Buying advice for CPU. Is my CPU over the top?

Jpater1

Commendable
May 16, 2016
1
0
1,510
I have decided to embark on building my first gaming PC and have just been researching the components.

I will be using the machine solely for gaming.

Having had a quick research I have come up with a set of components making a PC in my price range:

  • CPU: AMD FX8350
    Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 960
    Memory: 8GB

My question is; is the CPU over the top for my purpose? (as it has 8 cores and I am going to be using the PC for gaming)

The reason I am considering this CPU is that I am not sure my budget can stretch to the i7 and from what I can tell this CPU is better and cheaper than the i5s although I'm not sure (as I said this is my first build).

Would love for some advice as to whether this is a good CPU choice and if not what CPUs I should consider instead.

Thanks in advance.
 
Most games do not utilize more than 1-4 cores. An FX-8350 is not a very good gaming CPU, because although it has a lot of cores (which games will not generally use), they're very slow cores, and were slow even in 2012 when that CPU was released.

For a modern gaming CPU, you'll want an Intel i3 or i5.
 

Simthaniel

Distinguished
May 9, 2016
135
6
18,715
I would suggest getting either the Intel core i5 6500 3.2GHz quad core 6th gen or the Intel Xeon E3-1220 v3 3.1GHz quad core (both are about $200 USD) if your on a bit of a budget
Both offer a great performance for their price