fx6300 or core i3 3240 for budget gaming build?

[skipsneeky2]

Kinda been in a bit of a boggle as what processor and platform to go for,a amd fx6300 or go for a core i3 3240.

Budget is $265 and seems so far i could get something like this from amd.....

fx6300
GIGABYTE GA-78LMT-USB3<must have microatx as my case is microatx
8gb of kingston hyper x blu ddr3 1333mhz memory

total=$255.64


or this from intel......


core i3 3240<same price as the other i3 3000 series
GIGABYTE GA-H61M-HD2
8gb of kingston hyper x ddr3 1333mhz memory

total=$253.97

The board i picked out for the amd build seems to be one of the better microatx boards sadly enough but seriously looks outdated minus the fact it does offer usb 3.0 but reviews on newegg suggest the mating of a fx6300 and this board will be fruitful but my biggest concern is if it can hamper performance considering the board is a 760g?

The build will have my gtx650 non ti as the gpu of choice for gaming and most likely a gtx760 before November and the most demanding game i play currently being BF3 multiplayer.

So which is most likely the better build?Thoughts are more then welcomed.

 

[Yuriman]

I'd suggest you hit up the For Sale section of the forums and see if you can snag a used i5 2500K. If you're not comfortable buying used, the 6300 is generally considered a better chip for gaming - 2 cores is simply insufficient for modern games.

 

[Enigmoid]

Agree with Yuriman.

6300 >> i3

 

[Phynaz]

FX 6300 if you are overclocking and don't mind the power consumption. Otherwise the i3.

Power delivery on that board might be a little light if you are overclocking the FX 6300.

 

[gx_saurav]

I am running a similar thread in this forum. This might help you.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2331357

I noticed this Gigabyte board you want to buy. It supports Memory only upto DDR 1333 & only SATA 3 Gbps limiting future upgrades. How about going with MSI 970AG43 if you want to use higher speed memory as well as USB 3.0/SATA 6Gbps?

 

[frozentundra123456]

I feel the i3 is a much more competent processor for gaming than many on these forums give it credit for. With both at stock, the i3 will win in a lot of older games that are not heavily multi-threaded.

For games that use a lot of cores the 6300 will pull ahead. BF3 would probably favor the 6300. Also chances are future games will favor the 6300 as well, since most expect them to be more highly threaded. If you can overclock the 6300 to 4+ ghz that would alleviate some of its weakness in poorly threaded games.

 

[skipsneeky2]

I am running a similar thread in this forum. This might help you.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2331357

I noticed this Gigabyte board you want to buy. It supports Memory only upto DDR 1333 & only SATA 3 Gbps limiting future upgrades. How about going with MSI 970AG43 if you want to use higher speed memory as well as USB 3.0/SATA 6Gbps?

Been toying with the idea as well about going with fm2 with a a75 board and a 5600k,the onboard video can power bf2,ut99,ut2004,ut3,combat arms and arctic combat being all games i play nearly as much as BF3 as i have a friend who is dying to know how fusion performs anyways as he plays combat arms and arctic combat and needs a upgrade over his 9150e and 9500gt.

With a MSI FM2-A75MA-E35 board which at $60 is hell of a compatible motherboard with its sata 6 and usb 3.0,a 5600k at $100 which has to be better then the g2130 in BF3 which is intels $100 answer to the 5600k and 8gb of kingston 1600 memory and i would be $20 under my max budget.

Also could consider trying out the x4 750k,a overclockable quad core at $85 can't be beat and gives another $15 for a better motherboard and the only other quads cheaper are the x4 640 and the x4 740 and i am guessing the x4 740 and the x4 750k are years better still then a old x4 640?

 

[SPBHM]

Haswell i3 and H81 will be available very soon, it should be an interesting option...

at the moment I think the 3240 is a little overpriced, but at the same time, I'm not 100% comfortable with your choice of MB for the 6300, it sounds like something from 2009 (760G+710), but it looks like it can handle up to 125W TDP, and H61 is cut down on USB and Sata III support anyway, so it should be OK.

the i3 is competent for regular usage and for most current games (as fast or faster ), but so is the 6300 for the most part, and it's much faster for MT, so thinking about the future, the 6300 makes more sense...

IF you are to worried about efficiency, power usage and such, the i3 is the clear winner for a gaming PC I think.

 

[AtenRa]

For BF3 MP get the FX6300 over Trinity/Core i3, but i would get a better motherboard.

 

[LagunaX]

eBay or forum a 2500k mobo combo, ddr3 1333 or 1600 8gb is also relatively cheap.

Here is one on this forum:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2332186

 

[skipsneeky2]

For BF3 MP get the FX6300 over Trinity/Core i3, but i would get a better motherboard.

With my case being microatx,the board i had picked obviously sucked but apparently amd and newer microatx boards don't exist but yeah i had a feeling such a dinosaur chipset would be a questionable choice and i felt sorta uncomfortable with it really in the first place but since every board is basically 760g or 880g,the choices are dreadful but compatible at best.

Bigger budget for a fullatx board is possible but forget using my case,it would be open on a table and it will be weeks before i could even afford a atx case which isn't the main problem,its the fact that i would have to drop my purchase of memory down to 4gb as the move from 4gb to 8gb is $30 right now,BF3 MP is the one game or app making me consider wanting 8gb but who knows if pure fps or performance would suffer?

Trinity 5600k and core i3 3240 would allow 8gb of ram and a respectable motherboard but the fx6300 is the obviously better cpu,when i mentioned it was a boggle to pick,i wasn't kidding lol.

 

[sm625]

i3-3240

As you said the 760g is ancient. I would not want to tie a 5 year old chipset into a new build. That isnt worth slightly improved performance in a few small areas. The i3 will be faster at most things.

 

[skipsneeky2]

i3-3240

As you said the 760g is ancient. I would not want to tie a 5 year old chipset into a new build. That isnt worth slightly improved performance in a few small areas. The i3 will be faster at most things.

To be honest i do have a i5 2500 non k,its sitting in a fried h61 motherboard with fried memory alongside a fried 7850 due to a electrical grounding issue in my wall.....who knows if the cpu is any good and i have zero friends who have a computer that i could test the cpu in,so the suspense is killing me.

I could gamble,take the chance and buy the h61 board and memory solo with a cheap celeron g1620 and hope for the best with the i5 and cut my loses with the i5 if its gone,pick up a i5 3000 series later.

 

[sm625]

I bet that i5 still works just fine. I would take the chance on it. I would buy a board that can at least partially (turbo) overclock it.

 

[Jimzz]

The 6300 is better of those 2 for gaming.

But I agree, get a better board. Here is a more current board that is mATX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813138345



A FM2 board (A75 or A85) and richland CPU or a used quad i5 would also work well. Near a microcenter?

 

[skipsneeky2]

I bet that i5 still works just fine. I would take the chance on it. I would buy a board that can at least partially (turbo) overclock it.

Going with the GIGABYTE GA-H61M-HD2,$49 and the best layout of any board $50 and below,sata ports all the way at the bottom is freaking great so my double deck gtx650 won't be blocking ports which is a common issue on microatx boards all while leaving a sata 4x slot for a soundblaster.

Board is virtually the same as the one i had that fried before,just dvi and hdmi support now and way better sata placement and its even $5 cheaper.:thumbsup:

 

[schmuckley]

neither..965 BE
or h61 and a used 2500k er summin.

 

[NTMBK]

One thing you might want to try- take that i5 into a computer shop, and ask them if they'll test whether it still works in one of their mobos if you pay them $10. At least that way you'll know.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Going with the GIGABYTE GA-H61M-HD2,$49 and the best layout of any board $50 and below,sata ports all the way at the bottom is freaking great so my double deck gtx650 won't be blocking ports which is a common issue on microatx boards all while leaving a sata 4x slot for a soundblaster.

Board is virtually the same as the one i had that fried before,just dvi and hdmi support now and way better sata placement and its even $5 cheaper.:thumbsup:

That's a nice board. Would have been nice if I had seen that before I ordered two Biostar H61MH boards off of Geeks.com for $34.99 ea, FS. Sure, the Giggy board is $14 more, but I would pay that for Gigabyte quality and all solid caps over Biostar. Plus the Giggy works with IB CPUs right off the bat, the Biostar requires flashing with a Sandy installed first.

Edit: Your build sounds pretty sweet for a smaller budget gaming build.

 

[skipsneeky2]

That's a nice board. Would have been nice if I had seen that before I ordered two Biostar H61MH boards off of Geeks.com for $34.99 ea, FS. Sure, the Giggy board is $14 more, but I would pay that for Gigabyte quality and all solid caps over Biostar. Plus the Giggy works with IB CPUs right off the bat, the Biostar requires flashing with a Sandy installed first.

What i love most about the board is the sata ports and their location and the size and dimensions of the board,it will make for easy cable management as i am also buying a Rosewill Line-M case and with the ssd mount on the bottom of the case as well as the gtx650 i have which is a zotac which needs no 6 pin,the whole build itself is just gonna be so sweet and despite the case size the build will just seem so roomy.

 

[Centauri]

FX-6300 for basically... everything. Much more future proof and already a better all-rounder anyways.

 

[shady28]

If you are in the USA, you can order this from Microcenter :

GA-78LMT-USB3 Socket AM3+ mATX
FX-6300
--------
$134.98

Ballistix Sport 8GB DDR3-1333
--------
69.99

204.97 + tax and s/h

For $25 more, you can move up to a better motherboard and use DDR3-1600 or 1800 (RAM is about the same price).

For $50 more you can get both the better motherboard, and an FX-8320 8-core combo. This might push your budget slightly but is what I would recommend.

The intel bundles are not really price competitive at your budget points :

http://www.microcenter.com/site/products/amd_bundles.aspx

 

[Durp]

Go with the FX-6300/6350 instead of the i3. There are many games where the i3 will be faster but the same can be said about the FX and the future will be better for it.

If the i3 was a hyperthreaded triple core then I would choose it over the FX-6300. Intel cores are very fast but you shouldn't be buying a dual core processor in 2013.

Maybe try to buy a cheap locked i5 somewhere?

 

[gx_saurav]

Been toying with the idea as well about going with fm2 with a a75 board and a 5600k,the onboard video can power bf2,ut99,ut2004,ut3,combat arms and arctic combat being all games i play nearly as much as BF3 as i have a friend who is dying to know how fusion performs anyways as he plays combat arms and arctic combat and needs a upgrade over his 9150e and 9500gt.

I have not played battlefield so can't comment on that but right now I am playing Deus Ex Human revolution, Rage & Batman Arkham City at 1366x768. Even Crysis 2 ran fine but FPS were going under 15 frames in graphics heavy scenes. Usually it stayed around 20~22. So, nothing to play high end games on but can still play games at mid settings. And this is my 2011 model Llano.

With a MSI FM2-A75MA-E35 board which at $60 is hell of a compatible motherboard with its sata 6 and usb 3.0,a 5600k at $100 which has to be better then the g2130 in BF3 which is intels $100 answer to the 5600k and 8gb of kingston 1600 memory and i would be $20 under my max budget.

Now that Kaveri is on the horizon and Richland is already out, I don't think you should go with Socket FM2. Try looking for Socket FM2+ motherboard like Asus A88 chipset based FM2+ motherboard if they are available + a Richland A10-6700. You can upgrade to Kaveri on this motherboard when it comes and you won't even need a GPU if all you do is lightweight gaming.

Personally, like I am doing, I would recommend either to go with a AMD FX 6300 + Gigabyte 970A DS3 or Asus M5197 2.0 motherboard which will give USB 3.0 in both rear and front + SATA 6 gbps.

 

[skipsneeky2]

Just placed a order off newegg for a core i3 3220,a GIGABYTE GA-H61M-HD2 motherboard and 8gb of kingston ddr3 1333mhz memory.

Trinity and richland in the end made no sense to me after checking out reviews as it seems the quads like the 5600k which was in my budget perform worst then the i3 2000 series and better.

The fx6300 would have been awesome but basically wouldn't have worked,get stuck with a microatx board with a ancient chipset as my case is microatx and a decent full atx motherboard and a case would have went out of my budget by over $50 at least.

Newegg has a promo code for $20 off on the i3 3220 bringing it to $110 that ends today and that is what made me pull the trigger on the i3 basically immediately.