dual core i3 or amd quad for £700 gaming

drnick

drnick

drnick

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I have read several threads about the whole AMD vs Intel and 2,4,6 cores etc but am not much better off for the experience!

I will be buying a OC system, cant build myself at all, and have £700 but need an OS which means £630 in real terms. was wanting a 7950 gpu in what ever system but am flexible if lesser card but faster processor would be better for gaming.

For the money I can only get an dual core i3 but I gather a lot of games now are maximised for 4 or more cores.

So would a FX-6 6350 @3.9 or Fx-4 4350 @4.2 be better than an i3 4130 @3.4
and although I will be getting an off the shelf system will OC upgrade the processor on request, so the x4 Raid system for examples comes with the 4130 @3.8 but the 4350 @4.2 is only £23 more expensive.

I play a mix of adventure and FPS, planning on getting boarderlands 2 and maybe crisis 3 looking forward to X-Rebirth maybe.

I know its a question with lots of disagreement but all comments welcome.
 
Normally i would say intel but i wouldnt recommend anything below an i5 for gaming.
The thing is, if you got the lesser intel chip, you could in theory change the chip to an i5 or above later down the line and you would have a superior system over the AMD system i am going to recommend you buy.
If you think you will never be able to tinker with the internals of a computer you should probably get the best AMD system you can afford for the here and now. I only have experience with the FX-6 6350 and it is a very capable chip, maybe some other guys can help narrow it down for you.

EDIT: just to mix it up for you op, if you didnt need a monitor, kb/m etc you could get an i5 system with an O/S for £700, building a computer is not hard, i built my first one a few years back, i watched a few youtube videos and asked lots of questions on here.
 
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As has been said building your own PC isn't too difficult, is there a particular reason you say you can't build one at all(other then not having done it before)?

Spec wise something like:

4670k £180

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-470-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=567

Motherboard £107 comes with free CPU cooler, £107 till Wednesday morning/afternoon then up to £110

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-437-GI

Ram £66 Linked to gold but orang also available for same price, red a bit more at £72

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-051-TG&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1387

Graphics card if buying today Asus 7970 matrix £222

PSU £80

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-180-AN&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=2463

Or

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-018-SS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=2463

You could save £20 and go with one of the non modular antech/seasonic ones ~600w mark

Case is personal

Ssd Samsung 840 evo £84 could add this at a later date

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-167-SA&groupid=701&catid=2104&subcat=1427

Hard disk 1tb £50-£60, could save on this if you have a old PC with sata drive you can harvest

Os you can get 3months trial of win8 so can buy one after the trial

Comes in £700-£800 but there are areas where you can chop and change, that is just a quick rough spec.
 
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you'll struggle with multi core/threaded games on an i3

better to get a quadcore imo on with hyperthreading,most games are fine on an i3 till it comes to multithreaded ones
 
Live in North east and say can't build a system cos I know where my skills lie and its not in building stuff. I am researcher so great at theory but crap practically. Time is also a big factor as I work all the time writing and though I dare say I could learnt to build and could maybe do it without cocking it up I have so many other things going on at the moment and so little free headspace I just think I have to bite the cost of a plug and play system, the no stress of it all for me is probably worth it.

Also I costed the X6 system looking at all the parts and including the many fans, cooler, paste etc it was very similar to the off the shelf price. the 4-6 fans most systems seem to need aren't usually on the shopping lists shown on threads but add up. My old system is going to the kids so I am starting from scratch but will be keeping my monitor and peripherals which are still OK.

Yes 700 will get the low range i5 system but not with a decent card and the cheapest i5 system, the Titan 8700, with OS is £724 with a 6450 card, and £865 with a 7950 card. I'm assuming a 6450 card wont serve me well for very long at all

I think getting the best AMD system I can afford is the practical answer, as suggested above, and compared to my current 5 year old Q6600 system with an equally old card will be a massive improvement. Or bite the bullet and see if I can scrape the £865 together. Changing things later, which for reasons stated above I would get a shop to do, is not efficient as it costs the part and the £30 to install it.

Edit: Just noticed the Voertex i5 comes with a 7950 card as standard and is £749 with an OS this might be the answer
 
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drnick said:
Live in North east and say can't build a system cos I know where my skills lie and its not in building stuff. I am researcher so great at theory but crap practically. Time is also a big factor as I work all the time writing and though I dare say I could learnt to build and could maybe do it without cocking it up I have so many other things going on at the moment and so little free headspace I just think I have to bite the cost of a plug and play system, the no stress of it all for me is probably worth it.

Also I costed the X6 system looking at all the parts and including the many fans, cooler, paste etc it was very similar to the off the shelf price. the 4-6 fans most systems seem to need aren't usually on the shopping lists shown on threads but add up. My old system is going to the kids so I am starting from scratch but will be keeping my monitor and peripherals which are still OK.

Yes 700 will get the low range i5 system but not with a decent card and the cheapest i5 system, the Titan 8700, with OS is £724 with a 6450 card, and £865 with a 7950 card. I'm assuming a 6450 card wont serve me well for very long at all

I think getting the best AMD system I can afford is the practical answer, as suggested above, and compared to my current 5 year old Q6600 system with an equally old card will be a massive improvement. Or bite the bullet and see if I can scrape the £865 together. Changing things later, which for reasons stated above I would get a shop to do, is not efficient as it costs the part and the £30 to install it.

Edit: Just noticed the Voertex i5 comes with a 7950 card as standard and is £749 with an OS this might be the answer
Click to expand...

Yeah if you are not sure about building one the £749 build might be the best deal for you, shame youre no where near blackpool, id have gladly put the system together for you if you had bought the components and showed you whats what for your upgrades further down the line.
Basic system building is easy all components can only go in one place and in one way, same for the cables that supply power/transfer data.
 
A little over budget and no KB, Mouse, Monitor. Are these required?

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £179.99
1 x Sapphire Radeon R7 260X OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Card £109.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87-D3HP Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £106.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403) £79.99
1 x Seasonic G series 550w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £79.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit - GREEN £65.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Windowed Tower Case - Black £44.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) HDD £39.95
1 x LG GH24NSB0 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £19.99
Total : £741.97 (includes shipping : £11.75).

 
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Socrates470BC said:
A little over budget and no KB, Mouse, Monitor. Are these required?

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £112.99
1 x Sapphire Radeon R7 260X OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Card £109.99
1 x Seasonic G series 550w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £79.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403) £79.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit - GREEN £65.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Windowed Tower Case - Black £44.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) HDD £39.95
1 x LG GH24NSB0 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £19.99
Total : £748.87 (includes shipping : £12.50).

Click to expand...

Well for one wrong chip set/socket on the motherboard, haswell is 1150 you've speced a 1155 socket motherboard.
 
thanks for all the advice, It will be the vortex i5 but having looked at the mobo which is very basic indeed, and I also really don't like the case though I dare say they would change this, I am seriously considering blowing the budget and getting the over clocked Titan 8700i pulse which has a i5 3570 @ 3.4 clocked all the way to 4.4GHz as the mobo, which is vastly better, facilitates this. Its an extra £130 odd quid over the £750 for the titan with a 7950 card and cooler master CM 690 II case but seems like a significant leap for the money speed wise especially.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-247-OE&groupid=43&catid=2475&subcat=2489
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £179.99
1 x HIS HD 7950 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H795F3G2M) £173.99
1 x Asus Z87-PLUS Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £143.99
1 x Cooler Master CM-690 II Advanced USB3.0 Windowed Dominator Case - Black £89.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403) £79.99
1 x Seasonic G series 550w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £79.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit - GREEN £65.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) HDD £39.95
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler £29.99
1 x LG GH24NSB0 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £19.99
Total : £918.85 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
drnick said:
Live in North east and say can't build a system cos I know where my skills lie and its not in building stuff.
Click to expand...


It's not really building, more like adult lego and easier than an ikea flatpack. As long as you have the right parts, a few youtube videos (just incase) and this forum you'll have no problems and you'll save at least 10%...

and it's even easier nowadays.
 
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As much as I don't want someone to buy a system in kit form and be stuck when putting it together, I've always found it easier assembling a PC from scratch than putting together flat-pack furniture.
 
now forgive me if im wrong but dont OCUK offer the service that if you pick the components they will build it for you?

if i had £700 id do this.

YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS HD 7950 IceQ BOOST 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H795QC3G2M) **FREE SHIPPING** £179.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403) £79.99
1 x ASRock Z77 Pro4-M Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £77.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £56.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020059-UK) £55.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) HDD £39.95
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £32.99
Total : £703.87 (includes shipping : FREE).



im guessing you dont need KB/M & Monitor??

i havent included an optical but they are so cheap to pick up or just install from usb.
 
Yes they can build it, I asked a couple of weeks ago. £75 to build or if you want them to build and overclock as much as possible (whilst remaining stable) it's £100.
 
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