Delnar_Ersike
Prince
You also don't necessarily need an aftermarket CPU cooler, especially if you aren't going to do overclocking. What you do need though is thermal paste: that stuff can make a huge, huge difference when applied properly, and a vial that is good for 5-6 uses will cost you 10 bucks tops.
AMD Piledriver architecture isn't that useful for gaming, especially since Civ5's DLL code isn't optimized well for multiple cores (the engine might be, I do not know). Something like an AMD Phenom II x6 Black T1100 will perform just as well, possibly even better in some cases, for half the price. Plus there's the usual AMD vs. Intel price-to-performance thing: the rule of thumb is that AMD is better in price-to-performance under $120 - $150 depending on who you ask, but anything above that is Intel's reign by a country mile, so if you're sticking with a $200 CPU, I'd go for an Intel i5 or i7 one.
As a final note, remember, when it comes to desktops, you should be aiming for price/performance, not pure price or pure performance (unless you really don't care about the other). It's better to buy a $200 card that won't need upgrading for 6 years than a $150 card that will need upgrading in 3 years.
Laptops are slightly different matter, though the reasoning behind them is the same as the reasoning behind why going for pure performance is not a good idea: the more expensive the laptop, the sooner it will become outdated for the task you bought it for. A $2000 gaming laptop that can run today's games at the highest settings won't be able to run games at highest settings in a 1-2 years, while a $700 laptop bought for everyday use and some light gaming will probably still be good for everyday use and light gaming 5 years later.
AMD Piledriver architecture isn't that useful for gaming, especially since Civ5's DLL code isn't optimized well for multiple cores (the engine might be, I do not know). Something like an AMD Phenom II x6 Black T1100 will perform just as well, possibly even better in some cases, for half the price. Plus there's the usual AMD vs. Intel price-to-performance thing: the rule of thumb is that AMD is better in price-to-performance under $120 - $150 depending on who you ask, but anything above that is Intel's reign by a country mile, so if you're sticking with a $200 CPU, I'd go for an Intel i5 or i7 one.
As a final note, remember, when it comes to desktops, you should be aiming for price/performance, not pure price or pure performance (unless you really don't care about the other). It's better to buy a $200 card that won't need upgrading for 6 years than a $150 card that will need upgrading in 3 years.
Laptops are slightly different matter, though the reasoning behind them is the same as the reasoning behind why going for pure performance is not a good idea: the more expensive the laptop, the sooner it will become outdated for the task you bought it for. A $2000 gaming laptop that can run today's games at the highest settings won't be able to run games at highest settings in a 1-2 years, while a $700 laptop bought for everyday use and some light gaming will probably still be good for everyday use and light gaming 5 years later.
