Need to start a new Rig.. A question or 2.

[Snappshoota]

Well Im getting sick of consoles, and desperately need a new gaming rig..

Putting in some massive overtime this week, so next week I can get a start on it.. I want to get atleast the CPU, mobo, and Ram next week. Gotta wait on video card.. So need on board for a few weeks..

$250ish Budget

So heres my question(s).

Will be purchasing from local Micro Center.

First Kit looks like this;
AMD FX 6300 Black Edition
ASRock 880GM-LE FX 880G
8GB Corsair Vengeance Series DDR3-1600

$213.00 out the door.

Then I put together this kit;
i3 3225
ASRock Z77 Pro3 1155
8GB Corsair Vengeance Series

which puts it at $240.00.

Been researching, and some say the 6300, some say the 3225..

Now I loved my 2500K rig I had previously, so im kinda leaning towards the intel setup..
Buuut, the 6300 can be overclocked, and once done, will probably eat the i3..

Could save the 30 bucks to put toward a 68xx or 78xx gfx card...

Im stuck!, any insight, thoughts??


1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming, first then everything else.. (BF3, COD's, Farcry)

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
250.00

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
US, NE Ohio

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
CPU, Mobo, Ram

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
PSU OCZ Xstream 600W Case, HDD's

6) Will you be overclocking?
If possible a little bit

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
19" 1440x900

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Next week

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
Onboard video, and optical out

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yes, 64bit

 

[Dangman]

If gaming, I say Core i3.

Also, I'd look at a new PSU considering that the OCZ XStream series of PSUs weren't that good in the first place, especially if you had the GameXStream 600W which really only provide 500W of power before damaging PC hardware. Since the quality of those PSUs were low, its power output capacity would be severely degraded, especially if it's been in use for two years. I recommend this as a replacement:
$55 - Antec NEO ECO 520C 520W PSU

Though if you don't plan on getting a new PSU, then don't get the AMD setup at all then since that uses quite a lot of power, especially when OC'd, which may push that OCZ to its limits. Then again, I still wouldn't recommend AMD even if you got a new PSU.

 

[Snappshoota]

Sorry its the ModXstream 600, had no problems powering the Cross fire system in my sig..

 

[Dangman]

While better than the GameXStream, the ModXStream (regular) isn't that good either. With that said, still acceptable for this build.Though still would recommend a new PSU though.

Anyway, I still recommend the Core i3.