Phenom 965 or i7 860?

[javilionaire]

Not sure which CPU to get, which is best for gaming?

thanks

 

[hunter315]

very few games are CPU limited, unless you are planning to play GTA IV and FSX a lot they will perform very similarly and the bottleneck will fall onto your graphics card. If you are going to be spending a lot of time playing GTA IV or FSX the i7 will do better as it is a stronger processor, but for normal games they perform very similarly, but i suggest a 955 over a 965 as its cheaper and has the same OC potential.

 

[javilionaire]

ah sorry. My first post.

i'll be running:
2X radeon 5870s in crossfire

on a DX58SO board, not sure if the phenom will fit on that though.

 

[hunter315]

neither of the CPUs you listed will work on that board, you need an i7 920, that is your only reasonable choice.

 

[javilionaire]

Oh damn, almost got the wrong cpu!

I'm trying to build my own pc and i'm going to get these parts for it:

Corsair (TR3X6G1333C9)6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz XMS3 Memory CL9(9-9-9-24) for i7 motherboards

Corsair TX 850W Power Supply

XFX Radeon HD 5870 1GB GDDR5 PCI-E 2.0 x 16 Graphics Card (HD-587A-ZNF9)

Intel DX58SO ATX Desktop Motherboard

Intel i7-920 (Nehalem) Quad Core Processor - 2.66 GHz,8MB L3 Cache,1333MHz FSB,Socket 1366,45 nm,

(not sure which fan to get, any ideas? as i'm going to be playing games on max settings)

Also i'm not sure of the difference between;

XFX Radeon HD 5870 1GB GDDR5 PCI-E 2.0 x 16 Graphics Card (HD-587A-ZNF9)

and

MSI Radeon HD 5870 5800 Series Video Card (1GB, GDDR5, PCI Express x16, 2.0v)

will they both work with the motherboard?

 

[hunter315]

I would suggest against an intel motherboard, yes they are super stable, but they dont give you many options if you want to OC at all. If you arent planning to OC the stock fan will do quite well, if you are the cooler master 212 actually does extremely well for the price
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065&cm_re=212-_-35-103-065-_-Product

I would go for the XFX card as it has a lifetime warranty if you register it in the first 30 days, and if it dies the extra for that warranty will definitely pay for itself.

 

[Cryslayer80]

neither of the CPUs you listed will work on that board, you need an i7 920, that is your only reasonable choice.

Lol?


The Phenom II will do just fine. Nothing will be bottlenecked by any of the CPUs mentioned here, but the cheapest choice will do good all the way. Wth is all that bottleneck crap coming from?

Also, get a good motherboard from Asus/MSI, like Asus M4A79T Deluxe or some other board.

 

[hunter315]

read then post, he is getting an X58 board restricting him to LGA 1366 socket CPUs and there is no cheaper LGA 1366 chip than the 920

 

[Cryslayer80]

So? He can always change the motherboard choice.

 

[requiemsallure]

I would Go with the i5 750 190-200$ and a supporting LGA1158 board, I have the P7P55D-E PRO, and it is quite good. Plus the i5 is an excellent overclocker.

that is if im understanding correctly and you do not already have the motherboard.

 

[requiemsallure]

I5-750 @ $200
Overclocks better than the i7 920
P7P55D-E PRO @ $180
Supports PCIE 2.0 x16 for one card, if two cards are in the slot it becomes x8 for both, however the 5870's will not be bottlenecked by x8
One of the best overclocking friendly motherboards i've seen
SATA 6GB/s and USB3.0 unhindered support

or your other options

i7 920 @ $280
Hyperthreading (doesn't really help in an overwhelming amount of games)
DX58SO @ $230
Supports full PCIE 2.0 x16 on crossfire/sli
No USB 3.0 support or SATA 6GB/s support

Phenom II x4 955 @ $166
AMD motherboards @ $110-170
No USB 3.0 or SATA 6GB/s support

well there it is for the most part, and btw good choice with the 5870 i have a 5850 from asus and it works great, I can only imagine what one let alone too! will do.

 

[requiemsallure]

The 750 overclocks better then a D0 920? :lol: Do a search for all the 4.5Ghz+ 920's

do a search for 5.0Ghz i5 750, besides that there is quite a bit about 4.5 ghz on an i5 and on air cooling none the less.

 

[requiemsallure]

its a bit extreme but i found it for you, people have been able to reach 4.5 on it easy though

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2009/06/03/lynnfield-overclocks-to-5ghz/1