mwwwilson

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I'm looking to purchase a gaming PC solely for iRacing (a NASCAR sanctioned and approved racing sim) online. Which is the best, considering possible upgrades later???? The costs vary by only $100.

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 840 3.2GHz
Motherboard: BIOSTAR A770E3
Memory: Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 4GB

vs.

CPU: Intel Quad Core @ 2.4ghz
Motherboard: - Not sure what mobo -
Memory: 8gb gaming Ram

vs.

CPU: Intel Core2 Duo @3.00 GHz
Motherboard: Asus P5K platform (not sure what one specifically)
Memory: 4gb DDR2 RAM

Thanks,
Mark
 
The Intel Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quads are no longer produced. Therefore, future upgrades with be limited and expensive.

I would go for a Sandy Bridge Core i3-2100 (socket 1155) if you are working with a small budget to begin with. You can later upgrade to a Core i5 CPU, but don't wait too long. Once production stops and current stock starts running low prices will increase. No need to worry yet since socket 1155 will be produced into mid-2013 until Intel's next CPU, Haswell, comes out. That will be a socket 1150 CPU and will need a totally new motherboard.
 

mwwwilson

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I'm only interested in purchasing one of the 3 that I mentioned in my original post. That being said, which would you say is the fastest and best for gaming? They all have 550w psu's and I will be putting my own graphics card into it. I just want to know which would be best for gaming performance. What do you think?
 

Which exact intel quad core are we talking about? Which model number :S
 

mwwwilson

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Q6600 on the Quad Core (the second one in the original post)

E8400 on the Core2 Duo (the last one in the original post)

Help?

Remember.... gaming, performance and speed. Which is best?
 

mwwwilson

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If it matters at all to anybody... the graphics card that I will be installing will be the GeForce GTX 550 Ti

But I just need to know which is best out of the three for gaming? I read that AMD is the way to go for gaming machines. But I believe that Q6600 is faster than the AMD. I'm I correct in thinking this? I also heard that the E8400 Core2 Duo is nothing to turn my nose up to either.

HELP, I'm torn!

P.s. - I'm currently using a DELL Inspirion 530S desktop... CPU is a E2160 @ 1.8GHz Pentium Conroe, 2gb RAM, GeForce 8400GS, 250W PSU ------> So you see, anyone of these that I'm asking about will please me. Just looking for the best bang for the dollar.

Thanks all
 

mwwwilson

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PSU's are all 550W - I'm sure they are different makes but 550W.

GPU was given to me to pay a debt :)
it is the GTX 550 ti

Thanks for the reply.

Mark
 

mwwwilson

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GPU was given to me to pay a debt :)

I'm only purchasing the computer. Nothing more do to my budget.

Do you know of any website that compares AMD's against Intel's? Something that I can input 2 cpu's and it will chart benchmarks against each other? That's what I really need because I'm not up to snuff on the latest and greatest processors. The last time I built a computer it had a Pentium 4 in it. That was back in the late 90's. LOL

Can you help me out?
 


http://www.anandtech.com/show/2754
read this

The c2q is probably a 6600
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/charts/index.php?pid=73,76&tid=