Steam/PC Mega Thread

[JasonM]

These things I can note regarding AMD and Intel processors.

AMD:
- Gets hotter, significantly hotter! Gotta have good airflow, and perhaps even a non-stock fan to get low heat loads. (Doesn't matter much for the average user, but can have effect on lifespan.)
- Needs more juice to run.
- Less motherboard options since the AMD sockets aren't really that supported in terms of hardware choice.
+ Cheaper than whatever Intel is offering for somewhat comparable performance.
+ Overclockability, they can get pushed really hard and beyond what the i5's are capable of. (See alternative cooler remark, though.)

Intel:
+ More motherboards to pick from, better supported sockets.
+ More sensible on power load, and heat, and whatnot.
+ Generally regarded as (significantly) quicker out-of-the-box than AMD's cheaper competitor.
- Stock fans tend to be really poor to average, are made for 'silence' rather than efficiency, and they still sound like a hairdryer on drugs when it has to push.
- Price, i5's are costly as hell, and Intel's market dominance will make that a fact for years to come.
- On some models, you can't overclock, or not overclock as well as you can with AMD's.
 

Tl:Dr: For the ordinary user it's basically picking the higher numbers. Get whatever the quickest is, and you'll be fine. As a whole, though, processors nowadays are really really futureproof any way you slice it. I got a 3770K I7 that is over five years old and it still is more than i'd ever need in terms of processing power. The biggest problem (as I found out two years ago when my motherboard perished) is that you can't find any motherboards for these sockets anymore, so next time my motherboard croaks i'm forced to either go second hand, find a surplus dealer, or buy a new processor.

Pick whatever falls into your price bracket. But i'd say that regardless of AMD or Intel i'd shell out around 30 bucks for a decent non-stock cooler to replace the stock one that comes with them. For the reasons mentioned above.

Edited May 20, 2017 by Jasonmufc

[apsham]

My theory on getting a computer to game with is easy when I look at what I'd want to play with a PC and it mostly boils down to strategy games that only really work with a mouse and keyboard, retro games and those with a retro feel and quirky/fun games that only see a PC release because they aren't really all that worth creating for other platforms - so I can afford to go mid-range and be fine in that respect.

[MDK]

But can it play Crysis? 

[Schlitzbrille]

6 hours ago, Owen said:

I'm struggling to decide what processor to go for. Intel i5-6500 or AMD FX-8350. AMD is a fair bit cheaper but apparently the Intel processor's sorta more futureproof or something maybe? something about AMD not allowing for Dance Dance Revolution 4 (something about DDR i dunno) whereas Intel does?

Depends on what you have now.
My take? Skip over the two of them if possible and choose between an i5 7500 or a Ryzen 5 1400/1500X. Not much difference in prices.
If you're dead-set on your current options, ask yourself if you're gonna do anything that can take advantage of the eight cores a FX-8350 provides. If so, choose that. If not, 6500.

If for whatever reason overclocking is a possibility, the i5 6500/7500 won't be able to, so choose either a 6600K or 7600K.

[Owen]

1 minute ago, Sabertooth Dentist said:

Depends on what you have now.
My take? Skip over the two of them if possible and choose between an i5 7500 or a Ryzen 5 1400/1500X. Not much difference in prices.
If you're dead-set on your current options, ask yourself if you're gonna do anything that can take advantage of the eight cores a FX-8350 provides. If so, choose that. If not, 6500.

The FX-8350 is a fair bit cheaper than the 6500, though. Even if I'm not going to take advantage of the eight cores, surely it'd make sense to go for that, or na?

[Schlitzbrille]

Just now, Owen said:

The FX-8350 is a fair bit cheaper than the 6500, though. Even if I'm not going to take advantage of the eight cores, surely it'd make sense to go for that, or na?

Purely from a price standpoint, yeah. (And personally, I have kind of a soft spot for AMD's stuff.)

[Owen]

Just now, Sabertooth Dentist said:

Purely from a price standpoint, yeah. (And personally, I have kind of a soft spot for AMD's stuff.)

Yeah, it's actually a lot cheaper. FX-8350 is £109, whereas i5-6500 is £175, and the 7500 is £180.

[Schlitzbrille]

1 minute ago, Owen said:

Yeah, it's actually a lot cheaper. FX-8350 is £109, whereas i5-6500 is £175, and the 7500 is £180.

I know that feeling of building on somewhat of a budget, considering that I'm in the process of acquiring parts for a computer for a friend.

TL;DR: i5 7500/RX 580/16 GB RAM/250 GB SSD/3TB HDD, total budget including monitor and such is $1500.

[Owen]

2 minutes ago, Sabertooth Dentist said:

I know that feeling of building on somewhat of a budget, considering that I'm in the process of acquiring parts for a computer for a friend.

TL;DR: i5 7500/RX 580/16 GB RAM/250 GB SSD/3TB HDD, total budget including monitor and such is $1500.

I was going to say that was a huge budget but I realise it's in dollars so, not really... and then building a PC might be a completely different game there anyway, I really had no idea why building a PC was so pricey before this. A lot of stuff goes into it!

[Schlitzbrille]

Just now, Owen said:

I was going to say that was a huge budget but I realise it's in dollars so, not really... and then building a PC might be a completely different game there anyway, I really had no idea why building a PC was so pricey before this. A lot of stuff goes into it!

Don't even get me started on the build I'd be doing if I had the room for one.

[Owen]

I realise I can get an AMD FX-8370 for cheaper than the Intel i5-6500, so I don't see why not, tbh.

 

EDIT: in fact, FX-9590 is cheaper than the FX-8370.

THERE ARE TOO MANY OPTIONS.

[MDK]

2 hours ago, Owen said:

I realise I can get an AMD FX-8370 for cheaper than the Intel i5-6500, so I don't see why not, tbh.

 

EDIT: in fact, FX-9590 is cheaper than the FX-8370.

THERE ARE TOO MANY OPTIONS.

[Meacon Keaton]

I've not seen that show, but I'm assuming the large man eats the smaller man and keeps all the money for himself?

[MDK]

2 minutes ago, Meacon said:

I've not seen that show, but I'm assuming the large man eats the smaller man and keeps all the money for himself?

I think that is in the fan-fic

[Owen]

Huell needs a spin-off.

[MDK]

Just now, Owen said:

Huell needs a spin-off.

Is that a euphemism? 

[Owen]

Just now, MDK said:

Is that a euphemism? 

Yes.

[Schlitzbrille]

2 hours ago, Owen said:

EDIT: in fact, FX-9590 is cheaper than the FX-8370.

THERE ARE TOO MANY OPTIONS.

If you do go that route, make sure your cooling solution is appropriately beefy. Apparently the 9590 is quite a hot running chip.

[Owen]

Hmm. Fair enough! I'll have to look into it.

[Owen]

Yeah, maybe the 9590 is cheaper because it requires more work in terms of a cooler. I dunno. Maybe not, then. There's too many decisions! Too many parts!

EDIT: FX-8370 with Wraith cooler is £150, whereas buying the FX-8370 alone costs £155. Hmm? Guess I'll go with that!

This is the build I'm looking at right now

AMD FX 8370 w/ Wraith Cooler - £150

MSI NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB - £140

Toshiba 2TB internal hard drive - £56.50

Corsair CP-9020098-UK VS Series ATX/EPS 80 PLUS Power Supply Unit, 650 W - £47.50

MSI 970 Gaming AMD Motherboard - £83

HyperX 8GB RAM - £56

 

also still need to look for a case, I suppose.

 

EDIT2: This seems too cheap! This only comes to about £530. Am i missing stuff???