Hey all this is my first post on this website.
I've been trying to finalise the part list for a budget gaming/multitasking rig for the past few weeks and I keep changing it. I have finally settled on one of these 2 options. My budget is £600 and I will be using the PC for heavy multitasking (i.e. 5 video/photo editing applications open at once over 2 monitors), as well as gaming (to play games at the highest settings at 30fps - I don't care for really expensive GPUs that give 100+ fps since the human eye only sees 30). 
Intel Rig:
CPU Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core
Motherboard MSI B85M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150
Memory PNY XLR8 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600
Storage Hitachi Ultrastar 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM
Video Card MSI GeForce GTX 660 2GB
Case CiT Vantage ATX Mid Tower
Power Supply XFX 550W ATX12V / EPS12V
Optical Drive Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer
Operating System Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit)
AMD Rig:
CPU AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3 ATX AM3+
Memory Kingston 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600
Storage Hitachi Ultrastar 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM
Video Card MSI GeForce GTX 660 2GB
Case Zalman Z9 Plus ATX Mid Tower
Power Supply Corsair 500W ATX12V
Optical Drive Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer
Operating System Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit)
I know that the Haswell i5 crushes the AMD processor, but I don't typically play AI-intensive games (i.e. RTS') that depend on a fast cpu. I know that a lot of memory will come in handy for heavy multitasking but maybe 8gb is enough. I definitely prefer the Zalman case, and being cheaper makes the AMD build sound good in theory. Any thoughts?


Intel Rig:
CPU Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core
Motherboard MSI B85M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150
Memory PNY XLR8 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600
Storage Hitachi Ultrastar 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM
Video Card MSI GeForce GTX 660 2GB
Case CiT Vantage ATX Mid Tower
Power Supply XFX 550W ATX12V / EPS12V
Optical Drive Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer
Operating System Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit)
AMD Rig:
CPU AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3 ATX AM3+
Memory Kingston 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600
Storage Hitachi Ultrastar 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM
Video Card MSI GeForce GTX 660 2GB
Case Zalman Z9 Plus ATX Mid Tower
Power Supply Corsair 500W ATX12V
Optical Drive Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer
Operating System Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit)
I know that the Haswell i5 crushes the AMD processor, but I don't typically play AI-intensive games (i.e. RTS') that depend on a fast cpu. I know that a lot of memory will come in handy for heavy multitasking but maybe 8gb is enough. I definitely prefer the Zalman case, and being cheaper makes the AMD build sound good in theory. Any thoughts?
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