CPU Buyer's Guide 2.0

[smithereen]

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.

 

[frandreev]

Two critiques of this guide:

1) Replace all "it's" with "its", except when contracting "it is". Replace all "you're" with "your" except when contracting "you are". In general, if you're not sure when to use an apostrophe, don't.


2) I was looking for a CPU back in September '09. I read this guide, realized that it didn't really do the i5 750 justice because of excessive attention to the limitations of the 1156 socket, and bought the chip that is STILL the best choice, in its price range, for the applications I planned to run on a desktop computer. In plain English, I ignored this guide ... and now am glad I did.

This guide still has the same problem of lack of balance and consequent reader misdirection. It uses too many words that serve to frighten people away from valid alternatives, and needs a language change to tersely and simply describe each alternative, balancing strengths and weaknesses for each, instead of sticking in bolded warnings over and over again.

 

[Proximon]

I have reviewed this article and find the above criticism unwarranted. Perhaps the Foxconn socket warning is getting a bit outdated.

As to the spelling and grammar issues, none are too annoying. I'll gladly PM you some adjusted text if you like Smithereen, no credit required.

 

[smithereen]

frandreev,

To your first point, I'll check the grammar later, but is it really bad enough to warrant such sarcasm?

To the second point - I recommended the i5 more strongly than I did now in '09. Perhaps you paid too much attention to the bolded warnings, but as far as I remember I simply said that it had above-average failure rates on very overclocked systems using Foxconn sockets, just like it does now, and that it was unlikely to have it's upgrade path extended above an i7 860. Which is still the case, last time I checked. I recommended, and continued to recommend, the i5 for medium to high-end PCs.

As for how it "uses too many words that serve to frighten people away from valid alternative" and needs a "language change", I have to respectfully disagree. Each summery tells exactly what I think every perspective buyer needs to know. And I'd much rather "frighten people away from valid alternatives" than have them buy a CPU that doesn't do what they need, or be stuck on a dead-end platform they expect to be upgradable. Better safe than sorry.

Excuse the rudeness, it's 1AM here.

Edit: It's no longer 1 AM, and you do have a point. I toned down the warnings about socket 1156.

 

[samshamolian]

How to build a computer using a standard IDE parallel ATA (PATA) hard drive versus using a serial ATA (SATA) hard drive.

Building a computer with or without a RAID configuration.

How to build a PC using the sound capabilities built into the motherboard versus using an add-on sound card.

How to build a computer using an ATI based video card versus using an NVIDIA based video card.

Including how to install Windows XP, and how to install the software driver for each hardware component.

Including multiple examples of BIOS settings, device connections and more.

 

[masryp]

...Oh. I stand very corrected. Good thing you called me on that.

Yes, there would be a large CPU performance increase if you got a Core i7 relative to a Phenom II, but you wouldn't see it in gaming unless you did a huge GPU upgrade. In my opinion, you should buy a Phenom II 945 95W now, maybe overclock it a little, and sit on that until you can't play the games you want to play anymore, than do a full system upgrade, including the GPU and PSU if necessary. Replacing your motherboard to allow a 965 is pointless; better value would be to get the most out of your motherboard in the time being.

hello
my pc is doing very nice, buth i have 1 question:
what's best; leaving turbo on and the processor on standard speed, or disable turbo and overclock the cpu to 3.2 or 3.4, and this with standard cpu fan and ram memory without heat spreaders (its kingston).
and is it just putting the multiplier higher or do i have to do more.
i have a gigabyte mb and easytune 6 buth i dont know if that program is any good.
so what should i do?
thanks for any advice

 

[Wolygon]

Only just found this guide, Excellent.

Some guy at school built a new computer and I told him not to get the 930 and that he should let me check his parts but he didn't listen. He ONLY games and is running a single HD 5770. So now I bag on him all the time, which is always fun.

Anyway that was a Very good read, great work.

 

[smithereen]

hello
my pc is doing very nice, buth i have 1 question:
what's best; leaving turbo on and the processor on standard speed, or disable turbo and overclock the cpu to 3.2 or 3.4, and this with standard cpu fan and ram memory without heat spreaders (its kingston).
and is it just putting the multiplier higher or do i have to do more.
i have a gigabyte mb and easytune 6 buth i dont know if that program is any good.
so what should i do?
thanks for any advice

I have never used EasyTune, so I am not sure. What CPU do you have?

 

[masryp]

I have never used EasyTune, so I am not sure. What CPU do you have?

core i5 750

 

[smithereen]

Obviously, you would get better performance overclocking it. I have never owned an i5 (and I live in Canada, so it's damned cold), but you would be able to overclock it to 3.2-3.5GHZ without much of an issue. KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR TEMPERATURES and you will be fine. With locked Intel CPUs, you need to balence the BCLK, main multiplier balance various memory and QPI settings. You would really head over to the overclocking forum, and talk to people with experience overclocking i5s.

 

[Wolygon]

"i have a gigabyte mb and easytune 6 buth i dont know if that program is any good."

When I was first staring off with my old board I tried to use that program, I must say it was horrible. However maybe that's just me.....

 

[aepstein]

any idea of the betterr between INtels xeon 3570 versus the i7-960.. mostly just run lots and lots of programs at once...ae

 

[aepstein]

any idea of the betterr between INtels xeon 3570 versus the i7-960.. mostly just run lots and lots of programs at once...ae

 

[smithereen]

If you're going to spend ~$1000 on a CPU, you may as well get a hexacore Gulftown.

 

[aepstein]

If you're going to spend ~$1000 on a CPU, you may as well get a hexacore Gulftown.

these are the choices i have from Dell, might you know the difference between them. they are rated pretty close together, is there a difference if i dont do heavy number crundching but keep lots of propgrams open..

 

[smithereen]

My first suggestion is don't buy from Dell... the w3570 is better. It has an unlocked multiplier (if the mobo lets you use it), and a higher base clock. What are the price differences?

 

[Wolygon]

Um, about Bulldozer not being confirmed for AM3 support, hows this article:

http://tech.icrontic.com/articles/what-we-know-about-amds-next-generation-processors/

"We also know for a fact that Zambezi will use socket AM3, meaning anyone with a DDR3 Phenom II motherboard will be ready to rock with a BIOS upgrade."

 

[smithereen]

Good catch.

 

[randomizer]

This topic has been desticky in top of the forum by Randomizer

Added link to here from master sticky

 

[elerrina]

Hey, im planning on building a gaming pc and was reccomended to get this AMD Phenom II X4 925. But when looking on ebuyer i saw the AMD Phenom II X4 945 was only a pound more expensive and i just wondered what the difference was, since i'm a bit of a simpleton when it comes to CPUs.
Thanks.

 

[smithereen]

It runs 200MHZ (About 7%) faster. I'd go for it.

 

[Guest]

Great guide! I've learned quite a bit from it.

BTW, Microsoft has changed its policy, and now supports Windows XP Mode under Windows 7 on processors lacking hardware virtualization support.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/support/faq.aspx

Thank you.

 

[smithereen]

Great guide! I've learned quite a bit from it.

BTW, Microsoft has changed its policy, and now supports Windows XP Mode under Windows 7 on processors lacking hardware virtualization support.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/support/faq.aspx

Thank you.

Great catch!

 

[Flying_J]

Nice guide!

I'm seeking advice - CPU, Motherboard, and Memory

I've got to build a system for business use that includes VMware Workstation and I'm uncertain as to which processor will best meet my needs. I used to build PC's when the AMD K6 (K-something) was a hot item and Netware 3 - not Microsoft - ruled the networking market. So suffice it to say it's been a while.

The system will be used for.....

I may dual-boot Windows 7 Enterprise and Fedora. Not sure yet. I need to run at least 2 instances of Windows 7 Enterprise with XP Mode and at least 1 instance of Windows Server 2008 R2.

Outside of VMware I'll run MS Office 2007/2010 apps, FireFox, IE when absolutely necessary, Solar Winds Engineers Toolset, and WireShark. I must have Outlook 2007 and SameTime (IM) open at all times. I have to "attend" online conferences (most stream video and audio) on almost a daily basis. I enjoy listening to music or Internet radio so I leave it open and running all day.

My son is into online gaming and he tells me that I need a Phenom II X4 970 3.5GHz but I wonder if a Athlon II X4 645 Propus 3.1GHz would meet my needs.

I've been using a Dell desktop with an Intel Pentium D 2.80GHz and 2GB of memory but it's 32-bit, won't do virtualization, and it runs really hot.

Another question - I see L3 cache on some processors and not on others. What's the purpose of benefit of L3 cache?

I'll appreciate any advice or recommendations provided.

Thanks!

John

 

[western]

This thread should also be Sticky'd in the "New Build" section great read for a new guy.

If it was there and I missed it I apologize.

 

[smithereen]

First off - it's exam season, so this guide hasn't been updated in over a month. For that I apologize.

As for the sticky, it's been amalagated with the other sticky threads in CPUs and Components. Ask Randomizer or another mod if you think it should be mirrored somewhere else.