Building a Gaming PC: Intel-Based vs AMD-Based

[AlphaBeta234]

I am building a new Gaming PC, and I want to know whether to use an AMD or an Intel based system. I am going to be using this PC to play a game which will be HEAVILY MODDED: Grand Theft Auto IV: LCPDFR.

The specs to the systems are below, please tell me what I should use out of the two PC's.

AMD-Based System:

[CASE] Thermaltake Chaser A71
[CPU] AMD FX-9590, 8 Cores, 8 Threads @4.7 GHz, Turbo Boost up to 5.0 GHz
[GPU] EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB Superclocked Edition
[RAM] 32GB(4x8GB) G.Skill. Ripjaws 4, DDR3-1866 MHz
[LIQUID COOLING] Corsair Hydro H60 Liquid Cooler, ARC Dual Silent High-Performance Fans
[COOLING FANS] Improved Airflow Silent Fans (Unknown Brand)
[MOTHERBOARD] ASUS Crosshair V Formula
[POWER SUPPLY(PSU)] Corsair RM1000 1000 Watt PSU
[OS HDD] 2x 120GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD, Raid 0
[DATA HDD] 2x 2TB Western Digital Caviar Black, 7200 RPM
[OS] Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit


Intel-Based System:

[CASE] Thermaltake Chaser A71
[CPU] Intel Core i7-5820K @3.3 GHz, Turbo up to 3.5 GHz (6 cores, 6 threads, Hyperthreaded)
[GPU] EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB Superclocked Edition
[RAM] 32GB(4x8GB) G.Skill Ripjaws 4, DDR4-2400 MHz
[LIQUID COOLING] Corsair Hydro H60 Liquid Cooler, ARC Dual Silent High-Performance Fans
[COOLING FANS] Improved Airflow Silent Fans (Unknown Brand)
[MOTHERBOARD] MSI X99S Gaming 7, 4x PCI-e, 2x USB 3.0, 2x USB 2.0
[POWER SUPPLY(PSU)] Corsair RM1000 1000 Watt PSU
[OS HDD] 2x 120 GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD, Raid 0
[DATA HDD] 2x 2TB Western Digital Caviar Black, 7200 RPM
[OS] Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

 

[-Lone-]

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I'd go with Intel for less power consumption and heat, but I'd change the parts a bit, I'll make one right now, what's your max budget?

Also, are you planning to go beyond 2 GPUs?

 

[qubits]

go with a i7 4790k fastest stock gaming cpu.. i think the only good thing about x99 would be if you want 4 gpu's

 

[-Lone-]

Here you go if you are not going to use more than 2 GPUs, but if you are, I'll change the mobo, if your budget is higher than this, I'll upgrade some things.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/MGTvvK

 

[Dunlop0078]

Yah the x99 platform is a waste of money for a gaming pc at the moment a z97 build will give you equal performance in gaming for much less money. And you will definitely want to go for an intel build with that kind of budget i wouldn't consider amd.

 

[Xibyth]

The Intel more than doubles the speed in games over the 9590. I feel I should also note the speed of two 120GB SSD's matches the speed of one 240GB on a sata 6 controller, its just less stable the one 240GB. In addition no matter what games your playing 32GB of RAM is actually slower than 16, latency goes through the roof. 4x4GB tends to offer the best latency to throughput, and I would go with two 2x4GB kits at 1866.

 

[legend001523]

I'd save more on cpu and spend more on gpu

 

[-Lone-]

Obviously you missed the " HEAVILY MODDED", good luck with only 8GB of RAM.

 

[Dunlop0078]

Obviously you missed the " HEAVILY MODDED", good luck with only 8GB of RAM.

I dont care how much you mod gta 4 you will never use up 8gb of ram i doubt the game engine would even allow that.

 

[-Lone-]

Obviously you missed the " HEAVILY MODDED", good luck with only 8GB of RAM.

I dont care how much you mod gta 4 you will never use up 8gb of ram i doubt the game engine would even allow that.

Tell that to the newest games and to 4k slower rising up.

 

[Dunlop0078]

Obviously you missed the " HEAVILY MODDED", good luck with only 8GB of RAM.

I dont care how much you mod gta 4 you will never use up 8gb of ram i doubt the game engine would even allow that.

Tell that to the newest games and to 4k slower rising up.

Im pretty sure upping the resolution is only going to use more vram not system ram.

 

[-Lone-]

Obviously you missed the " HEAVILY MODDED", good luck with only 8GB of RAM.

I dont care how much you mod gta 4 you will never use up 8gb of ram i doubt the game engine would even allow that.

Tell that to the newest games and to 4k slower rising up.

Im pretty sure upping the resolution is only going to use more vram not system ram.

Uh huh, "pretty sure". When I am here right now 100% sure 4k ultra games use over 8GB of RAM.

 

[Xibyth]

Obviously you missed the " HEAVILY MODDED", good luck with only 8GB of RAM.

I dont care how much you mod gta 4 you will never use up 8gb of ram i doubt the game engine would even allow that.

Tell that to the newest games and to 4k slower rising up.

Im pretty sure upping the resolution is only going to use more vram not system ram.

With that GPU the most that game will pull of system RAM is 3GB, currently. 32bit programs can only utilize 4GB max, and there are very few games that actually are 64bit programs.

 

[Dunlop0078]

Obviously you missed the " HEAVILY MODDED", good luck with only 8GB of RAM.

I dont care how much you mod gta 4 you will never use up 8gb of ram i doubt the game engine would even allow that.

Tell that to the newest games and to 4k slower rising up.

Im pretty sure upping the resolution is only going to use more vram not system ram.

Uh huh, "pretty sure". When I am here right now 100% sure 4k ultra games use over 8GB of RAM.

Let me rephrase im almost positive upping the res only uses more vram not system ram and im almost positive that 8gb of system ram is more than enough for gaming for at least the next few years i can tell you that as of right now no game comes close to using up all of my system ram.

 

[-Lone-]

If you guys have even looked at the build he makes, obviously money is exactly an issue, so I don't understand why waste the time and effort and go backwards so he'd have to upgrade once again when he could've finished it all in one shot.

 

[-Lone-]

Obviously you missed the " HEAVILY MODDED", good luck with only 8GB of RAM.

I dont care how much you mod gta 4 you will never use up 8gb of ram i doubt the game engine would even allow that.

Tell that to the newest games and to 4k slower rising up.

Im pretty sure upping the resolution is only going to use more vram not system ram.

Uh huh, "pretty sure". When I am here right now 100% sure 4k ultra games use over 8GB of RAM.

Let me rephrase im almost positive upping the res only uses more vram not system ram and im almost positive that 8gb of system ram is more than enough for gaming for at least the next few years i can tell you that as of right now no game comes close to using up all of my system ram.

Yeah, 1-2 years, then you're back to where you started and once again spend some time to get an upgrade when you could've finished years ago. But no, for 4k, you are pretty close and over 8GB of RAM.

 

[Dunlop0078]

If you guys have even looked at the build he makes, obviously money is exactly an issue, so I don't understand why waste the time and effort and go backwards so he'd have to upgrade once again when he could've finished it all in one shot.

Because we dont want him to waste money when he doesn't have too. By the time games actually can utilize more than 8gb of ram it will probably be time for a full upgrade anyways.

 

[qubits]

32gb is some overkill for sure.. i would say 16gb is good to get with a i7.. the odds of hitting more than 10gb used with a gaming system is pretty slim even with modding

 

[-Lone-]

If you guys have even looked at the build he makes, obviously money is exactly an issue, so I don't understand why waste the time and effort and go backwards so he'd have to upgrade once again when he could've finished it all in one shot.

Because we dont want him to waste money when he doesn't have too. By the time games actually can utilize more than 8gb of ram it will probably be time for a full upgrade anyways.

It's not wasting money, it's saving time and effort when you have the resources right here and now and prepare for the future and not get stuck with the current event and the past.

 

[-Lone-]

32gb is some overkill for sure.. i would say 16gb is good to get with a i7.. the odds of hitting more than 10gb used with a gaming system is pretty slim even with modding

I've only put 32GB because his original builds had it, or I would've put 16GB.

 

[Xibyth]

If you guys have even looked at the build he makes, obviously money is exactly an issue, so I don't understand why waste the time and effort and go backwards so he'd have to upgrade once again when he could've finished it all in one shot.

Because we dont want him to waste money when he doesn't have too. By the time games actually can utilize more than 8gb of ram it will probably be time for a full upgrade anyways.

It's not wasting money, it's saving time and effort when you have the resources right here and now and prepare for the future and not get stuck with the current event and the past.

You cannot build a system for the future, only now. Very select parts (case, power supply, fans) are even somewhat future proof. 32GB of RAM is only used in low end servers. Once again I state, most games are 32-bit, very, very few (maybe 8 in the history of PC gaming) are 64-bit and can address more than 4GB of RAM. GTA IV is not one of them, not matter what mods he has it is limited to working with 4GB, hence the 8GB average.

 

[-Lone-]

If you guys have even looked at the build he makes, obviously money is exactly an issue, so I don't understand why waste the time and effort and go backwards so he'd have to upgrade once again when he could've finished it all in one shot.

Because we dont want him to waste money when he doesn't have too. By the time games actually can utilize more than 8gb of ram it will probably be time for a full upgrade anyways.

It's not wasting money, it's saving time and effort when you have the resources right here and now and prepare for the future and not get stuck with the current event and the past.

You cannot build a system for the future, only now. Very select parts (case, power supply, fans) are even somewhat future proof. 32GB of RAM is only used in low end servers. Once again I state, most games are 32-bit, very, very few (maybe 8 in the history of PC gaming) are 64-bit and can address more than 4GB of RAM. GTA IV is not one of them, not matter what mods he has it is limited to working with 4GB, hence the 8GB average.

And...can you predict GTA IV is the only game he'll ever play and what future games he might play that will be 64 bit? What if he needs them then, then here we go back to the beginning thanks to low components on a high end build.

 

[-Lone-]

Do you really think $70-80 extra is going to kill him when he has this kind of budget for a build?

 

[Xibyth]

If you guys have even looked at the build he makes, obviously money is exactly an issue, so I don't understand why waste the time and effort and go backwards so he'd have to upgrade once again when he could've finished it all in one shot.

Because we dont want him to waste money when he doesn't have too. By the time games actually can utilize more than 8gb of ram it will probably be time for a full upgrade anyways.

It's not wasting money, it's saving time and effort when you have the resources right here and now and prepare for the future and not get stuck with the current event and the past.

You cannot build a system for the future, only now. Very select parts (case, power supply, fans) are even somewhat future proof. 32GB of RAM is only used in low end servers. Once again I state, most games are 32-bit, very, very few (maybe 8 in the history of PC gaming) are 64-bit and can address more than 4GB of RAM. GTA IV is not one of them, not matter what mods he has it is limited to working with 4GB, hence the 8GB average.

And...can you predict GTA IV is the only game he'll ever play and what future games he might play that will be 64 bit? What if he needs them then, then here we go back to the beginning thanks to low components on a high end build.

I can. The developers including crytek, the main entrapenuar of 64-bit engines are not seeing a reason to expand it as the games an systems have shown to not need more then 512MB of system. That said you may argue the GPU needs more, as it is free of the games engine for memory control. Eve. Still the card only uses between 35 to 40% of its own capacity (4GB will use about 1.8 at most) to communicate with the CPU. Ski and Crossfire do not affect this ratio. The only other system memory the game takes up are for direct x controls and for 11 that peaks at just above 1GB.Windows generally only uses up to 2GB. That totals at 6GB used and because AI and control schemes for the game they won't be seriously consider 64-bit engines for games for at least another decade.

 

[-Lone-]

If you guys have even looked at the build he makes, obviously money is exactly an issue, so I don't understand why waste the time and effort and go backwards so he'd have to upgrade once again when he could've finished it all in one shot.

Because we dont want him to waste money when he doesn't have too. By the time games actually can utilize more than 8gb of ram it will probably be time for a full upgrade anyways.

It's not wasting money, it's saving time and effort when you have the resources right here and now and prepare for the future and not get stuck with the current event and the past.

You cannot build a system for the future, only now. Very select parts (case, power supply, fans) are even somewhat future proof. 32GB of RAM is only used in low end servers. Once again I state, most games are 32-bit, very, very few (maybe 8 in the history of PC gaming) are 64-bit and can address more than 4GB of RAM. GTA IV is not one of them, not matter what mods he has it is limited to working with 4GB, hence the 8GB average.

And...can you predict GTA IV is the only game he'll ever play and what future games he might play that will be 64 bit? What if he needs them then, then here we go back to the beginning thanks to low components on a high end build.

I can. The developers including crytek, the main entrapenuar of 64-bit engines are not seeing a reason to expand it as the games an systems have shown to not need more then 512MB of system. That said you may argue the GPU needs more, as it is free of the games engine for memory control. Eve. Still the card only uses between 35 to 40% of its own capacity (4GB will use about 1.8 at most) to communicate with the CPU. Ski and Crossfire do not affect this ratio. The only other system memory the game takes up are for direct x controls and for 11 that peaks at just above 1GB.Windows generally only uses up to 2GB. That totals at 6GB used and because AI and control schemes for the game they won't be seriously consider 64-bit engines for games for at least another decade.

You forgot about 4k as it is rising slower behind your back. If he ever decides to go up to 4k, he's SOL because 8GB won't cut it for the newer games.