New build advice

[OaklandA-FTW]

Hello, room-mate parted out his aging A6/660 rig, building a new one asap. On a budget, weighing all the options, which socket should we go with?
1155 - older but cheaper used cpu's (could grab an i5/7)
1150 - modern (still value leader and plethora of mobos/cpu's available used i believe)
1151 - new and exciting but premium prices, low end - future proofed solution

Not sure if we should go cheap with mobo/cpu (h-board with and i3) and splurge $200+ on gpu with no real upgrade path or if 1150 is still the best route. Skylake Z107 Asrock boards going for ~$100 and an i3-6100 only $140. I'm reading lots about DDR4 not being mature yet and of no real benefit to gaming now (higher latency).

My humble rig: G3258@4.7Ghz, 750ti 2GB, SSD, Maximus IV gene mobo

 

[chilly2468]

Personally I would see if you could go 1150 and pick up something like the i5 4460 and a nice h97 or h87 mobo. Then either stick with the gtx 660 and get an gpu upgrade when pascal(or AMD's coming cards) come out, or just get a new card with the cpu and mobo.

 

[IamTimTech]

Go with the 1150 socket. It's not worth going to 1151 yet. in my humble opinion.

 

[zheyizhu]

I would normally suggest going with Skylake but since you're on a budget, Haswell would be optimal for your friend's situation.

Give me a budget and I would try to compose a build around it.

 

[OaklandA-FTW]

I would, but its going to be a craigslist/ebay affair as far as components go. Too many "decent" deals pop up daily and simply lead to more questions about compatiblity, budget etc. Just want to nail something down so we can narrow our focus. We may miss out on a cheap i5 Ivy Bridge chip here or there but you have to start somewhere. Think 1150 is the economical choice at the moment, as we have a power supply, 120GB SSD, TB HDD, case, and plenty of 4GB DDR3 sticks laying around. As I also have an 1150 we can shuffle parts around as needed. I appreciate all of your feedback, such an awesome community!

 

[OaklandA-FTW]

Also wanted your opinion on AMD chips... I just don't see the value, even if they run a bit cheaper. APU's - paying for weak cores with unneeded/unused GPU integration, FX - overpriced and outdated, Athlon/Phenom X4's - tired.

 

[chilly2468]

Also wanted your opinion on AMD chips... I just don't see the value, even if they run a bit cheaper. APU's - paying for weak cores with unneeded/unused GPU integration, FX - overpriced and outdated, Athlon/Phenom X4's - tired.

I used to recommend AMD for people on tight budgets but now I can't even do that. AMD used to have a better value for the performance you got but now Intel is starting to beat them at even that. The I5 4460 now has a slightly better price/performance ratio then the FX-8350.

 

[zheyizhu]

AMD chips are great for budget builds.

I would purchase an Athlon X4 860K over a Pentium G3258 just because it has more cores, although they might be weaker. Most applications now days require a minimum of 4 cores, and AMD delivers that in its budget-minded chips.

As for the APUs, those are for gamers on a budget who can't afford a decent CPU and dedicated GPU combo but still want to game. An A10 should be able to play most triple A titles on low settings at a price that most people can afford.

The FX-series chips are for enthusiasts who don't have the money for enthusiast grade chips, like unlocked core i5 or i7 processors, but still want to overclock and have lots of cores.

There is something for everyone, but if you don't have a budget and don't mind spending a bit more, I would definitely go for the Intel processors.