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Overclocked i5 2500K with HD 5770 or i3 2100 with HD 6950

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Hey guys,

Basically I'm building my first system for some high quality budget gaming. I'm having trouble deciding between a system with 1) an intel i5 2500K processor with a Radeon HD 5770 graphics card or 2) an i3 2100 processor with a Powercolor HD 6950. I want to be able to get the maximum out of the system at a 1680 x 1080 resolution (possibly greater in the future) so I want to overclock the cpu to its max. safe potential without the need for a better psu and cooling. These two options both come out at roughly $400AU (Australian bloke sorry) with a P67 mainboard in the first and a H61 in the second.

I'm aware of the i5 2500K's great cpu overclocking potential, the i3 2100's restricted overclocking and the HD 6950 gpu overclocking potential. I just dont know how it will all add up in the end when it comes to gaming. I've read somewhere that I should spend double money on the gpu over the cpu for a gaming system so that would favour the 2nd option but I'm not sure how much of an improvement an overclocked i5 compared to an un-clocked i3 would be.

What do you guys reckon? Would there be a better cheaper or equivalently priced alternative cpu/gpu combo?. Sorry about any lack of knowledge or experience I may have and remember my decisions are highly influenced by pricing as well as performance.

(any reference to modern gaming benchmarks with these systems would be appreciated too)

Thanks..

More about : overclocked 2500k 5770 2100 6950

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if you make a good overclocking rig with a Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition, it will give u performance you need to handle a 6950 at those resolutions with no bottlenecks. the extra bucks gotta be on the cooler/psu/motherboard so u got the potential of upgrading to new gen amd processors. thankfully they allways support older sockets, unlike intel they care about the customers money. and u have the potential to get a second one in a few years for crossfire or higher resolutions.

do bear in mind that both of these cases give pretty much the same performance (so the i5 2100 seems to be less power consuming since u dont overclock it)
so you are taking a gamble with amd not knowing what the future upgrade will hold (if itll be worth it or not)
eitherway ur assumption to spend more on gpu is corrrect, money is better spend elsewhere as far as gaming is concerned.
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Overclocking Expert

go for i5-2500k and wait for some time for price drop in graphics card (as gtx 6 and ati radeon hd 7 series are on their way)

duel core are not bad for gaming but this statement itself conveys that duel core bad to some extent

cpu benchmark
cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

gpu benchmark
videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html
Overclocking Expert

i have a suggestion, get a lower end i5 2400 and a 6850 for a more balanced system. but basically, the i3 2100 will play any game out smoothly, the 5770 may struggle when running high detail on some games regardless of cpu. So i would go with the lower CPU and better graphics card. I still think you should meet half way with a lower end i5 2300 or 2400 and a 6850 graphics card.

@iam2thecrowe: The problem with that suggestion is in the price. The i5 2300 and 2400 only differ by $5, and the 2500 is only $20 more. But they are a whopping $70-$100 more than the i3-21xx series.
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