Another computer build question: Phenom II 1090T or Core i5 760

[capellius]

Hello everyone,

This is my first time posting to any computer forum. I've been doing a lot of extensive research on what to do for my next build and am having a bit of information overload- and not finding the exact answers to what I'm looking for. I'm not new to computer building and would like some constructive feedback.

I'm in the process of upgrading my system and doing so on a budget (like most of us).

My old system was an Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550, 6 Gig DDR2 Crucial Ballistix, on a MSI P7N SLI motherboard. I had twin 9800GTX+'s SLI'd (which itself was upgraded from a first gen Phenom Quad 9500, which was a huge upgrade in itself, but I digress)

I've sold off the video cards and purchased on MSI Hawk GTX460 1 gb, with possible plans to SLI in the future.

I've generally been extremely happy with the Core2Quad- I haven't ever overclocked it and it's been a great system. The only real reason for me to upgrade is because the Core2Quad processor is worth a ton of money right now. So I figure I better get out of it now while I can sell it for a pretty penny.

For usage, mostly I play games like Wow, Civ 5, and tons of flight simulators (can't wait for DX11 flight sims!!), and do some VERY light photoshopping.

So now that you guys have a background, here's my dilemma:

The AMD Phenom x 6 1090T is about $230 shipped on Newegg
The Corei5 760 is $210 shipped.

The reason I'm hesitant to go with the Phenom x 6 is for my possible future upgrade I haven't heard many good things about the nVidia 980a chipset and I'm pretty much stuck with only those motherboards for SLI on the AMD chip.

With the i5 of course, that's not an issue.

I'm also purchasing (taking a risk) with open box newegg motherboards. The Asus (or MSI) 980a motherboards are roughly about $100 shipped. For the Corei5 I'm gonna go with the Asus Maximus III MicroATX (though I prefer full ATX) because they have an open box for $120 shipped.

Rest of the components are as follows:

4 or 8 gig DDR3 Ram - probably GSkill RipJaw will be bought
---
Current Components:
CPU cooler is Coolermaster V8
Coolermaster Storm Scout Case
WD Caviar Black Hard drives (only 3.0 gb/s)
Thermaltake 550 watt PS (will upgrade to a larger one once I SLi, should be fine for now)


So what are your thoughts? I might even consider going with a 975 BS, but I almost consider that a side-grade from my Q9550.


Thanks a ton, please please constructive feedback!!

 

[batuchka]

For usage, mostly I play games like Wow, Civ 5, and tons of flight simulators (can't wait for DX11 flight sims!!), and do some VERY light photoshopping.

Seeing games aren't even X4 optimised - your current platform is good to go

The Game Rundown: Finding CPU/GPU Bottlenecks, Part 2
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/game-performance-bottleneck,2738-16.html

Conclusion: A Trend Toward 3+ Cores

The average optimal number of CPU cores suggested by the test results is 2.75, showing a clear trend towards at least three CPU cores.The question of whether the CPU or GPU is most important is easily answered. If you don't have a multi-core CPU, then upgrade it. If you have a dual-core CPU at around 3 GHz, then invest your money into a graphics card, as most games are GPU-limited. This is not something that will change with new DirectX 11 games.

 

[capellius]

Nice info thanks Bat...but I'm getting around $200 bucks for the Core 2 Quad processor alone. So the question still stands, do I go i5 or Phenom, taking in consideration the generally recognized crappy nvidia 980a chipset vs the flexible P55 chipset.

I plan on running GTX 460's in SLi pretty soon ( already have one!).

 

[capellius]

Best answer selected by capellius.