Part #1 AMD or Intel? First Gaming Build, CPU Budget ~$300

Turtle Man · Jan 5, 2012

As the title states I am about to be underway with my first ever build, and it will be primarily for gaming. ~$300 Will be the budget for my CPU on this build. With a total budget of $1600, leaving about $1300 remaining. Ivy is not an option as this build needs to begin asap.

Currently I'm favoring the i7-2600K very much...

Frakk · Jan 5, 2012

Turtle Man said:
Currently I'm favoring the i7-2600K very much...

Expensive but currently the best bang. Yes i think you would be right but isnt it over your CPU buget?

The i5 2500K is also a good chip.

Turtle Man · Jan 5, 2012

Frakk said:
Expensive but currently the best bang. Yes i think you would be right but isnt it over your CPU buget?

The i5 2500K is also a good chip.

I have found the i7-2600K under $300 so it would be an option.

Frakk · Jan 5, 2012

Its all good then. :thup:

Knufire · Jan 5, 2012

IMO, if this is the same build as the one in the General Hardware thread, you're not going to be able to afford a 2500K. Typically you'd need a budget of at least $1200-1300 for that. You listed your budget as $1600, but you stated in the other thread that you need your OS and monitor included. For an NVIDIA 3D kit + monitor + Windows, that's going to run you about $550, bringing your "real" computer budget down to about $1050-1100. 2500K is for sure the choice in that situation.

Mario1 · Jan 9, 2012

AMD will do just fine in games.
No reason to spend more money for a 5-7fps increase (which will probably be from 995 to 1000).

Frakk · Jan 11, 2012

Mario1 said:
AMD will do just fine in games.
No reason to spend more money for a 5-7fps increase (which will probably be from 995 to 1000).

I agree, at stock real terms gaming performance increase is minimal, if its there at all.
But the 2500K / 2600K's are easier to OC and will go higher.

Not that either high end AMD or Intels need to be overclocked for playing any game, its the GPU that will hold the game back there.

The price gap between them has now narrowed, i think the AMD's are more fun to OC because they present more of a challenge, but on good air my 1090T might get to 4.3Ghz, the 2500K will get to 5Ghz. if its raw clock speed one is looking for the 2500K or 2600K is the best bet.

EarthDog · Jan 11, 2012

It actually depends on the game guys... Check this link out.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/10/11/amd_bulldozer_fx8150_gameplay_performance_review/4

I would say 2500k or 2600k. No reason for Bulldozer and its many cores.

Janus67 · Jan 11, 2012

Agreed with EarthDog. Grab a 25/600k and you will be off to a good start.

Bobnova · Jan 11, 2012

EarthDog said:
It actually depends on the game guys... Check this link out.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/10/11/amd_bulldozer_fx8150_gameplay_performance_review/4

I would say 2500k or 2600k. No reason for Bulldozer and its many cores.

Janus67 said:
Agreed with EarthDog. Grab a 25/600k and you will be off to a good start.

I agree with those two guys.
I'd say buy the 2500K and spend the money you saved on the CPU on a beefier GPU.

bmwbaxter · Jan 11, 2012

like the guys above me said, 25/2600k and you are good to go.

Mjolnir · Jan 11, 2012

His budget is actually lower than you all think really.. According to his location; he's in NZ. Prices in NZ I believe are generally even worse than in Aus.. So while 1600 to you guys may mean a 2500K, a GTX 570, etc even with a monitor.. For us, not so much.. Depends on where he's buying..

OP. Is there a particular site you're buying from? Or a local store?

Turtle Man · Jan 11, 2012

Mjolnir said:
His budget is actually lower than you all think really.. According to his location; he's in NZ. Prices in NZ I believe are generally even worse than in Aus.. So while 1600 to you guys may mean a 2500K, a GTX 570, etc even with a monitor.. For us, not so much.. Depends on where he's buying..

OP. Is there a particular site you're buying from? Or a local store?

Sorry for my absence in this thread. I've been overloaded with moving into my new home. First off I am from "New England" USA, Rhode Island to be exact.. about 50 minutes from a MicroCenter if that helps at all. I've been thinking over the 3D option and might just throw that idea out and keeping the same budget for a beefier build.
Regardless I think I will be sticking with an i5-2500k or if the i7-2600k is worth the extra ~$90, I'll take that route.

i5-2500k - Remaining budget of ~ $ 1375
i7-2600k - Remining budget of ~ $1275

Turtle Man · Jan 11, 2012

If I understand the offer from MicroCenter, this combo should be $319.98 ...

Turtle Man · Jan 11, 2012

Ok, I have confirmed the total would be $339.98 for this combo, tax included. Does anyone disagree with this combo for my build? Leaving my budget @ $1260.

Note: I have scrapped the 3D plan.

Janus67 · Jan 11, 2012

Sounds like a good deal to me. i don't think you will be disappointed with the power of a 2500k.

Turtle Man · Jan 11, 2012

Here's what I've come up with on my own, using MicroCenter only. Input is appreciated.

$139.99 - P8Z68-V/GEN3 LGA 1155 Z68

$179.99 - i5 2500K LGA 1155 Boxed Processor

$49.99 - Vengeance Series 8GB DDR3-1600 (PC3-12800) CL9 Dual Channel Desktop Memory Kit (Two 4GB Memory Modules)

$139.99 - Cooler Master HAF932 High Air Flow Full Tower Computer Case

Total $541.83 tax included.

Leaving me About $1060 for SSD, GPU, O/S (Win 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM), LED Display and cooling.

Neuromancer · Jan 11, 2012

EarthDog said:
It actually depends on the game guys... Check this link out.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/10/11/amd_bulldozer_fx8150_gameplay_performance_review/4

I would say 2500k or 2600k. No reason for Bulldozer and its many cores.

Eww who said anything about bulldozer?

My thuban runs fine at 2700 mhz cpunb and 1866 mem speed.

(stock otherwise, but AMD recommends 3 times mem speed for cpunb.. so I clocked it).

Whitefang · Jan 11, 2012

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986

Windows, leaving you about $960.

Power supply, too? Or do you have one?

Neuromancer · Jan 11, 2012

Turtle Man said:
Here's what I've come up with on my own, using MicroCenter only. Input is appreciated.

$139.99 - P8Z68-V/GEN3 LGA 1155 Z68

$179.99 - i5 2500K LGA 1155 Boxed Processor

$49.99 - Vengeance Series 8GB DDR3-1600 (PC3-12800) CL9 Dual Channel Desktop Memory Kit (Two 4GB Memory Modules)

$139.99 - Cooler Master HAF932 High Air Flow Full Tower Computer Case

Total $541.83 tax included.

Leaving me About $1060 for SSD, GPU, O/S (Win 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM), LED Display and cooling.

You will not be disappointed with intel. Just reemmber mem speed over timings.

Other than that if you want snappy, you need SSD. 120 GB minimum and people have apps to move game file to and from an SSD. I never used it personally. Took my H67 with dual SSDs in 0 to match my thuban with a 500GB hitachi 7200 drive for "feel" value. But at 5GHz.. sandybridge cant be touched.

Part #1 AMD or Intel? First Gaming Build, CPU Budget ~$300

Registered

Member

Registered

Member

Senior Member

Grammer, its my favoriate thing

Member

Gulper Nozzle Co-Owner

Benching Team Leader

Senior Member

Member

Member

Registered

Registered

Registered

Benching Team Leader

Registered

Member

Member

Member

Similar threads