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42

I think the use case is for a beginner game PC. Yeah, if you want better multi tasking, an i7 would do it. But this guy is budget constrained, and streaming, etc was never part of the requirement he set.

That being said, whenever I build a system I pony up the cash and spend it on the i7 overclockable CPU. My 4790k easily overclocks to 4.7GHz at stock voltage, and can even do 4.8 at stock. I think if I upped the juice I could hit 5GHz. I'm pretty sure this system will be more than adequate for a few more years.

43

The Debate between an i5 or i7.
Well that realy depends on the video card you are going with basicly.
Going with the 6700K will only realy make sense if you go with a higherend gpu like a GTX1080 or similar.
But with a GTX1060 or RX480 it wont realy matter much.

44

You got some kind of golden chip there.

And the price is the same for the 6600K + Z170 vs i7 6700 + budget board, so might as well get the extra threads

@MisteryAngel
non K 6700

45

If the OP is not sure if he even likes PC gaming I would stay close to the bottom of his price range.
On the monitor, that's a hard one. One way is to go cheap. On the other hand monitors last longer then CPU's and GPU's in practical terms, ie: my 24 inch lasted 2 builds and now will on be my secondary downstairs PC.
One way to go is a really nice 27 inch monitor and a cheap APU build. This is NOT for most people. It does give the OP the option of saying" Hey I really like this and save up for a killer system" or "I liked it better on my couch with my controller and big screen"
Just something to think about. Also the OP might check if there is a Microcenter nearby for the in-store deals and open box stuff.

46

I don't disagree necessarily, but investing in the currently available AMD stuff feels.... wrong. That might be a viable option in 8 months when Zen is finally available to buy.

47

Dunno about an APU at this point with that price range, but an i3 6100 + RX 470 is going to be solid

48

I hate the idea of the dual cores. I know they perform, i know. It is just back in 2006 again... Can we kill all dual core CPUs finally?
You want cheap? 860K with 460 and you are done for under $500...

sigh...

49

My friend has a pentium anniversary edition, and he's been running into problems with games that require 4 cores.
I don't recommend an i3.

50

It's a 4 thread CPU though

@NetBandit
An i3 isn't a pure dual core, it's 100% fine for gaming, especially at 3.7ghz

51

sigh... very sigh... very very sigh...

52

i5 6400 would still be a better choice though if you factor in multithreading as well as single core. But I think an i5 4690K or 6600K would be better

53

Ya but the 6400 is pretty shitty overall in games with it's low clock rate, the i3 6100 is nearly as fast

the 6500 is the i5 to go for, otherwise might as well grab an i7

54

Threads aren't cores. 4 core games is totally a thing, Far Cry 4 for example.
Yeah you might be able to hack them. Or not.

I think it is a bad idea to get anything less than a quad core these days.

55

An i3 can run games like GTAV or Far Cry 4 without hacking or issue because it's a 4 thread CPU., an OS is going to see a 2 core hyperthreaded CPU the same as a 4 Core CPU in that they both have 4 threads

http://www.techspot.com/review/917-far-cry-4-benchmarks/page5.html

In this test the low i5 much like the 6400 is only 10fps ahead of the i3
http://www.techspot.com/review/991-gta-5-pc-benchmarks/page6.html

56

Once again for the cheap seats

Threads are not cores

57

Threads are not even threads... It's just a stupid task management.

58

Can we get this thread back to Build a PC and stop arguing about whether or not a 2C/4T CPU is actually a 2C/4T CPU

Also

Used 2600k/2500k and 290?

59

sigh...
For a few days now every topic has become "Used parts galore"...

60

What? There is literally nothing wrong with buying used hardware.

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61

Meh, it depends though, mileage varies heavily.