I5-760 or x4 BE 965 for overclocking?

[Tom931]

Hey guys ive recently finalised my new build and it goes as follows:

i5-760- CPU
Asus P7P55D E LX- MOBO
Gigabyte GTX 460 1GB-GFX
Noctua nh-d14- CPU cooler
G.Skill 4GB dual channel kit- RAM
Corsair HX650- PSU
F3 spinpoint- HDD
CM HAF 992- CASE

I'm doing a GTX 460 SLi and overclocking as much as possible, this leads me to the point of the post.

The i5-760 costs $229 (AUD) here and the Phenom II x4 black edition 965 comes cheaper at $169. Even though i'd need to change a few things in the build to accomidate the AMD platform, which CPU would give me the best Overclocked performance? I've heard they run simillar at stock levels but as i am overclocking and the AMD's price is a bit more appealing. Is the i5 worth the extra $$$?

Thanks in advance xD

 

[gordo_46]

yes the i5 is worth the extra cash, both will overclock to around 4ghz. Escpecially with your cooler.

i5 and i7 when overclocked and paired with two graphic cards stretch their legs over their amd counterparts.

 

[Tom931]

Awesome, just needed some reasurrence and also, i know my Mobo and RAM are compaitable with that massive cooler, but will the case be spacey enough?

 

[gordo_46]

if you meant the haf 922, it should fit cause it is bigger than a normal midtower

 

[N.Broekhuijsen]

it depends on where you want to out your money.

For gaming the 965 will perform on par, close to the i5, but in other tasks the i5 will be faster.

Id say worth the money, but you might be better off with AMD in the long term since its looking like intel is not going to be too friendly with upgrading, whilst with AMD you can throw a 6 core into a mobo thats probably near 3-4 years old. (assuming the mobo still works)

 

[dave0305]

well what i would say if you looking way more at gaming, i personally would go for the phenom ii x4 BE 965 because from what i have seen it can overclock a bit better than the i5 even on the stock cooler and it still runs quiet cool..... and the think that really put me closer to the x4 BE 965 is that its also cheaper.

 

[Timop]

The 965 is a great CPU, but 4.2Ghz is pretty much the limit on air, which isnt terribly impressive and will hold back a pair of OCed 460s by a little bit.

Oh the otherhand, the i5 OCs like crazy for its base clock and beats a 965 @4.2Ghz once it hits ~3.3Ghz and still has room to go further.

However, you have a Mobo that wont do SLI. If you're only running one GPU (Thats the limit on that LX) then go with the 965/955, should save you some money on the Mobo also. For SLI + i5, you'd want too look into a P7P55D(-E) Pro