Budget CPU recommendation

[willp789]

I've been asked by a friend to build him a budget gaming computer. We've already identified his ideal GPU as being the R9 270X (2GB) but I'm still stuck on which CPU to pair it with. Here are the the CPUs within the price range we are currently considering:

 

Intel Pentium G 3258

AMD FX 4300

AMD Athlon X4 860K

 

He is not planning to overclock but will any of these be likely to bottleneck the R9 270X whilst gaming?

[perma001]

I want to know the same thing, updating cpu+mobo soon

[s3ns3]

pentium g3258 simply because its good and he can easily upgrade to an i5 later

[perma001]

What about the i3 4160?

[willp789]

What about the i3 4160?

Would it run Far Cry 4 and would the hyperthreading make up for the lack of 4 physical cores?

[GlassBomb]

Would it run Far Cry 4 and would the hyperthreading make up for the lack of 4 physical cores?

 

Just a head's up. The G3258 can't run Far Cry 4 unless you do some work-around. They programmed the game so that it can't start if you have a CPU with only two cores.

[willp789]

Just a head's up. The G3258 can't run Far Cry 4 unless you do some work-around. They programmed the game so that it can't start if you have a CPU with only two cores.

I knew that was a problem with the G3258 so I was wondering if it would also be a problem with the i3 4160

[GlassBomb]

I knew that was a problem with the G3258 so I was wondering if it would also be a problem with the i3 4160

 

The i3 4160 will work with Far Cry 4 just fine.

[flipped_bit]

I'd go with either the G3258 or the cheapest Haswell i3 you can find.  Either will give you better single-threaded performance, and you'll have the right socket to be able to upgrade to a 4690K or 4790K in future (as long as you get a Z97 board).  If you can afford it I'd go with the i3 for the hyper-threading.

[Ketcchup]

I'd also go for the i3 to avoid shuttering in games
Edit:typo

[Ialyrn]

Even though I have an FX4300, and it has worked out great for me thus far. I wouldn't recommend buying one at this particular point in time, nor would I recommend the Athlon X4. My system was built back in 2013, so there wasn't as big of a performance gap between AMD and Intel as there is now. Even though there was still one back then, it just wasn't as much of an issue. I would highly suggest going for an i3 at the very least, with a Z97 motherboard. It would provide a very acceptable upgrade path a little further down the road, as then you could look towards an i5 4690k and above. But that is what I would do personally if I was looking to put a new system together right now, and didn't have the cash to go all out.

[Pandora]

the athalon wont bottle neck a r9 270 but it wont preform too amazingly also it wont alow you to upgrade. i would either save your money and go with the pentium or an i5 4430

[willp789]

Thanks everyone for your replies

[Faceman]

Thanks everyone for your replies

Buy an i3.  Hands down an i3.

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/n79y3C

Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/n79y3C/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($113.98 @ OutletPC)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-GAMING 3 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($47.98 @ Newegg)

Total: $161.96

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-27 02:21 EDT-0400

 

No overclocking required.  Plays any game out there today, is actually a very powerful processor.  You also have a clear upgrade path to an i5/i7/Xeon.

 

Lastly, don't get the 270X.  Buy an R9 280 ($140-$160)