New gaming rig - Time to make the AMD/Intel switch?

rawrrrz

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Jun 9, 2009
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Building a new PC to mostly be used for gaming (Dota 2, CS, Skyrim, etc) - I tend to multi-task a lot, multiple monitors and always dozens of tabs, a movie, or something else going on.

For years I've used AMD/ATI. Recently (last year or so) I made the switch to a GTX 560 Ti, and it's been treating me well.

Now it's time for the mobo/cpu/ram upgrade! In my price range my options seem to be FX-6300, FX-8320, Core i3, or possibly a Core i5. The last time I bought an Intel was probably 15 years ago, one of my first, a horribly crappy 733mhz Celeron, and I hated it enough to stick with AMD ever since.

So while 6 or 8 cores and loads of features sound great, I wanted to hear a few opinions before making the plunge. Lower power consumption, 22nm manufacturing, and years of struggling to control my AMD's temperatures all make for a compelling argument that it may be a good time to switch.

I plan to slap a Hyper 212 EVO on it, but I'm still concerned with temperatures. It gets really hot here and I often struggle to keep both myself and my computer from overheating lol. Do the Core processors run at a much lower temperature, or would it even require the aftermarket cooler? I think if I could cool the FX-8320 enough then it could surely be best after OC'ing, but with the heat issues I've had I just can't imagine it being so cool I could OC, so I wonder if Intel would be better for me.

While I also considered possibly being able to upgrade the i5 to i7 in the future a bonus as well, it was 2008 when I did my last mobo/cpu upgrade, so I doubt it'll matter cause who knows what'll come out in the next 7+ years? Surely another new socket lol


Budget-wise I'd like to keep it around $300 for mobo / cpu / ram more or less, but here we go!
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Was looking at:
FX-8320 ~$140,
Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P ~$90
$230
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Then on the intel side:
Intel Core i5-4590 Quad-Core 3.3GHz CPU ~$200
GA-Z97-HD3P ~$95
$295

There's a combo on newegg with the GA-Z97-HD3P and i5-4690 for $305 after discount, too.
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Lastly, the GA-B85M seems another cheaper consideration mobo-wise, and has a newegg combo w/ ram fitting my budget..

Intel Core i5-4440 $189.99
GIGABYTE GA-B85M-DS3H (rev. 3.0) $68.99
HyperX Fury Black Series 8GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) (Model:HX316C10FB/8) $66.99
325-ish
Combo-Price: $301.99
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I haven't as extensively looked at and priced all of my different Intel options, just saw that combo, but I wonder if it'd be worth the switch from AMD to Intel with gaming performance and temperature being my main concerns?

Any suggestions or similar experiences out there? Thanks ahead, and much appreciated. :)

--- UPDATE ---
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($252.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85-HD3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($80.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($47.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($47.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 2GB Video Card
Power Supply: Corsair Gaming 700W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply
Total: $499.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-04 22:16 EDT-0400

Prices are listed next to what I just ordered, unlisted prices on PSU/GPU that I'm using for the time being from my old build. Thanks again for helping me make my decision. Gotta love toms! :D
 

TofuLion

Admirable
xeon works good with heavy multitasking. if you can go over a bit, this would be good for your needs

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230 V3 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($240.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($43.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($47.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $332.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-04 03:41 EDT-0400
 

JingLuci

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May 16, 2015
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Nowadays, the Intel processors gives more performances than it's competitor the AMD side. Intel cores generally produces better framerate and is wonderful at multi-tasking. Plus it doesn't produce as much heat as the AMD processors does. However if you are on a tight budget the AMD FX 8320 is the way to go. You can get alot more from the price you are paying versers getting an I5 core from Intel. Generally I'd recommend the AMD FX processor if you are on a budget. If you want more performances I'd suggest getting the Intel processors. AMD tend to run a tiny bit on the warm side. And multiple gaming benchmark have shown that the Intel performs better. However those games that were bench are games like GTA V and what not. If you're mainly doing DoTA 2 and CS, the AMD FX 8320 will do just fine. My friend who mainly plays DoTA2 and Skyrim uses that core and aside from the higher temperature experienced during gaming it performs about that same as an Intel.

I on the underhand uses the I7 4790K processor.
 

rawrrrz

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Jun 9, 2009
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I'm heavily considering the Xeon. I always forget about them, but remember reading how they're still 4 hyper-threaded haswell cores.

Would a Hyper 212 EVO still be necessary, I wonder? Never bought a 'server' sort of branded CPU, so maybe theirs are better? lol Most stock coolers suck in my experience, but if it works well enough then that'd save a few bucks otherwise unnecessarily spent since I won't be overclocking.

Also switched to GA-B85-D3 for the mobo. H81 I assume would be sufficient again since I won't be OCing the Xeon, and doubt I'll ever go as far as SLI, but the H81 Gigabyte equivelant was only PCI-E 1.0. Also I have a full sized tower, I didn't mention, so there's the more spacious ATX form factor as well as a few extra PCI/-E slots as well as 3.0 compatibility for a possible future upgrade, nifty features, not to mention a piece breaking on a MSI mobo is the reason I'm having to buy a new one lol.. I'd be open to hearing other suggestions meeting the new criteria if someone thinks there's a better bang for my buck, as this is around $75-80, but I feel it'd be worth it.. although I didn't look into all of the different brands.

My last concern with this build would just be if my video card would fit. The chipset seems almost right in the way of a lot of the PCI-E x16 slots, as my card is about a 2nd slot thicker beneath the x16 slot where the fan is mounted on it. I have the EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 2GB, it's 9" x 4.38". Or would it sit on top, or press down well enough over most of these? Maybe I'm just not seeing things right.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230 V3 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($254.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85-HD3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($79.58 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($47.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 2GB Video Card
Total: $382.55
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-04 09:56 EDT-0400


As that site's compatibility check found no issues, can I assume my video card's physical dimensions will fit ? Is it that thorough of a check? lol.. (This has been a really helpful site in doing this, btw.. wow! Where has it been all my life?!)

Really appreciate the Xeon and RAM suggestions though, even your mobo suggestion helped me see that I could save with a different chipset. If I can still afford the extra $75-80 for the mobo as well, then I believe this is what I've decided on, provided none of my above concerns prove to steer me elsewhere, of course.. so, thanks again!

Right about $100 more to go this route vs the FX-8320 build I was thinking about.. Although, I could still go AMD and use that saved $100 to finally buy myself a SSD! haha :D
 

TofuLion

Admirable
well, the only reason i suggested the cheap motherboard was to try to keep the budget as close to $300 while still including the Xeon. if you can get closer to $400, then yes by all means that board is much better. i see that you prefer to use newegg, so taking that into consideration, they actually have the E3-1231 for a bit cheaper than the E3-1230, and it has a 100 MHz faster clock speed :)

i don't think you'll need an aftermarket cooler for a locked intel cpu. the only issues with intel stock cooler that i've ever seen was with the stock 4790K (actually witnessed it myself) with the stock cooler being insufficient. the 4790K comes at a faster clock speed and probably much higher input voltage, so it makes the cpu run way too hot for the stock cooler to handle. i guess intel assumes that most users who get their flagship overclocker will be smart enough to get an aftermarket cooler... intel, especially haswell, runs much cooler than AMD cpus. the Xeon has a TDP of 80 watts compared to the FX series having 125 watts.

for the physical size of the graphics card, most modern cards are "double slot width" so i'm sure the motherboard is very capable of handling your 560 ti (consider upgrading that card next, it's pretty outdated, no offense). the major concern with video card compatibility is usually the length of the card fitting in your case, which you already know isn't a problem.