£550 Budget Gaming/Rendering PC Build

[flump9]

Hey Guys, trying to get a build done in time for Christmas and I have 2 really big problems when I have been making the build. I could either go for an i5 2500K + HD 7770 or an i3-3220 + GTX 660. I have been really thinking about this and I can't decide. I am going to be playing games suck as AC3,Arma 2,Metro 2033 at 1920 x 1080 but I can go down a bit if I have to. I will probably be replacing the CPU once Haswell comes out because prices might drop over a period of time. If someone could make a perfect build it would be great.

EDIT: Nothing Needed included(OS,Monitor etc)

EDIT: Changed GPU from HD 7870 to GTX 660 to save costs

 

[flump9]

Will anyone help me?I am really stuck.

 

[djangoringo]

For gaming :

i3-3220 + HD 7870 > i5 2500K + HD 7770


Even though, the i5 is a quad core, the most important thing is the gpu for games, and the 7770 is too weak for 1080p vs the 7870.
If the desire of the build is for gaming, then go with the i3+7870.

 

[flump9]

Will Arma make that much of a difference because people say that its quite CPU-intensive, would the i3 and gtx 660 perform better?

 

[djangoringo]

About the same as the i3+7870, the i3 will not bottleneck any of those cards, so for any game you're better off with the best card available within your budget.

 

[flump9]

Thanks