Pairing up an Intel i3-2120 and an Intel i5-2400 with a GPU

[gotanyideas123]

I have two systems I could possibly create. Both are meant for gaming. One is centered around the Intel i3-2120 and the other around the Intel i5-2400. Now I am up to the task of searching through benchmarks, posts, and reviews to match each with a great graphics card for under 180 dollars.

Possibilities:
1. Radeon HD 6870 1GB
2. GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB
3. Radeon HD 6850 1GB
4. Any others I missed?

Possible variations:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102948
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161389
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150561
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150521

If I should get another brand for one of them instead, feel free to mention the better brand or whichever would have the best clock speed, etc.

All in all, what video card do I get for each CPU?

 

[holykalo]

For gaming, the i5 would be the way to go for sure. Its more than 50% percent powerful than the i3 on average, and for a demanding task like gaming, would be the definite choice. GPU wise, the 6850 or 70 would be the bgest choices. The 460 is a power hungry beast, and will be outdated with the release of the kepler (28nm) generation. I personally have a 6850, and I find the only problem with it is the 1gb of memory when im trying to run Anti aliasing on many demanding games such as battlefield 3. Have no fear this card caqn run any game out there on ultra with a good 30-40 frames per second. I would recommend investing the extra 20 bucks that it would cost to get the marginally better performance of the 6870, in a 2gb 6850. The 6850 is not only a great performer, but keeps cool under stress, and doesn't hurt the power bill.

Edit: If you are not interested in anti aliasing, 1gb should be able to handle any texture settings on most modern games other than the witcher 2, and AvP. That said, the 6870 would be a better buy, if AA is not your concern.

 

[de5_Roy]

depends on full specs of each pc, gaming resolution for each pc, other concerns suchs as encoding, multitasking etc. here's a couple of setups,
core i3 + radeon hd 6850 (sapphire/xfx/asus/his) / gtx 460 (evga/asus/msi/gigabyte),
core i5 + 6870
the i5 will get more performance out of the 6870, so it should be coupled with the 6870. i don't really see any reason to 'balance' the pcs by sticking the i3 with more pwoerful 6870 since you'll be building both pcs.
you could try hooking up a 7850 with the i5 but i think it'll have a very high price at launch. currently, radeon hd 7770 costs nearly as much as 6870, so the newer cards will have less price/performance.

 

[gotanyideas123]

For gaming, the i5 would be the way to go for sure. Its more than 50% percent powerful than the i3 on average, and for a demanding task like gaming, would be the definite choice. GPU wise, the 6850 or 70 would be the bgest choices. The 460 is a power hungry beast, and will be outdated with the release of the kepler (28nm) generation. I personally have a 6850, and I find the only problem with it is the 1gb of memory when im trying to run Anti aliasing on many demanding games such as battlefield 3. Have no fear this card caqn run any game out there on ultra with a good 30-40 frames per second. I would recommend investing the extra 20 bucks that it would cost to get the marginally better performance of the 6870, in a 2gb 6850. The 6850 is not only a great performer, but keeps cool under stress, and doesn't hurt the power bill.

Edit: If you are not interested in anti aliasing, 1gb should be able to handle any texture settings on most modern games other than the witcher 2, and AvP. That said, the 6870 would be a better buy, if AA is not your concern.

Do you think the 2GB HD 6850 is better than 1GB HD 6870? Both are around 180 bucks so cost isn't a factor.

 

[holykalo]

I would recommend the 6870, last night I compared the performance of the 2 cards for a friend. I discovered in higher resolution the 6870 yielded 15-20% higher performance than the 2gb 6850, while in lower resoutions the difference was inconsequential. Ths is due to the fact that both cards can utilise shared video memory, which I failed to mention earlier on. Shared video memory allows the card to use your RAM to replace the lack of Vram (video memory) where needed, allowing you to get almost the same performance of the 2g VRAM on a card, while only using 1gb VRAM. Of course I would only recommend this option if you were to have at least 6 gigs of RAM, as you would have ddr3, which is comparitively slow when side by side with ddr5 (which is found on both of those video cards). For example where 1gb gddr5 is used, 1.5 ddr3 might be used, and still not yield the same power and performance of the gddr5. But, ask yourself, in the rare situation that 2gb VRAM is actually used, would you rather have slightly better performance, or would you rather have better overall performance of the 6870? Alas, (in my new outlook on these card) it would be better to get the better overall performance of the 6870 1gb, than the situational performance of the 6850 2gb. If you make sure to have at least 6 gigs of RAM, the hd 6870 is the correct choice for you. Which brand of card were you planning on buying?

Edit: sorry for the change of heart, and the original confusion, i shouldn't have spoke of the 2gig 6850 before getting my facts straight

 

[gotanyideas123]

I would recommend the 6870, last night I compared the performance of the 2 cards for a friend. I discovered in higher resolution the 6870 yielded 15-20% higher performance than the 2gb 6850, while in lower resoutions the difference was inconsequential. Ths is due to the fact that both cards can utilise shared video memory, which I failed to mention earlier on. Shared video memory allows the card to use your RAM to replace the lack of Vram (video memory) where needed, allowing you to get almost the same performance of the 2g VRAM on a card, while only using 1gb VRAM. Of course I would only recommend this option if you were to have at least 6 gigs of RAM, as you would have ddr3, which is comparitively slow when side by side with ddr5 (which is found on both of those video cards). For example where 1gb gddr5 is used, 1.5 ddr3 might be used, and still not yield the same power and performance of the gddr5. But, ask yourself, in the rare situation that 2gb VRAM is actually used, would you rather have slightly better performance, or would you rather have better overall performance of the 6870? Alas, (in my new outlook on these card) it would be better to get the better overall performance of the 6870 1gb, than the situational performance of the 6850 2gb. If you make sure to have at least 6 gigs of RAM, the hd 6870 is the correct choice for you. Which brand of card were you planning on buying?

Edit: sorry for the change of heart, and the original confusion, i shouldn't have spoke of the 2gig 6850 before getting my facts straight

Thanks for the extremely detailed response, I did research about the cards as well with similar results. I will have 8 GB of DDR3 RAM on the system, and I am going for an XFX Radeon HD 6780. Sounds like a good brand to me?

 

[holykalo]

XFX is a great choice Since they are an AMD exclusive brand, they seem to do their job exceptionally well. Trust me, you won't go wrong buying XFX. Have you thought about crossfiring your cards in the future? If so, what motherboard are you buying?

 

[diec4st]

XFX makes loud and hot single fan cards. I had an XFX and a Sapphire 6850 and the Sapphire ran quieter AND colder. XFX offers a lifetime warranty, though.

 

[gotanyideas123]

XFX is a great choice Since they are an AMD exclusive brand, they seem to do their job exceptionally well. Trust me, you won't go wrong buying XFX. Have you thought about crossfiring your cards in the future? If so, what motherboard are you buying?

I have not yet seen the need for it, and my mobo does not support it. Do you recommend Crossfire in the future?