Choosing a CPU for my planned gaming rig?

[SturmWurbler]

This question has been asked a million and one times, but I can't quite get the right answer, because people seem to give plenty of different answers.

I'm building a gaming PC in January and plan to play games like ArmA 3, DayZ, Battlefield 4, GTA 5 (if/when it comes out for PC) etc, and I want to be able to play them to max settings if possible.

I have come up with this so far:
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/27d4y

I've been wondering whether it's worth getting the i7 3770K, or whether I should get the i5 3570K? Or perhaps should I go for the 4770K or 4570K?

I think the GTX 770 is fine for what I want to play. I plan to buy another for SLI configuration, once I get some more money. I may even leave the SSD to upgrade to at a later date as well, as I just plan to install my OS (Windows 7) on there, and have everything else on my HDD. I believe the motherboard to be pretty expensive, but it's the cheapest one capable of SLI and holding 16GB RAM.

So, what CPU should I opt for? Is there anything else you recommend I change or add to this build? I'd like it to be around £800 if possible, but going a little higher and keeping under £1000 is fine. I want to make sure that I can play the games mentioned previously on max setting at decent fps (40+).

Thanks in advance,
SturmWurbler

 

[ewok93]

I would go with the 4770k personally.

 

[GhosT_Hv]

According to your motherboard , the socket is LGA1155
but 4770k and 4570k are of LGA 1150 socket type so if you are planning to buy 4th gen then you should change your motherboard.
and ASRock Z77 Extreme 4 has 2 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots (PCIE2/PCIE3: single at x16 (PCIE2) / x8 (PCIE3) or dual at x8/x8 mode)
that means you'll not be getting that much performence after crossfire or sli.
because you have only 1 pcie x16 slot at x16.

 

[koreanoverlord]

IMO the choice should be between the 8350/8320 vs the 3770k.

You could spend more on the GPU (or save for the 2nd 770) if you went the AMD route. I would not go Haswell (4770k) unless you specifically wanted the Z87 chipset.

Also, AMD claims that two 290x in Crossfire will not be bottlenecked by PCI-E 2.0 @ 8x, so you may be able to get a cheaper Mobo as well.

 

[Lessthannil]

I think you are good with the 3770k.

You might want to consider getting a centrifugal fan instead of axial fan(s) if you want to get a SLI setup.

The GTX 770 is just as about as much as you want to spend on a GPU right now. The R9-290(x) pretty much needs an custom water setup to be bearable in Xfire, the 780 is outperformed by the 290 and the 780 Ti is out of your range.

 

[Niko_boy]

if your purpose just gaming i5 3570k/4670k would do great!
if you want other stuff like recording at good fps though i5 will do this too but hyper threading of i7 will benifit here, then go with it
also if your budget is enough get i7 4770k Undoubtedly

 

[Lessthannil]

Yeah, I think you should step down to the 3570k if you are just gaming. Even then, the 8320 is another option.

 

[GhosT_Hv]

go with the i7 3770k it's much better at its price.
after some years if you think that you need more performence then you can overclock it easily because it is K series.
save your money and SLI the GTX 770 , this is enough to play games that you've mentioned at high settings.

 

[SturmWurbler]

Thank you for everyone's input! So the best best would be to upgrade to 4th gen i7, and upgrade the mobo to have better PCi slots, while saving for a second GTX 770?

 

[GhosT_Hv]

Thank you for everyone's input! So the best best would be to upgrade to 4th gen i7, and upgrade the mobo to have better PCi slots, while saving for a second GTX 770?

does i7 4770k is more expensive than i7 3770k in your country ?

 

[iceclock]

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/27gfd
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/27gfd/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/27gfd/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£154.80 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£23.98 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£91.99 @ Dabs)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£112.00 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£69.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£42.00 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card (£203.70 @ Aria PC)
Case: Zalman Z12 Plus ATX Mid Tower Case (£57.05 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£48.72 @ Scan.co.uk)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£65.99 @ Aria PC)
Total: £870.22
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-11-23 22:33 GMT+0000)

this just as good and has better quality ps. cooler and cpu is just as good. but u dont need ht for gaming. hence 3570k and 3770k are pretty close in gaming performance.

 

[SturmWurbler]

does i7 4770k is more expensive than i7 3770k in your country ?

There's about a £20 difference between them

 

[SturmWurbler]

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£154.80 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£23.98 @ Scan.co.uk)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card (£203.70 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£48.72 @ Scan.co.uk)
Total: £870.22
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-11-23 22:33 GMT+0000)

this just as good and has better quality ps. cooler and cpu is just as good. but u dont need ht for gaming. hence 3570k and 3770k are pretty close in gaming performance.

Pretty pleased with that total! So CPU intensive games such as ArmA wouldn't benefit from the i7's HT? How does the 7970 hold up against the GTX 770, and would it Crossfire well on the mobo?

 

[GhosT_Hv]

does i7 4770k is more expensive than i7 3770k in your country ?

There's about a £20 difference between them

According to this : http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/551?vs=836

there is not that much difference between those 2 processors.
if you are going with i7 3770k then you don't need any expensive motherboard.
you can spend more money on your GPU.

 

[iceclock]

just as good dude. and once overclock is beast 😀

 

[SturmWurbler]

just as good dude. and once overclock is beast 😀

The 7970 is just as good or the i5 is just as good? I know these things are all pretty much on par

 

[iceclock]

both are good

 

[SturmWurbler]

Well I have gone for this so far, decided to go down to an i5, and save the SSD for an upgrade. I've gone for a 2TB 7200RPM HDD, as it wasn't much more expensive, and double the space.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£154.80 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£23.98 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£93.88 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory (£119.99 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£61.00 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card (£263.72 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: Corsair Carbide Series 300R Windowed ATX Mid Tower Case (£65.83 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£54.62 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£65.99 @ Aria PC)
Total: £903.81
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-11-24 17:08 GMT+0000)

It's a little over budget, but I think it's a beast of a machine. Any suggestions?

 

[iceclock]

Looking good except I'd get the vega powersupply I recommended instead everything else looks good

 

[SturmWurbler]

Thank you very much! Is it worth getting 16GB of RAM, or should I settle for 8GB?

 

[iceclock]

If u can afford it get 16 gigs for future proofing 😉

 

[iceclock]

If u can afford it get 16 gigs for future proofing 😉

 

[SturmWurbler]

Ooh, I do love a little bit of future-proofing!

 

[iceclock]

excellent ur all set ;D

 

[Niko_boy]

Ooh, I do love a little bit of future-proofing!

8GB is more than enough for a high end gaming PC , it can do good in video rendering aswell , but if you can afford it get it , no problem