Building a gamin spec rig for Xmas, thoughts between my two choices?

misterjake

misterjake

misterjake

Associate
Joined
30 Aug 2013
Posts
9
Hi guys, im looking at a new rig for xmas to replace my laptop which has given up. I originally planned to use it for light 3D modelling and minecraft / Civ 5, due to getting a new Xbox, however im not as keen on the new console quite yet (not at £430+) and have decided on a PC.

Budget: £500, absolute roof of £600 (only if serious gains are to be seen).

This is for a CPU, mobo, ram, GPU, HDD, case and PSU.

-HDD of 1TB is plenty for me. More can be added.
-SSD not important, but can be a future upgrade.
-Blu-Ray drive would be nice, but can be a future upgrade.
-Coolers for overclocking will probably be a future purchase, depending on CPU.

Uses: Battlefield 4, DayZ, Fallout, Skyrim, Minecraft w/shaders, GTA5 one day...

Will be using a 32" 1080p TV for everything. Already have Windows 7.



Two builds I have considered:

CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard
Memory: Patriot Intel Extreme Master, Limited Ed 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply

or:

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor
Motherboard: ASRock H77 Pro4-M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard
Memory: Patriot Intel Extreme Master, Limited Ed 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB Video Card
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply



So what are your thoughts on the two? Basically the cheaper AMD FX allows a better GPU, possible better support for future games with the 8-core consoles maybe? While the Intel i5 is supposedly better for gaming in general?
Obviously, i'd like to be able to wave it in the face of several friends who have bought Xbox Ones / PS4s but what would you change?

Thanks guys, Jake
 
Last edited:
YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS Radeon R9 270X IceQ BOOST 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with BattleField 4 PC Game Included (H270XQ2G2M) £155.99
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-6 Six Core 6300 Black Edition 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £89.99
1 x Pioneer BDC-207DBK 8x BluRay ROM / DVDRW SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (OEM) £55.99
1 x BitFenix Shadow Tower Case - Midnight Black £54.98
1 x Patriot Intel Extreme Masters 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVI38G160C9K) £53.99
1 x Gigabyte 970A-DS3P AMD 970A (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £53.99
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L8 500W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply - With 120mm Silent Wing Fan Built in £53.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £45.95
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler £29.99
Total : £604.45 (includes shipping : £8.00).

 
sorry, edited out the names.

So, why would you choose the fx-6300 over an fx-8350?

And regarding the i5, what am I compromising on?

Coolers and Blu ray drives, as i said, can wait - im not one for flashy cases either.
 
Ive taken the prices out too.


Without the niceties.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire Radeon R9 280X Dual-X OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Card with BattleField 4 PC Game Included £227.99
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-6 Six Core 6300 Black Edition 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £89.99
1 x BitFenix Shadow Tower Case - Midnight Black £54.98
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L8 500W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply - With 120mm Silent Wing Fan Built in £53.99
1 x Patriot Intel Extreme Masters 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVI38G160C9K) £53.99
1 x Gigabyte 970A-DS3P AMD 970A (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £53.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £45.95
1 x Pioneer 24x Internal DVR-221LBK DVD Rewriter - OEM £17.99
Total : £608.46 (includes shipping : £8.00).

 
Only 500gb drive.

YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS Radeon R9 270X IceQ BOOST 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with BattleField 4 PC Game Included (H270XQ2G2M) £155.99
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-8 Eight Core 8320 Black Edition 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £119.99
1 x Asus M5A97 EVO R2.0 AMD 970 (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L8 500W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply - With 120mm Silent Wing Fan Built in £53.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £53.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) HDD £39.95
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler £29.99
1 x Antec VSK4000 Midi-Tower Case - Black £27.95
1 x OcUK 20x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £598.42 (includes shipping : £8.00).



The Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3 in your AMD build does not support the 8320 CPU by the way.
 
Last edited:
Interesting. So, because of the strict budget, the votes seem to favour an AMD with slightly better GPU? Any reason to choose a 8-core over a 6-core?

I know a better GPU has more impact than CPU in games, but will the difference between, say, a 270X and 280X be worth choosing an FX-8320 over an i5-3570K?
 
misterjake said:
Interesting. So, because of the strict budget, the votes seem to favour an AMD with slightly better GPU? Any reason to choose a 8-core over a 6-core?

I know a better GPU has more impact than CPU in games, but will the difference between, say, a 270X and 280X be worth choosing an FX-8320 over an i5-3570K?
Click to expand...

Yes, it would be.
 
A 280X has better memory specs, great upgrade potential with Crossfire in the future, and is out of the box faster than an overclocked 270X.

As for 6300 vs 8320, older games that use 1-2 cores only would perform the same, but anything that uses 4-8 cores performs better on the 8320, with the benefit increasing the more cores it uses.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom