Search
Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in
Solved

[Build] CPU Recommendation

Tags:
Last response: in Systems
Share

Hey guys,

I recently purchased the following;

GFC: 2G 7870 Sapphire OC
CPU Fan: Coolermaster Universal Hyper 212 EVO
RAM: 8G Kit 1600 Patriot Gamer2
PSU: Corsair TX-650
Case: Corsair Carbide CC500R Black
Monitor: VS248H

Planning to get mobo: ASRock Extreme4 Z77 when it is stocked.

I am currently stuck on deciding which CPU to get, do you guys have any recommendations? I have no idea how to OC so the chance of OC-ing is really slim unless it's needed in the far future hence the purchase of the CPU fan.

I am currently looking at the i5-3450 | i5-3550 | i5-3570K (most likely since it is roughly a $24 increase and OC unlock) but I would appreciate if you guys have a better option to recommend.

Cheers

More about : build cpu recommendation

Register or log in to remove
CPUs Authority

OCing is relatively simple now...plenty of basic guides to get you started online, and it's quite fun to do. Unless you're certain you don't want to OC, then I'd get a 'K' series CPU. The i5-3750K has more or less succeeded the i5-2500K, however bear in mind that OCing the 3570K results in it getting hotter than the 2500K. Sandy is still a better chip for overclocking / thermal considerations.

If you're not up for OCing at all, then the i5-3550 would be the best bet.

Cheers for the quick reply. With i5-3570K running hotter when OC'ed, will the 212 Evo be enough to ensure nothing overheats even after several years? What I currently am thinking is to get the 3750K and then after several years, if needed I will overclock it but chances are really low.

Also, if I were just to choose a CPU that wasn't to be used for OC'ing, what would you guys recommend (Considering a variety of current CPUs).
Related ressources
Ask the community
CPUs Expert

yeah the 212 evo will be fine as long as you are not using stock intel heatsinks and overclock. if you dont want to oc then get the non K versions, these days overclocking is so easy you just increase the multiplayer and you dont have to touch the ram settings. non k have the multiplayers locked

While I do support overclocking, it does sound like its really not your thing, which is fine. Everyone will usually suggest the K model but if you're truly not going to overclock I would get the 3450. Roughly same performance for 40 dollars cheaper and no aftermarket cooler, so at least 60 dollars saved. Plus you can still OC a chip that doesn't have an unlocked multiplier, it will just be a limited overclock.

This might be a good read

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/the-sandy-bridge-rev...

Framps said:
Cheers for the article, leaning towards K-products now. In comparison of all K products, would it be best for value if I got the 3570K?


Strictly from a value perspective the 2500K probably wins that contest but I'm leary about recommending older tech. This stuff advances pretty quick as I'm sure you know

Yeah, definitely understand where your coming from. At the moment, I still have choices on the i5-2500K but stocks are running low and are EOL products here. Would you recommend the 2500K this time of the year?
CPUs Expert

If you don't mind using the older tech, the 2500k is fine, IvyBridge didn't really offer a huge performance increase and isn't as good if you overclock.
However it is older tech, and if you are the type to upgrade based on the age of your parts (rather than upgrading every 3 or 4 years, you upgrade ever 3 or 4 generations), if the 2500k may leave you wanting to upgrade sooner down the road, it may be a better value to go with the 3570k :) 

Best solution

CPUs Expert

I chose the 3570k in my machine that I built just last weekend. I did this mostly for the PCI-E3.0 support for possible future upgrades, the lower power usage (though that kinda goes out the window when you overclock anyway), and the fact that I'm not really going to overclock by a huge amount but just wanted some flexibility. I used the Corsair A50 over the Coolermaster 212, but only because of the sale price made it a no brainer at the time. I clocked mine to 4Ghz and even under high CPU load benchmarks I only hit about 60c . . . considering on my Intel cooler of my old i3-530 it hit 72c all the time and it's still running like a champ after a few years I figure it's well in the acceptable range.

Just for the added flexibility I would rule out all of the non-K variants if you are even considering at some point in the future overclocking. In either case the 2500k or the 3570k offer very similar performance and similar features, it really comes down to personal preference and if you really want to push your overclocks to see how fast you can get it (in which case you'd lean toward the 2500k).

Cheers for the replies. Yeah, I do believe that I'll be having this PC for a long time. I guess the i5-3570K is the way to go.

May I ask what parts you went with, Traciatim? I'm not sure if my purchase on the 7870 OC was a right choice - seems too overkill for me. (Only really have plans for Diablo III at this stage)

EDIT: Also, I have been told that Nvidia has some line-up coming out soon, do you guys think that I should refund the 7870 OC and wait to see if prices will drop?

No one can really tell you that, it's impossible to know whats going to happen in the future. But my gut tells me that we are a ways out, I think prices will stick until the end of the year.
CPUs Expert

Framps said:
Cheers for the replies. Yeah, I do believe that I'll be having this PC for a long time. I guess the i5-3570K is the way to go.

May I ask what parts you went with, Traciatim? I'm not sure if my purchase on the 7870 OC was a right choice - seems too overkill for me. (Only really have plans for Diablo III at this stage)

EDIT: Also, I have been told that Nvidia has some line-up coming out soon, do you guys think that I should refund the 7870 OC and wait to see if prices will drop?


I went with:

i5 3570K (I have it running at 4.0Ghz right now, don't really have a reason to even overclock it this far . . . but it's just so easy to change a number from 34 -> 40 and get more speed).

Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H (The on board sound on this is really really annoying. It clicks every time an application initializes the sound card. It also has some strange interference/whiny sound when the machine is working. Historically I've always had dedicated sound cards, and I took a chance on my last motherboard and went on board and it worked great so I didn't even think about a sound card for this one . . . damn)

8GB of G.Skill DDR3-2133 (1.5v, high timings, but lots of bandwidth, and a little misleading cause you run at 1.6v at 2133)

Gigabyte Radeon HD 7850 OC 975MHZ 2GB (it had an instant rebate instead of a mail in, so it won the dollars)

60GB OCZ Vertex 3 SSD (Was going to be just for boot+a couple games, or SRT, ended up with SRT after running a few things for a while and not being too impressed by the SSD alone)

2x Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200RPM 64MB SATA 6Gbps (I don't RAID them, 1 is SRT'd with the SSD, the other is for copies of important data and random storage of big stuff I don't use often so that ultimate defrag can keep my main drive organized better)

Then all the other personal preference junk like case, power, and all that jazz.

I'm not really sure on the pricing. I've had the money set aside for this machine for some time to see what Nvidia would bring and what Ivy Bridge would look like. Once Ivy Bridge popped the money started burning a hole . . . and the 680 was there but way out of my budget. Then the 690 popped, and I was disappointed but figured their mainstream stuff was next . . . and then the 670 popped and was still too expensive so I gave up and got the 7850. You can only wait for "The next best thing"(TM) for so long.

I do agree a little on the overkill thing. Are you playing at 2560x1600 or something? I'm at 1920x1200 and I haven't found anything yet that I just don't crank all to the max (but I don't go crazy with AA, why pay for all the crispness to run it through a blur filter?). I don't play a lot of high end FPS games though . . .
CPUs Master

If planning on the possibility of significant overclocking, I'd avoid Ivy Bridge CPU's.

I'd opt for the 612 PWM over the 212 Evo ... 15 or so days ago were same price on newegg
Register or log in to remove
 
Ask the community
Read discussions in other Systems categories
!