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Please tell me what cpu/motherboard combo to buy

rudeguy

rudeguy

Lifer
I'm building a gaming rig and this is the last piece of the puzzle. Its for lil rudeguy, so stability is very important. I don't want to have to troubleshoot stability issues.

I'd like to keep the price under $250 if at all possible. I've always used AMD but am open to Intel. I haven't shopped for a new cpu in a long time so I am pretty ignorant.

Stability, gaming performance and price are my only concerns.
 
rudeguy said:
I don't want to have to troubleshoot stability issues.
Click to expand...
As much as I like to root for the underdog, I would say go Intel if you value stability.

I just had a BSOD on my Thuban 1035T rig (stock speed), ASrock 990FX Extreme4 ($180 AM3+ mobo), and two AMD HIS 7790 1GB cards running F@H. It was a code 0x0116, video TDR timeout recovery failure.
 
VirtualLarry said:
As much as I like to root for the underdog, I would say go Intel if you value stability.

I just had a BSOD on my Thuban 1035T rig (stock speed), ASrock 990FX Extreme4 ($180 AM3+ mobo), and two AMD HIS 7790 1GB cards running F@H. It was a code 0x0116, video TDR timeout recovery failure.
Click to expand...

Is that common?

I literally know less than jack about cpus now. The last one I bought was off fs/ft and I just posted a wanted thread with my price range. Before that it was overclocking athlons to 1.333
 
... AMD processors are totally stable. FX line of processors are totally rated to run at their turbo speed. Officially the turbo speeds are temporary speed increases in cases that %50 of the cores are in use due to heat, but any descent after market could cool it enough to overclock to its turbo speeds or more.

What does the $250 cover? just the cpu? barebone insides? full tower and everything?
 
VirtualLarry said:
As much as I like to root for the underdog, I would say go Intel if you value stability.

I just had a BSOD on my Thuban 1035T rig (stock speed), ASrock 990FX Extreme4 ($180 AM3+ mobo), and two AMD HIS 7790 1GB cards running F@H. It was a code 0x0116, video TDR timeout recovery failure.
Click to expand...

You're joking, right?
 
This would be my pick:
PCPartPicker part list

CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor ($129.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock 990FX Extreme3 ATX AM3+/AM3 Motherboard ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $249.98

You could go with a cheaper MB (I recommend Gigabyte) if you never plan to go crossfire/sli and add a GPU cooler to cart.

EDIT: What resolution you'll be using, do you have a dedicated graphics card? Do you want to build him something that can destroy everything you can throw at it or playing games at normal settings is ok for him?
 
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DownTheSky said:
This would be my pick:
PCPartPicker part list

CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor ($129.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock 990FX Extreme3 ATX AM3+/AM3 Motherboard ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $249.98

You could go with a cheaper MB (I recommend Gigabyte) if you never plan to go crossfire/sli and add a GPU cooler to cart.

EDIT: What resolution you'll be using, do you have a dedicated graphics card? Do you want to build him something that can destroy everything you can throw at it or playing games at normal settings is ok for him?
Click to expand...

He will have a vid card. Probably a 7950 unless I can find a deal on a 760.
 
Malik2981 said:
Do you live near a microcenter
Click to expand...

I wish! No MC, no Frys. Best Buy is the only thing close and I refuse to buy anything there.

I'm ok going up on price for quality, I just don't want to spend more than is needed for stability and performance.

Can anyone reco an i5 and asus combo? Maybe msi?
 
Centauri said:
You're joking, right?
Click to expand...

No. AMD doesn't even give a max thermal operating spec for their FX CPUs. Why would you trust the stability of your system to a company like that?

Edit: What I'm really getting at, is that Intel really really has a lot more money to put towards platform validation.
 
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spat55 said:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.96 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI Z77A-G45 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $269.95
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-03 04:28 EST-0500)

This is what I think for that price.
Click to expand...

That's a really good deal. I love my it i5 3570k! As much as I love AMD, I would never consider their CPUs unless they are significantly cheaper and I am on a very low budget.

Going $20 over your budget to get an unlocked intel i5 is definitely worth it imo.
 
$250 is just about enough to get an unlocked i5-3570K and a motherboard. (You might need to go down to a 2500K but its basically the same performance.) If that budget has to include RAM then you need to go with an FX-6350 combo.

If it was me I would buy a used 2500K so that I could buy the absolute best rated reasonably priced motherboard I could get, which is $120.
 
so it sounds like the 3570 is the way to go, I'm good with that. I will probably end up going over budget a bit but I am ok with that.


Thanks guys!
 
I just got done upgrading my core parts on a very tight budget. I had a Q6600 so I had to at a minimum get a new cpu (and 3rd party heatsink), mobo, and memory. After a long time of researching I went the AMD route. I was really looking at the 3570k because I know its right there near the top of what amd can currently do, but a worthwhile motherboard and ram would have pegged it at $450ish. I decided to settle on the FX 6300 which saved me around $120. Not quite as powerful but then maybe the next amd series of CPU will be worthwhile. Also the 6300 was still a huge improvement from the q6600.

BTW don't skimp on the motherboard. It isn't JUST to do with the quality of parts used, but also upgrade paths. If you grab the cheapest $59 board you can find you are likely missing usb 3.0, 6gb sata, lacking heatsinks, and bare minimum features while at the same time you are in no shape to pop a new and better cpu into it later. If you bump your motherboard to close to $99 you will pretty much nail every feature available, and get a performance motherboard (overclocking even) with the only thing missing is dual 16x PCIE slots for SLI graphics.
 
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