Best CPU for my £650 gaming build

[O0mix0O]

Hi all,

Next month I am looking to build a pc for the current and next gen games but have hit a stumbling block when choosing CPUs, I really want the same if not better performance of next gen consoles.

I'm unsure whether to get a 6300/6350 and OC them to 4ghz or get a 8320 and OC it. From reading these forums it's clear that whichever CPU I get, an after market cooler is essential. I really don't want to go over £650 and the closer I can get to £600 the better without too much of a drop in performance.

If you need any more info I'll try and be as accurate and fast as possible, many thanks

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6350 3.9GHz 6-Core Processor (£94.79 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£23.98 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£59.00 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Kingston Blu Red Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£47.04 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For £45.46)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 280X 3GB Video Card (£235.68 @ Dabs)
Case: Zalman Z11 Plus ATX Mid Tower Case (£49.01 @ Ebuyer)
Case Fan: Zalman ZM - F3 120mm Fan (£4.45 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£48.72 @ Scan.co.uk)
Other: 4x 120mm + 2x 80mm dust filters - Ebay (£7.50)
Other: Arctic Cooling MX-4 4g Thermal Compound (Purchased For £4.63)
Other: 3.5" Cpu Hdd 4 Channel 4 Pin Connector Blue LED PC Fan Controller (Purchased For £5.78)
Other: Hard Drive Enclosure (Purchased For £8.29)
Total: £634.33

 

[TBC1]

I'd go with the 8320 (will get the best oc out of it).

 

[CG100]

You could try overclocking the 6350, it will probably give the same performance as an i5.

 

[workedog]

If you want to bring your budget down the 6300 will be sufficient, you can overclock it just as well as the 6350. In most games the video card will bottleneck well before the CPU, so the difference between 6 and 8 cores will be a few fps at most. Also you don't need the dust filters, extra fans or thermal compound, the ones that come with your parts will do fine. Those 4 things will bring your budget down to 600.

 

[O0mix0O]

Thanks all for your answer, but I'm being swayed by the 8320...

I'd go with the 8320 (will get the best oc out of it).

Would I be able to OC the 6350 or the 8320 on the mobo above in the op?

 

[TBC1]

Thanks all for your answer, but I'm being swayed by the 8320...

I'd go with the 8320 (will get the best oc out of it).

Would I be able to OC the 6350 or the 8320 on the mobo above in the op?

Yes

 

[O0mix0O]

Thanks all for your answer, but I'm being swayed by the 8320...

I'd go with the 8320 (will get the best oc out of it).

Would I be able to OC the 6350 or the 8320 on the mobo above in the op?

Yes

Awesome, what ghz do you reckon I could get for each again, with all the components in the OP

 

[TBC1]

Thanks all for your answer, but I'm being swayed by the 8320...

I'd go with the 8320 (will get the best oc out of it).

Would I be able to OC the 6350 or the 8320 on the mobo above in the op?

Yes

Awesome, what ghz do you reckon I could get for each again, with all the components in the OP

1. 4ghz for the 8320
2. 4.2ghz with the 6350.

Keep in mind these are safe overclocks with the evo 212 (wouldn't recommend going much higher).

 

[O0mix0O]

Thanks all for your answer, but I'm being swayed by the 8320...

I'd go with the 8320 (will get the best oc out of it).

Would I be able to OC the 6350 or the 8320 on the mobo above in the op?

Yes

Awesome, what ghz do you reckon I could get for each again, with all the components in the OP

1. 4ghz for the 8320
2. 4.2ghz with the 6350.

Keep in mind these are safe overclocks with the evo 212 (wouldn't recommend going much higher).

Awesome! And if I could just pick your brains about one last thing..

Could you order these in best to worst based on my build and needs?

ASRock 970 Extreme3
Asus M5A97 R2.0
Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3

Many many thanks, I'll select yours as best answer <3

 

[TBC1]

It's kind of hard to organize those mobo's as they are all good picks. If I had to pick one I'd say the Asus M5A97 R2.0 (lot of good reviews and is a solid product). However, I would personally go with this mobo for your build (has great ocing abilities) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157281

 

[O0mix0O]

It's kind of hard to organize those mobo's as they are all good picks. If I had to pick one I'd say the Asus M5A97 R2.0 (lot of good reviews and is a solid product). However, I would personally go with this mobo for your build (has great ocing abilities) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157281

Thanks I'll look in tot that. Thanks for all your other answers as well, it's really helped me

 

[Razor88]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe 2x4GB Ram is better than 1x8GB. Also I recently bought a 212 EVO and it came with cooling gel in the box. Best of luck .

 

[O0mix0O]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe 2x4GB Ram is better than 1x8GB. Also I recently bought a 212 EVO and it came with cooling gel in the box. Best of luck .

I've heard that 2x4 is better but not noticeably, this also leaves me room to go up to 32gb Also, the price of RAM has increased due to the explosion at the hynix factory and this was the cheapest by £10 at the time. (there were others cheaper but sold out)

I only recently decided to add the cooler and that was prior to buying the compound but I know it's good stuff and it was free due to an amazon gift card for trading in some games