okay so i'm going to use a i3-3220 alongside a GTX-660 SCEdition, is that going to bottleneck the GPU? Or shall I just buy a i5-3570K?
btw I am on a budget, and I haven't brought any components yet!
You should be fine, but not very upgradable
if you want to get a CPU on a budget, go for the FX-6300
outperforms any i3 at stock and completely blows it away when overclocked
and will a 500W PSU be enough for this GPU and the CPU (i3, i5, or the fx 6300?)
how about the fx-8120 it's 8core and similar price to the 6300?
The 8120 is a Zambezi, which you should avoid at all times. If you get an FX, get a Vishera. Zambezi is the Bulldozer architecure, which is less than good.
From the benchmarks I've seen of the i3's the bottleneck is there, FPS goes much higher with a better CPU. Power Supply I would suggest a 650w Corsair/XFX/Seasonic though a 500w should power it just fine but at that level it's has to be from a really good company. I say 650w since you'll have better head room if you want to overclock, add HDDs, add Fans.
And PSU's are a pain to replace if you go all out with cable management.
Yeah, get the i5 and a 650w. Save more now vs Upgrade later is my philosiphy, like me you'll probably keep the thing for at least 3 years.
I got the i7 and 8 threads is not worth it if your just gaming. Only a few titles really take advantage of it and the difference in performance is with minimum and average FPS, the results vary.
So definately the the i5 is better for gaming and still not too bad for other things.