First Time Building ~$600 Gaming PC, Help please :)

[xrdar]

Hey Guys,

I want to build a gaming PC that will be able to run new games reasonably well and also do well in other computationally intensive tasks like MATLAB. I was hoping to get some help/input.

My biggest question is whether I should get an i5-3550 or an FX6300. I want to overclock, just for the fun, which is why I want to get the 6300 but will an overclocked 6300 be on par with the slightly more expensive i5 in terms of what I want to do?

Here are the rest of the pieces that I am planning on buying:

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB Video Card ($175.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Rosewill CHALLENGER ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($16.98 @ Outlet PC)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[axisphi]

honestly I'd stick to the intel I5 with stock clocks if you want to OC for fun id save a bit more and get a k series. I like AMD alot but Ivy Bridge overall is extremely compelling when comparing overall numbers.

 

[Jose Navarro Vicente]

In most games, i5 will perform better than Fx-6300, even with sligh overclock. However, Fx-6300 is a Hexa-Core CPU and will be a better choice for media/video/photo workload (Or even Mathlab).

You have ~200$ for CPU, Motherboard and CPU Cooler... since i5 is ~170$... I don't think Intel is a viable option unless you can get more money.

 

[xrdar]

honestly I'd stick to the intel I5 with stock clocks if you want to OC for fun id save a bit more and get a k series. I like AMD alot but Ivy Bridge overall is extremely compelling when comparing overall numbers.

In most games, i5 will perform better than Fx-6300, even with sligh overclock. However, Fx-6300 is a Hexa-Core CPU and will be a better choice for media/video/photo workload (Or even Mathlab).

You have ~200$ for CPU, Motherboard and CPU Cooler... since i5 is ~170$... I don't think Intel is a viable option unless you can get more money.

I can spend more money, I'd be willing to spend up to $800 probably, but I just don't really know if it is worth it since I will probably be upgrading my system in the future. With more money I would get a 4670k and the oc that, but do I really need it?

 

[axisphi]

Need likely not. It would sure treat you nice though. Its really a matter of good or great performance. Do you want excellent game performance or Excellent compute performance in MATLAB. Also GPU acceleration may be an option http://www.mathworks.com/discovery/matlab-gpu.html. Check it out.