[Inspector Lagomorf]

Good for a budget.

There's only one combo that's really going to work for building an AMD gaming rig; and that's a good AM3+ motherboard (like the ASUS Sabertooth 990FX, which I have continually raved about), and a really-high end AM3+ CPU. I have the AMD FX-8350 in my computer and it does the job with 8 cores and a base clock speed of 4.0Ghz. Both of these will cost you about a combined $300-$400, which is about how much you'd pay for a good Intel core alone.

Just note that the AM3+ line is pretty much at its end now, so don't expect to be doing anymore upgrading along that vein in the future. The highest you can go is the FX-9590 with a base clock speed of 4.7Ghz for $230, and I've been told by many users that it's a very unstable and very hot CPU.

[DustFalcon85]

The AMD FX-9590 should be on the Hardware you should avoid at all costs, The AMD FX CPU's will come nowhere near as good as the Intel's. See this thread: AMD vs Intel. AMD also drives up your electric bill too.

Hendricks266, on 27 December 2012 - 06:13 AM, said:

As of 2012, AMD is pretty awful. Their latest processor, FX (Bulldozer) performs worse than their previous lineup and does not compete with Intel performance-wise.

I came up with a name for them: the "Alternative Microprocessor Distributor" to Intel.

Comrade Major, on 27 December 2012 - 09:31 AM, said:

Intels are more expensive, but more durable and less likely to crap out. You get what you pay for.

Person of Color, on 01 January 2013 - 12:58 AM, said:

To be honest, AMD's new FX line of CPU's are terrible price/performance wise. They are Pentium 4 bad. 9/11 bad. Dare I say...GEO METRO bad?

The best value in CPU's are the i5's and the four and six core Phenoms. They are up there with the K6-2's, Core 2 Duos, and Athlon XP's of old. I'm helping my buddy upgrade his rig on Wednesday and we're gonna push his i5 to 4.5GHz.

*InB4 Person of Color shits on the AMD FX 9590 and gives the Cleveland Steamboat*

[Person of Color]

The AMD FX 83xx chips are really good, I recommend them. The older Bulldozer shit was awful though.

[DustFalcon85]

Once again. Should I get the i7-4790k on sale for $309.99? If I do I'm gonna use it at stock speeds and a Cooler Master Evo 212.

[Inspector Lagomorf]

It has gotten as low as $290, but that is a pretty good deal for a high-spec Intel core. I'd say go for it.

CPUBenchmark.net says the only CPU that is more cost-effective is the FX-8350, and pound-for-pound the i7 will do better against it when it comes to true performance.

[Person of Color]

DustFalcon85, on 07 May 2015 - 04:45 AM, said:

Once again. Should I get the i7-4790k on sale for $309.99? If I do I'm gonna use it at stock speeds and a Cooler Master Evo 212.

Never buy the i7. Always buy the i5. Put the money you save towards a better video card or SSD.

Let me put it to you this way: Four years ago, Intel released their Sandy Bridge chips. The i5-2500k, even running at stock clocks, is not outdated at all. No game fully takes advantage of it. Video encoding still flies on it. Multitasking is a breeze.

What's the point of an i7? Overclock your i5 if you need that extra boost.

People say that the i7 badge on the case is a nice touch. When I, and other experienced system builders see it, we see a sucker. Only spend money on performance you can clearly see and feel.

[Duke of Hazzard]

Person of Color, on 07 May 2015 - 03:24 PM, said:

Never buy the i7. Always buy the i5. Put the money you save towards a better video card or SSD.

Let me put it to you this way: Four years ago, Intel released their Sandy Bridge chips. The i5-2500k, even running at stock clocks, is not outdated at all. No game fully takes advantage of it. Video encoding still flies on it. Multitasking is a breeze.

What's the point of an i7? Overclock your i5 if you need that extra boost.

People say that the i7 badge on the case is a nice touch. When I, and other experienced system builders see it, we see a sucker. Only spend money on performance you can clearly see and feel.

Yeah I have a Sandy Bridge i7 and I think even a Broadwell isn't a significant upgrade, especially when we're talking i5.

I did quick comparison of Sandy Bridge i7 and Haswell i5 and the differences were negligible. If you can OC (I can't because my vendor was stupid and put a non-k in my build), you should keep the i5 until it dies.

[DustFalcon85]

Permission to bump this?

I had to sell all of few components I purchased for the PC I was building and start new. Planing on getting the following below. I already purchased a Zalman ATX Mid Tower Computer Case ZM-Z9 NEO BLACK.

• i7-6700k CPU w/ Hyper 212 EVO cooler combo.
  
• Samsung 850 EVO 500 GB as the OS drive.
• Travelstar 1TB 7200RPM HDD or an WD 1TB 7200 RPM as the secondary drive.
• Windows 10 Pro
• HyperX Fury 2133 DDR4 RAM by Kingston 2x8 = 16GB
  
• EVGA SuperNOVA 650 GS 80+ gold 650W PSU
• LG WH16NS40 Super Multi Blue Internal SATA 16x Blu-ray Disc Rewriter

I'm stuck between two brands for the Motherboard and Video Cards

MSI
1: https://www.amazon.c...I?ref=emc_b_5_t
2: https://www.amazon.c...rds=NVidia+1070

Or ASUS

1: https://www.amazon.c...SE59F38ESCWX5B5
2: https://www.amazon.c...s=ASUS+gtx+1060

I'm going for ASUS.

EDIT: Since the motherboard supports Windows 7. If I get an SSHD and a Windows 7 Pro and I want to dual boot to either. How should I do it? And how to prevent accidental access to the Windows 10 C: and D: Storage while in Windows 7? It's a theoretically question.