GTX 660 Ti Questions

Depends on the game. But as mentioned above you'll notice very small to no differences.

PCI-E 2.0 vs 3.0 makes the biggest differences when you have larger Sli and Crossfire set ups.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121656

THat one. And yes its fully compatible with almost no difference between 2.0 and 3.0 yet.

Skyrim there is about a 9% difference between 2.0 and 3.0. So your looking at about a 6 fps difference.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/07/18/pci_express_20_vs_30_gpu_gaming_performance_review/13#.UZ5HHpz09I0

Again.. All games will be different but with a single GPU they will relatively be like this... Small fps gain, or close to the same. Only when you have 2-3-4 gpus at the same time. Will you start to see the huge leaps in fps with 3.0 vs 2.0.

Well the 6 fps really have nothing to do with the Proc/Mobo combination. Amd is a good budget chip, but overall Intels 3570k is hands down the best gaming chip available. (haswell coming soon)

That changes everything really.. Some games are CPU intensive like WoW, I believe Skyrim is too but I could be wrong as I haven't looked for the info. But if you can afford it you might want to consider switching to Intel if you haven't bought everything already.

NOT SAYING amd can't do the job. They still have some quality products and I recommend them for budget builds. But all fanboyism aside.. Intel beats Amd when it comes to gaming hands down.

*edit* What I showed you above was strictly just a comparison of the 2.0 PCI-E Speeds versus the newer 3.0 speeds.

Everyone thinks every time the price in CPUS will drop when the next gen comes out. Unfortunately... It never happens lol Ive seen generation after generation come out and the prices stay basically the same.

If your wanting to build right now. I'd say the 3570k and overclock it. You'll destroy your friends machine as far as CPU power goes.. Since he has sli 550's that's going to give him an edge when it comes to GPU power. But for a 1k budget you can get an awesome machine.

If your willing to wait a little bit then I'd go with haswell. It will be a new socket, new mobos and give about 5-10% more power. (not much.. but it's a new technology).

In gaming there's a few things to remember. Virtual cors or htt (hyper threading) Do nothing to help you. The games aren't designed (I believe there is only 1 title) to take advantage of them and it doesn't look like the trend will change. So things like the i7 with 4 cors 4 virtual doesn't help. Same is said for AMDS 8 cor proc. So stick to the i5. Best bang for your buck.

Check out this link. Here in Skyrim they get avg fps of 74 with the 660 ti at 1080 res. Has the benchmarks for other cards too. They used an i7 in their testing but the i5 3570k is going to give similar performance.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-660-ti-benchmark-review,3279-9.html

Here the 3570k (3.4ghz) gets 87 fps on Ultra versus the amd fx 8350 (4.0 ghz) gets 67 So you can see even the clock speed (ghz) Doesn't really match up. Intel is just faster.. On things like rendering or applications that take full advantage of hyper threading AMD can come out on top.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/356772-28-intel-3570k-8350

You'll need to scroll down a bit to find the benchmarks for the i5 vs amd. About mid page.

"Thank you very much!! You are basically selling me the intel 3570k chip haha. Just one last question, I hope I am not being a nuisance. Will the i5 still be the better choice if I don't over clock it? I am not experienced and I have no desire to overclock the processor or GPU. I am sure this has benifits to it but I just wouldn't feel comfortable overclocking, especially with my little to no experience with gaming pc's. "


Your not being a nuisance at all. I like to help where I can.
If no Overclocking then yes.. At stock speeds the i5 will still beat the amd chip in gaming. But.. Thats assuming the amd is at stock speed too. (it too can be overclocked)

What you'll see is the 3570 (K) and the 3570 regular. The (K) means that the chip is unlocked and your able to overclock. There's more to it then that but it doesn't matter at this point.
So
If you get the non K version. Pair it with an h77 motherboard (this is a non overclocking board)
If you do get the K version then pair it with a z77 motherboard (this is the overclocking boards)

Here is what I recommend thou.

Overclocking has become VERY simple. Especially comparing to what it used to be. I highly Highly suggest getting the z77 board and K version of the 3570. The reason why...

You may see zero difference today. The chip is more then capable at stock speeds of keeping up with everything you throw at it. BUT. Lets talk 2-3 years from now. And that new game comes out and your getting low to mid settings and just not enough CPU power. That's when OC becomes huge. Being able to get on par, or closer to newer technology because you can squeeze out that extra little bit.

There are tons of people on here that will walk you through it. And there are tons and tons of guides. It's simple to do. Honestly the hardest part of building your machine is going to be turning a screwdriver.

If you decide to OC. Like i said above get the K version of the proc, and the z77 mobo and pick up a aftermarket aircooler / heat sink. Like the evo 212, it's cheap and works well.

Off subject here... But if you wanted to really beat your friends machine. Bump up your GPU to a 670 or 680. (note: The 7xx series is coming soon!) His 550's in sli won't beat a 670 or 680 (this im 99.9% sure on, but in my haste to go to lunch I don't have the link to prove it. May want to get a second opinion on it.) If you do that then you'll beat him in every aspect.