Help me make up my mind.

[mega1268]

I wanna upgrade pc. MY old pc has e4300 overclocked to 3.0 ghz 2 gig ddr2 and 8800gts 320 mb. Since then i upgraded to 25 inch 1980x1080 monitor and want to start playing games again. I started playing starcraft and it freezes up mid game alot. I was gonna build an i5 system but for about 200 dollers more i can just have a 950 system even know its overkill i wanna upgrade total speed and snappiness of computer. But if i just build cheap computer with maybe a 955 amd then maybe upgrade again when sandybridge comes out. So i guess my question is whats the best bang for the buck right now. Is it possible the i7 isent worth the extra 200 bux? I want to run all games at close to max settings without overdoing it. But i guess cpu doesnt really matter when it comes to that. So whats the best cpu for the money that wont be a bottleneck down the road. Im prolly gonna buy 1 of those new 6870s

Approximate Purchase Date: soon

Budget Range: flexible.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: games internet unzipping winrar files.

Parts Not Required: im going to reuse my case and psu. I have a 750 watt good psu.


Preferred Website(s) for Parts: i know this is crazy but im looking to buy from best buy cause i have bb cc so i can spend more money with no interest ;-)

Country of Origin: usa


Parts Preferences: no real prefrence

Overclocking: Yes


SLI or Crossfire: No


Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

 

[mega1268]

I also noticed microcenter has 950 for 229. Seems like 2 good of a deal to pass up no? i know theres extra expensive in ram and mobo. but does that translate to better gameplay also? i play alot of rts and mmos

 

[jasonp12]

ok typically AMD better bang for the buck....

tbh any of the CPUS are gonna be ample for gaming currently (amd 955 or 965, or intels i5 750 or the i7 930-950) all are fine

with that said id say get AMD cuz you save cash....HOWEVER if you live near a microcenter for reasons i dont know their prices on Intel CPUs is just absurd so id prob grab and i7 for 200$ maybe look at the i5 760 looks to be a good price at 170@ microcenter

but i just looked the Phenom II X4 955 is only 130$ @ microcenter

so really itshow much you wanna spend.....but tbh the AMD will be plenty for you and prob last the longest in the sense that it is confirmed that Sandbridge isnt gonna support any current sockets its using 1155.

whereas Bulldozer will be using AM3+ (possibly AM3 no1 can confirm) but regardless the AM3+ Mobos will be backwards compatible with AM3 cpus so in theory u can xfer your 955 or 965 to a new mobo until u want to grab or have a need for a bulldozer (which means u can get a CHEAP AM3 mobo now and then upgrade to an AM3+ when they come out)

 

[Somebody_007]

ok typically AMD better bang for the buck....

tbh any of the CPUS are gonna be ample for gaming currently (amd 955 or 965, or intels i5 750 or the i7 930-950) all are fine

with that said id say get AMD cuz you save cash....HOWEVER if you live near a microcenter for reasons i dont know their prices on Intel CPUs is just absurd so id prob grab and i7 for 200$ maybe look at the i5 760 looks to be a good price at 170@ microcenter

but i just looked the Phenom II X4 955 is only 130$ @ microcenter

so really itshow much you wanna spend.....but tbh the AMD will be plenty for you and prob last the longest in the sense that it is confirmed that Sandbridge isnt gonna support any current sockets its using 1155.

whereas Bulldozer will be using AM3+ (possibly AM3 no1 can confirm) but regardless the AM3+ Mobos will be backwards compatible with AM3 cpus so in theory u can xfer your 955 or 965 to a new mobo until u want to grab or have a need for a bulldozer (which means u can get a CHEAP AM3 mobo now and then upgrade to an AM3+ when they come out)

These are 2 of the most common 2 dogmas.

And well they're both wrong. AMD offers better bang for buck in the low end class, but i7s and i5 quads are better bang for buck in games than their amd competition(considering overclocking).

Second 955s are bottlenecks for anything like 6850s and above in graphics intensive games. When you get to cpu intensive games even an i7 980x isn't bottlenecked by a 6870. The first assumption people make is that CPUs are important for games when they are told this is wrong they overcompensate and neglect the importance of a CPU(I did the same ^^). So watch out when you say those CPUs are more than powerful enough for games.

 

[jasonp12]

ok I do agree with what you say

but a 955 is still going to give you more then enough playable FPS in graphic intensive games.

if you care about seeing say 60 fps vs. 90FPS then fine your right get an i5 or i7.

 

[Somebody_007]

ok I do agree with what you say

but a 955 is still going to give you more then enough playable FPS in graphic intensive games.

if you care about seeing say 60 fps vs. 90FPS then fine your right get an i5 or i7.

In this case it doesn't really matter because a 955 wouldn't bottleneck any single card too much, but I see so many people reccomending things like a 5970 or better paired with a 955 or similar(I'm thinking of the best configs where they paired a 1090t with 2 5970s whereas a 1090t would even bottleneck a single 5970 let alone 2.) and it's such a waste of gpu power so I wanted to make sure you don't go reccomending similar setups.

 

[mega1268]

Thanks for the help guys. I do have a microcenter about 30 min away from me which is screwing up my build. I was gonna use my best buy credit card to buy everything. i started with the i5-750 but on the best buy website its 205. Microcenter sells the i7-950 for 229. I know the ram will cost 30-50 dollers more and mobo will cost 100 more but for an extra 150-200 dollers. Is it not better bang for buck to just get the i7? Yes its overkill for now. but what about a year or 2 from now. Id rather have to just upgrade vid card in a year or maybe add a 2nd instead of having to rebuild again. anybody agree/disagree?.

 

[etk]

AM3 just doesn't have enough pins to support bulldozer, although AMD has been good about this in the past, don't expect backwards compatibility. AMD or INTEL you will be buying an EOL socket. It sucks, but it's the truth right now. I'd reccomend to get the 6870 that you are looking at, along with a SSD boot drive. Bank the rest of the money until you upgrade to SB/BD. This way, you'll be buying upgrades that you can take with you into your next build, not purchasing an EOL processor/mobo for a year and hawking it on craigslist.

 

[etk]

Oh, and don't get it from best buy. You'll be paying about twice as much as you would from newegg.

 

[jasonp12]

etk

the point is AM3 CPUs will fit into AM3+ mobos its been confirmed but yah its highly doubtable that Bulldozer will have an AM3 version (thought there has been rumor that they may release one after the AM3+ release of Bulldozer)

 

[mega1268]

ive never had ati gpu yet. you guys think they are fine or wait for nvidias next offering?

 

[jasonp12]

get the AMD 6k series they rock (was ATI but 6 series called AMD)

 

[mega1268]

think im just going to go with 965 and MSI 870A-G54 Socket AM3 870 ATX Motherboard from microcenter for 210 dollers with 20 doller mail in rebate. That price seems unbeatable. Then find some 4gb 1333-1600mhz ram and go with 6870 and in future upgrade to sandy/bulldozer and add another 6870. Right now i just want to play fallout and starcraft

 

[jasonp12]

wait its 210$ for board+CPU or just CPU? if thats the price for CPU+Mobo you are right its a great deal.

it will suite your needs perfectly!

 

[mega1268]

its 210 for both seems to good to pass up for what i need right now. Never heard of this microcenter but im glad its only 30 min away

 

[jasonp12]

microcenter is great for CPU prices on intel
and sometimes AMD too! but the reason microcenter is soo big is because

you can get an i7 for like 200~$ whereas its 300$ everywhere else.

their AMD prices are pretty standard but the deal your getting is good!

 

[mega1268]

i saw they had a i7 bundle deal for like 430 but now i cant find it. And i dont see any i5 bundle deals. the reason why the 965 is so cheap is cause you get 40 dollars off instantly with any mobo plus 20 doller mir. Id rather go I5 if i could find a bundle deal

 

[jasonp12]

its not neccsarly bundles

their i5 price check the price of JUST the CPU and compare it with newegg

or the i7 (1366 series chipset)

thats where ull see a huge price difference

 

[f-14]

sounds like your on the right path with either amd or intel. the arguement you have to answer yourself is price. the 2mb of cache and at 800 speed are hampering you, but not as much as the 320mb on your video card for your 25" monitor. a really cheap upgrade would be to sli that puppy at 8X would reward you well and if you can and bump up your cpu to a 775 cpu with 6-8mb cache and a naturaly higher clock speed close to 3ghz for under $100 and overclock that to 3.5 ghz or so quad core 6600 is known to be good for that and right up your m/b's alley. get them off ebay used, make sure they bubble wrap the cpu or you'll have to fix the pins with a pen ink straw.
needing 768mb to 850mb of graphics ram is what's killin you the most if your m/b can do pcie16X get a new nvidia 4XX series or amd 5XXX with 768mb+ ram but if your pcie can't do 16X or SLI8X'd do the m/b upgrade then go the AMD route and memory and graphics.
go with the intel if you liked getting kicked in the balls soon.
microcenter is my favorite computer store over compua when it was prime and is a close toss up with newegg, but beats newegg on cpus and a few other things.
the BBY credit card is a scam from the bank they co-op with, they claim no interest, but that's only if you make payments on time every month and pay it off within 6-12 months which ever promo is being used, used to work there so i know the whole schpeel.

 

[f-14]

scrap that SLI bit i said with the 8800, forgot it was 8800, just get a new video card and jump up to a faster cpu at normal settings with more cache like i said. it's murdering you in gamming, even the nvdia260 series on up makes that 8800 gt look like grandpa moses. vid card 768mb ram+ at 256bit or higher (the 260 series on up is 448bit) amd vid cards 4XXX on up do great despite @ being 256bit.

intel is worth it but it's a kick in the balls to go that route is what i meant.
personally ran a q9550 on a 750 chipset with a gtx275 and it played SC2 great on a 23"

 

[mega1268]

Ya thanks f-14. I didnt really mind about price or going the cheap route. I just didnt want to not spend the extra money because its "overkill" thats all i read about the i7s and gaming. Just cause its overkill now doesnt mean in 2 years it will be. And ill be kicking myself if i didnt spend the extra 200 bux for i7 setup. Id rather just buy new graphics card in 2 years not a new computer.