The Build I Never Thought I'd Have to Do...

[dkevelx]

Long story short, I promised I'd build my little sister a computer if she did well at school. I personally never though she would do well, cause I'm a man of little faith. Unfortunately, fate isn't so kind and now I have to build her a computer because I'm a man of my word. I pretty much know what I want to build for her, but I wanted a second opinion.

She's going to use it for artwork of varying degrees (like me) and light gaming (not like me cause I'm a pretty heavy gamer).

I live in New jersey, USA about 15 minutes from Microcenter so i5's ($180) and i7's ($230) are extremely affordable for me. As are certain FX processors (4100 to 6300, anything higher is the same price online).

I try not to restrict myself to a certain budget, I like building to my needs rather than building to a budget. I'd like to keep it around 1000 USD, though I don't particularly mind spending more.

The Build:

Bitfenix Shinobi Window Black Steel

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811345010

AMD FX 6300

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113286

This Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131851R

Hyper 212 Evo

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099&Tpk=hyper%20212%20evo&IsVirtualParent=1

Patriot 16gigs @1600Mhz

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220709

Samsung 840 Pro 128gig SSD

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147192

Seagate Barracuda 1TB HDD

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148840

Corsair CX600M Power Supply

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139048

1x or 2x Sapphire Radeon (see below)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102996

-OR-

EVGA 660Ti

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130810

2x Noctua MF-F12's (Intake, cause you can't really see them there)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608026

3x Cooler Master Blue LED Fan's (For exhaust and push/pull on the heatsink - I know this isn't necessary)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103060

I have a Pioneer Blu-ray drive lying around that I can stick into it, if needed and I'm putting in the 16 gigs of ram because she may or may not need it in the future. Though I posted newegg links, I'm most likely going to buy everything except the case and graphics card at newegg.

I'm going for a blue/black-ish color scheme cause blue is her favorite color and she prefers black over white.

And here is where the dilemma begins in my build. Though it is rather minor, I want second opinions.

I have an EVGA 660Ti just kinda lying around and I initially wanted to put that in the build, but I recently got an offer from someone who wanted to buy it. With the money he's offering, I can get a 7870.

My problem is that I don't really know how the two cards work in comparison to each other. While the 660Ti served me well when I was using it a few months ago, I've been hearing a lot that the AMD cards are outperforming it, at around the same price point. Keep in mind that I have both Crysis 3 and Bioshock Infinite already and my sister isn't interested in FPS games, so she has no use for them and the free game incentive is kind of moot. There is also the option of buying another graphics card and then SLI'ing and crossfiring the two (which is why I put the cards up on the parts list). Though I'm a bit hesitant on doing that because she may never ever use all that graphical horse power.

So. 7870 or 660Ti. Which is better and if the build can be modified in some way, I'd like an opinion on that as well.

[Babyballable]

I she is not into heavy gaming a 7770 will be enough, I mean my friend is playing FarCry3 on ultra with 40fps with this card!

Either way I think 660ti is better than 7870, but it depends what games will she play.

[Dave :)]

As you say you live near a microcentre, it would be a good idea to have a look at their i5 & Motherboard bundles. You could easily find a 3570k and a decent motherboard for a good price. If you can, i suggest you stick that into your build in place of the 6300. Everything else looks good; now for graphics card. The 660ti and 7870 are fairly equal cards when it comes down to it; however, the 660ti does tend to just pull ahead on average. I would stick with your 660ti unless you want to upgrade to a 7950 which would be my choice if i was to upgrade. Also, regarding to dual GPUs - they tend to be more headache than joy, micro stuttering, driver issues and crashes - if it's not necessary, i suggest you don't do it and save the money.

[dkevelx]

I she is not into heavy gaming a 7770 will be enough, I mean my friend is playing FarCry3 on ultra with 40fps with this card!

Either way I think 660ti is better than 7870, but it depends what games will she play.

I'll keep that in mind, but I wanted to get something of equal value to the 660Ti because I have one around. She mostly plays a lot of Minecraft and Indy games, she does use a lot of emulators and the PS2 and Wii/GC emulators did not work well on a single 660Ti with full AA and AF.

[dkevelx]

As you say you live near a microcentre, it would be a good idea to have a look at their i5 & Motherboard bundles. You could easily find a 3570k and a decent motherboard for a good price. If you can, i suggest you stick that into your build in place of the 6300. Everything else looks good; now for graphics card. The 660ti and 7870 are fairly equal cards when it comes down to it; however, the 660ti does tend to just pull ahead on average. I would stick with your 660ti unless you want to upgrade to a 7950 which would be my choice if i was to upgrade. Also, regarding to dual GPUs - they tend to be more headache than joy, micro stuttering, driver issues and crashes - if it's not necessary, i suggest you don't do it and save the money.

I chose the that particular CPU because the FX and certain motherboards combined are less than the i5 alone. In terms of CPU performance, the 6300 doesn't seem that far behind an i5 (though I could be wrong about that). The i5 is on the table as a potential cpu, I just find myself favoring the 6300, until I find something I don't like about the 6300.

I have SLI 670's in my system right now, and it hasn't caused me too many issues. The dual GPU's in her system is more for overkill and lolz than practicality.

Thanks for the input on the graphics cards, though, I'll probably stick with the single 660Ti. Just wish it was blue. XD

[Dave :)]

As you say you live near a microcentre, it would be a good idea to have a look at their i5 & Motherboard bundles. You could easily find a 3570k and a decent motherboard for a good price. If you can, i suggest you stick that into your build in place of the 6300. Everything else looks good; now for graphics card. The 660ti and 7870 are fairly equal cards when it comes down to it; however, the 660ti does tend to just pull ahead on average. I would stick with your 660ti unless you want to upgrade to a 7950 which would be my choice if i was to upgrade. Also, regarding to dual GPUs - they tend to be more headache than joy, micro stuttering, driver issues and crashes - if it's not necessary, i suggest you don't do it and save the money.

I chose the that particular CPU because the FX and certain motherboards combined are less than the i5 alone. In terms of CPU performance' date=' the 6300 doesn't seem that far behind an i5 (though I could be wrong about that). The i5 is on the table as a potential cpu, I just find myself favoring the 6300, until I find something I don't like about the 6300. I have SLI 670's in my system right now, and it hasn't caused me too many issues. The dual GPU's in her system is more for overkill and lolz than practicality. Thanks for the input on the graphics cards, though, I'll probably stick with the single 660Ti. Just wish it was blue. XD[/quote']

Fair enough- the price to performance is a big factor. The i5 is alot stronger in most games as well as other uses - Here's a comparison between the two

[dkevelx]

As you say you live near a microcentre, it would be a good idea to have a look at their i5 & Motherboard bundles. You could easily find a 3570k and a decent motherboard for a good price. If you can, i suggest you stick that into your build in place of the 6300. Everything else looks good; now for graphics card. The 660ti and 7870 are fairly equal cards when it comes down to it; however, the 660ti does tend to just pull ahead on average. I would stick with your 660ti unless you want to upgrade to a 7950 which would be my choice if i was to upgrade. Also, regarding to dual GPUs - they tend to be more headache than joy, micro stuttering, driver issues and crashes - if it's not necessary, i suggest you don't do it and save the money.

Hmm. Considering that I'm probably gonna stick with the single 660Ti, that'll allow me to spend more on the other components so the 3570k is starting to look more appealing. May even bump it up to the 3770K, if I'm feeling generous, though I doubt she'll be using heavily threaded applications so it may be a waste. I'll have to get a list of program's that she's going to use to make sure.

[Dave :)]

Hmm. Considering that I'm probably gonna stick with the single 660Ti' date=' that'll allow me to spend more on the other components so the 3570k is starting to look more appealing. May even bump it up to the 3770K, if I'm feeling generous, though I doubt she'll be using heavily threaded applications so it may be a waste. I'll have to get a list of program's that she's going to use to make sure.[/quote']

Don't feel like you have to get the 3570k - i'm just making sure you know all the options which are available. The 6300 will still perform well; however, if you want optimal performance, intel is the way to go.

[dkevelx]

I originally went with the FX-6300 because I was planning on buying at least one graphics card with my own money, so I wanted to keep the other cost of the components down while maintaining a moderate level of performance. If I'm gonna keep the 660Ti and only use one, it means I've got 200-300 dollars of head room to upgrade other components. It's good to know that the 660Ti generally performs about as well as a HD7870. That was the major factor in the builds overall cost.

You think I can get away with using a 500 watt power supply or should I just stick with the 600?

[ShiverMePenguins]

I originally went with the FX-6300 because I was planning on buying at least one graphics card with my own money' date=' so I wanted to keep the other cost of the components down while maintaining a moderate level of performance. If I'm gonna keep the 660Ti and only use one, it means I've got 200-300 dollars of head room to upgrade other components. It's good to know that the 660Ti generally performs about as well as a HD7870. That was the major factor in the builds overall cost. You think I can get away with using a 500 watt power supply or should I just stick with the 600?[/quote']

i'd stick with the 600, get a 660ti amp edition, and go for a 3570k. either that, or an 8350 cpu.

i have the 6300 in my computer right now and its good, but for photoshop or after effects based stuff benchmarks show a great difference between it and the 8350.

[dkevelx]

I originally went with the FX-6300 because I was planning on buying at least one graphics card with my own money' date=' so I wanted to keep the other cost of the components down while maintaining a moderate level of performance. If I'm gonna keep the 660Ti and only use one, it means I've got 200-300 dollars of head room to upgrade other components. It's good to know that the 660Ti generally performs about as well as a HD7870. That was the major factor in the builds overall cost. You think I can get away with using a 500 watt power supply or should I just stick with the 600?[/quote']

i'd stick with the 600, get a 660ti amp edition, and go for a 3570k. either that, or an 8350 cpu.

i have the 6300 in my computer right now and its good, but for photoshop or after effects based stuff benchmarks show a great difference between it and the 8350.

Huh...

That's good to know. If I were to get the 8350, would the 3570K be better? Because I can actually get a 3570K for cheaper than an 8350 because of my close proximity to a Microcenter, which sells an 8350 for 200 dollars over 180 for the i5. I've seen Linus's recent tests, but that doesn't help me at all outside of gaming applications.

Also, I already have a 660Ti just sitting around gathering dust, which is why I'm using the EVGA one.

[flare4000]

I originally went with the FX-6300 because I was planning on buying at least one graphics card with my own money' date=' so I wanted to keep the other cost of the components down while maintaining a moderate level of performance. If I'm gonna keep the 660Ti and only use one, it means I've got 200-300 dollars of head room to upgrade other components. It's good to know that the 660Ti generally performs about as well as a HD7870. That was the major factor in the builds overall cost. You think I can get away with using a 500 watt power supply or should I just stick with the 600?[/quote']

i'd stick with the 600, get a 660ti amp edition, and go for a 3570k. either that, or an 8350 cpu.

i have the 6300 in my computer right now and its good, but for photoshop or after effects based stuff benchmarks show a great difference between it and the 8350.

The 3570k has better per core performance than the 8350 so I am pretty sure that it would do most task better than the 8350. In my opinion if the 3570k is cheaper get it, unless you favour amd I don't see the point of spending more for the 8350. The 8350 might become better in gaming if devs take advantage of multi-core processors, but there shouldn't be a huge difference any time soon.

[dkevelx]

I originally went with the FX-6300 because I was planning on buying at least one graphics card with my own money' date=' so I wanted to keep the other cost of the components down while maintaining a moderate level of performance. If I'm gonna keep the 660Ti and only use one, it means I've got 200-300 dollars of head room to upgrade other components. It's good to know that the 660Ti generally performs about as well as a HD7870. That was the major factor in the builds overall cost. You think I can get away with using a 500 watt power supply or should I just stick with the 600?[/quote']

i'd stick with the 600, get a 660ti amp edition, and go for a 3570k. either that, or an 8350 cpu.

i have the 6300 in my computer right now and its good, but for photoshop or after effects based stuff benchmarks show a great difference between it and the 8350.

I actually haven't ever used an AMD CPU before, except for the small build that I made my other sister (an A8-5800k, because she isn't a gamer and just needed something to browse the internet and watch 1080 video).

I've only ever used Intel's (I have a 3570k and a 3770k). I'm aware of the fact that core for core Intel is better, so I would really need to look at a list of programs that my sister was going to use in the future that would use heavy mult-threading. Except she has no idea what she's going to use in the future because she's lazy and doesn't look into things like that. Hence why I never though she'd do well enough to win the bet. XD

[Blade of Grass]

No offense to you or your sister, but why are you getting her such a good computer?

To be quite honest, something like an i5, with 8Gb of ram an HDD, and a 7770 or 650TI boost would probably be more than enough for most people.

Otherwise your spending extra money for no point.

Heck, my sister (17, goes to an Arts school) has a MacBook Pro, with an i5, 4GB of ram and an HDD, and she loves the thing.

She's never been spoiled (like me) by a computer that starts in 10 seconds, and has no lag ever no matter what I'm doing (rendering high res photos while rendering tons of audio while playing a game? No Problem), and she doesnt know what she's missing.

[dkevelx]

No offense to you or your sister, but why are you getting her such a good computer?

To be quite honest, something like an i5, with 8Gb of ram an HDD, and a 7770 or 650TI boost would probably be more than enough for most people.

Otherwise your spending extra money for no point.

Heck, my sister (17, goes to an Arts school) has a MacBook Pro, with an i5, 4GB of ram and an HDD, and she loves the thing.

She's never been spoiled (like me) by a computer that starts in 10 seconds, and has no lag ever no matter what I'm doing (rendering high res photos while rendering tons of audio while playing a game? No Problem), and she doesnt know what she's missing.

Nah, it's not rude at all. My older sister said the same exact thing.

When I keep my promises, I do it to the best of my ability (i.e. my wallet at the time). XD

Also, she does like running emulators, and some of the PS2 and Gamecube/Wii ones absolutely murders mid tier systems if you run AA and AF with high res.

And she may only like indy and lower end games because that's all her crappy laptop can run. I don't actually know if she's into the bigger, graphically intesive games. She certainly likes watching them, whether it's when she's over my house or on youtube.

Basically, I'm just preparing it for anything.

[ShiverMePenguins]

I originally went with the FX-6300 because I was planning on buying at least one graphics card with my own money' date=' so I wanted to keep the other cost of the components down while maintaining a moderate level of performance. If I'm gonna keep the 660Ti and only use one, it means I've got 200-300 dollars of head room to upgrade other components. It's good to know that the 660Ti generally performs about as well as a HD7870. That was the major factor in the builds overall cost. You think I can get away with using a 500 watt power supply or should I just stick with the 600?[/quote']

i'd stick with the 600, get a 660ti amp edition, and go for a 3570k. either that, or an 8350 cpu.

i have the 6300 in my computer right now and its good, but for photoshop or after effects based stuff benchmarks show a great difference between it and the 8350.

Huh... That's good to know. If I were to get the 8350' date=' would the 3570K be better? Because I can actually get a 3570K for cheaper than an 8350 because of my close proximity to a Microcenter, which sells an 8350 for 200 dollars over 180 for the i5. I've seen Linus's recent tests, but that doesn't help me at all outside of gaming applications. Also, I already have a 660Ti just sitting around gathering dust, which is why I'm using the EVGA one.[/quote']

in any multi-threaded application the 8350 will be more powerful than the 3570k.

[Blade of Grass]

I just noticed and realized that it needs to be corrected.

According to a few videos (Linus's (i think) and definitely PCWizKid's videos) the 7870 performs better than a 660ti, and is usually cheaper.

[Crion]

That's pretty cool of you. Anywho, like others have said the i5 3570k compares much better with the fx-8350 so those are probably going to be more comparable. Linus just wrapped up his fx-8350 vs i5 3570k videos. Check them out.

[Blade of Grass]

I just noticed and realized that it needs to be corrected.

According to a few videos (Linus's (i think) and definitely PCWizKid's videos) the 7870 performs better than a 660ti, and is usually cheaper.