I've decided to buy i5-4430

[doom_giver]

After much thought, I've decided on i5-4430 with a Gigabyte H81M $50 motherboard instead of buying a $150 Z97 board with a Pentium G3258. Both combos cost the same but I won't have to upgrade my cpu with newer gen cpu's if I get an i5.

I've also thought about i3-4160 instead of i5-4430 because of higher single core speed but whatever. This feels like the right choice after browsing through thousands of forums 😀

 

[CTurbo]

I recommend the i5 4430, 4440, 4460, 4570, or 4590(whichever one is on sale that day) on a H97 motherboard.


I do not like the H81 chipsets. They are cheapish and lack features.

 

[IamTimTech]

That's the smartest post I've read all day, you will be glad you got 4 real cores and saved the money on your motherboard. May I recommend an Asus board instead of Gigabyte? Asus is top dog of motherboard manufacturers and you can find one for about $60 with HDMI and USB 3.0.

http://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/H81MA/

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-h81ma

Edit: the 4430 and 4440 go back and forth depending on which site you're getting it from.

 

[CTurbo]

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

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($168.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($71.95 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $240.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-05 23:46 EST-0500

 

[doom_giver]

That's the smartest post I've read all day, you will be glad you got 4 real cores and saved the money on your motherboard. May I recommend an Asus board instead of Gigabyte? Asus is top dog of motherboard manufacturers and you can find one for about $60 with HDMI and USB 3.0.

http://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/H81MA/

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-h81ma

Wow great answer! Yeah, I didn't take a good look at motherboards yet. I've had very bad experiences with Asus (not with their motherboards though) and all the bad reviews scare me. I don't find it normal to see more than 5 reviewers received it faulty or dead.

 

[doom_giver]

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

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($168.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($71.95 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $240.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-05 23:46 EST-0500

Thx for the tip!

 

[IamTimTech]

Asrock and Asus come from the same stock, same components. And plenty of people have plenty of problems with many manufacturers. My particular troubles are with Gigabyte and many swear by them and so on and so forth. We put Asus in all our computers at work, we've never had a doa.