Building Budget Gaming PC - AMD vs Intel

Hi all,

I'm building my own pc for the very first time so I'm pretty much a "noob" at this whole thing. I'm struggling at getting my head round some stuff. I realise that "intel vs amd" is an age-old debate but please read on.

 

Ok so let me show you a few builds that I'm thinking of:



BUILD ONE

Benchmarks: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2eThM/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor (£83.54 @ Ebuyer) 

Motherboard: Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£47.99 @ Aria PC) 

Memory: Corsair 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory (£58.00 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Storage: Hitachi Ultrastar 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£41.40 @ Aria PC) 

Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7870 2GB Video Card (£136.97 @ Dabs) 

Wireless Network Adapter: Asus PCE-N15 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter (£15.55 @ Amazon UK) 

Case: Cooler Master Force 500 ATX Mid Tower Case (£32.87 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Power Supply: Fractal Design Integra R2 650W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£54.95 @ Novatech) 

Total: £471.27

Estimated wattage:359W

I've done as much research as I can and I put together this build on www.pcpartpicker.com/uk

So the AMD FX-6300 CPU is great for value and has 6 cores with good speed. Although I'm building a budget PC, I'm trying to keep in mind that I want this PC to be able to play so called "next-gen" games without having to put a big hole in my wallet. I realise the term "next-gen" is normally used for consoles but I hope you guys understand what I'm trying to get at. I want it to be able to play games such as Battlefield 4, AC4 etc...

I've been told that games only use 2 cores. But with the arrival of more demanding games, is this still true? Or is this AMD 6 core processor too much? (I'm using this pc soley for gaming). 

Also what do you guys think of the graphics card I chose? I realise that video card will bear the brunt while I'm playing games.


BUILD TWO
Benchmarks: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2eSPm/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£69.99 @ Maplin Electronics) 

Motherboard: Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£47.99 @ Aria PC) 

Memory: Corsair 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory (£58.00 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Storage: Hitachi Ultrastar 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£41.40 @ Aria PC) 

Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7870 2GB Video Card (£136.97 @ Dabs) 

Wireless Network Adapter: Asus PCE-N15 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter (£15.55 @ Amazon UK) 

Case: Cooler Master Force 500 ATX Mid Tower Case (£32.87 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Power Supply: Fractal Design Integra R2 650W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£54.95 @ Novatech) 

Total: £457.72 

Estimated Wattage: 389W

Ok so for this one I chose AMD Phenom II X4 Black CPU because it's cheaper bringing the overall cost of my build down to £457.72. It's Quad-Core as opposed to 6 core from the above build. Am I making a mistake here?


BUILD THREE
Benchmarks: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2cCb6/benchmarks/


CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£163.19 @ Aria PC) 

Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£94.04 @ Dabs) 

Memory: Corsair 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory (£58.00 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Storage: Hitachi Ultrastar 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£41.40 @ Aria PC) 

Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7870 2GB Video Card (£136.97 @ Dabs) 

Wireless Network Adapter: Asus PCE-N15 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter (£15.55 @ Amazon UK) 

Case: Zalman Z11 ATX Mid Tower Case (£44.98 @ Ebuyer) 

Power Supply: Corsair Builder 750W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£65.99 @ Dabs) 

Total: £620.12

Estimated Wattage: 351W


Finally, this is my friend's suggested build. According to him, this is the best budget gaming PC i can build, whilst taking into account the "next-gen" games. He suggests an Intel Core i5 which is a much more expensive processor. My friend told me that the new games that are being developed will be based on Intel's Haswell technology and therefore I should invest in an i5 processor rather than AMD.


I want to know if he's talking s#!t out his backside or if he's telling the truth. Also what do you guys think about the power supply I chose for each build? How much watts does it take to play games on the highest settings? Is my PSU that I chosen enough for that? (I'm going to use my HDTV as my monitor).


I appreciate that this is a very long post. I've been wanting to build my own gaming PC for over a year now. And I want to be sure that I get this right the first time. Please vote which build I should go for and give explanation as to why below.


Thanks reading this up and untill now!

I have an FX 6300 and a 7870GHZ.  I can say that this is a great combination as I can play Battlefield 4 on high settings very smooth and also skyrim on max settings with a ton of mods also very playable.  I can also push ultra on alot of games like battlefield 3, Civilization V, Tomb raider, bioshock infinite, and more.

If you are on a tight budget, the fx 6300 and 7870GHZ is a great combo for the price.  However, if you can push your spendings a little to get and R9 270 (non-x) that would also be really swell.  

Sometimes saying less is more. All the text hurt my head. Scanning over some of the listed parts, they aren't necessarily what I would pick quality-wise. You don't actually need to pay £££ to get quality.

Just post PCpartpicker links and people will make changes as necessary. I don't actually know your total budget, but I am going to aim for good price to performance parts. And to play BF4 on ultra.

Based on a build I am making for a friend:

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2eY0W

If you have Amazon Prime this 7870 is really cheap: (or grab a 7790 or 7850 for medium/high settings)

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/sapphire-video-card-111991620g

Now, while an i5 might be better for CPU intensive games, you only need an expensive processor if you want enthusiast quality in your gaming experience.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIT9uLDjZcg

So as you can see, the 750k and a 7870 is a really good combo. It will play Battlefield 4 and AC on ultra at 1080p.

I'll make adjustments if need be. You might consider an SSD, or wifi module. This is a really nice sized form factor, really high quality chassis and stuff. Hopefully that was easy for you to digest!

Agree with pretty much everything Berseker said. 

Just to add a couple things; an i5 or FX-83XX does not only benefit CPU intensive games, but is required to run higher-end GPU's (graphics cards) as well. So while the 750/760K may pair well with a mid-range 7870, it will start to hold back a 7970, for example. 

An FX-6300 will perform better than a 750/760k, but not significantly. 

About new games being developed for Haswell, that's a load of you-know-what. ;) PC games are not developed for specific hardware components like console games are because there is too wide a variety of components out there. Everyone is using something a little different. They are, however, starting to develop games to make use of more threads/cores, that is where the big change is occurring right now.

Yup. The 7870 is about the limit of the 750k or 760k.

Trouble is, with the AM3+ platform, you have to get a big and fugly case to fit a decent motherboard in. FUUUGLY!

FM2 has you covered up until you want extreme settings. Like all the highest demanding post processes, or GPUs for ultra high-definition 1440p.

You can always upgrade your platform to a mATX intel motherboard and i5 in the future. No reason to spend all of your money now. Pocket some of your budget and go get Chinese food.

Another option is to grab an FM2+ motherboard and 760K for now. That will keep the door open to upgrade to Kaveri down the road.

Games are not built specifically for Haswell so go tell your friend he's wrong. I'd go 6300 in your situation, its a good CPU and will pair well with that 7870 :)