AMD or INTEL?

[Hulk1233]

Hey guys, i'm building my first gaming pc + peripherals. Please help me decide between these two setups.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Gr3fnQ

or

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/dgRfnQ

 

[Rapajez]

Did you mean to select a i5-4690K for the Intel build?

It depends on the specific game, but in most cases, the Intel build will crush the AMD one. The ONLY exception would be in heavily-multithreaded games, like BF4 with 64 player multiplayer. Otherwise, Intel has been crushing the benchmarks. Plus, the 4690k should overclock very well.

 

[6R1M01R3]

Both are very neat builds and performance wise should be about the same.
The only difference is the upgrade path you have but even so, in the intel build you have a H97 motherboard that is not made for overclocking or SLI/Xfire and in the AMD build you are using a 970 chipset mobo instead of a 990X/990FX motherboard.

 

[Rapajez]

Oh, and if you intend to OC, make sure you grab the "Z97" ASUS mobo, not the H97. You'd want to throw a Hyper 212 in that build too.

 

[schau314]

The second option is far superior, Also great choice on the xeon.

 

[schau314]

The i5-4690k is not the best choice, and if he needs sli than he can get a z97, but his current choice is fine.

 

[Rapajez]

Both are very neat builds and performance wise should be about the same.
The only difference is the upgrade path you have but even so, in the intel build you have a H97 motherboard that is not made for overclocking or SLI/Xfire and in the AMD build you are using a 970 chipset mobo instead of a 990X/990FX motherboard.

Another good point. I believe Z97 should at least be compatible with the next round of Intel CPUs. I'm not sure how much longer AMD will be relying on that socket.

 

[Rapajez]

The second option is far superior, Also great choice on the xeon.

Why would you use a Xeon over the i5 for gaming? Will Hyperthreading make that much of a difference, vs a higher CLK Speed on the i5 (with boost or OC'ing)?

 

[6R1M01R3]

I think the only unbalanced part of both builds is...the expensive keyboard.

 

[Hulk1233]

which keyboard then? mechanical keyboards with backlight are all expensive :/

 

[legend001523]

Go for the bottom build, but change the cpu to a i5 4690k, get a z97 board and use some of the money you have saved possibly on a r9 290? If you did those things your build would be as good as it can get really

 

[Hulk1233]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/XwtXJx

Is this better ?

 

[legend001523]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/XwtXJx

Is this better ?

Looks fine but, I have a small suggestion, you can do without a headset for the time being right? so don't get a headset, don't get a cpu cooler and that gives you a extra $100, use that towards the gpu as you can always buy the heaset and cpu cooler later but a gpu is more important so you can get a r9 290? which offers gtx 780 performance, your gpu performance would increase by 25-40% by switching from the 770 to the r9 290

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/XZxLFT

or for 30 dollars more you can get the 780 also

 

[6R1M01R3]

Bottom line is what you need the PC for. Your initial builds have 8-core*(Xeon is quad with 8 threads) CPUs and you need that many cores in systems that will be used for streaming, recording, design, render more than for gaming as there are only a couple of videogames that make use of 8 cores (BF4 and W_D) maybe more in the future but is not set in stone yet.

 

[schau314]

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/GqHvdC
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/GqHvdC/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($247.94 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus H97-PLUS ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($107.24 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($86.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($73.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($57.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 770 2GB TWIN FROZR Video Card ($289.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R3 Silver Arrow ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Rosewill Hive 550W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($39.50 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($19.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Asus VN248H 23.8" Monitor ($187.58 @ Newegg)
Keyboard: Func KB-460 Wired Gaming Keyboard ($124.98 @ Newegg)
Mouse: Corsair Vengeance M65 Wired Laser Mouse ($52.99 @ Amazon)
Headphones: SteelSeries Siberia v2 Headset ($67.49 @ Amazon)
Total: $1422.64
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-04 20:36 EDT-0400

Changed a couple items for price concerns. The case looks better than the old one.

Also to those saying a high clock speed i5 is better, get real. He will spend more on an expensive motherboard, a more powerful psu, and an aftermarket cooler to get a cpu that will give him a few more fps. The xeon has a great price and trumps the i5 for value.

Also for those saying sli or r9 290 we know his monitor will be 1080p. A 770 will power that with ease for a while.

So legend you are recommending him to overclock to show no real world advantage, get a cpu with less cores, and get a gpu his monitor will not utilize at this time. That just seems counter intuitive.