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What's the best budget AMD CPU for gaming?

ArchAnGeL

ArchAnGeL

ArchAnGeL

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What is the budget AMD solution to consider (overclocked) for a gaming pc?

I am looking into building a second system for my daughter. I will want to play Dayz on it as well.

My frame of reference is a [email protected] in my box with a r290.

I was considering getting a 4690K and swapping that out with mine but was wondering what can be saved by going with a capable AMD machine?

I also have a A8-5600K and an i3-2120 I could potentially use so comparisons to these would be good

I already have a 500w corsair psu spare so i was considering a gtx960 or even a 970 (but I am concerned about the recent vram reports). Alternatively get another PSU and a second hand 290.
 
I3 would be my gues, with amd my 6300 was having problems with games when i sold it 18 months age, you can bag an 2500k and board for 120
 
Should have been clearer. I am aware a 4690K is a different socket to the 2500k so when I say swap out, I mean cpu+mobo.

So we have two conflicting opinions on the 6300?

I hadn't considered getting a second hand 2500/2600K and board. Might be a good call.
 
Going from a 2500k to a 4690k is not worth it IMO. In gaming it will net you practically nothing. They run hotter, don't overclock as well and so on. If you were going from a 2500k to an I7? then if you need the I7 it's worth it, but only if you can use that I7 for all it's got.

There are loads of conflicting opinions on the FX chips because many people do not do their research and buy a Phenom 2 motherboard for it without realising it can not operate within temp limits running a FX.

If you buy the right board, right cooler ETC? then the sky is the limit clock wise. I've seen a good few reach 5ghz.

It's all about the power phases and you really need to know what you're doing. Otherwise? like for me it can end in tears. I bought a budget 990 board without realising it only had a 4+1 power phase and the phase cooling was rubbish.

But you don't have to learn that lesson, you've got this place to ask.
 
So which mobo's are good for clocking the 6300? Is the one you linked suitable?

I can then compare that cost to a second hand 2500/2600K
 
Yes it's more than suitable. If you need advice on clocking with it ask for DaveDree? I think that's his name :)

He's very well versed in clocking on that board. There's one setting you need that allows the VRMs to run a little hotter and allow much more acceptable clocks.

The FX 6300 is about on par for gaming with the 2500k, believe it or not. But yeah, you could always go with a second hand kit :)

About 6 months ago I got a 8 core Ivybridge Xeon and board for £153, so there's definitely some great bargains to be had :)
 
A system for your daughter, how old is she? would have though no need to spend massive money on first build.

Best bet for performance, temps, future upgrade options, price etc is Intel Pentium K £50 plus a H97 or Z97 basic mobo £40 - £50. Cheap and ideal for budget gaming PC, later on you could throw in something more powerful.

Looking at about £100 total for Pentium K and a mobo, not bad at all.
 
If you aren't going to ugrade your 2500K with a 4690K or other faster Intel processor then you might as well just give your daughter the A8-5600K (if I'm understanding right that you have one spare), you can always buy her a slightly better GPU if the onboard isn't sufficient.
 
ALXAndy said:
You can't swap just the CPU out for yours.

If you want a good budget solution then this.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-338-AM

And this.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-415-GI&groupid=701&catid=1903&subcat=1481

Will do you right. There's a setting you need to change for overclocking but once done the 6300 should run 4.5ghz quite easily.

At that clock it will murder any I3 at modern gaming IMO. IIRC DAYZ uses the ARMA engine so cores FTW.
Click to expand...

that motherboard will not be a good overclocker and will never run 6 cores at a constant 4.5ghz its a 700 chipset
 
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ALXAndy said:
Pentium K on Day Z? lmao are you out of your mind dude?

It's ARMA II, the CPU will be laughed at.
Click to expand...

Is that what games his daughter plays?

Everything I have seen shows the Pentium K putting up great performance across the board. Games / media it's great for £50. It's also on a relevant chipset and could be upgrade later on if needed / wanted. I don't see any reason to go AMD at all. Dead platform atm, no upgrade options, chips run slower, and use more power. Literally makes no sense.

Pentium K + H97 / Z97 for about £100 Total, would make a great budget PC.

If OP wants to spend more go for an i3.
 
Boomstick777 said:
Is that what games his daughter plays?
Click to expand...

ArchAnGeL said:
I am looking into building a second system for my daughter. I will want to play Dayz on it as well.
Click to expand...

Yeah Day Z was one of the reasons for the rig.

I own a Pentium K and to be quite honest, it's crap. Mine wouldn't overclock at all, the board refuses to post. At stock speed it's laughable, and as usual Haswell is a risk because you can end up getting rubbish.

You can actually set the core count on Day Z as a start up option, so I would not use the Pentium.

The Pentium K is nothing more than a toy IMO and no gaming rig should be based on one. Literally every day we're getting new games coming out that want lots of cores and lots of vram.
 
I play Dayz but my rig is in the bedroom so I'd like the option of some late night gaming so this build would be partially for me This particular pc would replace an imac we have which my daughter is finding limited for games (and I can't stand it either)

I have a a8-5600K and board that isn't in use at the moment.
I also have a i3 2120 in my htpc which could be used (and the a8-5600k put in the htpc)
Whatever the choice, I would not be running on board gpu
I'm happy with my 2500k at the moment but my original thought was to get a 4690K for her and then I thought, no I'll have that and the other PC can use my older 2500K. Then I started to question did I really need something that good.

So I am assuming the 6300 oc'd would give better performance than either the i3 or a8-5600k using e.g gtx960 or similar?
 
ArchAnGeL said:
So I am assuming the 6300 oc'd would give better performance than either the i3 or a8-5600k using e.g gtx960 or similar?
Click to expand...

Yes.

http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Proces...FX-6300-Processor-Review-Vishera-Breaks-Cover

Most notably -

So what do we actually get with this release? Well, it is a bittersweet release for AMD. The pricing on these parts is not only competitive, it undercuts Intel by a significant amount across the board. The 8350 is very competitive with the 3570K, and it can be had for $30 less. The 6300 will walk all over the Intel products that exist at the $132 price point, and in fact is more competitive in terms of performance with the $185 Intel products.

So what they're basically saying is that the 6300 compares more with the I5 2500k, not the I3. Sure, you can run a few old games to make the 6300 look bad but bottom line is that when you thread it walks all over the I3.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66BiQsOM9_M

The FX 6300 is a very, very good gaming chip.
 
P4Clock said:
that motherboard will not be a good overclocker and will never run 6 cores at a constant 4.5ghz its a 700 chipset
Click to expand...

ALXAndy said:
Yes, it will. Proven mate. They can even overclock the FX 8s due to decent VRM cooling and the option to disable the throttle.

It's a little gem tbh, even nicer that it's MATX.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=27502484&postcount=23
Click to expand...


Can confirm from personal experience that mobo is an absolute cracker ;)

Will do 4.5 no probs if you have adequate CPU cooling

Pity they are so expensive now,18months ago they could be had for £25-£30
 
Give your A8-5600K a try first and if you feel it's not fast enough you can always grab the FX6300 later, although I'd stay clear of such a low end motherboard for an AMD FX personally - disabling VRM protection mechanisms as ALXAndy suggested is just asking for trouble if you don't have good airflow around the piddly little VRM heatsink, the whole idea of the VRM protection is to prevent VRM's from melting and/or maintain their normal operational lifespan which is already going to be fairly short on such a value orientated motherboard.
 
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mmj_uk said:
Give your A8-5600K a try first and if you feel it's not fast enough you can always grab the FX6300 later, although I'd stay clear of such a low end motherboard for an AMD FX personally - disabling VRM protection mechanisms as ALXAndy suggested is just asking for trouble if you don't have good airflow around the piddly little VRM heatsink, the whole idea of the VRM protection is to prevent VRM's from melting and/or maintain their normal operational lifespan which is already going to be fairly short on such a value orientated motherboard.
Click to expand...

Are you speaking from experience there? Or is it as I suspect, more Intel Witness anti AMD trump?
 
ALXAndy said:
Pentium K on Day Z? lmao are you out of your mind dude?

It's ARMA II, the CPU will be laughed at.
Click to expand...

I want some of what you are smoking Andy, I really do.

Of all the games to choose to laugh at the G3258 you choose ones that play really well on it, better than the 6300 in fact, clock for clock.

Don't give me that 'you can make them utilise more cores' speech, it is only spreading across cores, nothing more really.

The whole engine for arma/dayz utilises a single thread primarily, and in turn loves intel, and loves overclocked intel even more.

If the only thing in question here was playing arma on a budget? I would go for the G3258 every time, the 6300 fps sucks compared to the G3258 especially in multiplayer. Lower fps and even lower dips when stuff gets hectic.


Are you speaking from experience there? Or is it as I suspect, more Intel Witness anti AMD trump?
Click to expand...
Well it is only a 4+1 phase and a max TDP of 125w, at least it does have a heatsink on the VRMs, so it is not like he is talking nonsense. Esp with the 6300 compared to its newer versions.
 
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