Best CPU for the R9 290

Hi all long time watcher of the you tube channel first time poster.

 

I literally bought an R9 on a whim because it was so damn cheap couldnt pass up on the offer.

I am now wondering what cpu and motherboard to put with it. Was originally thinking 8350 but am not so positive have never had an AMD cpu before. My last build was nearly ten years ago now. probably looking around the i5 or 8350 price range. motherboard im looking for a good price mainly. and also Ram what is the go there these days?

It has been a long time since i have gamed on a pc. but I saw the card and it was 200$ off so i had to jump.

 

Sorry for being so vague. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Well you need to tell us what exactly you want to do with that pc.

right sorry, Primarily gaming. and doing assignments in word.

What is your budget?

I really do not know. I am willing to buy an i7 if it is the best fit. Would i be correct in saying the i5 is the best bang for buck when it comes to gaming performance at the moment?

 

You would be totally fine with an i5 4670k and a decent Z87 mobo. Other choices would be:

FX 8350, you will get 8 cores which is great for multitasking and heavily multithreaded programs (most games still don't use more than 6 cores though), okay-ish single thread performance and it's pretty cheap.

i7 4770k, probably overkill for gaming, pretty expensive, otherwise a really good CPU of course.

And, the most interesting choice IMO, a Xeon E3-1230 v3 with a cheap H87 (or maybe even B85?) mobo. Costs as much as the i5 4670k, you don't need an expensive mobo, you can't overclock it (the turbo goes up to 3.9 GHz with a bit of tweaking though). Many people were talking about it being a pretty good replacement for an i7 4770k for all kinds of work and for gaming as well. The price is pretty damn good and you don't need a fancy mobo because you won't be OCing anyway. At least that's the common opinion right now.

Of course there are other choices out there as well, but those 4 make the most sense (more or less) for a high end gaming rig right now.

 

Also, because you were asking about RAM: Just get 2 x 4GB of any reputable brand clocked at 1600 or maybe 1866MHz, at 1.5V and with CL9 timings. That's basically the standard right now. You won't need any more for gaming.

pure gaming, 8320 with a 6+2 or 8+2 motherboard. if you don't oc get a xeon e-1230v3 with a cheap mobo.

i have a r9 290, i7 4770k 4.7ghz, h87 ASRock performance and 32gb ram and everything is working fine. but i don't recommend it just for gaming.

Just get i5 4440 or 4570 if you dont want to overclock and mobo with b85 chipset. If you want some premium features on motherboard you can get something like b85 asrock killer fatality.
If you wan to overclock 4670k and z87 motherboard.
There is no reason to get xeon or i7 or 8 core amd if you want only play games and do stuff in word. 

Xeon 1230v3 if no overclocking, along with a H87 board.

Intel i5-4670k with a Z87 board (MSI Z87-GD65 probably) if you want Intel & overclocking.

FX-8350 with Asrock 990fx Killer if you want AMD.

Remember to pick up a CPU cooler if you want to overclock.  A cheap one for mild overclocking would be the Cooler Master Hyper 212.

THanks everyone for the help. I had never herd of this Intel Xeon build.

Where would i be able to go for some benchmarks?

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/697?vs=836

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/697?vs=837

The Xeon in an i7 basically so it should be similar to a stock 4770

Go with the 8350 or the xeon 1230v3 that they have mentioned above. On a side note I doubt you see any performance difference between those two options (maybe 2-4 fps). There are pros and cons to both options- intel will cost more, but technically have better performance. AMD will be cheaper and you get 8 cores. Keep in mind games in the future will probably be able to use more and more cores, so AMD could be a better performer in the future. Nobody knows the future though.

Here is an Issue with the Xeon here in New Zealand it costs $100 more than the i5 and is very close to an i7 price. Im thinking price for performance the AMD 8350 might be the way to go, especially with the majority of you guys suggesting that will most likely perform better in the future.

 

Do i need any specific motherboard to overclock an 8350?

If the Xeon is that much more, don't bother with it.  The FX-8350 is an incredible price-performance chip.  Just make sure you get a motherboard that can handle it, especially if you are overclocking.

Motherboards that will be pretty good:

ASRock 990fx Killer

Asus M5A97 Evo R2.0

Asus M5A99X Evo R2.0

Asus M5A99FX Pro R2.0

Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3P

Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 (also -UD5 and -UD7)

Thanks for the motherboard suggestions

these are the two it comes down to.

AMD 8350

Asus M5A97 EVo

or

i5 4670K

Asus Z87-C

 

the difference in price is $70 NZD

Intel 4770k all the way, as for a motherboard, this is a HIGHLY personal choice. What kind of I/O do you want? How much RAM are you going to buy? Single or double Ethernet? etc.

was also thinking of the Cooler Master Seidon. does anyone have an opinion on that particular system?

 

Thats not overkill?

Probably want as much ram as possible at the least 16gig. Crossfire capable. Just USB is the main input. Im not going to go overboard maybe a logitech G25 but apart from that nothiung over the top. No sound cards or anything like that.

be more of a fanboy

They're alright.  I have a Seidon 120V in my little ITX rig, and for the price, it's pretty damn good.