Gaming/Light Editing CPU choice

[bitzorbites]

FX-6300 vs i3 4160 need help Choosing!

 

pretty simple really, I plan on building a small budget gaming rig, 

where I will be pairing either one of these processors with

a GTX 950 2 gb OC

This is my first ever build from the ground up, have done small upgrades and repairs for

friends and family.

 

I plan on playing mostly modern games, Call of Duty,

Battlefield, Witcher 3, mostly first person shooters.

 

But i will also be using the computer for a fair amount of multitasking

Running FTP server almost fulltime, seeding torrents,

Probably running A plex media server from this machine,

Some Video Enconding/Editing

 

Will be doing a dual boot with either ubuntu or Arch linux.

Maybe be messing around with some Crypto Currency mining,

 

 

I have only a budget of 500 dollars exactly, no more.

 

The AMD vs Intel debate is too heated for me,

And I'd like some advise as to which of these processors might suite me better

Do I go with six cores or two hyperthreaded ones?

Im so torn need advice. Im sure this subject has been hashed over a few times

on budget gaming builds but none of the posts Ive looked at has the same usage scenarios as I have. 

[Deli]

Just from the point there are more choices of mobo for Intel platform. I'll go the i3 4160 way.

[Dabombinable]

Just to clarify, its 3 modules, 6 ALU (sometimes called integer cores) with the FX 6300. At times the FX 6300 acts as a tri core because 1 of the ALU in the module needs to wait for the other to finish its task.

 

Now for gaming the i3 is the best choice. There are still very few games, new or otherwise, that use more than 4 threads.

[Made In Canada]

pretty simple really, I plan on building a small budget gaming rig, 

where I will be pairing either one of these processors with

a GTX 950 2 gb OC

This is my first ever build from the ground up, have done small upgrades and repairs for

friends and family.

 

I plan on playing mostly modern games, Call of Duty,

Battlefield, Witcher 3, mostly first person shooters.

 

But i will also be using the computer for a fair amount of multitasking

Running FTP server almost fulltime, seeding torrents,

Probably running A plex media server from this machine,

Some Video Enconding/Editing

 

Will be doing a dual boot with either ubuntu or Arch linux.

Maybe be messing around with some Crypto Currency mining,

 

 

I have only a budget of 500 dollars exactly, no more.

 

The AMD vs Intel debate is too heated for me,

And I'd like some advise as to which of these processors might suite me better

Do I go with six cores or two hyperthreaded ones?

Im so torn need advice. Im sure this subject has been hashed over a few times

on budget gaming builds but none of the posts Ive looked at has the same usage scenarios as I have. 

Personally, i would go with the i3-4170, its a great cpu and you can get it around the same price as the i3-4160.

[79wjd]

An alternative to consider is an 860k + R9 380, which will perform better than both by quite a bit in gaming. 

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($66.98 @ Newegg) 

Motherboard: ASRock FM2A88M PRO3+ Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard  ($62.38 @ Newegg) 

Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport XT 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($34.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.99 @ Amazon) 

Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 380 2GB PCS+ Video Card  ($183.98 @ Newegg) 

Case: Zalman Z5 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($24.99 @ Newegg) 

Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($51.99 @ Newegg) 

Total: $475.30

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-28 01:26 EDT-0400

[Made In Canada]

 

An alternative to consider is an 860k + R9 380, which will perform better than both by quite a bit in gaming. 

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($66.98 @ Newegg) 

Motherboard: ASRock FM2A88M PRO3+ Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard  ($62.38 @ Newegg) 

Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport XT 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($34.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.99 @ Amazon) 

Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 380 2GB PCS+ Video Card  ($183.98 @ Newegg) 

Case: Zalman Z5 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($24.99 @ Newegg) 

Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($51.99 @ Newegg) 

Total: $475.30

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-28 01:26 EDT-0400

 

Not trying to offend you, but are you sure a 860k is better than a i3-4170 or i3-4160?  If so, do you got a chart?

[alexhelvetica]

Not trying to offend you, but are you sure a 860k is better than a i3-4170 or i3-4160?  If so, do you got a chart?

That isn't what he is saying.

He is saying that a lower end CPU and a better GPU is a thing that should be looked into!

[79wjd]

Not trying to offend you, but are you sure a 860k is better than a i3-4170 or i3-4160?  If so, do you got a chart?

An i3 is better, however, an 860k is still fast enough to handle an R9 380. So an 860k+R9 380 will perform significantly better than an i3+GTX950.

[Dabombinable]

An i3 is better, however, an 860k is still fast enough to handle an R9 380. So an 860k+R9 380 will perform significantly better than an i3+GTX950.

What's the point of a better GPU-even if the CPU can keep up with it-when the CPU struggles?

[79wjd]

What's the point of a better GPU-even if the CPU can keep up with it-when the CPU struggles?

An R9 380+860k will  yield much better performance than an i3 + 950....that's the point. And it's not like there is a massive performance difference between an i3 and an 860k anyway (once overclocked).

[Made In Canada]

 

That isn't what he is saying.
He is saying that a lower end CPU and a better GPU is a thing that should be looked into!

They might have meant that but it did not specify, now that i look at it, you may be right.

 

 

An i3 is better, however, an 860k is still fast enough to handle an R9 380. So an 860k+R9 380 will perform significantly better than an i3+GTX950.

Okay, now i understand. Sorry, my bad.

[Dabombinable]

An R9 380+860k will  yield much better performance than an i3 + 950....that's the point. And it's not like there is a massive performance difference between an i3 and an 860k anyway (once overclocked).

Note. The Athlon needs to be overclocked, which means a better cooler+motherboard is needed. Which would ruin the budget.

[bitzorbites]

I will be stuck with a stock cooler for the foreseeable future, so overclocking very far may be an issue with the 860k build

[79wjd]

Note. The Athlon needs to be overclocked, which means a better cooler+motherboard is needed. Which would ruin the budget.

Even at stock speeds an 860k will still be able to handle an R9 380. Plus, there's still an extra $25 he can spend on a better board/cooler. Plus, an 860k will often pull ahead in tasks that leverage all four cores equally. 

[bitzorbites]

Also, Thanks to every who replied So quickly! I definately appreciate the help :]

[Made In Canada]

I will be stuck with a stock cooler for the foreseeable future, so overclocking very far may be an issue with the 860k build

Either one (i3 + 950 or 860k + 380) is good, however for your needs with a server, modern games, and video editing, i would go i3-4170 (not a typo) and the gtx 950, but if you can wait, or maybe look now, ive seen gtx 960's (new) cheaper than some gtx 950's.  If you can find a cheaper gtx 960, do that.

 

Either way, first person shooters wont need much power i think and newer games will run med-high with a 950 but med-high-ultra on a 960.

Edited October 28, 2015 by Made In Canada

[Enderman]

i3, but if you can stretch a bit more, or buy used, the i5 4430 or 4460 would be a pretty big improvement, and would outperform both of those CPUs

buying CPUs used is not a big risk if they are recent (past 5 years) and if they work, then they will work like new.

[bitzorbites]

Found this:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/GIGABYTE-GeForce-GTX-960-GV-N960IXOC-2GD-2GB-128-Bit-GDDR5-PCI-Express-3-0-HDCP-/291363244575?hash=item43d69a4a1f:g:YhAAAOSw1ZBUw6j4

[Dabombinable]

Even at stock speeds an 860k will still be able to handle an R9 380. Plus, there's still an extra $25 he can spend on a better board/cooler. Plus, an 860k will often pull ahead in tasks that leverage all four cores equally. 

Yeah...keep on dreaming.

[bitzorbites]

 

i3, but if you can stretch a bit more, or buy used, the i5 4430 or 4460 would be a pretty big improvement, and would outperform both of those CPUs
buying CPUs used is not a big risk if they are recent (past 5 years) and if they work, then they will work like new.

doing some price checking on the i5 and they easily blow my budget, even used.

 

i3 4170 is within my budget, finding some for only 10 dollars more than the 4160

[bitzorbites]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i3-4170 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($113.88 @ OutletPC) 

Motherboard: MSI B85M-G43 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($67.50 @ SuperBiiz) 

Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($43.89 @ OutletPC) 

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($40.50 @ SuperBiiz) 

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 950 2GB Superclocked+ ACX 2.0 Video Card  ($158.99 @ NCIX US) 

Case: DIYPC Zondda-S ATX Mid Tower Case  ($39.59 @ Newegg) 

Power Supply: Antec 450W ATX Power Supply  ($29.70 @ SuperBiiz) 

Total: $494.05

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-29 00:30 EDT-0400

 

 

My New Revised build. Thoughts?

[79wjd]

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i3-4170 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($113.88 @ OutletPC) 

Motherboard: MSI B85M-G43 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($67.50 @ SuperBiiz) 

Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($43.89 @ OutletPC) 

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($40.50 @ SuperBiiz) 

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 950 2GB Superclocked+ ACX 2.0 Video Card  ($158.99 @ NCIX US) 

Case: DIYPC Zondda-S ATX Mid Tower Case  ($39.59 @ Newegg) 

Power Supply: Antec 450W ATX Power Supply  ($29.70 @ SuperBiiz) 

Total: $494.05

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-29 00:30 EDT-0400

 

 

My New Revised build. Thoughts?

 

I'd still recommend an 860k+R9 380. 

[bitzorbites]

Which Particular r9 380 did you have in mind?

[Prysin]

Just to clarify, its 3 modules, 6 ALU (sometimes called integer cores) with the FX 6300. At times the FX 6300 acts as a tri core because 1 of the ALU in the module needs to wait for the other to finish its task.

Now for gaming the i3 is the best choice. There are still very few games, new or otherwise, that use more than 4 threads.

for strict gaming, i would wholeheartedly concur that the i3 is better. however he did ask for editing, in which the FX will stay close to the i3 in gaming (losing to it by a smaller margin, even in quad core only games), but it would blow it out of the water in rendering.

@bitzorbites

here is a comparison between a FX 6350 (slightly higher clocked 6300) and a i3 4360

*i compare the 6350 and 4360 because these have the most tests done to them. So you see more results testing with these two...

What you want to pay attention to is the following>

Cinebench R11.5 results (Single core matters more for gaming. Multi core is KING for rendering)

Cinebench R15 results (Single core matters more for gaming. Multi core is KING for rendering)

The Gaming tests further down the page

The Test>

http://anandtech.com/bench/product/1281?vs=1197

A decent FX setup:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($88.20 @ SuperBiiz)

Motherboard: ASRock 970M PRO3 Micro ATX AM3+/AM3 Motherboard ($57.60 @ SuperBiiz)

Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($36.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.66 @ SuperBiiz)

Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 380 2GB Video Card ($186.98 @ SuperBiiz)

Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($39.60 @ SuperBiiz)

Power Supply: Silverstone Element 650W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($47.81 @ Amazon)

Total: $504.84

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-29 02:32 EDT-0400

Either way, a i3 4170 is still an excellent choice, should you go for that option instead.

EDIT:

Remember that FX is unlocked and can be OCd to increase performance, at the price of heat and power usage mind you.

The ASRock 970m PRO3 motherboard should handle a OC up to 4.4GHz or 1.4250v... i would not go higher then that, in fear of actually damaging the board, as it is NOT designed for super high overclocks at all.

[Andrew420]

860K and R9 380 imo