Best Gaming rig for $600?

[RussianGiraffe13]

I was initially going to use an amd fx 6300 and an msi 970 gaming motherboard until i totaled all other components i was not going to have enough for a gpu. So far im going to be doing light gaming. and buy probably a couple games (Skyrim, advanced warfare,battlefield, etc.) The fx seems better for games that can use more cores but which games effectively use more cores?
Should i just buy an intel instead of amd?

If you choose to post links of pcpartpicker, dont bother with the dvd drive and hard drives, i already have a cd drive and ill get a 1tb hard drive off ebay or craigslist.

With the case Im not looking for the most flashy cases but all gaming pcs have to have a cool case, it just completes it

 

[ykki]

Do you need an os? If NOT then=
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($98.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper TX3 54.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($16.85 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 LE R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($68.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($62.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 280X 3GB Double Dissipation Video Card ($214.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $547.78
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-06 22:31 EST-0500

 

[damric]

I was initially going to use an amd fx 6300 and an msi 970 gaming motherboard until i totaled all other components i was not going to have enough for a gpu. So far im going to be doing light gaming. and buy probably a couple games (Skyrim, advanced warfare,battlefield, etc.) The fx seems better for games that can use more cores but which games effectively use more cores?
Should i just buy an intel instead of amd?

If you choose to post links of pcpartpicker, dont bother with the dvd drive and hard drives, i already have a cd drive and ill get a 1tb hard drive off ebay or craigslist.

With the case Im not looking for the most flashy cases but all gaming pcs have to have a cool case, it just completes it

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($111.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($71.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Team Zeus Yellow 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($58.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($62.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Club 3D Radeon R9 280 3GB royalKing Video Card ($169.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Cougar MX300 ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $575.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-06 22:40 EST-0500

 

[CTurbo]

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/gdT8yc
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/gdT8yc/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($111.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($71.95 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($62.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 280 3GB Dual-X Video Card ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($52.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $574.78
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-06 17:13 EST-0500

 

[damric]

AMD Version:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 760K 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor ($75.04 @ Mwave)
CPU Cooler: Scythe Shuriken Rev. B 3 11.8 CFM CPU Cooler ($21.00 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A88X Extreme4+ ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Team Zeus Yellow 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($58.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($62.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Club 3D Radeon R9 280 3GB royalKing Video Card ($169.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Cougar MX300 ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $557.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-06 22:50 EST-0500

 

[RussianGiraffe13]

Yes i do need an os and should i go intel or amd with the processor

 

[CTurbo]

This is what I would do. You can drop an i5 in there when you get more money.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/pVG7nQ
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/pVG7nQ/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($68.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($71.95 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($62.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 280 3GB Dual-X Video Card ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cougar Solution (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($38.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ Micro Center)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $597.76
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-06 23:31 EST-0500

 

[damric]

Yes i do need an os and should i go intel or amd with the processor

Windows is $90-100.

Or you could go with a free Linux distro such as Steam OS.

The i3 is best CPU for gaming at your budget. An overclocked Athlon 760K is not quite as fast as the i3, but it does cost much less.

 

[RussianGiraffe13]

Damric in choosing the processor id like to focus on the games needs. For cpu based games that handle 2 threads the intel would be better. But a game like battlefield that uses more threads will benefit from the fx 6300. Bases on the games i listed above is the i3 still a good choice?

 

[CTurbo]

The i3 is far superior to the FX6300 in gaming. The i3 is better at anything that uses FOUR cores or less.

 

[ykki]

A slight adjustment to my build.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($98.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper TX3 54.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($16.85 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 LE R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($68.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($62.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 280 3GB DUAL-X Video Card ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $592.76
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-07 01:08 EST-0500

 

[RussianGiraffe13]

The i3 only beats the 6300 in single threading only, all other aspects are beaten by the 6300

 

[RussianGiraffe13]

Keep in mind this is a light gaming, i will also photoshop surf with many tabs and stream hd video

 

[CTurbo]

The i3 is a dual core cpu with hyperthreading which allows it to handle 4 threads at a time. It can handle 4 threads at a much faster rate than the FX6300's very weak 6 cores.

 

[Mr_Venbeer]

I have one here includes Windows 8:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($111.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($44.99 @ Directron)
Memory: PNY XLR8 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($77.99 @ Best Buy)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($45.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB FTW ACX Video Card ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cougar Spike MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($33.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Rosewill Capstone 450W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($14.98 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $594.89
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-07 01:34 EST-0500

 

[damric]

The i3 only beats the 6300 in single threading only, all other aspects are beaten by the 6300

Stock vs stock that's simply not true. You would have to overclock the hell out of the FX-6300 to pass the i3 at multithreaded gaming, which means much more money spent on CPU cooler, motherboard, and PSU.

 

[Mr_Venbeer]

The i3 only beats the 6300 in single threading only, all other aspects are beaten by the 6300

Stock vs stock that's simply not true. You would have to overclock the hell out of the FX-6300 to pass the i3 at multithreaded gaming, which means much more money spent on CPU cooler, motherboard, and PSU.

Depends on what i3 you compare it to. If it's the i3 4160 then it's basically beating the FX-6300.
The i3-2120 and the FX are pretty neck and neck, except it seems that the FX beats the 2120 in gaming and other applications.

 

[damric]

The i3 only beats the 6300 in single threading only, all other aspects are beaten by the 6300

Stock vs stock that's simply not true. You would have to overclock the hell out of the FX-6300 to pass the i3 at multithreaded gaming, which means much more money spent on CPU cooler, motherboard, and PSU.

Depends on what i3 you compare it to. If it's the i3 4160 then it's basically beating the FX-6300.
The i3-2120 and the FX are pretty neck and neck, except it seems that the FX beats the 2120 in gaming and other applications.

Current gen obviously. Not those 5 year old 2nd gens.

 

[Mr_Venbeer]

I wish AMD made some new CPU's with new technology better for gaming.

 

[mdocod]

Execution throughput of an i3-4150 matches that of an FX-6300 with 5 of it's 6 cores saturated.

In real-time workloads, the arrangement of execution resources in the i3 is superior, allowing any one of those threads access to much higher execution throughput.

Even heavily threaded real-time workloads are still bound by a timeline of events, as such, will never achieve simultaneous saturation of execution resources across many cores at the same time.

An FX-6300 at it's best in gaming, is comparable to an i3-4150, in every other case, the i3 is better.

 

[damric]

Execution throughput of an i3-4150 matches that of an FX-6300 with 5 of it's 6 cores saturated.

In real-time workloads, the arrangement of execution resources in the i3 is superior, allowing any one of those threads access to much higher execution throughput.

Even heavily threaded real-time workloads are still bound by a timeline of events, as such, will never achieve simultaneous saturation of execution resources across many cores at the same time.

An FX-6300 at it's best in gaming, is comparable to an i3-4150, in every other case, the i3 is better.

You are too smart for Tom's Hardware. Please go back to the smart people forums so that I can continue to pretend to be a god here.

 

[ykki]

Damn, I wish AMD made a steamroller for the 6300.