Considering building a new gaming computer for my son - AMD or Intel?

[DeeBye]

If my son gets good grades, I might be buying him parts to build a new gaming computer. He mostly plays CS:GO, Overwatch, Rocket League, and various forms of Battlefield and Call of Duty. His monitor is a 24" 1920x1080.

I'm looking at build guides and I really can't decide if I want to go with an Intel i3-7100, or up the budget a bit and get a AMD R5-1500x. With the Intel CPU I would probably have to buy a separate cooler, but I hear that AMD's stock coolers are pretty decent and quiet. The R5 1500x comes with a Wraith Spire cooler. I don't plan on overclocking, but I want performance and quietness.

The other parts will be re-used from his current computer (HDD, SSD, PSU, video card, possibly his case).

[LavCat]

If my son gets good grades, I might be buying him parts to build a new gaming computer. He mostly plays CS:GO, Overwatch, Rocket League, and various forms of Battlefield and Call of Duty. His monitor is a 24" 1920x1080.

I'm looking at build guides and I really can't decide if I want to go with an Intel i3-7100, or up the budget a bit and get a AMD R5-1500x. With the Intel CPU I would probably have to buy a separate cooler, but I hear that AMD's stock coolers are pretty decent and quiet. The R5 1500x comes with a Wraith Spire cooler. I don't plan on overclocking, but I want performance and quietness.

The other parts will be re-used from his current computer (HDD, SSD, PSU, video card, possibly his case).

My little boy is building a new computer. He chose Intel and a GeForce 1080 Ti. I understand the first parts came in a couple days ago. He went with the fastest possible single thread performance, which would not necessarily be my choice.

Though I'm not getting rid of my Haswell-E 4.6 GHz any time soon.

[Archon_Wing]

In general, intel for budget gaming, and for hardcore gamers that want to overclock that last frame. Ryzen for everything else. Although I do feel Ryzen is the way to go for higher end systems.

It really depends on what your old parts are. If your graphics card is too old, then the CPU would be sort of wasted as it would not perform well in games. Most games are decided by the GPU. GPUs have advanced far more than CPUs, so it may be possible the old CPU is still usable, or you're better off spending less money on a CPU and getting a better graphics card. This is also considering that buying a new CPU entails buying new ram and motherboard too.

Anyhow...

I3s are completely redundant. The Pentium G4560 costs half as much and the only difference between the two is 3.5 vs 3.9 ghz. Nothing else. Pentiums used to only have 2 threads, but now they have hyperthreading like the i3s.

If you want to spend more and don't play on overclocking, look up the i5-7400/7500. Intel still has the edge on per core performance which games care about more at the moment as opposed to having more cores, that Ryzen generally has.

Compared against the 1500x's 4 cores doesn't really impress me (even if it has 8 threads vs the i5's 4). However, the 1600 which costs like $30 more and has 6 real cores looks to be the best choice.

[DeeBye]

In general, intel for budget gaming, and for hardcore gamers that want to overclock that last frame. Ryzen for everything else. Although I do feel Ryzen is the way to go for higher end systems.

I'm not gonna overclock this system, even though I could. I want something that performs well, and is quiet. The R5-1500X includes a cooler that is supposed to be very quiet and efficient, and if I went Intel I'd have to buy a separate cooler. Looking at build guides, the general consensus seems to be a Cooler Master 212 EVO cooler. The price is nice, but I think I might lean towards a liquid cooler like a Corsair H60. I have one in my current gaming system and I like it.

I'll be re-using the HDD, SSD, video card (currently GTX 950 but will be upgraded very soon), case, and PSU. I really only need a CPU, mobo, and RAM.

My choices are:
R5-1500X build
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1500X 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($242.25 @ shopRBC)
Motherboard: *ASRock - AB350M-HDV Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($84.50 @ Vuugo)
Memory: *Team - Elite Plus 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($69.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Total: $396.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-06-18 00:07 EDT-0400

or:
i5-7400 build
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-7400 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($238.75 @ Vuugo)
CPU Cooler: Corsair - H60 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($64.98 @ Amazon Canada)
Motherboard: *ASRock - B250M-HDV Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($74.50 @ Vuugo)
Memory: *Team - Elite Plus 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($69.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Total: $448.22
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-06-18 00:09 EDT-0400

[Archon_Wing]

Ryzen then. Though I really think the 1600 is worth it for 40 more. Yes it has the same cooler as the 1500x.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor ($279.95 @ shopRBC)
Motherboard: *ASRock - AB350M-HDV Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($84.50 @ Vuugo)
Memory: *Patriot - Signature Line 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($74.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Total: $439.44
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-06-18 13:04 EDT-0400

You might also want to spend a few extra bucks to get faster ram though it is a bit overpriced atm.

[Lissa]

In general, intel for budget gaming, and for hardcore gamers that want to overclock that last frame. Ryzen for everything else. Although I do feel Ryzen is the way to go for higher end systems.

I'm not gonna overclock this system, even though I could. I want something that performs well, and is quiet. The R5-1500X includes a cooler that is supposed to be very quiet and efficient, and if I went Intel I'd have to buy a separate cooler. Looking at build guides, the general consensus seems to be a Cooler Master 212 EVO cooler. The price is nice, but I think I might lean towards a liquid cooler like a Corsair H60. I have one in my current gaming system and I like it.

I'll be re-using the HDD, SSD, video card (currently GTX 950 but will be upgraded very soon), case, and PSU. I really only need a CPU, mobo, and RAM.

My choices are:
R5-1500X build
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1500X 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($242.25 @ shopRBC)
Motherboard: *ASRock - AB350M-HDV Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($84.50 @ Vuugo)
Memory: *Team - Elite Plus 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($69.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Total: $396.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-06-18 00:07 EDT-0400

or:
i5-7400 build
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-7400 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($238.75 @ Vuugo)
CPU Cooler: Corsair - H60 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($64.98 @ Amazon Canada)
Motherboard: *ASRock - B250M-HDV Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($74.50 @ Vuugo)
Memory: *Team - Elite Plus 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($69.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Total: $448.22
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-06-18 00:09 EDT-0400

If you don't plan to overclock, why go with the 1500X? You can pick up the 1400 for $30 less for a small loss in FSB speed (300 MHz). Typically, it's not the CPU that is the bottleneck with games, but the GPU.

Also, don't skimp on the speed of the RAM. Ryzen has shown that faster RAM is actually beneficial unlike with Intel based systems. You could pick up 2800 MHz RAM for about $10 more.

[DeeBye]

If you don't plan to overclock, why go with the 1500X?

For the cooler. It seems to be very quiet compared to the one on the 1400. The system this will be replacing is an AMD A10-5700 CPU with a stock cooler. It's obnoxiously loud and I want something a lot quieter.

Anyhow, thanks for the recommendations and I've come up with 3 builds that I might choose from.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1400 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($213.25 @ shopRBC)
Motherboard: *ASRock - AB350M-HDV Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($84.50 @ Vuugo)
Memory: *G.Skill - Ripjaws 4 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2800 Memory ($79.99 @ Memory Express)
Total: $377.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-06-18 23:43 EDT-0400

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor ($279.95 @ shopRBC)
Motherboard: *ASRock - AB350M-HDV Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($84.50 @ Vuugo)
Memory: *G.Skill - Ripjaws 4 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2800 Memory ($79.99 @ Memory Express)
Total: $444.44
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-06-18 23:43 EDT-0400

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-7400 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($238.75 @ Vuugo)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG - M9i 48.4 CFM CPU Cooler ($26.75 @ Newegg Canada Marketplace)
Motherboard: *ASRock - B250M-HDV Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($74.50 @ Vuugo)
Memory: *Patriot - Signature Line 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($74.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Total: $414.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-06-18 23:43 EDT-0400