Which is better? AMD FX-8350 or Intel i5-4460?

For many mid-range gaming rigs choosing the processor comes down to the AMD FX-8350 and the Intel i5-4460. These two processors have similar prices and similar performance in games. The difference are in the specs:

CPU	FX-8350	i5-4460
Cores	8	4
Base clock	4.0 GHz	3.2 GHz
Overclock/Boost	Unlocked	3.4 GHz
Manufacturing process	32 nm	22 nm

The FX-8350 has way better specs. Twice as many cores, 800 MHz faster base clock and it's unlocked so you can overclock it as much as you want. (considering you have a powerful cooler)

But there are some reasons why the i5-4460 is way better:

First of all while the i5-4460 is just a year old, the FX-8350 was released almost three years ago. Since then CPU technology has evolved a lot resulting in some serious improvements. The i5-4460 is made with a 22 nm manufacturing process (the smaller the better) making it a lot more power efficient and also cooler. Because of this the i5-4460 uses a third of the power that the FX-8350 consumes.

The most important thing to consider when buying a gaming a CPU is the performance. You might say "I don't care how much power does the CPU consume or how much heat it does it release I am interested in the performance." Well to be honest the FX-8350 is better in some cases. One of those is if you want to edit and render video. Rendering video is one of the tasks where unlimited cores can be used, thus making the FX-8350 the better choice.
So what about gaming? PC games rarely use more than four cores. They don't need so many. And also even with fewer cores Intel processors usually perform better in most games since few games are optimized to use 8 cores.

So what is the conclusion? The two processors have similar performance and a similar price. The FX-8350 might be better for video editing, but that doesn't mean the i5-4460 doesn't perform well. For gaming the i5-4460 is better and it might also save a few dollars from your power bill.

The ULTIMATE 800$ 1080p gaming build!

Many people want to get into pc gaming, but some of them don't want to start at the low-end. They want to enjoy their new games at maxed-out settings, but they wouldn't like to spend 10 thousand dollars on it. If you're that person, this is the build for you!

To play triple-A titles in 4K at max settings you need a very good computer and a ton of money. But 1080p is also pretty good and mid-range computers can handle it well. 

To start things off I chose the Intel Core i5-4460 quad-core processor. With it's 3.2 GHz base clock, this is a perfect gaming cpu. Of course there are more powerful ones out there, but for 1080p gaming this is more than enough.

For the motherboard I chose the ASRock Z97 Extreme4. This is not a cheap motherboard, but it's worth it. Especially if you want to upgrade your build with another graphics card later. It also has plenty of usb ports: six USB 3.0, two USB 2.0 and also an onboard USB 3.0 header for your case.

The graphics card was not an easy choice. In order to run games like Grand Theft Auto 5 at 60 fps in 1080p, you need at least a GTX 960 or an R9 280. But to run it at ultra settings, those are not enough. It came down to the XFX R9 290X 4GB Double Dissipation and the EVGA GTX 970 SuperSC 4GB with ACX 2.0. Both are great cards and they cost about the same. The benchmarks show very similar results in Grand Theft Auto 5 since the game is well-optimized for AMD and Nvidia cards as well, but generally Nvidia cards perform better. And they also have G-Sync, which is cool. So I went with the GTX 970.

There are a lot of great memory sticks out there. One of the best are the Corsair Vengeance, the HyperX Fury and the Crucial Ballistix Sport. You can go with any of them they are all great, but I went with the 8 GB (2x4) of DDR3 1600 MHz Corsair Vengeance sticks.

For storage I went with a WD Caviar Blue 1TB hard drive. It's not as fast as an SSD, but it gives you 1 TB of storage for a low price. If you have some extra money I recommend getting an SSD as well.

You can go with any 500W power supply, just make sure that they are safe and reliable. I choose the Corsair CX500. It has an 80+ Bronze certification and it costs just 50 bucks.

We have finally arrived to the last part of this build. The case. Many people recommend the new Corsair 100R. It's a mid-tower case, with great cable management and room for expansion. It also has a big built-in window and two USB 3.0 ports.

So if you want to get a great 1080p gaming rig for just 800$, this is your best choice. Make sure to check out the parts-list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/9YZR99