Gaming Recommendation please~ AMD/Rad or Int/Nvid

[alex3064]

I'm thinking of Phenom2-x4 960T Zosma w/e Sapphire 6950 2gb for gaming - which is about $500
or i5-2500k w/ 560ti (dunno which one, suggest please)

anyone else got a better suggestion of cpu/gpu combination around $500?

 

[Zero_]

i5 2400 ($175) + GTX570 ($325).

 

[peltco]

did you consider combining the I5 with a radeon card? (i5 2500k with AMD 6850 is what i have)

 

[alex3064]

did you consider combining the I5 with a radeon card? (i5 2500k with AMD 6850 is what i have)

did, but some people say intel with radeon is okay, but dont work so well together, or something..

 

[jyjjy]

The HD6950(1gb or 2gb) and GTX 560 Ti are nearly identical in performance. The GTX 560 Ti is a good deal cheaper and performs better when overclocked so it is the better choice IMO. The processor you go with doesn't have anything to do with the video card really.

 

[jyjjy]

did, but some people say intel with radeon is okay, but dont work so well together, or something..

Some people are incorrect. If they said this then ignore any other advice they give as well.

 

[sunnk]

you buy an i5 2500k dont buy an 960t the i52500k gives overall better performance then 960t and its very good for gaming and more future proof then 960t.

 

[alex3064]

i guess i'll have to go with 2500k since so many people are suggesting 2500k over 960t

 

[jyjjy]

It is faster by a rather large amount. Here's a comparison with a different Phenom II x4 with the same clock speed(their performance should be identical);

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/288?vs=80

This ignores overclocking which only expands the advantage of the i5. The only plus for the 960T is that you can often unlock the 2 extra disabled cores on the die. This is useless in a gaming context however and still won't even come close to matching the i5 even in highly multithreaded tasks.

 

[alex3064]

It is faster by a rather large amount. Here's a comparison with a different Phenom II x4 with the same clock speed(their performance should be identical);

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/288?vs=80

This ignores overclocking which only expands the advantage of the i5. The only plus for the 960T is that you can often unlock the 2 extra disabled cores on the die. This is useless in a gaming context however and still won't even come close to matching the i5 even in highly multithreaded tasks.

so even if 960T zosma is cheap and good, its better to spend extra 100 for i5-2500?

 

[esrever]

its worth it if you want future proofing. The i5 will last you a few years, the phenom will probably be decent for 1-2 but will start to show its age after that.

 

[jyjjy]

It depends on your priorities. If you are going to be overclocking the 960T is perfectly capable for now and a while to come and a reasonable choice. The i5 offers much better performance as you can see and will be viable for much longer. The chipset is also superior in terms of upgradeability as LGA 1155 boards will support the next line of Intel processors, Ivy Bridge, while AM3 is already obsolete and Bulldozer turned out to be decidedly unimpressive.

 

[alex3064]

Best answer selected by alex3064.