Opinions on Gaming Builds

[tucketdog44]

Ok, I have saved up ~$1200-1300 for my first build. I'm 14, Play League of Legends, Garry's Mod, used to play Minecraft, and looking to start playing more PC games (Hoping for Borderlands as my next gift). My current computer is a 13" MacBook Pro, and although it runs some games decently, DEFINITLY not build for gaming. Talked with my dad and me and him are going to take up a project for building a computer.
I read up on a lot of computer building, watched NewEgg's series, and read many forums. I feel like I am ready to compose a list of parts for my first build. I am looking for a high powered gaming computer, within my budget of around $1250. I dont really have a preference for processor, but from what I hear you get a better bang for your buck from AMD, but that's just what I have heard and have no real experience in this field.

I have two builds compiled, but I am stuck between AMD and Intel.
Here are the two builds:
AMD:
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/tucketdog44/saved/1st2

Intel:
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/tucketdog44/saved/1Kxf

Which one is more powerful for the games I am playing? If there is anything wrong with either of the builds, please, tell me what it is and offer some suggestions.

If you have a completely new build separate from mine that will do even better within my budget, PLEASE GIVE ME A PART LIST!
I am looking to order my parts some time this week with the bit of money I get from my graduation.

 

[clutchc]

If you want the fastest gamer, go with the Intel build. No brainer.

 

[tucketdog44]

But is it a good build? Being the best build I could get for my money?

 

[clutchc]

Yes, it's a good build. I have built several budget gamers with Rosewill PSUs. They are good units for the money. But 550W is not going to be big enough if you decide to add a 2nd card in CF.
The keyboard and mouse are not exactly the best for gaming, but they will suffice until you can afford better.
And Asus has some of the best monitors for the money.

 

[tucketdog44]

Yes, it's a good build. I have built several budget gamers with Rosewill PSUs. They are good units for the money. But 550W is not going to be big enough if you decide to add a 2nd card in CF.
The keyboard and mouse are not exactly the best for gaming, but they will suffice until you can afford better.
And Asus has some of the best monitors for the money.

Ok! Not looking to crossfire, not really interested in it. I know, the keyboard and mouse are bad, but I dont really care about that. I might buy a nice gaming mouse in the future but right now it will do. BTW, in another forum someone said that the CPU is overkill. I switched it over to the i5, but is the loss in performance for things like coding and web design worth the money saved? Thanks for the help.

 

[clutchc]

If this was purely a gaming PC, the i7 would be a bit wasteful. At least with today's games. Tomorrows? But if you are doing other heavily multi-threaded tasks, the extra horsepower of the hyper threaded i7 will pay off.

Btw, I used that KB/Mouse combo on a HTPC I built a while back. It wasn't all that bad. I'm not a "serious" gamer, so I couldn't tell the difference from my better desktop KB and mouse. Well... not really true. The KB was less responsive, but then again, I ain't no touch typist either ;-)

 

[tucketdog44]

Yeah, I am planning on recording gameplay as well which is why I was considering switching to an FX 8350, but it sounds like the Intel i7 would beat it. Feeling more comfortable with intel at this point.

 

[tucketdog44]

*Bump*