Building

[MeoTwister5]

Edit - Err can a mod kindly edit the title to "Building a new Desktop this April, need suggestions." Thanks.

I'm planning on buying a new Desktop PC by April 2014. Right now assuming that the Dollar to Peso rate floats around 1:44, I can scrounge around P50,000 or around $1,2000 for a new rig. Yes I sort of want it to be gaming centered. From browsing at the parts available at local stores here where I live that budget will more or less get me a mid level gaming rig at most, which is fine by me since I can upgrade parts along the way.

I need help and suggestions with the usual suspects because I'm an MD and I fix people, not computers.

CPU
Right now my problem is that for some reason I'm finding it hard to look for AMDs locally because it seems every damn store sticks to i7s and i5s. The best AMD processor available locally is the FX8350, which is a bit old, while they have all the newer i7 variants. With what my tiny mind gets from the benchmarks, the FX8350 is almost equivalent to a low end i7 at 70% of the price. My problem is that if I end up making a CPU GPU mismatch I might just bottleneck.

Video Card
Ah yes the most expensive part. Generally speaking my budget for a card is, at most, $250 to 300$, which sucks tbh. If I get the FX8350 I can get a $400 card. Also I do not play at 1920 because my bad eyesight means I can't really appreciate the resolution. I'm fine with gaming at 1440. Right now the Asus cards are my choice.

For the video card my current base is a choice probably the GTX760 OC. If I can spare the extra cash I'll probably get the Asus HD7950 DC 3gb. The most I can afford will probably be the GTX770. Oddly enough the the AMD equivalents for the NVidia cards are more expensive and supposedly run worse.

Now if I salvage my old speakers, keyboard, mouse and AVR, use a cheaper air-cooled case, a 1TB Seagate HD, a 20" Acer LED monitor and use my old external DVD drive I can squeak this out at just above the equivalent of $1200.

tl;dr I just need some suggestions with the CPU and GPU. I can figure out the others on my own.

[Jaden]

I don't think an i7 is worth it, unless you have some specific application in mind with good hyperthreading support.

The i5-4670k is the best processor I'd put in a gaming rig, a 4430 does the job fine. Don't really know about AMD, but generally those have lower per-core performance, which means poorer game performance.

A better GPU always gives a notable performance increase. I wouldn't settle for anything less than a 760 right now. R9 280X is another one with good price-performance from AMD if you want to spend a bit more.

[MeoTwister5]

I need to put a bit more of a premium on the graphics card because I also plan to somewhat use the rig for my work/training (radiologic imaging), which is why I can scrimp a bit on the CPU. AFAIK reading digital plates and CT scans is more GPU intensive than CPU, so I'm not sure at the moment if a better hyperthreading CPU will make work faster for me.

I guess my only problem with the 7950 is that the Asus model is kinda... huge (3 slots lol). I mean yes it's cheaper but if it's going to take up so much space and slots then I won't be able to add stuff later lol.

Also I'm having trouble finding an R9 280x locally. I can't even find a 270x or 290x.

[MeoTwister5]

Anyway I've sort of finalized my hardware list, with the final decision for the video card.

Right now I'm down to either the gtx760 or gtx770 (I've been stung a lot by AMD's driver issues). For some reason the price difference of both cards is almost $200, with the 760 priced at $300 and the 770 just under $500. These are the best prices I can find locally and I can't afford to have one shipped in.

With the price difference of almost $200 I can actually afford to buy a small SSD (around 120-180gb) if I settle for the 760. However I'm willing to forgo the SSD and go for the 770 if the performance difference is enough to justify the $200. Benchmarks at TPU and Tom's says that the difference is more noticeable on high and ultra settings, less on lower settings.

So final decision time. Gtx760 + SSD or just a regular HD + Gtx770?

[Jaden]

No clue about the imaging, but whether it uses the CPU or the GPU or both depends on how the software is designed. GPUs are increasingly being used for this kind of thing, though.

7950 would be more or less the AMD equivalent to the 760. That size does look a little awkward, but it should fit a standard ATX motherboard and still leave you with one or two PCI slots. Some huge aftermarket processor coolers might not fit with it.

And the R9 280x would be like a 770, I only preferred it because of price (but maybe that's just the local vendor I'm looking at)

I'd definitely go for a better GPU over an SSD. Most of your time is still spent playing, not booting or loading, and the SSD would probably run out of space pretty soon anyway. Also they can always be added later, while upgrading a GPU leaves you with a junk GPU.

[MeoTwister5]

Thanks. Looks like I'll be getting the 770. Strippers and cookies are in the mail.

[sa547]

Currently, high-end Intel processors and nVidia GPUs predominate in the local market largely because of the performance and image quality advantages they bring to gameplay and to enthusiasts, but then AMD's APUs are starting to shake things up, as APUs are becoming attractive to budget buyers and Internet shops... and of course, R7s and R9 GPUs with Mantle support.

(I've been stung a lot by AMD's driver issues)

I'm also using the Catalyst 13.12 drivers, which are stable right now (unlike in the past), and worked perfectly with Powercolor HD7750, Black Ops 2, GTAIV and (modded) Skyrim.

If I were asking for further questions about what I should buy or what my ideal build should be within budget, I'd be coming down here:
http://www.tipidpc.com/viewtopic.php?tid=148575

Discussion about AMD's processors and GPUs go here:
http://www.tipidpc.com/viewtopic.php?tid=172787