Need input on CPU, Motherboard, Graphics card

[chrisinmo2]

Approximate Purchase Date: year end (Christmas time)

Budget Range: ~500 for the remaining pieces. after rebates (CPU, motherboard, monitor, Keyboard, and Mouse)

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, general web browsing, video streaming (youtube)

Are you buying a monitor: Yes need 22 -23" monitor with good picture quality

Parts to Upgrade: Need to decide on CPU, Motherboard, and Video card

Do you need to buy OS: No

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: New Egg, Micro Center (live close), Tiger Direct, etc...

Location: St Louis MO

Parts Preferences: None

Overclocking: Only if necessary not for a hobby or challenge. Selected Motherboards to allow that option now or later.

SLI or Crossfire: No

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080, need a monitor recommendations.

Mouse and keyboard recommendations welcome as well. I have old ones but he will want to replace as part of this build.

My son is looking to make the move from Xbox to PC gaming. He plans to use Christmas gift money to complete the parts purchase and build the PC. He will need a monitor.

I will purchase the video card for him for Christmas and I need some suggestion. I am currently looking in the $250 range thinking either 7950 or a 760. I plan to bargain hunt on Black Friday to see if I can grab a deal on something a step up from the above.

Games he is interested in include. Skyrim, Far Cry, Bioshock, BF4, Minecraft etc... . He is not obsessed with ultra settings but he will want to add mods and texture packs etc. He is currently using a 3 year old laptop and can only get mine craft FPS of ~10. He wants a system that will run the above games and similar titles current and future at mid to high settings smoothly without lagging I understand that would be in the 50 FPS range.

We have currently purchased the below parts as we have found them at good prices and they do not need to be counted in the 500 budget:

Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Case: Cooler Master HAF XB (Black) ATX Desktop Case
Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ( I realize this may need to be upgraded based on CPU / GPU final choice this will not be out of his budget )


I have 2 builds that I have been trying to decide between and your input would be appreciated. The below list includes the GPU cost and not a Monitor, Keyboard, or mouse.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/212bW
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/212bW/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/212bW/benchmarks/

Intel Build:

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V LK ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($103.99) Microcenter combo
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (Purchased For $0.00)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (Purchased For $0.00)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($289.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Cooler Master HAF XB (Black) ATX Desktop Case (Purchased For $0.00)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply (Purchased For $0.00)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($16.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $630.93


AMD Build:

CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor ($149.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus M5A99FX PRO R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($129.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (Purchased For $0.00)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (Purchased For $0.00)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($289.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Cooler Master HAF XB (Black) ATX Desktop Case (Purchased For $0.00)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply (Purchased For $0.00)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($16.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $616.93
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-11-11 23:11 EST-0500)

 

[Outlander_04]

Either mb/cpu combination is fine .
In the latest games the performance is quite similar

Unless you might want to use two graphics cards at some future time save money and pair the AMD with an Asus M5A97 r2.0
[ not the le version ] and you save about $35 .

The psu wattage limits your graphics card choices
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm
GTX 760 or Radeon 7950

 

[chrisinmo2]

Thank you for the quick feedback. We picked up the power supply when we fond it for a good price with rebate but at that time we were looking at an FX 6300 and a 650 ti card. The specs keep changing and the power demands seem to keep increasing as we continue to research gaming builds.. I realize we will likely need to upgrade the power supply to reach the desired results from the build.

That being said without being limited by the power supply would the 760 / 7950 give me the performance I am looking for or should I be looking for a higher performance card say a 7970 or a GTX equivalent? What would the GTX equivalent be?

 

[Outlander_04]

I think either of those graphics cards will humble a console .

And definitely play any game at 1080p

 

[chrisinmo2]

Either mb/cpu combination is fine .
In the latest games the performance is quite similar

Unless you might want to use two graphics cards at some future time save money and pair the AMD with an Asus M5A97 r2.0
[ not the le version ] and you save about $35 .

The psu wattage limits your graphics card choices
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm
GTX 760 or Radeon 7950

Does the 990 FX chipset offer any other advantage than the ability to crossfire or SLI? Is there any added overclocking support with the 990 version of the Asus board?