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CPU choice in a new £800 build

danlightbulb

danlightbulb

danlightbulb

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I had pretty much assumed I would be using Intel CPUs in my new build - specifically an i5-6500 which is 4 core 3.2GHz. It costs £176.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/inte...ocket-lga1151-processor-retail-cp-586-in.html


But having just watched AMD's Computex stream I got looking at their current CPU offerings. For the same price as the above i5, I could get AMD's current FX-8 9590 which is 8 core and runs at 4.7GHz.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/amd-...turbo-socket-am3-processor-oem-cp-360-am.html

On paper to a novice like me, the AMD seems to blow the i5 out the water. It scores higher on benchmark tables I've seen too. However is that the case in real life?


I'm also aware that the new 7th gen AMD processors will be coming out. I'm a bit confused as to when these will appear and even if they are not really desktop focused but rather mobile market instead.

Perhaps someone could kindly summarise the current situation with CPUs for me? What is the current state of things around that price point and what is coming in the next 2 months?

Thanks
 
Depends on what benchmarks you look at, most I've seen put the i5-6500 clearly ahead. Also, in real world tests the i5 again seems to be ahead.

Clock speed isn't everything. The AMD 9590 has an older architecture than the 6500.

Something else to consider is that the i5-6500 consumes significantly less power (65W vs 220W TDP).

I'd definitely choose the i5-6500 between the two. But if you're in the ballpark of spending £175 on a CPU, perhaps try and stretch your budget another £20 and get the i5-6600k as this will handle pretty much anything you throw at it, also has low power consumption, is easy to keep cool and overclocks nicely.
 
£800 includes everything, monitor, keyboard, the lot. So £175 is really the max.

I was looking at Passmark website which put the AMD 9590 at a score of 10,295 and the i5-6500 at a score of 7,043, nearly 50% better.


Good point about the wattage though, the Intel would fit better into my 550W PSU build then on that basis.

I'd have liked the K, but motherboard needed to be more expensive also. Would be pushing closer to £900 if I included the K, the necessary mobo and an aftermarket cooler too.

To put into context the GPU will be around £200, so 380/380X or the new 480 depending on price. I think the 6500 seems appropriate on this basis? I will take another look at the K, but its so easy to see the cost of the build creeping up.


Is there anything in the next 2 months that means I should wait on the CPU? I'm already waiting till end June for the 480 release.
 
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danlightbulb said:
£800 includes everything, monitor, keyboard, the lot. So £175 is really the max.

I was looking at Passmark website which put the AMD 9590 at a score of 10,295 and the i5-6500 at a score of 7,043, nearly 50% better.


Good point about the wattage though, the Intel would fit better into my 550W PSU build then on that basis.

I'd have liked the K, but motherboard needed to be more expensive also. Would be pushing closer to £900 if I included the K, the necessary mobo and an aftermarket cooler too.

To put into context the GPU will be around £200, so 380/380X or the new 480 depending on price. I think the 6500 seems appropriate on this basis? I will take another look at the K, but its so easy to see the cost of the build creeping up.


Is there anything in the next 2 months that means I should wait on the CPU? I'm already waiting till end June for the 480 release.
Click to expand...

A bit of Googling will find a number of other tests / benchmarks which put the i5-6500 and the FX 9590 on a more equal footing, others with the i5-6500 ahead. I guess it all depends on what's being tested and how. There's not a lot of in-depth side by side tests because they are different generations of CPU, released several years apart.

Something else to consider is that the FX 9590 only supports DDR3, whereas the i5-6500 supports DDR4. DDR4 has a performance advantage and is also where the best value for money deals are currently. DDR4 gives you a better upgrade path too.

If your budget is £175 then I'd suggest the i5-6500. There's nothing in your budget range that's due out in the near future. If you get a Z170 board (rather than H170) you can always drop a K processor in later as an upgrade and overclock it (eg 6600k or 6700k). Or perhaps a Kaby Lake processor (coming next year probably).

Also bear in mind that the i5-6500 has an integrated GPU. If you're waiting to see what GPUs get released in the next month or two but want to get started with your build, you could use the integrated GPU for now (it'll be good enough for light gaming, watching videos etc).
 
You're looking at the end of the year for Zen to drop, and a month or 2 for their new cards. If I wanted to build a PC now, I'd put my money into a 6600k and a used GPU such as an R9 290 which should fall to around £100 now.
 
If 800's the full amount, then frankly for me that only leaves at top 600 for the PC itself.

I'd wait until the Radeon 480's out and post in the general hardware section on the day you're buying, but I'm not a big fan of locked Intel CPU's however.
Passmark's crap as far as any meaningful testing goes, and the FX95 results will always be somewhat "skewed", because it's literally pushing the silicon to the limit, whereas you've got a chunk in the tank with an unlocked i5K, but in a 600 quid build, that's not really a viable option brand new.
 
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6600k if on a budget.

It wont hold you back. If you overclock it, it will be the basis of a very capable system.

I think with those AMD CPU's you have to get the right kind of boards as they go above power/heat specifications.
 
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Thanks for the info guys.

Ive done myself a new build with the following combination now:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total £339.96.

Full build cost at at £903 not including delivery. Full build in general hardware section if you want to take a look at the rest.

It is a little higher than I wanted, but there may be some savings to be made on some components by waiting for offers etc, or going 2nd hand on the GPU maybe an option as suggested. I'll have to have a closer look at that possibility.

I guess this build though is giving me quite a significant improvement over the H110 chipset and 6500 CPU. Google and youtube seem to be suggesting a 4.4Ghz frequency on this chip should be easily achievable?
 
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That 6600k build (over in General section) looks great, nicely balanced. Whilst it's over your original budget it should give you better performance and longer service than what you were originally planning and so save money in the long run.

A 4.4 Ghz OC should be no problem, although I can't comment if your chosen cooler will get you there (best to ask in the cooling section).
 
Spend most of the money on the GPU. Then whatever Intel CPU you can afford after. In most games you won't see a whole lot of difference, especially once you go above 1080.
 
Hmm perhaps slight differing of opinion then on this.

The difference between an i5-6500 build and an i5-6600k build is just around £100 (mobo +£55, cooler +£25, cpu +£20).

So with spending £180 on a GPU (pending release of rx480), then am i better spending that £100 on the better CPU or getting a £280 GPU? Or save the £100 and not spend it at all lol.
 
i5 6500 with go great with the rx 480, especially if you are only gaming, you'd be better off just putting it towards a nice looking monitor, or just keeping it for the future.
6600k wont make much difference as you wont see any situations where the cpu is a bottleneck vs the gpu
 
To be fair to OC, I could only get it for a tenner cheaper elsewhere. It would have to be more than that for me to go elsewhere at the moment.

It is so tempting to future proof myself tbh. Its not just the chip itself. If i go for the 6500 i would also go for a H110 motherboard, probably in mATX. So that means no future crossfire (if it became better supported for example).

If I went for a Z170 motherboard now, it would be silly not to spend the extra £20 on the better CPU.


Hmm re the monitor - I am only spending £120 on this at the moment. Probably the one component of my build I've not asked about yet.
 
danlightbulb said:
If I went for a Z170 motherboard now, it would be silly not to spend the extra £20 on the better CPU.
Click to expand...

True. But it's more than that because the 6600k means you need a cooler too.

Even if going for the i5-6500 I would still get a Z170 board because this gives you better future proofing. Z170 gives you the option to use SLI / Crossfire (depending on the board), add more RAM (Z170 boards have four DIMM slots, H110 boards only have two) and upgrade your CPU to something overclockable (6600k, 6700k, Kaby Lake etc) if you ever feel the need.

The motherboard is the heart of your system, it influences what you can upgrade later and what peripherals you can support. it's also something you don't want to swap out unless you have to if you're using an OEM install of Windows. Don't skimp.
 
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