Recommendation for best gaming CPU under $3k?

[pandacel]

Please help! Thanks!

 

[Yureak]

Please do your own research first. Come up with a rough idea of parts. There are many threads here read up

 

[royfrosty]

3k with WQHD 2k gaming in mind and full gaming peripherals.

MSI Z97S SLI PLUS + i5-4690k ~ $481
Avexir Core Series 1866mhz 2x4gb kit with Blue LED ~ $129 (PC themes)
WD Purple 2tb AV ~ $124
Crucial MX100 256gb ~ $155
ASUS r9 290 4gb DCUII x2 Xfire ~ $1038 (Need to do hunting as r9 290 for whatever brand is hard to find now in SLS)
Seasonic X850 850w 80+ Gold Fully Modular PSU ~ $219
Corsair Obsidian 450D ~ $169
Samsung DVD Drive ~ $21
Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit OEM ~ $115
Swans M10 2.1 Speakers ~ $109 (PC themes)
Qnix Evolution QX2710 27inch A- PLS Panel ~ $279 (Qoo10 on promo now)
CM QuickFire TK Cherry Brown Switches with Fully Backlit LED keys ~ $139
Steelseries Kinzu V2 Gaming Mouse ~ $49

Total ~ $3027. Buy at tradepac unless stated, DIY

But always do a research first and what you really want.

A 1080p gaming mainstream is only gonna cost you $1.5k. So think carefully and plan ahead. DO NOT JUMP Gun and buy straight.

 

[pandacel]

Hi, may I know why i5 is recommended instead of i7?
My budget of 3k is for CPU only, without keyboard, mouse and speakers. 3k may be a tad excessive but I don't mind investing on something that I will be using most of my time and that should last me for 3 to 5 years.

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply

 

[deepblue_82]

is for gaming wise.. i dont think u will need a i7...
u will play better with a i5...

 

[raidorz]

Indeed, pump more money into graphics better.

 

[wkweewee]

Hi, may I know why i5 is recommended instead of i7?
My budget of 3k is for CPU only, without keyboard, mouse and speakers. 3k may be a tad excessive but I don't mind investing on something that I will be using most of my time and that should last me for 3 to 5 years.

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply

Hi there hope I can help. i5 vs i7 (locked/unlocked) quad core -the main difference will the the stock/turbo boost frequency and the amount of cache ability. Unless you are a king of multitasking, a pure enthusiast, doing video rendering or scientific work, you can gladly just settle for an i5 for the price performance. Speed boost in game is minor, with smoother transition/fluidity being the small benefit. (One of the more significant component for gaming is gpu.)

But then again when you first posted, we had no idea what you want to use your rig for nor did we know the fact that no accessory is required. Since your 3k is quite a fair sum of money, you can spend on a z mobo and a i7 k processor if you wish to. Will not recommend sli or xfire (due to the heat generated and price to performance ratio) if you are just working on a single monitor. Just get a solid graphics card and you can up the ssd size to 512gb as well since the price has dropped significantly over the months. And yup, your cpu can be cooled with a high end aio closed loop cooler as everything is still under 3k.

*You can use Mr Roy's initial recommendation as a skeletal guide and then make some amendments by removing certain extra stuff you don't need while making modifications to the list. You will need to do your own homework with the pricelists above to calculate the sums. Do note that the pricelists are just a general guide and you can definitely haggle down the final price since you are going for a full solid build. Cheers.

 

[deepblue_82]

well said...
but maybe he can go for water cool..
add in a FC..
just my option.

 

[Ark Law]

I'd personally go for something like this lol

CPU + Mobo: i5 4690 + MSI H97 PC Mate - $389
RAM: Avexir Core Blue LED DDR3-1866 8GB kit - $125
GPU: MSI 290X Lightning - $899
SSD: Plextor M6Pro - $220
HDD: WD Red 2TB - $125
ODD: Any brand - $24
PSU: Seasonic X650 Gold - $165

Casing: Corsair 450D - $169
Monitor: Dell U2713H - $770
OS: Win7 HP x64 OEM - $113

Total: $2999

 

[wkweewee]

I'd personally go for something like this lol

CPU + Mobo: i5 4690 + MSI H97 PC Mate - $389
RAM: Avexir Core Blue LED DDR3-1866 8GB kit - $125
GPU: MSI 290X Lightning - $899
SSD: Plextor M6Pro - $220
HDD: WD Red 2TB - $125
ODD: Any brand - $24
PSU: Seasonic X650 Gold - $165

Casing: Corsair 450D - $169
Monitor: Dell U2713H - $770
OS: Win7 HP x64 OEM - $113

Total: $2999

Haha I like your number. Maybe aft disc can go $2 huat huat huat lmao. If the monitor is also not required, the mobo and cpu can fly alrdy.

 

[royfrosty]

Hi, may I know why i5 is recommended instead of i7?
My budget of 3k is for CPU only, without keyboard, mouse and speakers. 3k may be a tad excessive but I don't mind investing on something that I will be using most of my time and that should last me for 3 to 5 years.

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply

On top of what wkweewee had mentioned.

It does not mean that you pay more = last longer or "future proofing". You cant keep up to it. Buying what you need is the utmost important factor. Not what you do not need. Things go phase out easily, like Nvidia 8 series or AMD 300 series may be out anytime soon. And given the fact that they have new gens almost every 1 year time frame.

Look at the chipset now. H81 B85 H87 Z87 will be phasing out soon and be replaced by H97 and Z97 in the near future. And how long has this old chipset been out only? IIRC it should be last year July till this year early May.

For CPU wise, i5 and i7 is the same thing, it is still a quad core processor, it has different base clock speed, slightly more cache and comes with Hyperthreading for the i7.

However games these days does not even benefit much from hyperthreading. Only a few games that will benefit from hyperthreading and still quite negligible performance.

We are talking about single to may be max top 20fps additional for games that does need hyperthread. But paying up to almost $100 - $200 more for a z97 and i7 just not justify that small gain performance.

Instead of catering budget more on CPU and Mobo, spend more on GPU which will give you more performance gain when gaming.

 

[Ark Law]

Haha I like your number. Maybe aft disc can go $2 huat huat huat lmao. If the monitor is also not required, the mobo and cpu can fly alrdy.

Hahaha. More huat huat huat pricetag

CPU + Mobo: i5 4690 + H97 PC Mate - $389
RAM: ADATA 8GB 1600MHz - $95
GPU: MSI GTX760 TF - $388
SSD: Crucial MX100 256GB - $155
HDD: WD 2TB Red - $125
ODD: Any - $24
PSU: Seasonic G450 Gold - $99

Casing: Corsair 200R Window Ed - $88
Monitor: Dell S2340L - $212
OS: Win7 HP x64 OEM - $113

Total: $1688

 

[royfrosty]

If overclocking is needed

MSI Z97S SLI Plus + i5-4690k ~ $481
Avexir Core Series 1600mhz 2x4gb kit Blue LED ~ $129
WD Blue 1tb ~ $67
Crucial mx100 256gb ~ $155
MSI R9 290X 4gb Tri Frozr Lightning Edition ~ $899 (NDP Promo)
Seasonic X650 650w 80+ Gold Fully Modular PSU ~ $169
Corsair Obsidian 450D ~ $169
LG DVD Drive with Cyber OEM Stuffs ~ $21
Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit OEM ~ $115
Corsair H100i Hydro ~ $150

Total ~ $2355. Buy at tradepac, DIY.

 

[devilwahaha]

3k with WQHD 2k gaming in mind and full gaming peripherals.

MSI Z97S SLI PLUS + i5-4690k ~ $481
Avexir Core Series 1866mhz 2x4gb kit with Blue LED ~ $129 (PC themes)
WD Purple 2tb AV ~ $124
Crucial MX100 256gb ~ $155
ASUS r9 290 4gb DCUII x2 Xfire ~ $1038 (Need to do hunting as r9 290 for whatever brand is hard to find now in SLS)
Seasonic X850 850w 80+ Gold Fully Modular PSU ~ $219
Corsair Obsidian 450D ~ $169
Samsung DVD Drive ~ $21
Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit OEM ~ $115
Swans M10 2.1 Speakers ~ $109 (PC themes)
Qnix Evolution QX2710 27inch A- PLS Panel ~ $279 (Qoo10 on promo now)
CM QuickFire TK Cherry Brown Switches with Fully Backlit LED keys ~ $139
Steelseries Kinzu V2 Gaming Mouse ~ $49

Total ~ $3027. Buy at tradepac unless stated, DIY

But always do a research first and what you really want.

A 1080p gaming mainstream is only gonna cost you $1.5k. So think carefully and plan ahead. DO NOT JUMP Gun and buy straight.

3k get dell liao lah still Qnix

 

[Ark Law]

3k get dell liao lah still Qnix

Monitor: Dell U2713H - $770

Total: $2999

Jin sexpensive

 

[royfrosty]

$725 can get already.

I know mah, cause initially squeezing everything for peripherals that's why i reco qnix. If not can go dell liao. Though quite old model.

 

[devilwahaha]

$725 can get already.

I know mah, cause initially squeezing everything for peripherals that's why i reco qnix. If not can go dell liao. Though quite old model.

Dell ultrasharps are timeless leh

Thinking of hooting one more u2312 but cannot find anymore

 

[Yureak]

Jin sexpensive

That price should hoot the new samsung ud450 4k monitor

 

[royfrosty]

Dell ultrasharps are timeless leh

Thinking of hooting one more u2312 but cannot find anymore

Garage from time to time should have leh.

 

[devilwahaha]

Garage from time to time should have leh.

Saw a few, from time of posting few hours later SOLD