Looking for cpu advice for upgrade - AMD 8320, AMD 8350 or Intel i5 4590 price vs performance.

[NikkiW]

Hi all,

I'm hoping some of you can pass me some friendly advice regarding some choices of cpu for my next upgrade/new build. I can buy the AMD 8320 for £111, the AMD 8350 for £137 or the Intel i5 4590 for £155 and I am wondering if the price increase to the Intel chip would be worth it over one of the others.

I mainly use my pc for games like Skyrim, DayZ etc and I have GTA5 but my current system is struggling. The cpu currently in my pc is an Athlon II X2 250 so I know whichever chip I go for I'll see a huge performance increase but I would just like to get the best one for the money as my budget is a little tight. I also have no clue about Intel motherboards and which one to go for but I picked out the MSI Z97 GAMI​NG 5 Moth​erboa​rd is that a decent board?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Cyier]

I can tell you right now the i5 will smash the AMD's in performance. Call me an arse but AMD just doesn't do well in the CPU side of things.

Short verdict: 100% Intel i5-4590 and don't look back.

 

[ComputerEden]

yes it is definately worth it. but calculate a few extra bucks for a decent aircooler. the boxed coolers auf both amd and intel are noisy and insuficcient coolers.

not only will you have better performance but also you will save a few bucks on your power bill. the i5 definately has the better architecture and price/performance ratio

 

[Cyier]

I agree with Eden on the heatsink. Throw an extra $30 for a Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO and enjoy the the awesomeness.

 

[ComputerEden]

id rather get a better and more silent aircooler if you can spare a few extra bucks... thermalright macho is great if you can fit it in your case (fits in mine altough it shouldent gx505 mindfactory sidedoor). cant hear it at all when gaming. on full load i only hear my antec case fans i will get rid of soon... (hint : dont get antec fans)

but the 212 evo will definately beat the boxed cooler by many clocks till thermal throttle .....

 

[NikkiW]

Thanks folks, I guess the i5 is the one. As for the cooler, when I had the AMD in mind I was looking at the Arctic Freezer A30 so I had already budgeted for that. I see there is an I30 version for Intel, what are you opinions on that?

How about the mobo?

I forgot to say in my OP that I don't want to OC anything, just set it up and go.

 

[Cyier]

I've never used Arctic. The last two builds I've used Noctua heatsinks and fans, love them but can be on pricy side.
As for the mobo if you plan on ever using crossfire/sli I would go Z97, if not then H97. I've had good luck with Asus, MSI and ASROCK over the past 4 years.

 

[ComputerEden]

i had a few arctic coolers and all i can say is they are sufficient medium quality budget coolers. if you get a ekl or a thermalright cooler you will have less noise and better temps. but arctic is definately miles better than boxed. if you dont have the extra 10-20€ for a better cooler get arctic.

thermalright macho definately is worth double the price of a freezer i13 or similar.
although the i30 has 4 double sided heatpipes i would get something better unless you want to run your ram and cpu at stock at all times.
remember intel has the memory controller in the cpu. so ram oc = extra cpu heat.

 

[synphul]

For the price you budgeted (around $40 from what I can tell) for the a30 I think a better cooler would be the cryorig h7. Currently out of stock, but can still be ordered/shipped. Better performance and 0 ram clearance issues on socket 1150 motherboards.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA4UF2DZ6565

 

[NikkiW]

Thank you everyone for your advice. I believe I have settled on a shopping list of items now. I would appreciate your input, although I think I know what you'll say about the gfx card.

Intel i5 4590

MSI Z97 Gaming 5

Thermalright Macho Rev. B

Corsair Vengeance Pro 16gb

MSI Nvidia GTX 970 Gaming Twin Frozr 5 (Yes I know about the memory scandal, it's still a good card and I can get it cheap)

Samsung 256gb 850 Pro SSD

WD 3TB Black Sata 3 HDD

I chose to go with the Z97 board to keep my options open.

All the other pieces I already have are:

NZXT Phantom Case

Razer Naga 2014 Classic

Logitech G11 Keyboard

LG 23" Flatrom E2360 Monitor

Microlab 2.1 Speakers

Liteon DVD writer

Thanks again for all your help.

Edit: Woops forgot the PSU I have, it's the Corsair RM650 80 Plus Gold.

 

[synphul]

Should be a good build, you should be pleased with the performance. In spite of the memory scandal with the 970, it doesn't change the benchmarks and it's a very capable card.

 

[ComputerEden]

Thank you everyone for your advice. I believe I have settled on a shopping list of items now. I would appreciate your input, although I think I know what you'll say about the gfx card.

Intel i5 4590

MSI Z97 Gaming 5

Thermalright Macho Rev. B

Corsair Vengeance Pro 16gb

MSI Nvidia GTX 970 Gaming Twin Frozr 5 (Yes I know about the memory scandal, it's still a good card and I can get it cheap)

Samsung 256gb 850 Pro SSD

WD 3TB Black Sata 3 HDD

I chose to go with the Z97 board to keep my options open.

All the other pieces I already have are:

NZXT Phantom Case

Razer Naga 2014 Classic

Logitech G11 Keyboard

LG 23" Flatrom E2360 Monitor

Microlab 2.1 Speakers

Liteon DVD writer

Thanks again for all your help.

Edit: Woops forgot the PSU I have, it's the Corsair RM650 80 Plus Gold.

well great then, hope youre also happy with your pc.
the memory "scandal" isnt as bad as ud think when u first hear it. only a small portion of the ram is connected with a interface with less bandwidth. the biggest part has high bandwidth.

i think this gpu will make you happy for quite a while ... !