6600K, 4970K and FX 8370 for gaming and virtualization

Hardware Hub CPU
1

I last built a a rig during the final haydays of the Phenom II X4 965 and the Radeon HD 6000 series, which were both in my previous rig.

Now I am looking at building a second one. I have two primary use cases, high end gaming and running virtual environments. (usually, but not always at different times.) I am wondering which of these three cpus best line up with my needs. (I'm leaning towards the 4970K but I can't seem to give up my AMD fanboyism, regardless of how hopeless that endeavor may be.)

Additional notes. The entire rig cost includes monitor, case etc. and a Radeon R9 390X. Everything except mouse and keyboard. I'm trying to keep the total cost below $1900, but preferably closer to $1600.

Thanks a lot!

2

Keep in mind that the 4790k has VT-D for directed hardware I/O.

3

Can you send a link to your current part list? It will be easier to see what you're looking for.

4

i7-4790K.

It leaves you out of the DDR4 upgrade ring, USB Type-C, and SATA Express, but it's still where the performance is.

5

Posted as a csv.

Base setup,,,,,
Zalman CNPS9500A-LED,36,,,,
Samsung 850 EVO 250GB SSD drive,72,,,,
Western Digital Black 1TB,65,,,,
MSI Radeon R9 390X 8GB,400,,,,
Fractal Design Arc XL ATX,101,,,,
Fractal Design Integra 750W,75,,,,
DVD Writer,15,,,,
Windows 10,125,,,,
Monitor,350,,,,
Sum,1239,,,,
,,,,,
,,,,,
,,,,,
i5-6600K,255,i7-4790K,300,FX 8370,172
Asus Maximus VIII HERO,220,MSI Z97 Gaming 5,125,Asus M5A99FX Pro R2 AM3+,120
G.Skill Ripjaws 32GB DDR-2400,150,G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 32GB DDR3-1600,120,G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 32GB DDR3-1600,120
Sum,625,,545,,412
,,,,,
Super SUM:,1864,,1784,,1651

6

You didn't really state any case preferences or monitor/OS preferences but here is a better and cheaper build.

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Abhorrence/saved/XDKtt6

More storage, better case and PSU and quad channel RAM.

1 Like
7

Wow, many thanks!

8

No problem at all.

9

Yeah i would go with the 6700K or 4790K, depends on what you could afford atm.
Both should work fine with virtualization.

10

yea fuck the i5, get the i7 no mater what, the 8370 might be good, but I would go intel personally.

the missing cache and the gimping of the i5 puts it out of the race for this one

11

Your gonna have to let your AMD fanboyism go with your Phenom II. The FX 8 cores are cheap but are out dated and a dead end, we must let them go and await the new FX Zen CPUs in 2016 and hope their good to bring many AMD fanboys back to life. For now the i7 4790k is the way to go, even a FX8 core at 5.3ghz cant touch a stock 4790k in most tests "I personally tested this with a friend that had a 5.3ghz FX8350". Don't get me wrong I had a [email protected] and absolutely loved the old workhorse but when it came time to get more done I traded the workhorse for a tractor and got an i7, since then I haven't looked back. Anyway the 4790k and 390x will make a lovely pair, should handle anything ya need for quite a while.