Unlocked i5 and 6870, or i3 and 7850

[dragantoe]

I'm building my first gaming pc, and I have $500, a hdd, os, and psu... with the best configuration i can either get the 3750k and a $100 hd6870 or an i3 2100 and 7850, need some advice

 

[Dark Shroud]

Games are more dependent on the GPU than the CPU. So get the 7850 for better game play.

As for the CPU either an IvyBridge Core i3 or an AMD A10. I would recommend the A10 since AMD's FM2 socket will get their next gen Steamroller APU vs Intel's Haswell using a new socket design.

 

[SPBHM]

if you are playing star craft 2, or competitive FPS the faster CPU + slower VGA (but with lowered graphics settings) might give you the best experience....
for this money, can't you get a cheaper i5 (2310, 2400) and a 1GB 7850?

 

[frozentundra123456]

if you are playing star craft 2, or competitive FPS the faster CPU + slower VGA (but with lowered graphics settings) might give you the best experience....
for this money, can't you get a cheaper i5 (2310, 2400) and a 1GB 7850?

I agree. As good as the i3 is, an intel quad is better in a few games now and is much more future proof.

As far as the A10 suggested above, I would not go that way. Seems pointless to buy an APU with a mediocre cpu part and then add a discrete card. If you wanted to go AMD, an FX4100 can be cheap if you live near a microcenter, or wait for Piledriver which should be out very soon.

But the sweet spot for gaming now IMO is an intel i5, and you should be able to fit that into your budget. If not I would even try to save a bit longer or delay a game or two in order to get the i5. I would think that anyone into pc gaming would spend at least a few hundred dollars a year on games, so what is another 50.00 for the processor?

Edit: As far as upgradability, the AMD might be more "upgradable", but for games, intel is far superior at the present, and with the state of AMD, who knows what will happen to Steamroller, and even if it comes out on time, still might not be better than an i5, especially in gaming. Plus, if you are budget constrained, why would you want to purchase a new CPU in a year or two?

 

[Termie]

Assuming you are buying a motherboard that allows overclocking, buy the 3570k. Much better long-term investment, and harder to upgrade in the future. The 7850 is at most 50% faster than a 6870 in games with lots of tesselation, but in some games, like BF3, it's less than 10% faster: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/540?vs=549. The 3570k will consistently allow better gameplay than the i3 in many games.

As a compromise, buy the 7850 1GB: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...Graphics-Cards

 

[Skurge]

Get the i5 as a user coming from a 2100 than going to a 3570k. The difference was massive. Even at 5760x1080 the i5 is so much smoother. I have had a 7850 in my pc when I had the i3 and the i5. But in modern games it's a huge difference. Bf3 I got close to double the performance at my resolution.

 

[cytg111]

Excatly what kind of screen are you pulling ?
1080p ?
I'd go with the i3 and better gfx.
You have the mainboard, so you could easily upgrade that cheapo i3 to an i5/i7 in 6-12 months and be double happy.

The number of games that really taxes that third or even fourth core are .. not that many-many.

 

[TemjinGold]

OP: What are you getting for motherboard/ram etc? Maybe if you lay all of it out, we might be able to better help you. Also, when you say you have hdd, os, and psu, does that mean you have those passed down or you just bought them? Depending on the PSU you bought, might be able to shave some there too if returning it is an option.

 

[crisium]

BF3 online needs moar cores. I'd get the i5. $100 6870 is a good deal, so you can upgrade next year anyway without feeling like the 6870 was a waste.

But then again the 6870 only has 1GB VRAM. Let's just say that if you get the 7850, make sure you get the 2GB version.

 

[Majcric]

I'll answer your question with your choices. The i5 and the 6870. The i5 will be able to handle another 2 generations of GPU at the least, the i3 on the other hand will already be bottlenecking to some extent and won't allow a worthy GPU upgrade in the future.

 

[dragantoe]

oops sorry for late reply, i lost access to internet for a while, but I ended up getting the 3220 and a 7870 config