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Newbie build - leaning towards intel

Manners14

Manners14

Manners14

Associate
Joined
8 Apr 2014
Posts
426
Location
Lincolnshire, UK
Hi all, this is my first post on the site as I thought I would come and seek some user advice on my next purchase.
After being a console gamer for around 20 years iv decided to take the plunge into PC gaming and so I bought myself a case and graphics card, next step is the processor. I was just wondering what people would advise to use. Iv done some research and so far with my price range and choice of games I have looked at the third generation i5 3570k.
The graphics card is a nvidia gigabyte gtx750i Ti
And the case is a nzxt phantom 820

I am yet to choose the motherboard, psu etc etc but I thought this would be a good place to get advice.

Thanks in advance for any info I get
 
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Since many have jumped into Haswell you should be able to pick up a i7 3770k for a decent price, were you thinking of buying new or used?

Nothing wrong with the i5 3570k but if it was me I'd go for the i7. I'd take a 2600/2700k if you can't find a 3770k. The extra threads are and will be useful further down the line.
 
thanks for the reply, i am looking at buying all the components new so i have a decent warranty etc and obviously there is no issue of foul play or hammering them, and as it is my first build i was just using it as a guarantee for the life of the parts really just in case i am terrible at this...
i didnt want to go all out and spend loads on a processor if i could help it, but it seems that i have to spend big here by the looks of things
 
The i7 would be a waste of cash when you're only rocking an entry level gaming GPU like a 750Ti

Generally, for a balanced gaming PC you should spend a bit more of your budget on the GPU than on the CPU.

If you're sticking with the 750Ti, I would go for an AMD build - and FX-6300 for about £80, with a Gigabyte 970a-DS3P (a 970a-UD3P, or the Asus M5A97 Evo if you plan any overclocking). 8Gb of speedy Ram (the Kingston offer here at OCUK is great, currently)

Then an HDD, with a 120Gb SSD for the OS and a few game installs if budget allows. A good quality Power supply (the Superflower ones at OCUK are pretty good)

Head over to the General Hardware forum for detailed specs from the experts there.
 
It sounds good to me Manners14 I wouldn't change it, I'd only go with AMD if you are prepared to buy a semi-decent motherboard and heatsink.
 
thanks for the replies guys. the budget is open to a little bit of maneuver with certain parts, but because its my first build, and because i just want it built quickly, i was hopefully going to pick some decent parts that will run the majority of games out now at a decent level, just so i can learn what everything does and how it all works together. then when new games come out, and i learn how to apply mods to games etc then obviously i will need to upgrade parts. but if the 3570k would be sufficient for the point im aiming at then id sway towards that, as it is reasonably priced, and the next one up from that is a large jump in cost.
in terms of games, i was going to start with skyrim ( played the xbox version so id like to play with some mods, and do the quests differently etc ) and maybe hawken, tom clancy, crisis etc. im not going to hammer it on ultra settings, it would just be nice to upgrade from my 360 for a decent price, instead of "wasting" my money on another outdated console
 
You've chosen a 750 Ti which suggests you're not going for an "ultra" PC. Therefore this is spot on advice:

cheesyboy said:
FX-6300 for about £80, with a Gigabyte 970a-DS3P (a 970a-UD3P, or the Asus M5A97 Evo if you plan any overclocking). 8Gb of speedy Ram (the Kingston offer here at OCUK is great, currently)

Then an HDD, with a 120Gb SSD for the OS and a few game installs if budget allows. A good quality Power supply (the Superflower ones at OCUK are pretty good)
Click to expand...

Definitely get the SSD and it should be a nicely balanced little system. Honestly you won't be disappointed with the FX 6300 for £80.
 
Ah thanks for that David, i didnt see that at all, that seems like it is worth going for then. positive reviews on it which is a good sign, and you expect that going forwards you get extra reliability and efficiency etc, so for the same price its a no brainer. especially as im not really looking at overclocking anything just yet also.
 
A 750 Ti and a 4670K are £277.98 using today's prices.

For practically the same money you can get:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire Radeon R9 280 Dual-X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £199.99
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-6 Six Core 6300 Black Edition 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £79.99
Total : £279.98



The latter pair is almost TWICE as fast as the Intel/750Ti.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1130?vs=1041

(That's the 280X mind, so take a couple of % off.)

I'm afraid you've gone about your budget the wrong way for gaming.
 
If you are going intel then go haswell. But if spending the extra on intel means less for the gpu then go the AMD route with a better GPU
 
To be honest, i didnt really consider AMD due to the sheer amount of friends that have dealt with them before and knocked their performance. this is not to say i wouldnt try them in the future, but as i am brand new to this, i was looking at playing it safe really and hopefully choosing the parts that are recognised by everyone and not just one branch of fans.
the GPU was not really a big issue for me at the moment because of the games that i will initially be playing, however, i am looking forward to a massive pay rise in around 18 months, so i can go overboard at this point and upgrade the parts i need to.
 
I wouldn't buy an expensive CPU like the 4670k and then pair it with a budget GPU like the 750ti.

With my 8320 and HD7850 which is faster than the 750ti, I'm GPU limited when gaming at 1080p.
 
Manners14 said:
...as i am brand new to this, i was looking at playing it safe ...
the GPU was not really a big issue for me at the moment because of the games that i will initially be playing,...
Click to expand...

You started the thread asking for advice, so this is mine: start a new thread in General Hardware, state your budget, what games you like, and monitor resolution, and someone will put something together. Choosing a CPU without this information is impossible.

The best thing to do will probably involve sending that 750 Ti back or selling it, unless you play really basic games or don't care about turning the eye-candy up. Put it down to experience.
 
its a learning curve, appreciate the advice, i guess i need to see the things that are wrong as much as i need to see the right things to learn what to do.
 
joeyjojo said:
You started the thread asking for advice, so this is mine: start a new thread in General Hardware, state your budget, what games you like, and monitor resolution, and someone will put something together. Choosing a CPU without this information is impossible.

The best thing to do will probably involve sending that 750 Ti back or selling it, unless you play really basic games or don't care about turning the eye-candy up. Put it down to experience.
Click to expand...

^

This is spot on imo, without sugar coating anything. It sounds like a bit of a bother to send the 750ti back but in the end you will get a much better system over all and its not like you can finish the build until you have your CPU and motherboard ready.

If you are new to PC building and choosing parts or not up to date with the details and specs, then its best to give your total budget and let people throw you a few different combination of components, explaining why they chose them. In the end you will end up with a much better balanced system and a better idea of the capabilities of the rig before you buy into anything.
 
Manners14 said:
its a learning curve, appreciate the advice, i guess i need to see the things that are wrong as much as i need to see the right things to learn what to do.
Click to expand...

icon14.gif
Sorry if that sounded curt btw.

It takes a pretty intimate knowledge of the market to know what works well and what doesn't - it's very hard for a beginner or someone who's been out of the loop for a while to get the right information. That's why the chaps in GH are so good - they put these specs together week in week out and know how to get the best for a given budget.
 
The AMD option will get you better FPS (Fx 6300 + 280x), however if you go for the intel option, you can be happy in the knowledge that if you decide to upgrade to a even faster GPU like a r9 290 or gtx 780 the intel CPU will have the power to get the most out of them.
 
To be honest I just didn't want to spend hundreds and hundreds on a gpu when there was one on offer that could do everything I wanted for half the price. If it lasts 18 months then that's more than enough as I'll be getting a nice pay rise at that point, so I'll be able to treat myself. And as I'm new to PC gaming I didn't want to spend loads just to find out I didn't like it or whatever.
Bit of a shoddy excuse but iv just tried to keep within certain boundaries really. It would have been far easier to give a budget at the beginning but then I guess I don't feel like it's a personal build, someone else could have done it from scratch, but then I get no pride from it I guess.
I actually do really appreciate the advice because like I say, it's something I will learn from and future builds will benefit from also
 
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