unique situation, 500$ budget

[Kyuubixchidori]

hey everyone! so Im selling my rig it has:

I5-3570K @ 4.4 cooled with a hyper 212

250gb 840 evo+ 1tb drive

gigbyte mobo

crossfire 7950s

8 gigs of corsair ram

and a nxzt s340.

 

trading it for a macbook pro late 2011+400$. and Im doing a computer job this weekend for 100$ so I have a 500$ budget for gaming. as i will have a I7 laptop, this will be SOLEY for gaming. thats it. 

 

requirements, s340 case. preferably modular powers supply. it just makes it easier in this case. I think I can get away without one though. not 100% sure. I dont mind buying used, so the gpu will be a 7950 or a 7970 for 80-110. If anyone can come up with something better for 100$, please recommend. 

 

I want to buy as much as possible from microcenter.  detroit/madison heights

 

current idea:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/RJ8vYJ-old

 

revised: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Vk6df7

 

even better revised, microcenter deals FTW http://pcpartpicker.com/p/rgtbrH

 

I dunno about going with the pentium. right now im over budget. I can probably can cut back on the power supply and mobo. could cut out the custom cooler right now. I want a black mobo to go with the black case. My current one is blue, and thats what id change. also I want the ability to go crossfire in the future. 

 

 

edit: also, not getting rid of the drives. the current SSD will go in the laptop, and that leaves me with a 1tb green drive that I could use as a boot drive for now. as this is solely for gaming

 

edit 2: also may go amd. microcenter has a amazing deal where they give you mobos with amd chips. or very cheap. here is the page: http://www.microcenter.com/site/products/amd_bundles.aspx

[Mao_Zedong]

This is what I would get.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($99.99 @ Micro Center)
Motherboard: ASRock H81M Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($64.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: *Team Elite Plus 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($58.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Corsair Force LS 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($64.00)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Other: 7950 ($100.00)
Total: $507.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-21 21:12 EST-0500

[Kyuubixchidori]

-snip-

is it better to go with the I3? isnt it just a pentium with hyper threading? may be wrong there. But Ill happily OC the pentium, curious whats better because the pentium+cooler is the exact same price as the I3. 

 

and the motherboard is to small, loose the expansion of another card. 

 

but thank you! will consider the I3

[Mao_Zedong]

is it better to go with the I3? isnt it just a pentium with hyper threading? may be wrong there. But Ill happily OC the pentium, curious whats better because the pentium+cooler is the exact same price as the I3. 

 

and the motherboard is to small, loose the expansion of another card. 

 

but thank you! will consider the I3

The i3 is a bit better, aanandtech did a nice test. I updated the post just after I posted it because I remembered you wanted to be able to go crossfire; the new one can.

[VIhul]

is it better to go with the I3? isnt it just a pentium with hyper threading? may be wrong there. But Ill happily OC the pentium, curious whats better because the pentium+cooler is the exact same price as the I3. 

 

and the motherboard is to small, loose the expansion of another card. 

 

but thank you! will consider the I3

As you may or may not know, Far Cry 4 will not run on a dual core. Obviously, nobody knows what the future of tech will be, but I feel that the i3 is more (glances around) future-proof.

[Kyuubixchidori]

The i3 is a bit better, aanandtech did a nice test. I updated the post just after I posted it because I remembered you wanted to be able to go crossfire; the new one can.

 

As you may or may not know, Far Cry 4 will not run on a dual core. Obviously, nobody knows what the future of tech will be, but I feel that the i3 is more (glances around) future-proof.

or, Microcenter has a bundle going on right now. fx6300 for 90$ and a FREE GA-78LMT-USB3 Socket AM3+ mATX

 

they have amazing amd bundles, and I dont know much about amd chips, so http://www.microcenter.com/site/products/amd_bundles.aspx

 

edit: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/rgtbrH new build

[Mao_Zedong]

or, Microcenter has a bundle going on right now. fx6300 for 90$ and a FREE GA-78LMT-USB3 Socket AM3+ mATX

 

they have amazing amd bundles, and I dont know much about amd chips, so http://www.microcenter.com/site/products/amd_bundles.aspx

 

edit: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/rgtbrH new build

I wouldn't get an amd cpu, especially an fx one. Games won't use all of the cores on the cpu and for the same clock, and intel one will be much faster. That means that in most games, intel CPUs will perform better, even if the AMD one has way more cores and a higher clockspeed. To get even close to an intel CPU, you will need to overclock pretty high. That motherboard only has a 4+1 VRM, so it may explode if you try to overclock pretty hard. None of those deals have very good motherboards, so I wouldn't really recommend them. They may seem like good deals up-front, but if your motherboard and cpu die, you're paying quite a bit to replace them. In general, I would recommend an i3 or low i5 for most low budget gamers, they will perform great and you don't need to worry about anything like on an amd cpu. The only place where FX CPUs really shine is in some productivity work at a low budget.

[Kyuubixchidori]

I wouldn't get an amd cpu, especially an fx one. Games won't use all of the cores on the cpu and for the same clock, and intel one will be much faster. That means that in most games, intel CPUs will perform better, even if the AMD one has way more cores and a higher clockspeed. To get even close to an intel CPU, you will need to overclock pretty high. That motherboard only has a 4+1 VRM, so it may explode if you try to overclock pretty hard. None of those deals have very good motherboards, so I wouldn't really recommend them. They may seem like good deals up-front, but if your motherboard and cpu die, you're paying quite a bit to replace them. In general, I would recommend an i3 or low i5 for most low budget gamers, they will perform great and you don't need to worry about anything like on an amd cpu.

yeah, but Im saving money. my brother is running a fx 6300, and it keeps up with my I5-3570K at 4.4ghz with the identical card. 

[Mao_Zedong]

yeah, but Im saving money. my brother is running a fx 6300, and it keeps up with my I5-3570K at 4.4ghz with the identical card. 

It depends on what games you play, battlefield is an example of a game that works well with more cores, so it good one amd CPUs. For games like LOL, the 6300 won't even compare to a pentium at stock. If the saved money is that important, then go for it.

[Kyuubixchidori]

It depends on what games you play, battlefield is an example of a game that works well with more cores, so it good one amd CPUs. For games like LOL, the 6300 won't even compare to a pentium at stock. If the saved money is that important, then go for it.

whoops, sorry forgot to mention it was far cry 4. im just stating from personal experience. the I3 may very well be a better choice, Im just trying to see all my options.