Which gpu/cpu combo will give me the best fps in games?

CrypticBox

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Sep 17, 2012
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Gonna be building my first pc soon. Having trouble deciding which gpu/cpu combo to go with. Should I get a phenom x4 965 BE and 7950/660ti or an i5 3450 and 7870? I'm looking for recommendations based PURELY on in-game performance and which will give me the best fps when playing games on ultra/near max settings. Unfortunately, I can't really give any guidelines based on which games I'll be playing. I'll be playing anything from Minecraft and League of Legends to Battlefield 3 (multiplayer, of course).

I've heard that when building a gaming pc, skimp on the processor before the video card, so long as there is no bottleneck. Of course, I hardly call the 965 skimping. I feel it will meet my needs just fine. Sure an i5 is probably better, but I think the phenom also provides amazing bang for your bucks, especially considering its low price at 90 dollars on NCIX and that it will let me grab a beefier gpu as well.

Needless to say, right now I am partial to the phenom, but in the end its all gonna come down to which cpu and gpu will give me better fps.
 


1. florida
2. low 900s
3. I don't need a monitor, keyboard, or mouse.
4. If I get a phenom, I will probably be overclocking. If I go intel, I'll probably stick with stock speeds.
5. I will not be going crossfire/sli. Maybe down the road, but I intend to upgrade to Haswell before that, which will require a new mobo anyways. So might as not well waste extra money on a high end motherboard right now.
6. I DO need an operating system.
 


Thank you! Looks pretty good.....How necessary is an ssd though? Does it serve any purpose other than faster boot times?
 
It's a luxury, not a necessity. You get faster boot times and apps open faster. But, you don't get a difference in performance in games. If you really want one, then the Cyber Monday/Newegg sales on the SSDs will be insane.
 


Thanks for the tip. If its just a luxury and won't actually increase gaming performance, I don't feel the need to get one, not yet anyways. Like I said, I'm pretty much just looking for a statement of which of the two combinations I listed is better. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate advice and suggestions for different parts, but I have more or less made up my mind that I want one of these two builds.

Also, I'm not saying I will never get an ssd. If I can find a really fantastic deal on cyber monday, I just may go for it. But for now, I'm looking to put my money into gpu/cpu.
 


Monitor res is 1080p and the operating I'll be getting is Windows 7 64 bit. Keep in mind that the operating system will be a part of the 900 dollars, so I technically have 800 dollars for the parts themselves. I probably should have mentioned that.

And yeah, I know the 965 is a "lower performing" processor, but like I said, it would let me get a better graphics card.

But like I said, I am basically just looking for a simple yes or no on one of the two combinations I listed. Which one will give me better fps when I'm gaming?