building a PC and I have some questions...

[Monsieur Tirets]

So, it's time for a new PC, to function as an average everyday desk top/gaming rig, and I thought I'd give a go at building my own. The original thinking was to build a budget mitx that could do some okay gaming. I decided on a x4 860k for the cpu since it was cheap, had 4 cores and going forward I think additional cores/threads will be more advantageous than any single thread advantage a dual core intel might offer that seems likely to go unnoticed in actual everyday use.

I then realized for around the same price, due to certain deals, I could build a fx 6300 based rig and though that sounds like a good way to go in terms of bang for my buck I am a little leery of buying into a four year old platform. But my knowledge is limited and I'm no expert, so, I was wondering is there anything about that that could suddenly render the rig obsolete? I know it wont have ddr4 like the upcoming skylake boards or even pcie 3.0 since am3+ mobos dont, but beyond that anything to be concerned about as long as the processing power is there to get the job done? A number of people seem to recommend an i3 over the fx, but like I said Im having a hard time seeing the advantage over a fx 6300 going forward with more and more games moving in a multithreaded direction. Of course there's the upgrade route to an I5 but I rather just build the best PC I can for the money now, plus the cheapest i5 with the cheapest mobo still costs a good bit more than a 6300 with a solid mobo, or even a 8320, and to be honest, watching benchmarks, especially in recent games, it doesnt seem like the i5 is really worth the price premium, again especially if moving forward devs start utilizing more than four cores regularly. And that seems likely with both current consoles being based on 8 core amd cpus.

Anyway, some of you seem rather knowledgeable when it comes to PCs and I'd appreciate any input. FYI my budget is around $400(without os/peripherals). Thanks.

 

[Ares]

Yeah I cannot build for 400$.... typically that will be the cost of the CPU/Mobo alone.

If someone wanted a gaming rig I think the lowest I could tell them would be 1,000$.... maybe 800$ if you truly cheap out in a number of areas.

You need:

Mobo, CPU, Memory, Hard Drive, Video Card, Case/PSU.... that leaves you like 60-70$ per component.

maybe if you don't buy a Video card and live with the built in Intel graphics on a board?

DIS IS CRAZY MT DONT DO IT

 

[Monsieur Tirets]

The idea that you need a $1000 budget to game is ridiculous. That's cool if you have the money and need to max out games at 4k 60fps, but...come on. A 400 dollar budget, after rebates, can include a decent cpu and a r9 280... if you think you cant game on that youre full of shit.

And you didn't touch upon any of the questions I actually asked. lol

 

[Crystallas]

For that budget, you're looking at a Godavari build.

 

[Monsieur Tirets]

lol no.

Again, the options have essentially been boiled down to an i3 or a fx 6300 to be paired with a r9 280. I shouldnt even have bothered with posting budget, I only did that to avoid the usual... "go with this build" type comments that result in suggestions that neither consider the components at hand nor take into account the fact that the newly suggested build costs hundreds more while offering little real would performance advantage. In the end it seems while avoiding that it simply derailed the thread in another manner.

 

[Crystallas]

"lol no" ?

You say this, like a godavari build is a bad option. That's the option I would take, because you can still add a GPU to it, and use both the APU graphics cores for demanding games, and the added GPU. But while using less power than going crossfire/multi card. Basically a better upgrade path, outside of the CPU, because all of the sockets now are pretty much getting replaced with the next architectures. Not to mention that DDR4 on the current controllers suck, but the z170 chipset and integrated controller in skylake(the solution not on the table for you) will make DDR4 the defacto solution. Same with Zen, which basically sticks you on a full upgrade path either way, and like you said, barely any difference between certain models of CPU, so by the time you upgrade, you're buying pretty much the whole PC again anyways.

 

[MassHavoc]

What is a godavari build?

 

[Monsieur Tirets]

"lol no" ?

You say this, like a godavari build is a bad option. That's the option I would take, because you can still add a GPU to it, and use both the APU graphics cores for demanding games, and the added GPU. But while using less power than going crossfire. Basically a better upgrade path, outside of the CPU, because all of the sockets now are pretty much getting replaced with the next architectures. Not to mention that DDR4 on the current controllers suck, but the z170 chipset and integrated controller in skylake(the solution not on the table for you) will make DDR4 the defacto solution. Same with Zen, which basically sticks you on a full upgrade path either way, and like you said, barely any difference between certain models of CPU, so by the time you upgrade, you're buying pretty much the whole PC again anyways.

If i was gonig to go the fm2+ route the x4 860 seems to be the way to go. And I heard you cant really "poor man crossfire" apu with dgpus. But like I said the 860k was my first choice, but then I realized I could build a rig with a 6300 for the same price... and that lead to the question in the op and the desire to build the best possible PC now. Im not to concerned about ddr4 and skylake if theres nothing in a am3+ build that would render it obsolete any faster than going with anything else currently on the market. What on a current fm2+ board could be upgraded that couldnt on a am3+ board? And again, I rather not upgrade but just build the best Pc for the money now as long as itll be good enough until it be time for a new pc anyway. and wouldnt that be the case regardless if I went with a current intel core cpu or amd? I guess thats essentially what Im asking. as well as opinions on current i3s vs 6300.

If amd was going to release future cpus such as zen on the fm2 platform I would absolutely consider going that route, but they are not and the fact is none of the fm2 cpus are as strong as the 6300.

 

[Crystallas]

What is a godavari build?

It's an optimized Kaveri core refresh.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113393

 

[Crystallas]

If i was gonig to go the fm2+ route the x4 860 seems to be the way to go. And I heard you cant really "poor man crossfire" apu with dgpus. But like I said the 860k was my first choice, but then I realized I could build a rig with a 6300 for the same price... and that lead to the question in the op and the desire to build the best possible PC now. Im not to concerned about ddr4 and skylake if theres nothing in a am3+ build that would render it obsolete any faster than going with anything else currently on the market. What on a current fm2+ board could be upgraded that couldnt on a am3+ board? And again, I rather not upgrade but just build the best Pc for the money now as long as itll be good enough until it be time for a new pc anyway. and wouldnt that be the case regardless if I went with a current intel core cpu or amd? I guess thats essentially what Im asking. as well as opinions on current i3s vs 6300.

I have had no issues with APU + GPU in the handful of builds that I have done. (BTW, all of the new intel CPUs are actually APUs as well, with integrated graphics). IDK who told you it was an issue, or where they get their information from. But let's render that as a useless point and move on since you want to put the 6300 vs an i3(which i3? quite a few options, i3, i5, i7 mean little, it's the numbers after that you need to pay attention to).

But given those options, assuming you are going with a good i3/i5 chip, I would do the i3. Mainly because the power/heat is superior, and so are most standard tasks to go along with games.

 

[Monsieur Tirets]

I have had no issues with APU + GPU in the handful of builds that I have done. (BTW, all of the new intel CPUs are actually APUs as well, with integrated graphics). IDK who told you it was an issue, or where they get their information from. But let's render that as a useless point and move on since you want to put the 6300 vs an i3(which i3? quite a few options, i3, i5, i7 mean little, it's the numbers after that you need to pay attention to).

But given those options, assuming you are going with a good i3/i5 chip, I would do the i3. Mainly because the power/heat is superior, and so are most standard tasks to go along with games.

It would likely be an i3 4170. A number of people seem to recommend the i3, of any variant, due to single thread performance but in benchmarks for recent games it simply doesnt complete with the 6300 and while it does have an advantage in older single/dual threaded games, the fx 6300 still manages 60FPS in every single one that the i3 does, so again it comes down to real world performance and Im not sure the real world advantage of the i3s single thread performance(80fps vs 70 or executing a command in a fraction of a second quicker) trumps the advantage of having 6 threads going forward. the power/heat thing is legit, but thats not a concern as far as im concerned. iim interested in which would be the better base performance wise. The other reason some suggest the i3 over the 6300 is that its newer, and thats my main concern. but if the 6300 performs does it really matter? wont the i3 based on 2-3 year old tech be rendered just as obsolete by the time the fx is? thats my question?

anyway, I appreciate you actually engaging in the conversation and lending your input.

 

[Crystallas]

The Vishera CPUs are legit. You seem to know what you prefer, as far as performance. Then just pull the trigger. The reason why the i3 or better i5 4xxx options still are better, are because of the other areas to eek performance and possibly have an upgrade path. Power consumption is an issue, always, even if you kick and scream saying they aren't. When your power consumption is low, you also have a higher threshold for real world overclocking with little to ever worry about. While you can OC the 6300, it's going to generate a lot more heat, so you're still spending extra cash somewhere to account for that(especially if you want to run the system long term).

Also, just to show you that I'm not some fanboy, and I'm being real here. Here's my system spec screenshot.

 

[Chief Walking Stick]

If I want to get back into WoW or Elder Scrolls... what type of rig do I need and what type of budget should I be expecting?

 

[ytsejam]

Been awhile since I've done a build.
I'm eyeing i5 4690k chip with GTX 960 on ASUS Maximus VI Impact in In Win mini d-frame.
I've got an ROG 75sx and it is more than enough for me but I just enjoy building sweet PCs.

 

[Crystallas]

If I want to get back into WoW or Elder Scrolls... what type of rig do I need and what type of budget should I be expecting?

http://www.systemrequirementslab.co...ld-of-warcraft-warlords-of-draenor/12375/?p=r
http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri?itemId=11969

So basically a newer quad core CPU with 4gb or ram+ and a gtx960/R9 380 would make due. So $600 on to meet the recommended specs without buying used or discontinued components. You could have a decent setup but not max for $400, and a killer rig is.. well killer in price. That's all up to you.

 

[Chief Walking Stick]

http://www.systemrequirementslab.co...ld-of-warcraft-warlords-of-draenor/12375/?p=r
http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri?itemId=11969

So basically a newer quad core CPU with 4gb or ram+ and a gtx960/R9 380 would make due. So $600 on to meet the recommended specs without buying used or discontinued components. You could have a decent setup but not max for $400, and a killer rig is.. well killer in price. That's all up to you.

What about a monitor, mouse, keyboard? I literally have not PC gamed since 2009.

 

[Crystallas]

What about a monitor, mouse, keyboard? I literally have not PC gamed since 2009.

Monitors are going to get real cheap if you don't care about UHD/4k gaming. They already are somewhat cheap compared to years past. $150 is the middle ground.

KB/Mouse is subjective in many ways. $100 is a fair range for KB and mouse. Like everything else, it can go higher or lower, pending your goals.

 

[Chief Walking Stick]

Monitors are going to get real cheap if you don't care about UHD/4k gaming. They already are somewhat cheap compared to years past. $150 is the middle ground.

KB/Mouse is subjective in many ways. $100 is a fair range for KB and mouse. Like everything else, it can go higher or lower, pending your goals.

My goal is to take over Azeroth... how much will a keyboard and mouse take for that?

 

[ytsejam]

$100

 

[Monsieur Tirets]

The Vishera CPUs are legit. You seem to know what you prefer, as far as performance. Then just pull the trigger. The reason why the i3 or better i5 4xxx options still are better, are because of the other areas to eek performance and possibly have an upgrade path. Power consumption is an issue, always, even if you kick and scream saying they aren't. When your power consumption is low, you also have a higher threshold for real world overclocking with little to ever worry about. While you can OC the 6300, it's going to generate a lot more heat, so you're still spending extra cash somewhere to account for that(especially if you want to run the system long term).

Also, just to show you that I'm not some fanboy, and I'm being real here. Here's my system spec screenshot.

Yeah, I get that amd cpus consume more power and put out more heat, but if I do overclock itll likely just be a slight oc to bring the 6300 up to a 6350 which is the same exact chip on the same exact cooler so that can be done without any additional cost and/or power consumption/heat. And if I went the intel route theyd be locked anyway since unlocked intel cpus plus a z series board gets expensive, more expensive then its arguably worth imo. Id probably just just go locked i5 if I decided intel was really worth the premium.

I have considered an i5 4590 but im not sure going that route is worth going with a lesser gpu.