Best budget AMD CPU?

[itachipirate]

My cousin wants me to build him a budget gaming PC. I am looking for an AMD CPU since they are less expensive than Intel CPUs. I am not really familiar with AMD CPUs so I want ot make sure that I am choosing the best budget CPU that I can. I chose the A6-6400K wich is currently 60$ on NCIX. Is this a good CPU (I know some call them APUs)? Do you guys think I could have chosen a better one? Please let me know.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/qLRKgs  (went about $40 over sorry!)

 

I own an FX-6300. It's about the same as an i3 when it can use all of it's threads fully. It's not complete garbage. But that being said, the i3 is generally better. Whether it's a terribly optimized indie game running on 1 thread or a game that will utilize as many threads as are available the i3 will do fantastically on a budget. The AMD CPUs only perform as well as they can in a pristine environment, a game so well optimized it will thread things through 6 cores. Maybe pair an i3 with a GTX 960 at that pricepoint and it's a really nice gaming PC. Not to mention upgradability

 

You shouldn't shop by brand. Saying AMD is garbage is like being racist. You're just prejudging and not giving the company a chance. The big reason an i3 beats a FX CPU is because the FX CPUs architecture is THREE TIMES OLDER! AMD seemed to be working on APUs for a long time since according to many people CPU/GPU integration is the future.

People look at it like "OK AMD had the FX and Intel has Haswell. They must both have been released at the same time because it's the newest from each of them now we need to compare these"

 

If you just prefer AMD for brand loyalty the FX-6300 is nice. And really easy to overclock

[GzeroD]

looks like you havnt checked gaming benchmark in a while did you? the core i3 that i've linked beat an overclocked FX-8350 in 9 games out of 10 mate.

True but as games start using more cores I feel it is a piss poor idea to recommend a dual core cpu in 2015 for a gaming rig. it's not like the 6300 is making games unplayable its just not running as well as the i3 in games that don't utilize multiple cores as well. 

[i_build_nanosuits]

True but as games start using more cores I feel it is a piss poor idea to recommend a dual core cpu in 2015 for a gaming rig. it's not like the 6300 is making games unplayable its just not running as well as the i3 in games that don't utilize multiple cores as well.

...but if he go the core i3 route he can upgrade to an i5 or i7 later if he find he need more...without having to purchase a new motherboard...he could just sell the i3 online and move on...and anyways it looks like since his friend already has a case, RAM and maybe even a hard drive already he could go straight to the i5-4440...

[itachipirate]

True but as games start using more cores I feel it is a piss poor idea to recommend a dual core cpu in 2015 for a gaming rig. it's not like the 6300 is making games unplayable its just not running as well as the i3 in games that don't utilize multiple cores as well. 

I own an FX CPU and love it. Don't buy it: It's old now. You need upgradability. As games use more cores, they still support quad cores which an i3 basically acts as compatability-wise. They won't remove quad core support from games for a while because right now some of Intel's best and most popular CPUs are quad cores

 

You're looking at the FX-6300 that does well a lot of times! Then you're looking at the i3 that does well ALL the time, is newer, doesn't need to be overclocked, costs the same, and uses less power. We just saw GTA V release with beautiful graphics and a GPU requirement that seems like a joke. The very last thing we saw a big jump in was graphics cards. Then we see i7s play this game and get to 80% on all cores. What are we going to need next for games? Better CPUs. What has easy upgrade paths? Intel CPUs. This is a game that utilizes all of the 6 threads on my overclocked FX 6300. And the i3 performed the same, with just two physical cores. That pretty much proved it to me. Again: Don't say AMD is bad. The FX CPUs are just old now

[GzeroD]

...but if he go the core i3 route he can upgrade to an i5 or i7 later if he find he need more...without having to purchase a new motherboard...he could just sell the i3 online and move on...and anyways it looks like since his friend already has a case, RAM and maybe even a hard drive already he could go straight to the i5-4440...

Very true. I was just in the mindset of "set it and forget it"  since it is for his cousin and I doubted he will be upgrading it himself. That being said if he is going intel, i would try and snag a 9 series board since it will would have a better chance of getting the firmware update to keep broadwell chips as an option in the future for an upgrade.