What processor should I get?

[the_lost_carrot]

I am researching for my first build, I have read alot on how many cores, and performance specs.
I will be doing some gaming, and pen-testing.I will be doing lots of multi-tasking, Virtual Machines. Games I will be playing include elder scrolls, RPGs, maybe some FPS, but I'm more of a casual gamer, so gaming specs are not really my main focus.
I have been looking at the AMD FX-8320, and FX-6300 mostly. Their price to performance numbers are too good to ignore. I am trying to keep my CPU price under $200. I have looked a little into the Haswell i5, but I havent really seen any numbers or write-ups that have really pulled me away from the FX series.

What I'm really trying to get answered is whether the AMD will give me really any problems running my VMs and security software. As well as game pretty well. Please no fan boy posts, and if you have any links to reviews and numbers I would greatly appreciate it!

Thanks!

 

[Guest]

Both will do fine for gaming, the 8320 is more on the 'rendering video editing multitasking' end and you can easily overclock it to the speeds of a 8350.
I was on the same page on deciding between the two, but opted to go for the 8320 because for a few more bucks I could get two more cores .
I currently have it minor overclocked to 4.0GHz and it runs just fine.
I do a bunch of editing and run multiple programs and it's amazingly fast and I've had no problems with it.
Go for the 8320 if you're able to spend a few more dead presidents!

 

[lazyboy947]

U can get an fx 8320 for $140 after a promo code at newegg, basically the price of a 6300 if u consider the slight cost difference and performance gain. Personally id go the 8320 as the pricing is low at the moment, and will help with VMs and multi tasking and will easily handle gaming needs. Also the fx should have virtualization enabled where as a k edition i5/i7 wont, and will force you to go a possibly lowered clocked i5 to get virtualization. As a casual gamer, you shouldnt notice the difference in gaming between an fx cpu and an i5 to make a difference, and the fx strong point its multi core performance and the 8320 with more cores should help with VMs.

What may help u more than the fx would be going over ur $200 limit and getting a xeon E3 1230 v2/v3 which goes for about $240 and is basically a i7 with HT enabled and no built in graphics.

 

[Master-flaw]

I've have had arma 3 running in the background while playing crysis 3 with numerous tabs open in chrome...0 hit on performance in crysis 3 max(smaa) with 2 cards(7950+7870XT) @ 1080p injected super-sampling(x2)...
I own an 8350@4.5 but an 8320 with the same over-clock is no different...
to say the least...the things A beast at multitasking and I'm sure you could run your VM's and security software while gaming with out a problem.