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!