (e.g. all Newegg) it is OFF TOPIC in SBM discussions. Please be aware that discussions of pricing, while not off topic, do need to account for what was available at the time the SBM build was ordered.
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My own thoughts on this one are mixed. I like to see the challenge of a lower budget. This $800 PC was quite good, however. With the focus on gaming this SBM cycle, this one looks like a shoe-in for value winner. I don't see what two or three times the budget will buy that can offer similar multiples of performance, especially that will be visible in actual use.
That said, for my own uses, I'd take the "High" to "Max" settings in my games that a GTX650Ti Boost would offer, and put the balance into a SSD.
----
My own thoughts on this one are mixed. I like to see the challenge of a lower budget. This $800 PC was quite good, however. With the focus on gaming this SBM cycle, this one looks like a shoe-in for value winner. I don't see what two or three times the budget will buy that can offer similar multiples of performance, especially that will be visible in actual use.
That said, for my own uses, I'd take the "High" to "Max" settings in my games that a GTX650Ti Boost would offer, and put the balance into a SSD.
Score
1
Amdlova
December 26, 2013 7:13:17 AM
raede
December 26, 2013 7:21:22 AM
I am always glad to see a budget gaming machine build with my definition of budget being in the $750 area. However, most do not include an O.S cost which could easily add $100 to the mix unless you are going with an open source model.
I currently just built a "budget" machine for my son which ended up close to $850. That build was using an Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ motherboard, AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz to (O.C. to 4.3GHz @ 38 C), w/ an Enermax ETS-T40-TB 86.7 CFM CPU Cooler.
What I wanted had to be tempered with what I could squeeze into the budget so a new Asus Radeon R7 260X 2GB Video Card was put in for now. A WD Caviar (Blue) 1TB drive was put in for storage, G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory and a Corsair CX 500W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply to make it all run. Windows 8.1 was installed and the case is a nice looking Corsair 350D case.
My working theory is this rig will run well now and a new video card, better CPU cooler with a faster stronger CPU and an SSD down the road are all manageable upgrades that could keep this machine running good, playable frame rates for several years down the road.
There is always more than one way to skin a cat and to me this was the least amount I would build with.
I currently just built a "budget" machine for my son which ended up close to $850. That build was using an Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ motherboard, AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz to (O.C. to 4.3GHz @ 38 C), w/ an Enermax ETS-T40-TB 86.7 CFM CPU Cooler.
What I wanted had to be tempered with what I could squeeze into the budget so a new Asus Radeon R7 260X 2GB Video Card was put in for now. A WD Caviar (Blue) 1TB drive was put in for storage, G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory and a Corsair CX 500W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply to make it all run. Windows 8.1 was installed and the case is a nice looking Corsair 350D case.
My working theory is this rig will run well now and a new video card, better CPU cooler with a faster stronger CPU and an SSD down the road are all manageable upgrades that could keep this machine running good, playable frame rates for several years down the road.
There is always more than one way to skin a cat and to me this was the least amount I would build with.
Score
0
khaledegy200
December 26, 2013 7:57:55 AM
pauldh
December 26, 2013 8:03:09 AM
icemunk
December 26, 2013 8:26:58 AM
a haswell alternative could be with an asrock or msi non-z chipset motherboard with 4670k or lower with a downgraded bios to facilitate overclocking. or, with something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/gigabyte_g1_sniper...
it's probably as high end as non-z o.c. gets. unfortunately it only became available recently.
as for the current build, i admit that the parts are very well-chosen.
i woulda tried to fit a corsair 200r or nzxt tempest and i5 4440/4570 on a b85 board or asrock fatal1ty z87 killer and gtx 760/770 and a seasonic ssr360 gp or s12ii 520 bronze psu.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/gigabyte_g1_sniper...
it's probably as high end as non-z o.c. gets. unfortunately it only became available recently.
as for the current build, i admit that the parts are very well-chosen.
i woulda tried to fit a corsair 200r or nzxt tempest and i5 4440/4570 on a b85 board or asrock fatal1ty z87 killer and gtx 760/770 and a seasonic ssr360 gp or s12ii 520 bronze psu.
Score
-1
akhr
December 26, 2013 9:05:53 AM
pauldh
December 26, 2013 9:08:20 AM
Very true Onus, you can't even change the base clock on those. So the chipset argument alone only stands for K's or enthusiast-minded folk. I'd definitely prefer and enthusiast-class mobo anyway if building a forward-thinking rig.
But this is an SBM, and we always value overclocking. Ivy -3470 was chosen because it can reach 4.0 GHz with a sub-$80 mobo. What can we extract more from? Stock -4430 to - 4570, or a -3470 running 3.8-4.0 GHz?
But this is an SBM, and we always value overclocking. Ivy -3470 was chosen because it can reach 4.0 GHz with a sub-$80 mobo. What can we extract more from? Stock -4430 to - 4570, or a -3470 running 3.8-4.0 GHz?
Score
1
pauldh
December 26, 2013 9:30:16 AM
Yes it does. Spare time though, you must be thinking of someone else.
And I'd be curious just to hear feedback on which platform folks would rather own if building a new rig they intend to keep/upgrade over the next 3 years or so.
For an SBM, although I'd assume more folks value the stock performance, I'm always a bit miffed if I can't OC at all. I can live with it if/when the machine remains a clear top choice anyway.
For my own gaming rig, I'd always used to consider the processor I can afford now (in this case a locked i5) may end up in another spare rig and it's possible I'd move up later (say to an i7K). Upgrading our best rig and cycling parts down was my practice for a long time. Nowadays I have more spare parts than free time and station space.
And I'd be curious just to hear feedback on which platform folks would rather own if building a new rig they intend to keep/upgrade over the next 3 years or so.
For an SBM, although I'd assume more folks value the stock performance, I'm always a bit miffed if I can't OC at all. I can live with it if/when the machine remains a clear top choice anyway.
For my own gaming rig, I'd always used to consider the processor I can afford now (in this case a locked i5) may end up in another spare rig and it's possible I'd move up later (say to an i7K). Upgrading our best rig and cycling parts down was my practice for a long time. Nowadays I have more spare parts than free time and station space.
Score
1
ojas
December 26, 2013 10:17:16 AM
Drejeck said:
One thing I don't understand is why build a system with a DVD burner? The last time used it was in 2007, since then I went for USB boot on new systems and I bought an Asus BD writer usb3 12x just to watch BD movies.Because this could be their very first computer and do not have a computer before. The DVD is required in order to install Windows.
Not everyone has a fast internet connection and some have bandwidth caps, therefore buying the software in a disc is a better option.
Also I don't recall Windows OS coming in USB drive, it only comes in a disc. These bootable USB are self made, and they still use a DVD drive, just to copy the Windows files from the disc to a USB drive.
Another thing is digital download version of the OS would be impossible, especially if your brand new system doesn't have the OS installed in the first place.
Score
2
Yeah, I just "unloaded" some spare parts when I rebuilt a system for a friend (she'd been running a Pentium 925D; now has a G860).
Building to keep / upgrade for years became my own focus about three years ago. It's a little boring though. CPU performance is now so great that I don't see either a FX or an i5 becoming too weak for my needs in the foreseeable future. I built my two current PCs on Asus boards, and have no reason to expect them to die, or for new "must-have" interfaces to turn up. Then there's the now brainless MSI Z77A-GD65 Gaming board on my test rig that I'm toying with selling because I really don't need it now.
Building to keep / upgrade for years became my own focus about three years ago. It's a little boring though. CPU performance is now so great that I don't see either a FX or an i5 becoming too weak for my needs in the foreseeable future. I built my two current PCs on Asus boards, and have no reason to expect them to die, or for new "must-have" interfaces to turn up. Then there's the now brainless MSI Z77A-GD65 Gaming board on my test rig that I'm toying with selling because I really don't need it now.
Score
0
I still prefer to see ~$500 "Budget" gaming rigs over this easier to build $800 one. The original SBM's were based on the premise of ~$500 price range and that was quite some time ago when prices and values were harder to find. It would be more acceptable to see a $800 rig if it included the OS, Monitor, Keyboard, & Mouse (all gaming related). This to me would make much more sense under the $800 budget.
For example:
* ~$110-120 for Monitor (1080p)
* ~$40-60 for a decent Keyboard.
* ~$40-60 for a Gaming Mouse.
* ~$80-100 for the OS (assuming your sticking with Windows 7/8).
* ~$500-550 for the system, depending on the cost of the other parts of the build.
For example:
* ~$110-120 for Monitor (1080p)
* ~$40-60 for a decent Keyboard.
* ~$40-60 for a Gaming Mouse.
* ~$80-100 for the OS (assuming your sticking with Windows 7/8).
* ~$500-550 for the system, depending on the cost of the other parts of the build.
Score
1
Patrick Tobin
December 26, 2013 12:05:21 PM
codyleemanofaction
December 26, 2013 12:34:20 PM
Durandul
December 26, 2013 1:57:29 PM
Amdlova
December 26, 2013 5:53:47 PM
jasonelmore
December 26, 2013 7:55:07 PM
I would like to see more builds use Blu Ray Drives. Were already seeing PC Games suffering from DVD Media. NBA2K14 is 6GB for PC, and 45GB for consoles. The result is the console version looks much better than the pc version, no matter what settings you tick.
Plus Publishers dont like having to make 4-6 dvd games that eat at their margins.
Plus Publishers dont like having to make 4-6 dvd games that eat at their margins.
Score
-1
Morituri
December 26, 2013 10:39:57 PM
I would not use a stock Intel heatsink on this or any other rig; they are so cheaply made that they are dangerous. An Arctic Alpine 11 Plus is $11.00 from NewEgg and has a more robust mounting system, as well as being quieter. I'm waiting for one right now because the stock Intel heatsink I just installed will not mount snugly on the CPU and is allowing it to overheat.
Score
0
JOSHSKORN
December 27, 2013 2:31:52 AM
rikmyster
December 27, 2013 9:24:50 AM
I'm with lunyone on the budget. This PC does illustrate how "easy" it is to build at $800; even if you niggle some things up and down, it will still be good.
As to the stock Intel HSF, I've been using them for years without issues, although what usually happens is faster or "K" CPUs get aftermarket coolers like Gaias, and lesser chips get the "better" stock HSFs (with the copper slugs) from the "K" CPUs. I haven't used the all-aluminum ones. Still, none have ever popped loose or otherwise failed for me, ever. I just used the copper-slugged HSF from a Pentium 925-D on a new Pentium G860.
As to the stock Intel HSF, I've been using them for years without issues, although what usually happens is faster or "K" CPUs get aftermarket coolers like Gaias, and lesser chips get the "better" stock HSFs (with the copper slugs) from the "K" CPUs. I haven't used the all-aluminum ones. Still, none have ever popped loose or otherwise failed for me, ever. I just used the copper-slugged HSF from a Pentium 925-D on a new Pentium G860.
Score
0
ananke
December 27, 2013 10:08:39 AM
Optical disk is a must, for backups. I do long term backup on BRays of personal photos, videos and documents, which are easily terabytes of data every year...Of course, this is a relatively cheap and basic build, and can omit anything not gaming essential. So, you need motherboard with a good sound, OK processor, good GPU and solid PSU in a well ventilated case. I would just put one 240-256 GB SSD and that's all - for a good GAMING pc.
Score
0
rikmyster
December 27, 2013 12:49:33 PM
bwm264
December 27, 2013 4:36:57 PM
grokem
December 28, 2013 10:28:57 AM
I can't believe that we're still including optical drives on budget builds on the edge of 2014. The optical drive is the only component included in the builds that isnt' even required. For the same reason you can imagine reasons you *must* have a card reader, monitor, OS, keyboard, mouse, web camera, speakers, thumb drive and usb powered coffee warmer, the optical drive should be left out as an optional component. Most of us either have no need for one or already have a small usb drive shared between all our computers, there is no need to include a completely optional component in the build.
For the $18 you spent on a useless component you could have gotten a 2TB drive, faster processor, better case, better MB or a pizza to eat while you built system. Even the pizza is a better deal.
For the $18 you spent on a useless component you could have gotten a 2TB drive, faster processor, better case, better MB or a pizza to eat while you built system. Even the pizza is a better deal.
Score
-1
pauldh
December 28, 2013 2:36:57 PM
bwm264 said:
I don't know but it seems like cheating when you call out a $300 video card when today it costs $420. That systems is closer to $1000 than $800. That's like saying my system only cost me $500 because I got a $400 video card for my birthday.No it's not at all like that. Let me explain.
$799 is actually the one and only precise price to call this machine. That was the total cost in our Newegg shopping cart when the parts were ordered. Those were the prices causing us to pick these exact parts. ANYONE ordering that day would have paid the same, or even less factoring Newegg's promo discounts (which we do not). So, If you paid $799 for your build (as we did), would you then call it a $920 computer a month later if your parts shot up way above retail from short supply and huge demand? No, of course not. It was $799 when configured and purchased.
That's where this gets sticky for an SBM. Unfortunately, there's roughly a one month (or more) delay from when we order, until these articles go live. They must be built, tested, written up, edited, and get a place on the calendar once all three are finished. It's not easy coordinating everyone's schedules beyond those who actually test the machines even. And none of the editors are sitting idle waiting to start an SBM. They are on another story. So, while we can adjust the price every day afterwards, that new price will only be accurate at that same moment in time time you adjust it. When I wrote up this piece, this video card wasn't even in stock. Today it may be $920, tomorrow $880, who knows. Again, all we do know, it was $799 when configured. That's why I'm actually dead against adjusting prices in our tables. There's no auto adjustment implementation, it is manually done, so they can be (and often are) still way off a few days later when folks are reading it.
Score
0
^This is why I think people really need to consider price in context (effective on the order date, but not necessarily any other) and not get in to raging debates about what the money would buy. Outright omissions, or inclusions of unusual parts would be one thing, but price-based debates are too temporal, and are likely to be irrelevant.
Score
0
pauldh
December 28, 2013 6:40:02 PM
Yeah, true. I doubt too many people would argue R9 280X for $299.99 was the wrong move to make. How did we know what was about to happen.Thankfully these extreme cases are rare. More often it's just a temporary instant savings we grabbed that are no longer on sale, and parallel substitutions can even those out. By us not factoring promos, Newegg shoppers can likely duplicate or out-build our machines at publishing time, which is a good thing. This time, things got a bit crazy with R9's and you'd have to spend $30 or so more on GTX 770 to trump our $800 PCs frame rates.
Score
0
pauldh
December 28, 2013 7:08:57 PM
grokem said:
I can't believe that we're still including optical drives on budget builds on the edge of 2014. The optical drive is the only component included in the builds that isnt' even required. For the same reason you can imagine reasons you *must* have a card reader, monitor, OS, keyboard, mouse, web camera, speakers, thumb drive and usb powered coffee warmer, the optical drive should be left out as an optional component. Most of us either have no need for one or already have a small usb drive shared between all our computers, there is no need to include a completely optional component in the build.For the $18 you spent on a useless component you could have gotten a 2TB drive, faster processor, better case, better MB or a pizza to eat while you built system. Even the pizza is a better deal.
We (as a whole) rehash this often in this series. And I get it, really I do. But, based on feedback I believe your belief to still be in the minority. There's no wrong in including one. They are far from being the floppy or Zip drive. But by all means, leave one out if you do not need it and call this a $782 build. Tweaking to ones own needs is why we build our own. I've never once had someone request or even chose to omit a DVD burner to save them $18.
Let me ask. Do you have any optical drives in any of your computers to rely upon if need be? Or perhaps an external? Tom's USA editors pretty much all agree while we each may rarely ever use one, truthfully we still occasionally do rely upon them and wouldn't be void of one at home or office. And we believe few folks differ there and have zero need for one. I've got 120/38 Mbps cable at home, and there's still no way that makes up for an optical drive 100% of the time.
Lastly, $800 is hardly a budget build. Although I'm most responsible for this budget hike this time, I believe I'm also the one most reluctant to do a series without a sub-$600 build in the marathon. This time, packed between holidays, there was simply no way to pitch and tackle a cheap $400-500 bonus build. I omitted a DVD burner from the last $350 PC, as it was a good chunk of the budget to add one. And I left them out of the $400 and $650 Mini-ITX boxes too because many of the cases we originally considered use pricey slim slot drives or even have no external bays at all. BUT, there's really got to be good almost deal-breaking reason for omitting one in an SBM build.
Score
0
Rant about omitting o.d.d.s: if you're building cheap pc where very dollar counts i.e. saving $18-22 gets you a better case or gfx card, and you already have a sata o.d.d. in your possession, only then you should skip the o.d.d. otherwise no.
for u.s.b. booting, the first thing you need is the iso of the o.s. to get an i.s.o. you need an internet connection, to use that internet connection you need another p.c. (likely well protected with antimalware software etc), a usb flash drive.. so you see, the iso is nowhere near the first thing you need, the first thing you need is another pc, then a software that turns the o.s. iso disk ready for installing from a usb flash drive. if you have the o.s. on an optical media.....
so what if you have only one pc or no working pc during assembling and installing the o.s.? things get worse when you're using usb-installing from the first time. linux distros play nice with usb but windows doesn't (<- this sentence doesn't begin to cover how much p.i.t.a. it is to prepare windows 7 install from u.s.b. that's another rant. differant, geddit?).
let's assume that you finally installed the o.s. what about drivers? motherboard and gfx card drivers come on optical disks, how are they gonna be installed without and o.d.d.? let's assume you have a way to install drivers directly from the internet. that means connecting your freshly built, unprotected pc running only the o.s. (may be with windows firewall (LOL) and mse(LAWL) enabled) to internet, browse with built-in internet explorer browser, and hope that no one notices you. although, you wouldn't even know if something got into your pc.
i don't know about others, but i'll buy a sata dvd writer.
this was about self-buillt pcs. devices like netbooks and ultrabooks often necessitate re/installing from usb.
for u.s.b. booting, the first thing you need is the iso of the o.s. to get an i.s.o. you need an internet connection, to use that internet connection you need another p.c. (likely well protected with antimalware software etc), a usb flash drive.. so you see, the iso is nowhere near the first thing you need, the first thing you need is another pc, then a software that turns the o.s. iso disk ready for installing from a usb flash drive. if you have the o.s. on an optical media.....
so what if you have only one pc or no working pc during assembling and installing the o.s.? things get worse when you're using usb-installing from the first time. linux distros play nice with usb but windows doesn't (<- this sentence doesn't begin to cover how much p.i.t.a. it is to prepare windows 7 install from u.s.b. that's another rant. differant, geddit?).
let's assume that you finally installed the o.s. what about drivers? motherboard and gfx card drivers come on optical disks, how are they gonna be installed without and o.d.d.? let's assume you have a way to install drivers directly from the internet. that means connecting your freshly built, unprotected pc running only the o.s. (may be with windows firewall (LOL) and mse(LAWL) enabled) to internet, browse with built-in internet explorer browser, and hope that no one notices you. although, you wouldn't even know if something got into your pc.
i don't know about others, but i'll buy a sata dvd writer.
this was about self-buillt pcs. devices like netbooks and ultrabooks often necessitate re/installing from usb.
Score
0
Mikels4
December 29, 2013 7:34:52 PM
jwmcvety
December 29, 2013 8:28:17 PM
pauldh
December 30, 2013 4:20:11 AM
Quote:
The cooler and motherboard I would have relied on to take the Vishera design close to 4.5 GHz actually made the AMD option $10 to $20 more expensive, violating the budget. The enthusiast in me favored that option, but my inner-realist knew that we could inevitably pull higher frame rates from Core i5. ASRock's affordable Z75 Pro3 motherboard could get the most out of the -3470’s limited headroom, and Intel's bundled cooler would get the job done at no extra cost.I've been arguing this for some time but I think too many people still don't get it. I see a lot of AMD CPU recommendations on the price of the CPU alone without any consideration for the rest of the platform. Premium OCing mboards and CPU coolers can quickly eat up the savings between an AMD and Intel CPU. And even then, you won't see much gaming difference between a stock Intel and OC AMD build in similar budget categories. Some might argue that the AMD route mentioned above will yield you a better mboard. But that's not so much the case anymore as H77 & 87 boards offer much better features than the older H67.
But I'm also the heretic that thinks CPU OCing is largely not worth it when it comes to gaming. Take a stock clocked FX 4300 or i5-3330. Does anyone honestly think that any game now or in the next two years is going to be bottlenecked to unplayable levels by either of those chips at stock clocks? Dual-core CPUs have been available about 10 years now. How many games today even use two threads, let alone the four and eight threads now available to us? Yes, some of the bigger games today will eat up four or more threads, but I bet we won't see quad-cores really as a mainstream gaming requirement for about five more years. Once you get above the Athlon X4 and Pentium crowd, the limitation shifts over to your GPU on the more demanding games. The only CPU that might start falling behind in the next year or two is the i3, and only barely.
Score
0
RedJaron, I agree with you. CPUs are sufficiently powerful today that issues other than pure performance are able to become more important.
Yes, you can feel the difference between an AMD CPU and a [faster] Intel chip. The thought that has made me overspend on CPUs for years has always been "what if...," but the truth is for my mostly older games and general productivity applications, if I had a Pentium G860 I would not be suffering.
Yes, you can feel the difference between an AMD CPU and a [faster] Intel chip. The thought that has made me overspend on CPUs for years has always been "what if...," but the truth is for my mostly older games and general productivity applications, if I had a Pentium G860 I would not be suffering.
Score
0
lynx961
December 31, 2013 1:10:46 AM
I build a desktop for gaming for a child in a same way, and it coasted me around 500$.
I put core I3 cpu because core I3 and core I5 is giving same rating when I test them. And most of games and applications Need VGA more than CPU.
I tried 1GB Radeon VGA and it didn’t give the performance like my 1GB Gforce on my laptop! So I changed it to Gforce 1GB and it was perfect.
Maybe I should bought the 2GB instead of 1GB VGA so the games will work in full capacity resolution.
I put 500 GB HD and DVD writer and 8GB Ram
Its making all new games work perfectly
Maybe the Secret is in the motherboard it should be 6gb/s buss speed so everything work perfectly.
Latest: Call of Duty, FIFA, Battlefield, Need for speed are working perfectly
I put core I3 cpu because core I3 and core I5 is giving same rating when I test them. And most of games and applications Need VGA more than CPU.
I tried 1GB Radeon VGA and it didn’t give the performance like my 1GB Gforce on my laptop! So I changed it to Gforce 1GB and it was perfect.
Maybe I should bought the 2GB instead of 1GB VGA so the games will work in full capacity resolution.
I put 500 GB HD and DVD writer and 8GB Ram
Its making all new games work perfectly
Maybe the Secret is in the motherboard it should be 6gb/s buss speed so everything work perfectly.
Latest: Call of Duty, FIFA, Battlefield, Need for speed are working perfectly
Score
-1
csc14us
December 31, 2013 8:44:26 AM
Having tried both, I applaud your decision to put in a Core i5 instead of an FX-6300. I did not have as much satisfaction from the AMD FX-6300 as others because my chip simply would not overclock reliably past 3.9 GHz. For Skyrim with lots of mods, I couldn't get a reliable 60 fps before I built my latest machine with a Core i5-4670K.
Score
1
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maximum fsb i get on that cpu before freezes is 109.