I3 vs e8400

[mozi]

Hello,
all that cpu's makes my head hurt all i want is a good low cost spec for gameing that will use crossfire x fully and oc for the cpu, anyway intel will bring out new crap in few months and again its an oldie comp.
i was thinking on the flowing :
i3 540 is better from e8400 cus of the 4 cores and teh ability to use oc higher then e8400 on most of his 1156 good mb
alos on this bords cfx is uselly x16 not less
so i d like ur opinion or spec for gaming comp that can use fully cfx but is low cost with spcific model and cost id u can for the cpu and MB
ty from advanced

 

[saaiello]

First things first the I3 is a dual core with Hyper-Threading so 2 real cores and 2 virtual cores, looks like a quad to the operating system.

The E8400 was a great CPU for when it was new but now its cost does not justify building a new rig with it or any socket 775 CPU unless you already have a Socket 775 motherboard but even then there still might be better options out there. On the 1156 platform in SLI or Crossfirex it will share the x16 and run both cards in x8. In the x8 x8 config the performance loss in minmal compared to x16 x16 only about a 5 to 10% performance loss really nothing noticable unless you plan on running 2 5970s that is the only instance where you would see the x8 bottleneck the cards.

Low cost gaming rig for crossfire when I think of that I think AMD. Is AMD an option? Something like a Phenom II x4 955BE on a good AMD motherboard will give you the best bang for your buck.

If you feel that the x8 x8 is a problem with the 1156 platform its not and my suggestion would be an I5 750 rather than the I3. To help you more can you tell us your budget?

 

[mozi]

ty for the replay .
my budget is around 300$
i only need CPU and MB the rest i have.

 

[ksampanna]

Still it would be better if you told us what really is the "rest" that you have, it ensures that the recommendations we give don't end up making your pc unbalanced & bottlenecked. Particularly, tell us your RAM, its capacity & whether DDR2 or DDR3.

In case you have DDR2,
Intel:
Processor - Intel Core2Quad q8400
Motherboard - ASUS P5Q Pro

AMD:
Processor - AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE
Motherboard - ASUS M4A 78-E

For DDR3,
Intel:
Processor - Intel i5-750
Motherboard - ASRock P55 Pro

AMD:
Processor - AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE
Motherboard - Gigabyte GA 890 XA UD3

 

[cromedome]

Because he already has RAM and if it is DDR2 then he wont be able to use it with a 1156 board. (assuming he specifically wants Intel)

 

[ksampanna]

Why would you tell someone to buy a 775 processor? It's a dead socket

Because he already has RAM and if it is DDR2 then he wont be able to use it with a 1156 board. (assuming he specifically wants Intel)

That's right. And if you come across a 1156/1366 that'll support DDR2, please tell me.

 

[mozi]

ty all for the help
after alot of research im going on i3 540 that is going to be OC with gigabyte MOBO for games and 1 great GPU the mobo is standart but gigbyte is good for that i may even upgrade to win 7 and put 4 g ram ddr3 instead of 2 but for now i dont see any use
anyway ty all you are really great and this site is great.