RAM or CPU?

[Scorpio 72472]

I am going to build a new PC.

 

I have two choices:

1) i5 8500 with 8GB ram (2666 Mhz)

2) i5 8400 with 16 GB ram (2400 Mhz)

 

I'll play games like PUBG, R6S, BLACKOUT, and some other AAA Games 

 

GPU : 1060 6GB

I'll have discord and one tab of chrome running on the background along with steam and fraps (for fps counting)

 

Price wise

1st one would cost me : $412

2nd one would cost me: $350 

 

My question is, 

Would that extra RAM Help in keeping everything above 60fps and faster loading times?

 

My Friend uses i3 8100 and 8gigs of 2400Mhz ram along with 1050ti, he runs two chrome tabs and discord, he gets fps drop sometimes. I want to avoid that.

 

And since I'm on a tight budget, I'd like to avoid that extra $62, if it doesn't provide that much of a gain

 

My monitor is 900p

Edited December 2, 2018 by Scorpio 72472
Added question

[SpiralTTGL]

fps won't be much diffren't between the two cpu's but 16gb's of ram makes a difference if your gonna be using chrome and playing at the same time. I'd def recommend 16gb of ram for gaming in 2018

[Jurrunio]

16gb is more beneficial than a tiny frequency bump to both cpu and memory in total. Since it's cheaper, 8400 deal is clearly better.

[eira]

I'd go for the i5 8400 and 16GB ram. You won't notice too much of a difference between the i5 8400 and i5 8500 anyway. 

For gaming, 16GB is pretty much a must have now. 

[Eastman51]

tbh, you don't need fraps just for FPS counting. Steam has a built in fps counter, and you can use Nvidia Shadowplay's integrated FPS counter. 

The i5-8400 will perform worse in heavily CPU bound games, and you can't OC it. I'd consider looking at Ryzen to see if you could get some OC headroom with a good cooler. 

The i5-8500 is clearly better, but it depends on the games and settings you run. I'd try to look up 8400 with 1060 gameplay and see how you feel about its performance.

 

16 GB of RAM is the "unofficial" standard for PC gaming. 8GB will get you by, but it will suffer heavily in RAM heavy tasks. Chrome might not be something you'd be able to run in some AAA titles with 8GB. Again, look at performance numbers for the 8400 and see if you could stand to lose the CPU power in exchange for more multi-tasking capability.

[Scorpio 72472]

9 minutes ago, Eastman51 said:

tbh, you don't need fraps just for FPS counting. Steam has a built in fps counter, and you can use Nvidia Shadowplay's integrated FPS counter. 

The i5-8400 will perform worse in heavily CPU bound games, and you can't OC it. I'd consider looking at Ryzen to see if you could get some OC headroom with a good cooler. 

The i5-8500 is clearly better, but it depends on the games and settings you run. I'd try to look up 8400 with 1060 gameplay and see how you feel about its performance.

 

16 GB of RAM is the "unofficial" standard for PC gaming. 8GB will get you by, but it will suffer heavily in RAM heavy tasks. Chrome might not be something you'd be able to run in some AAA titles with 8GB. Again, look at performance numbers for the 8400 and see if you could stand to lose the CPU power in exchange for more multi-tasking capability.

As I mentioned earlier, i am on a tight budget and if possible would like to avoid extra expenses. Now, If i take the 8500, then I'll upgrade RAM later down the line (probably the end of 2019) does that sound like a good idea? Can close chrome tho, it isn't that important but I'll need discord and steam running, which would you consider? 8500 with 2666 8GB memory? Or one of the other two options mentioned

 

 

[Eastman51]

Just now, Scorpio 72472 said:

As I mentioned earlier, i am on a tight budget and if possible would like to avoid extra expenses. Now, If i take the 8500, then I'll upgrade RAM later down the line (probably the end of 2019) does that sound like a good idea? Can close chrome tho, it isn't that important but I'll need discord and steam running, which would you consider? 8500 with 2666 memory? Or one of the other two options mentioned

For me, I'd be looking to see which config would best allow me to achieve a locked 60fps in games (regardless of settings). Steam and Discord don't use enough background processing to consider them a threat to fps, and they don't use excessive amounts of RAM either. 16GB is pretty good to have (I use ~8GB at idle usually, sometimes higher), and PCs are modular, so you could always drop in a i5-8600k later if you want a better CPU; so RAM might be something you'd want to get instead.