CPU Buyer's Guide 2.0

Page 4 - Seeking answers? Join the Tom's Hardware community: where nearly two million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
smithereen

smithereen

Distinguished
Oct 4, 2008
1,088
0
19,310
Will be upgraded to reflect new releases next weekend!

Edit 1. Added TOC. Removed Core i5 750 from recommended CPUs until the dust clears.
Edit 2. Added appendix recommending LGA-775 and AM2 CPUs.
Edit 3. Recommended Core i3 530, recommended against Clarkdale Core i5s
Edit 4. Recommended 1055T and 1090T, reduced recommendation on i5 750 and i7
Edit 5. Minors changes. Reduced warnings against Socket 1156.
Edit 6. Minor changes, recommended i5 760, clarified i7 recomendations.
May be upgraded again soon to reflect any pricedrops, OCing or reliability results, etc.
Much of this is shamelessly pirated from Turpit's thread.

Credit goes to caamsa, chiadog, endyen, DirtyDrummer, grieve, navvara, Shadow703793, uguv, and Spitfire_x86 for contributing to past versions as well.

This is a very early edition, this will be updated when I have time. No promises for a timeline, though.

Table of Contents
1. Intro

2. Notes
2.0 Getting Help from the Forums and A Note on So-Called Fanboysim
2.1 A Note on Software

3. Multithreading

4. Performance and Value

5. Recommendations
5.0 Intel Sockets
5.1 AMD Sockets.
5.2 CPUs to Avoid
5.3 Recommended CPUs.

Appendix A: Dictionary of CPU Terms
Appendix B: Recommendations for Obsolete Sockets.

Don't forget to run Folding@home on your shiny new CPU! Tom's Hardware Guide is Team 40051.
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
This is an excellent post. It has helped me in a number of ways.

After doing a detailed research, I have updated my system to i7 860 and I am very happy with it.

Thanks again for this awesome update. I am sure that a lot of people would benefit from the information provided.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
RAM can be currently purchased as DDR2 or DDR3 RAM. DDR3 performs slightly better, but is slightly more expensive. Motherboards can only accept one of DDR2 or DDR3 RAM. AM3, LGA-1366 and LGA-1156 use DDR3, AM2 and AM2+ use DDR2, and LGA-775 uses one or the other. It is recommended to build a new system using DDR3, but to be concerned about DDR2, it is still plenty fast.









what do you mean the ddr2 is plenty fast than ddr3? is because the timing of ddr2 can go down to 4-4-4-12 unlike to ddr3 ram has a timing of 7-7-7-20 is thats the reason???
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Sorry, that was a typo... I meant "don't be concerned". It's fixed now. DDR2 is fast enough to rarely if ever be an issue, but DDR3 is both faster and more available. I wouldn't recommend building a system with DDR2 unless cost is a big issue, but don't upgrade your system just to get DDR3.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote

i hear a lot of the dragon platform, buth what does it do? and is it a match for intel core i 5 750?
what is your opinion about ati hd 5830? is it better than the gts 250?
i am thinking of getting an lg w22 g 1vp-pf, so i wanna know what's best for me.
thanks for any advise you can or wanna give
( sorry if my questions are stupid or redundant, buth i get crazy of reading al the reviews and in the end i dont know what to believe)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
The "Dragon Platform" is AMD's marketing gimmick, and means not much more than good combo deals. AMD's high-end CPUs, the Phenom II 955 and 965, are not quite as powerful as the i5 750, but are a better deal for gaming, it won't bottleneck anything below a 5850, if that.

I would definitely call the 5830 better than the GTS 250.

If you want, you can start a thread in the "New System Build" forum and get more opinions.

Cheers
 
Upvote 0 Downvote

thanks for the reply, only one question if you don't mind: in what way is the phenom a better deal for gaming?
have you ever heard of geil black dragon ddr3 memory, because it is very difficult to find reviews on that and i wanna by the correct memory, im also thyinking on bying a western digital caviar black 500gb hard drive, i am not sure of what case.
sorry for al these questions buth fisrt of you know what you are talking about ( in my opinion) and unlike most reviews who are in favor of amd or intel, your review is neutral , objective and the most complete i have seen on the internet.
So you are a big help to me and i am very thankful to you. seriously.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
The Phenom II is a better deal for gaming simply because it's cheaper. Faster CPUs don't increase your gaming performance indefinitely - your frame-rate can be held back be either your CPU or your GPU. With a 5830, a Phenom II 955 at stock settings should be more than enough - if it isn't, you can always overclock it.

On the other hand, if you live near a Microcenter, you could get yourself a Core i5 750 on the cheap ($10 more for the CPU, 0-$30 more for the motherboard, depending on which AM3 board you had in mind), which would be a slightly better CPU.

I always loved Caviar Black hard drivers, but I've never heard of that RAM. Overclocker's Club liked them, but you don't need great memory to overclock Phenom IIs if you get the 955 or 965 - they have an unlocked multiplier.

Did that answer all your questions?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote

i thank you very much you are a big help, this week i am gonna buy the new parts
 
Upvote 0 Downvote

thanks for al the advice, a bought and build my computer (and running it now), i bought gigabyte p55-usb3 ,4gb kingston ddr3,antec three hundred,ocz modxtream pro, lg dvd ram with lightscribe, western digital 500gb caviar black series and sapphire hd 5830 1gb.
i have now a wei score of 5.9 because of my hard drive, buth that's because i dont know if i schould connect it to sata or gsata, the drives date transfer rate is 3gb/s. i connected it to the sata.
and with the 22 inch lg monitor everything is WOW.
i bought the intel core i5 750 because you said it is slightly better and i want what's better. mayby in the future overclock it buth i see no reason to do so at the moment.

anyway i wanna to give you this reply because i am thankful for your advice.
thanks you have been a big help
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Thanks for the great guide!

I just bought a radeon hd 5850 (returnable) and I know my current Intel core duo 2 e4300 @ 1,8 ghz will be a huge bottleneck. I am thinking of getting the q9400, do you think that will be on par with my gpu or is it wasted money? My hope is that I can game for some years atleast.

Thanks
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
The e4300's an Allendale core, make sure you're motherboard supports Yorkfield. the q9400 is a great CPU, it should aboslutely not be a problem, especially if you overclock it. The 5850 may be a bit too much for it (depends on your res), but you won't be feeling any bottlenecks for a while, that's for sure. That setup should have you covered in nearly any situation.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom