Which is better for gaming i5 or i7?

My son wants a gaming computer for Christmas, but he and the wife don't believe I can build it. This is really new to me and kinda confusing, so if someone could point me in the right direction along with a motherboard that would be great.
Thanks

Ok well this is where I am heading.....if I am making a mistake please point it out for me

NZXT Nemesis Elite Gaming Case - Black

Intel DP55KG Motherboard

Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core

CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMX4GX3M2A1600C9

Rosewill Green Series RG530-2 530W Continuous @40°C, 80 PLUS Certified,ATX12V v2.3 & EPS12V v2.91, SLI Ready,CrossFire Ready,Active PFC "Compatible with Core i7, i5" Power Supply

Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

Sony Optiarc Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner with LightScribe LightScribe Support

EVGA 01G-P3-1155-TR GeForce GTS 250 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

looks good so far, but I'd change a couple of things. the gfx card gts 250 is quite weak compared to GTX 260 and not really that much cheaper ~ $60. It's basically a repackaged 9800gtx which is basically a repackaged 8800gts. Nvidia managed to run the same card through 3 different generations without much improvement. 128 stream processors. The GTX has 216.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814133270

+1 for getting the i5. Hyperthreading doesn't do much (if any) for gaming.

I'd also look at an asus motherboard. I've had good luck with them (really from best to least IMO ABIT, ASUS, GIGABYTE, BIOSTAR/ASROCK). Far too often intel limits the overclocking abilities of boards for obvious reasons.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131404

Power supply is fine, but I'd recommend getting no less than a 650W supply since gfx cards are going to continue to pull more and more power. If you only plan to use 1 gfx card at a time, this should be plenty... Rosewill is good, but corsair is the best IMO.

1 thing to keep in mind with memory on i7 ( I assume i5 also) don't go above 1.65V for vDIMM.

GL

No, the sound card should be built in to almost every motherboard you'll find. You can upgrade it, but I think the money would be better spent just about anywhere else.

If you're getting DDR3 RAM you should at least use the triple channel. You need either 3GB, 6GB, or 12GB to use this. 3GB or 6GB would be fine for most games. You should also remember that you need a 64-bit operating system to use more than ~3.5GB of RAM.

Also, if gaming is the only purpose of the pc, you might want to look into AMD processors because they generally offer the same gaming performance for less.

Not sure about that particular PSU, but they don't make the best. Rosewill is known for making junk. Get a real PSU, Antec, Corsair, Enermax, PCP&C, and Seasonic are the first companies you'll want to look to. Anything from these companies modern lines are good. For your setup you don't need 750W, anything 500W+ will be fine.

I'm also not sure what Endif was talking about. You listed "CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600", and he wants you to buy DDR3-1600? The ram you listed looks fine (assuming it runs 1.65V or less) and is the proper number of sticks. I'm not saying his ram isn't better, I'm just not sure what he's complaining about.

I to wouldn't get the Intel board. They aren't known for their overclocking abilities. While i7 might be the king of CPUs,for most of us they aren't worth the extra cost. Cost that could have been used on a better video card.

If you take a look at the motherboard he first listed it only supports DDR2. He will want a mobo that supports DDR3. The ram he chose was fine but the motherboard wouldn't support it.

P55 boards do not support tripple channel so as long as he gets 4GB of DDR3 he should be fine. Most people don't need more than 4Gb unless you work with apps that utilize more than that.

Another thing that I would suggest is stay away from Intel boards, Get an Asus, Gigabyte, Asrock or Evga board. That particular Intel board is overpriced, for that amount of money you can get this :

EVGA P55 SLI 132-LF-E655-KR LGA1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product

or

ASUS P7P55D EVO LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product

hope this helps....

on a side note, the GTS 250/GTX 260 or 4850/4870 should be more than enough for your son's gaming needs unless he is trying to play at the highest resolution with everything maxed out.

This is gonna be alittle left feild, but there is a serious problem with the i5/7 route, and that is that the PCIe goes through the bus on the 1156. This restricts the PCIe making x16 x16 impossible, and in a dual GPU the whole system runs at the slower speed (except on the Hydra platform, but thats not out yet). Also DDR3 is unessisaraly expensive. I personally reccomend an ASUS Striker II with a core 2 quad, and a GTX 275 or 280. It won't be that biggest system on the planet, but it won't run you the better end of four figures either. On a side note, check out cyberpowerpc.com. Its like Alienware, but without the $400 cases, and 150% markup on parts. Try the Novant Falcon site too, if nothing else you can configure a machine, the buy the parts and assemble it yourself. Don't settle for the stock HSF.

Hope this helps.

http://usa.asus.com/ProductGroup2. [...] Q4oSEtSu5m

P.S. ASUS motherboard, EVGA graphics.

Well, thats why I included the configurer sites. I don't mean to flame anyone, and aren't trying to get flamed myself, but lets face it, how many programs actually topout a 775 system? You can build a 50FPS Crysis rig on 775 for less than a 30FPS 1156 system. Im not trying to hijack the thread with the idea of "ole' relyable," just trying to expand options and save this first timer some money. 775 is in a sweet spot now by my measurements, new enough to be good, old enough to be cheap.

Also the Striker 2 is an Nvidia 790i, not a P45. Although seing as the only real difference between 780i and 790i is a PCIe slot, maybe the Striker II Formula would be better suited. Save some money too.

Same sheat, its LGA 775

Ok 1 more question....if this the correct version of windows I need as a OS

Microsoft Windows XP Home SP3 for System Builders - OEM

Has anyone tried this video card???

ASUS EAH4870 DK/HTDI/1GD5 Radeon HD 4870 Dark Knight 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card

Thanks, you seem to be pretty up on this stuff....is there a card you would recomend?....he will be palying alot of role playing games like City of Heroes, Fallout3 ....etc

Thanks that is the kind of advice I needed...you have been very helpful. It is nice to have a place like this to go for advice

Just saw this:

'XFX HD-487A-ZWFC Radeon HD 4870 1GB (poor cooling but lifetime warranty)'

I have this card, and in no does it have poor cooling. Actually, it runs cooler than any other videocard I've ever had from either ATI or Nvidia. Do not worry TOO much cooling - don't let that make your decision for you as it's only a small part of the equation.

This card runs cooler than yours :



if your 4870 runs cooler than anything you have had before then I guess you have had your share of HOT cards

Just FYI, I am not saying that you have a poor GPU, just funny how they went from blowing the hot air out of the rear to blowing the hot air all over the insides of the case. Kinda makes sense in a way....

Yep =) gotta love XFX .....

And with an ambient temp of 68c that card should last you FOREVER

I've been pondering an upgrade to my amd athlon socketA system for some time now.. I'm thinking i5 is the way to go.. but atm, need to be very conservative on the upgrade (maybe $600 tops). This puts me in a category of getting a mobo (around $150, processor $150-200 depending upon if I MicroCenter or Newegg, possibly a power supply-- mine is 450watt) I am tempted to get a board with onboard video 10.X dx to start out with (maybe ATI 4200/4300 chipset) then 4gb ram ($65-$100?). I have a hard drive,kb/mouse,monitor, case and dvd drives that can stay, so the question really is to wait and let prices come down further.. or buy as soon as I fill my budget savings of $600 & go to town? What's an extra 4 months if I waited 5+ years, heh...

The build in this thread is in my estimation about $750-999, which you can *BUY* a ready-built machine for, which would be no fun and many prebuilt machines will have ONE crap part in them which make them a bad value-- typical. You know what would be nice if any of these configurator sites had benchmark specs so you could see what a *POTENTIAL* build would net you in terms of performance. This would certainly be a boost to those like the poster who has to do the research manually but the advice given here is quite good too.

My recommendations variation on what i'd build:

I5 750 $150-200
ASUS P7P55D $150 give or take 10%
4gb memory ocz obsidian ($60/wrebate) or ocz platinum ($100)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product
ATI 4850 $120 to ati 4870 ($165) you will find many lower than these prices I'm listing average according to newegg.
Go with a minimum 750gb hard drive-- you'd be surprised how fast it fills with games & o/s. $60-- 1tb costs about $20 more.. so if your maxing out system specs and you wanna save on HD fine by me.
Haven't researched cases, but here goes:
COOLER MASTER Sileo 500 RC-500-KKR3-GP Black Aluminum Bezel ~$99
KB & Mouse generic pairing $40, premium $65?
Liteon, Samsung, or Sony 24x take your pick, $25-40

*By the motherboard choice, you see SLI is not my mission, here.. for that you pay an extra $50 on the mobo and $165 min on the card...

Grand total $900 (on the high side) not including shipping and/or tax.
Not a bargain, but you get the parts YOU decide on..
I think you should state a budget range.. that's how we could recommend what to get that fits the budget. If money is no object.. you could max out an i7 system with 2 sli cards and 2tb hard drive & faster/lower latency memory (and bump the price up +$500).. but much too much overkill, imo. A gaming rig shouldn't be more than 2-3x a proprietary system like the ps3 costs $300-500 which is $600 - 1500. Like in my budget.. many people would say stick with s775 I'd get better specs and cheaper config parts which could translate into saving which would then be pumped into a video card, blah blah... When I bought upgraded my system in 2003, I did expect to upgrade the cpu at least once, but never did (that's the trap we fall into, to buy a system with the idea of upgrading).. The way things go, expect to keep the system a minimum of 3 years and max of 6 before pondering to upgrade a part or move on... typically it will be the video card and/or more memory as we find ways to utilize it. The software industry is just getting its feet wet with multi-core processors. Utilizing 4+gb of memory is also new to them.. they'll do it, but the number of apps will increase by 2012.