As others have said go for the 3570k, or the 4670k if you fancy Haswell instead, both will be more than adequate for gaming. 16GB RAM is overkill for gaming too, 8GB is plenty and you can easily upgrade in the future which would probably be a better way with RAM prices being what they are at the moment. An SSD isn't essential either, I'd go for a Caviar Black 2TB HDD, that will give you more cash to throw at the GPU.
Here are the components I would shoot for. For what you are wanting to do with it, there is no reason to go much over this general list.
CPU: Intel i5-3570K(If you really want to OC) Intel i5-3350P(if you don't want to OC)
CPU Cooler: CoolerMaster 212 Evo(because the factory Intel cooler is garbage)
RAM: 2x4GB kit of Corsair Vengeance, or G.Skill Ripjaws @ 1600MHz and a CAS Latency of 9
SSD: Samsung 840/840 Pro, OCZ Vector, Plextor M5 Pro, Corsair Neutron GTX, OCZ Vertex 4
GPU: AMD Radeon 7850 or above: Nvidia GTX 650Ti Boost or above
PSU: A quality made 500-600 watt from SeaSonic/Antec/Corsair will be more than enough
MOBO: Too many to really choose, anything Z77 really...and I prefer Asus boards
Case: Anything practical with cable management and good airflow. Should be $60-90
All of this is more than you can use now, but will only make the PC last longer as things get more demanding. I would see no real reason to upgrade(providing a component doesn't go bad) for a handful of years. Like someone said, your dad will see a $400-500 "new" computer and wonder what exactly is the difference. Do your homework and explain it to him, or better yet, save some money up and offer to purchase some of the parts yourself.
If those parts totally blow through the budget, we can trim it down some....as you might have noticed, I didn't add in a hard drive, or keyboard/mouse/monitor/card reader, etc.
hahaha.. well i did consider that situation happening to me so i didn't involve my bro, my dad doesn't know much about computers other than how to use one.. on the other hand, my brother is the one who taught me everything i know ..16 gigs of RAM is a waste of $ for 99%, 8 is more than fine with Win7, that will save you some dough for other options, and not all RAM sticks are equal, pay attention to the CAS, lower is better, the normal low is 7, typically sold is more like 9.
OP making plans with dad's $ for his 'sister' and then adds wanting to overclock?
[Someone seems IN over their head on the technology should not be talking like that.]
Meanwhile dad sees $400 Walmart special and says good enough, and OP is
[That would be my dad back in the day with offering me a Sinclair that required soldering with not even a real keyboard.He didn't think I was serious about computers!
]
core i5 3570k ? lets hope they have it at the computer store im going to.. otherwise ill have to decide between corei7 3700k or an amd fx which i know nothing about.. how does amd fx 8350 sound? its cheaper than i5 3570k and my friend says its an overclocking beast.. i just want to be able to play my games on high settings properly.. do some photoshop.. experiment with 3d graphics on my customized ubuntu ..etc..
I can say from experience that an i5 Intel system will be much faster all around at stock, than an AMD overclocked to the max. I however have read that 2-3 high end games perform better in an AMD system with AMD graphics, but I don't game at all, I just like the overall speed and responsiveness.
To keep costs down AMD is the way to go, for better performance it's Intel all the way. As a Dad myself, I may not buy all that though.
haha.. well im pretty persuasive.. he says no, im going to blackmail him.. muhahahahaha.. 4.0 gpa in my first year.. if i bring that up, i can even buy a ferrari!!!I can say from experience that an i5 Intel system will be much faster all around at stock, than an AMD overclocked to the max. I however have read that 2-3 high end games perform better in an AMD system with AMD graphics, but I don't game at all, I just like the overall speed and responsiveness.
To keep costs down AMD is the way to go, for better performance it's Intel all the way. As a Dad myself, I may not buy all that though... but i hope i dont have to use that card.. im saving it for something later..
haha.. well im pretty persuasive.. he says no, im going to blackmail him.. muhahahahaha.. 4.0 gpa in my first year.. if i bring that up, i can even buy a ferrari!!!I can say from experience that an i5 Intel system will be much faster all around at stock, than an AMD overclocked to the max. I however have read that 2-3 high end games perform better in an AMD system with AMD graphics, but I don't game at all, I just like the overall speed and responsiveness.
To keep costs down AMD is the way to go, for better performance it's Intel all the way. As a Dad myself, I may not buy all that though.
You can`t say muhahahaha in your posts as that`s Faladu`s LOL :)
As long as you have a top end AMD or good i5+ then the chipset and video card will make the difference for gaming satisfaction, imho, it's the folks expecting Crysis 3 to play on a $500 laptop that are reallyand got bad advice somewhere or did no research before buying...
muhahaha! [whatever]
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