i3-6100 or FX-8320E for budget gaming PC?

[WestX64]

Hello! I'm building a budget PC for a friend for gaming and have a budget of around $630. I've been doing a lot of comparisons and reading through threads online and I've narrowed my processor choice down to the Intel i3-6100 and the AMD FX-8320E. The AMD system comes out to about $595 and the Intel system comes out to about $630. I've seen a couple threads comparing these two processors or similar processors and a lot of people say to go for an i5 but that would put me over budget about $100...

So I was thinking that if I went with the i3-6100 then later on down the road if it isn't enough I could upgrade it to an i5 for my friend. I'm paying for this system and I don't mind splurging an extra $30 for my friend to have future upgrade options.

However, if the FX-8320E is more than enough to meet the needs of current gen and some future gen games then it would save me some money. The down side though would be that AM3+ sockets don't offer much upgrade options for the future.

Also feel free to suggest other hardware that may be better for a build within this budget!

This build is a surprise but I know the game my friend is wanting to get right away is Black Ops 3. So the system needs to be capable of playing that.

The rest of the system:
Motherboard:
Intel build = Gigabyte GA-H170M-D3H [$75]
AMD build = MSI 970 Gaming [$60]

Hard Drive: WD Blue Mainstream 1TB 7200Rpm [$40]

Memory:
Intel build: Kingston HyperX FURY 8Gb (2x4) 2133Mhz DDR4 [$40]
AMD build: Kingston HyperX FURY 8Gb (2x4) 1600Mhz DDR3 [$38]

Power Supply: Corsair CX600M Semi-modular [$60]
Case: Thermaltake Versa N21 [$55]
Graphics Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 4Gb SSC Gaming [$205]

 

[DrMrLordX]

Can't say I like the 970 Gaming all that much, though at $60 it's not too bad of a deal. The 8320E will require some overclocking to be "worth it". You should be able to peg it at 4.3-4.5 GHz on that board. Also you may suffer with 8 Gb of RAM on either build, so watch out.

Also $205 for a 960? I question whether or not that's a good idea.

 

[Hitman928]

Yeah, I'd either find a better deal on the 960 or go for an AMD 380/380x (4 GB) at that price point or a 280x if you can still find one. Alternatively you could look to the used market, if willing, to find some great deals on even better gpus.

As far as the platform goes, I'd probably lean towards your reasoning behind the intel platform. You could always upgrade to an i5 or i7 if needed down the road, whereas there isn't an upgrade path on the AMD side. For BO3, I don't think it will make much difference as it's not a cpu heavy game. Are there any other games he wants to play or is looking forward to playing?

I think 8 GB should be fine for now but may need to be upgraded to 16 GB in the future.

 

[escrow4]

An i3 is a waste of money and FX is useless in 2016. I'd pick up an i5 6500 and H110 to slightly save money on the mobo.

 

[Abwx]

Can't say I like the 970 Gaming all that much, though at $60 it's not too bad of a deal. The 8320E will require some overclocking to be "worth it". You should be able to peg it at 4.3-4.5 GHz on that board. Also you may suffer with 8 Gb of RAM on either build, so watch out.

Also $205 for a 960? I question whether or not that's a good idea.

............

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2444583

Edit : No need of high frequencies for this game, 3.6GHz base should be enough.

 

[superstition]

However, if the FX-8320E is more than enough to meet the needs of current gen and some future gen games then it would save me some money. The down side though would be that AM3+ sockets don't offer much upgrade options for the future.

There are M.2 and USB 3.1 AMD boards now. If you need those things they are a possibility.

However, the best return for your dollar will be the Gigabyte UD3P 2.0 board. Coupled with a good-quality power supply and cooling you will be able to get the 8320E to 4.4 GHz.

The best savings comes from getting your board and CPU from Micro Center. They have $40 off an AMD board with processor purchase and the 8320E can go for as little as $100.

Some will say the FX processor is a waste of money but considering it's $100 with $40 off a board that's not necessarily the case. In general you'll be GPU limited before you'll be CPU limited when you are on a tight budget. The 960 is a rather anemic GPU, so anemic that Anandtech never bothered to even review it.

You will need to plan on having enough CPU cooling, power supply quality, and case airflow to get the CPU to at least 4.3 GHz. There's no point in trying to game with an FX chip at stock if it's under 4.2. The good news is that the E chips can overclock pretty nicely without voltages going crazy (until you pass 4.5 or so).

I would pair the FX with 1866 RAM not 1600 if you can find it for a good price.

This is the card you should get: http://slickdeals.net/f/8532507-new...-276-ar-and-coupon?src=SiteSearchV2_SearchBar

Don't skimp on PSU quality either. There is a point at which low budget becomes non-budget — and you end up losing more than you're saving by paying too much for inferior equipment.

For the general computing experience an SSD is essential, not optional.

If you can't find an FX for around $100 then I would save your pennies and get a Broadwell i5 5675C. It is a much more efficient gaming CPU than the AMD FX and is comparable to even Skylake thanks to the EDRAM. It's going to cost around $275 but Broadwell is the most optimal CPU for gaming right now because of that EDRAM. Pair it with a cheap AsRock board and 1.5V RAM.

The most optimal budget build is that Broadwell with an AsRock board and that 290X. It will have more staying power than your 960 and FX or i3 combo.

 

[WestX64]

The 8320E will require some overclocking to be "worth it".

Hmmm... If i were to overclock it then I would need to get an aftermarket CPU cooler which adds to the price. You don't think it will perform well on stock speeds?

Also $205 for a 960? I question whether or not that's a good idea.

I have another system with this same graphics card and it seems to perform well on a lot of games. I get a nice 55 - 60 fps in Black Ops 3 on that system. However, what would you suggest for that price? Keep in mind this is a 4Gb card and that's why it's a little more expensive than normal. I could find a 2Gb 980 for $180 to $190. I like the 4Gb one though since it comes with a back plate, ACX 2.0+ cooler, and some extra video memory. In any case, I'm open to suggestions.

Yeah, I'd either find a better deal on the 960 or go for an AMD 380/380x (4 GB) at that price point

I took a look at the R9 380 4Gb model and it seems to go for around the same price as the GTX 960 4Gb. I'm looking at benchmarks between the two cards on gpuboss.com and the R9 380 seems to perform slightly better. I've always heard that AMD cards run much hotter though. You think it's worth it?

Are there any other games he wants to play or is looking forward to playing?

I am not aware of any other games they are wanting to buy yet. They seem stoked on Black Ops 3 right now and I haven't heard them talking about any other games lately. I am saying "they" because technically both my friend and his wife will be playing on this system and they will probably be plugging in some Xbox controllers and playing split screen on BO3.

An i3 is a waste of money and FX is useless in 2016. I'd pick up an i5 6500 and H110 to slightly save money on the mobo.

Looks like an i5-6500 would be an extra $100 and a H110 motherboard is about $30 cheaper than the H170 [Gigabyte GA-H110M-S2PV]. Going with this combination would put me at $85 over budget. It's something I'm considering for sure but I'm not sure I want to go that far over budget...

 

[superstition]

I have another system with this same graphics card and it seems to perform well on a lot of games. I get a nice 55 - 60 fps in Black Ops 3 on that system. However, what would you suggest for that price? Keep in mind this is a 4Gb card and that's why it's a little more expensive than normal. I could find a 2Gb 980 for $180 to $190. I like the 4Gb one though since it comes with a back plate, ACX 2.0+ cooler, and some extra video memory. In any case, I'm open to suggestions.

I took a look at the R9 380 4Gb model and it seems to go for around the same price as the GTX 960 4Gb. I'm looking at benchmarks between the two cards on gpuboss.com and the R9 380 seems to perform slightly better. I've always heard that AMD cards run much hotter though. You think it's worth it?

Both cards are not worth spending a dollar on. The 380 is an ancient obsolete chip with bad performance per watt and the 960 is anemic. 4 GB of VRAM on a 960 accomplishes nothing. It's too weak to use it.

Get that 8 GB 290X.

As for being over budget... Gaming is a luxury activity. If you can't afford it then my advice is to save more before buying*. The most budget build is the one that gives you the most bang for your buck. Once you go too cheap you end up spending more money because the hardware doesn't last long enough. The AMD FX at $100 with $40 off a board has some degree of relevance but if you can save for a Broadwell 5675C and AsRock board you'll have a longer-lasting setup.

The 290/390 cards have long been the best value when on sale but that 8 GB 290X is particularly nice for the price since you won't have to worry about using big texture packs and having your performance plummet.

*There are tons of old games that run on obsolete hardware that you can play for free while you save up.

 

[hhhd1]

i suggest considering getting the gtx950, and upgrading it later if needed, it is not that much slower than the 960gtx,
https://techreport.com/review/29061/nvidia-geforce-gtx-950-graphics-card-reviewed/7

 

[WestX64]

The best savings comes from getting your board and CPU from Micro Center. They have $40 off an AMD board with processor purchase and the 8320E can go for as little as $100.

Haha, this is exactly what I am doing actually! All of my CPU and motherboard prices are coming from MicroCenter and taking advantage of their bundle discounts. This is how I am getting that MSI 970 Gaming motherboard for only $60.

I would pair the FX with 1866 RAM not 1600 if you can find it for a good price.

Yeah, good point. I could probably find some 1866 memory for only a few dollars more and I saw somewhere that the FX-8320E's integrated memory controller supports that speed so why the heck not! However, all of this about overclocking the FX-8320E will start to raise the total cost of the system seeing as I will then need an aftermarket CPU cooler and maybe some extra case fans...

I guess then everyone here thinks the 8320E is not worth it unless overclocked?

Don't skimp on PSU quality either. There is a point at which low budget becomes non-budget — and you end up losing more than you're saving by paying too much for inferior equipment.

I have a system with a Corsair CX series power supply in it right now and it is running strong going on two (or maybe three) years now. However, if you have a better suggestion for another power supply that isn't much more expensive then I'll take a look!

For the general computing experience an SSD is essential, not optional.

Yeah, I personally cannot stand using a system without an SSD now that I have been spoiled by SSD load times. But I will let them splurge on an SSD if they want one. As for your other suggestions, I'm still looking into them. Thank you for all that by the way!

i suggest considering getting the gtx950, and upgrading it later if needed, it is not that much slower than the 960gtx,

That's a good suggestion. I will look into this too. The money I save going with the GTX 950 would probably be enough to go with an i5 system instead and then I will leave the GPU upgrade up to them down the road. I know Nvidia is rumored to come out with new cards this year.

 

[superstition]

Yeah, good point. I could probably find some 1866 memory for only a few dollars more and I saw somewhere that the FX-8320E's integrated memory controller supports that speed so why the heck not! However, all of this about overclocking the FX-8320E will start to raise the total cost of the system seeing as I will then need an aftermarket CPU cooler and maybe some extra case fans...

I guess then everyone here thinks the 8320E is not worth it unless overclocked?

Few gaming systems are suited to using a stock cooler. The cost of a decent tower air cooler is generally a given, even on a budget. Personally, I would invest in a Noctua D15 and not waste time with noisy inferior products. I have and it's not worth it.

The FX needs to be overclocked in order to raise its per-thread performance which is quite weak for a CPU still on the market. The FX shines in heavily multithreaded tasks, considering its pricing. It is the opposite of a gaming-centric CPU but for $100 plus $40 off a board it can be viable enough when overclocked.

The higher the clock the more voltage is needed. That means more power consumption and waste heat. As long as you pair the FX with a decent tower cooler and have a fan on the VRM sink (and airflow to the northbridge) it's not particularly difficult to overclock one — within reason. I would stick with 4.3 GHz or so with a 120mm tower and aim for 4.4 or 4.5 with a D15 with the UD3P board. With a more expensive board you can go higher but will need robust cooling.

Here are some games you can probably play for free on an obsolete machine while you save for that Broadwell:

AD&D Gold Box games (especially Pools of Darkness and The Dark Queen of Krynn)
Playstation — Tekken 1 – 3 (my favorite is 2)
SNES games — Final Fantasy IV, V, VI, Chrono Trigger, Zelda: A Link to the Past, Super Metroid, Mario World/Lost Levels, SimCity
NES games — Metroid, Zelda I & II, Lolo, Bubble Bobble, Ultima Exodus, Mario 1 – 3,
ancient PC — Maniac Mansion, Ultima IV, Kings Quest
old PC — SimCity 4

 

[frozentundra123456]

Well, if you want to talk microcenter prices, you can get a haswell i3 for 100.00 as well. No need to overclock, get a bigger psu, or worry whether or not you need aftermarket cooling. Plus you will use a lot less power. But both an i3 and FX have pretty serious weaknesses. I would really advise just going with an i5, even if it means waiting a bit to save a little extra.

Edit: Again using microcenter price, the i5 4590 is only 160.00, and should run fine on the stock cooler.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I guess then everyone here thinks the 8320E is not worth it unless overclocked?

The money I save going with the GTX 950 would probably be enough to go with an i5 system instead and then I will leave the GPU upgrade up to them down the road. I know Nvidia is rumored to come out with new cards this year.

The 8320E has poor ST IPC, so you need to OC it for those games that depend on one or two high-clocked / high-IPC cores. For games that can utilize 6-8 threads, there's no so much need. And with the changes with DirectX 12, it may be more utilized than before.

Btw, Newegg on ebay, has an MSI GTX950 card for $119.99 FS.

If that frees up enough money in the budget for an H110 / i5-6500 rig, then I would do that.

 

[JDG1980]

Honestly, neither the i3-6100 nor the FX-8320E sounds like a good idea for a modern gaming build. The i3-6100 suffers from having only two physical cores (which could well be a bottleneck in future games), and the FX-8320E suffers from, well, being a construction core CPU (terrible IPC = mediocre single-thread performance, power-hungry, ancient platform). You really want at least an i5 if you can possibly fit it into your budget.

Here's a few ideas for cutting costs off of what you listed:
* You're overspending on the PSU. Corsair is a good brand, but EVGA's quality is on par and they are often less expensive. If you can do without modular connectors, try a low-end EVGA unit like this one (a $25 savings over the one you selected). For the build you specified, you don't need more than about 450W at most.
* Instead of a GTX 960, go with a R9 380. The cheapest one currently on Newegg is this Sapphire Nitro, and that's a well-respected brand. $199.99, plus a $15 rebate which is going to expire soon. You'll lose HDMI 2.0 output and HEVC decoding, but for gaming (which you indicated is this system's primary purpose), you'll probably gain a few FPS.
* I've always found the fancy RAM sticks to be a waste of money. Kingston ValueRAM gets the job done and it's cheap. $33.35 for 8GB (2x4GB) of DDR4-2133.

So, let's look at this again:
$75 for the Skylake mobo you specified.
$34 for the 2x4GB DDR4-2133 Kingston ValueRAM.
$40 for the HDD.
$35 for an EVGA 500W PSU.
$55 for the Thermaltake case you wanted.
$200 for a Sapphire Nitro R9 380.

That comes to $439 for all the parts except the CPU. You can get an i5-6400 for $189.99. This bumps you up to $629, which was about what you originally had calculated for the i3-based Intel build.

Edit: I just noticed you made a new post mentioning Micro Center in your area. That means you should be able to find even better deals on the CPU+motherboard.

 

[WestX64]

Okay, so it looks to me that the FX-8320E build is just not worth it. So I started moving some things around taking some people's suggestions from above and it looks like I was able to fit an i5 into the equation.

So what I did was replaced the i3-6100 with the i5-6500 on Microcenter for $200. I know it's $10 cheaper on Newegg but Microcenter has a bundle deal with the Gigabyte GA-110M-S2PV for $20 off the motherboard making it just $45. I then Took the GTX 960 4Gb out of my cart and replaced it with a GTX 950 2Gb which is $150 on NewEgg.

The new parts:
Processor: Intel i5-6500 [$200]
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H110M-S2PV [$45]
Graphics: EVGA GTX 950 2Gb SC+ Gaming [$150]
Power Supply: EVGA 500 W1 [$35]
Memory: PNY Anarchy 8Gb (2x4Gb) DDR4 2400Mhz (faster memory for a couple bucks less than the previous and only a couple bucks more than the ValueRAM) [$37]

The total cost of this build would be $590 which is $40 cheaper than the i3 build was originally thanks to many of your suggestions. With this build I would leave it up to them to upgrade to a better GPU down the road though.

However, if I was to get that Sapphire Nitro R9 380 4Gb on NewEgg as suggested by JDG1980 then the total cost of the system would be $640. I may be able to scrounge up an extra $40 for this configuration, but if they will need to upgrade this graphics card pretty soon anyway then maybe it's worth it to save the $50 and just let them upgrade later when the new Nvidia cards come out. What do you all think?

Here's a few ideas for cutting costs off of what you listed:

Thank you very much for all of those cost-saving suggestions!

Do you all think I may be able to get a better case for around the same price as the current case? Or maybe a better case that's slightly cheaper? Here is the current case:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...rue&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_4&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

I've never built in this one before and am finding it hard to find quality YouTube reviews on it.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Btw, Newegg on ebay, has an MSI GTX950 card for $119.99 FS.

I then Took the GTX 960 4Gb out of my cart and replaced it with a GTX 950 2Gb which is $150 on NewEgg.

Graphics: EVGA GTX 950 2Gb SC+ Gaming [$150]

Edit: Sorry, looks like they're not available anymore.
0 available / 1,128 sold

 

[hhhd1]

NVM

 

[WestX64]

Edit: Sorry, looks like they're not available anymore.
0 available / 1,128 sold

Yeah I noticed that which is why I didn't use it in the new i5 build. I appreciate you trying to get me a deal though! Sorry, I didn't mean for it to seem like I totally ignored your post or anything...

 

[WestX64]

-I just have to say, these forums are great! The replies are so fast compared to other PC related forums I've been on.

I'm still looking for case suggestions but I also wanted to ask what you all think about that H110 motherboard I picked out? You think it's good enough? Here is the link to it:
http://www.microcenter.com/product/456591/GA-H110M-S2PV_LGA_1151_mATX_Intel_Motherboard

 

[VirtualLarry]

-I just have to say, these forums are great! The replies are so fast compared to other PC related forums I've been on.

I'm still looking for case suggestions but I also wanted to ask what you all think about that H110 motherboard I picked out? You think it's good enough? Here is the link to it:
http://www.microcenter.com/product/456591/GA-H110M-S2PV_LGA_1151_mATX_Intel_Motherboard

I hope it has enough power phases for an i5. It appears to have a 4+1 setup. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable than I could comment on the power / VRM cooling issues.

I did see some ASRock marketing slide linked in a different thread, showing a quad-core in other brands' entry-level H110 boards that lacked VRM sinks, and ASRock claimed that their VRMs were throttling under load.

 

[Bearmann]

The EVGA 500 W1 is just barely meeting the power requirements of the R9 380. Personally, I wouldn't be comfortable with that combination.

 

[Hitman928]

Both cards are not worth spending a dollar on. The 380 is an ancient obsolete chip with bad performance per watt and the 960 is anemic. 4 GB of VRAM on a 960 accomplishes nothing. It's too weak to use it.

Get that 8 GB 290X.

The 290x is 2nd generation GCN architecture, 380(x) is 3rd generation, not sure how that makes it ancient and obsolete. Honestly, your posts come off as terribly "PC MASTER RACE OR DIE" type of attitude and are silly. Not everyone wants to spend $1000 just to play a few games at 1080p when you can build a rig for several hundred less and be perfectly happy. Especially since West is building this for his friends with his own money, he can build a decent gaming machine and not break the bank.

West, I think what you have planned sounds great. I think JDG1980 gave some really great advice for building a more "budget" machine that will still play everything at 1080p maxed out or nearly maxed out with smooth performance. I would not go for a 950 at this point. The difference in price is just too small. If you could have picked one up for $120 or less, I'd say sure, but you'd be spending $150 on a card that will outclassed for $35 more. I think it's a no brainer but it's up to you. The 380 will use a bit more power but the nitro series have great coolers and your psu will handle it fine.

The 380 is also a more future proof architecture and looks to be better prepared for the next generation of DX12 games. Look at the most recent game benchmarks and the DX12 benchmarks and you'll see the 380 starting to pull away due to it's more future built architecture.

An R9 285 is the same chip as a 380 but with a slower clock rate, so add 10% for 380 performance.

 

[Hitman928]

The EVGA 500 W1 is just barely meeting the power requirements of the R9 380. Personally, I wouldn't be comfortable with that combination.

The EVGA should be plenty. The 500 W recommendation is done because obviously AMD can't control the quality of psu at 500W. There are many PSUs rated at 500 W or less that I would not hesitate to take over cheaper 600W+ units. The system he's putting together shouldn't use more than 350 W max and the EVGA has 40 A on a single 12V rail. Unless it's a lemon model, it should be fine.

 

[Hitman928]

West,

You might also be able to save a few $$$ by buying a Haswell generation cpu. There's not a large difference between that and the newest gen. Just something to look into.

 

[superstition]

The 290x is 2nd generation GCN architecture, 380(x) is 3rd generation, not sure how that makes it ancient and obsolete. Honestly, your posts come off as terribly "PC MASTER RACE OR DIE" type of attitude and are silly. Not everyone wants to spend $1000 just to play a few games at 1080p when you can build a rig for several hundred less and be perfectly happy. Especially since West is building this for his friends with his own money, he can build a decent gaming machine and not break the bank.

The 290X 8 GB is the best value right now with the sale going on.