CPU for High(er) End Gaming Rig

[wargigas]

EVGA nvidia nforce 750i FTW - $150 from Newegg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188026&Tpk=750i ftw
Gold Award from [H]ardOCP http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTQ5NCw2LCxoZW50aHVzaWE=
EVGA Geforce GTX 260 - $280 from Newegg (-$45 Combo deal) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130398
Corsair Dominator 4GB DDR2 1066 - $80 from Newegg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145197
PC P&C 750W Silencer - $100 from Newegg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703009
Gold Award from [H]ardOCP http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTM2OSwsLGhlbnRodXNpYXN0
Total = $565 After Rebates

This leaves the CPU choice. Right now I'm looking at the C2D e8500, C2Q q9550, and the C2Q q6600. I already have a Thermaltake MaxOrb HSF as well.

I do not do any kind of video editing or encoding so this system is really just for gaming purposes. Based on this I am inclined to save my money and just get the e8500 as dual core is better for most games at the moment. However, games are beginning to take advantage of dual and even quad core technology so I'm afraid to get the e8500 only to see a slew of quad core games come out. SupCom for one of the current games to utilize quad cores (see HardOCPs SupCom tests http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTMwNiwsLGhlbnRodXNpYXN0) and definitely benefits from the extra two cores.

The $140 price tag difference between the e8500 and the q9550 is of debatable significance when looking at a $750 system vs a $890 system. But again, I also don't want to spend the extra money on the added cores and end up not seeing that slew of multi-core gaming.

Similarly priced with the e8500 is the q6600 but from what I've read it is mostly a favorite of overclockers and enthusiasts. I've never overlocked before and am reluctant to use a new rig as a guinea pig so it's hard to say if there's a point to it if I don't plan on overclocking it.

Any words of wisdom, insight or crystal balls to predict the near future of gaming would be appreciated.

 

[geofelt]

At the level of the E8500 or Q9550, the vga card is much more important for gaming than the cpu.
At that level, overclocking is good for bragging, but it will not net you as much increase
in FPS as a better vga card will. Today, very few games can make use of more than two cores.
Flight simulator X and supreme commander are exceptions. It is not a trivial matter to code multi threaded programs,
and game vendors will not sell too many games that require quads to run.
I don't see this changing in the next couple of years.

Net: E8500 for the increased clock speed.

 

[easymoney9]

If your system is pretty much for gaming the e8500 is the way to go. I have heard that games will be able to use four cores and more for years now and it still hasn't happened except for a precious few. Take the savings from the Q9550 and get a good aftermarket heatsink and overclock the e8500 to 4ghz. You will be very happy!

 

[WR]

From the beefy power supply and the SLI motherboard, it looks like you want to leave open the possibility of an expansion.

A 4870 on a P45 motherboard would run a similar price tag at similar graphics performance, while improving memory and overclocking performance and allowing you to add a second 4870 later, for crossfire. Additionally, Crossfire currently beats SLI for scaling, and Radeons typically scale better at high resolutions, which is really the only reason you'd run two cards.

If I'm incorrect about your expansion plans, and you never plan to link a second card, then a P45, G260 (216), and 600W PSU would seem to be most consistent for performance. PC P&P is probably the most reputable of PSU makers, so you needn't budget that much more power than you'll ever use.

I'd also go with Q9550 because, at stock, the likelihood of noticing extra frames on the E8500 is very small, whereas the reverse isn't true any more with some recent games. Additionally, the next upgrade to your CPU would almost certainly involve changing the motherboard, and buying a Wolfdale now and upgrading to a future Penryn would not likely save you anything. So you have extra incentive to future proof your CPU.

 

[aevm]

Read this article, it might help you decide.
http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=775&p=2

Personally, I think a E8500 would be enough.

 

[wh3resmycar]

a 3ghz quad is as sweet as a fruitcake on christmas day.

 

[ainarssems]

don't forget about Q6600.

 

[icyicy]

If I were you I'd drop the motherboard, get an Asus P5Q (Pro if you want to overclock), E8500 with a decent aftermarket cooler and the GTX260 or an HD4870 and spend the money saved on beers. But that's just me.

 

[one-shot]

If I were you I'd drop the motherboard, get an Asus P5Q (Pro if you want to overclock), E8500 with a decent aftermarket cooler and the GTX260 or an HD4870 and spend the money saved on beers. But that's just me.

But you can't overclock the beers... I agree tho, spend the extra on beer, if you're over 21, if not, send me the extra money.

 

[roofus]

nice hardware selection warg. i would keep it all the same and choose the e8600. the 10X multiplier and the high overclock ceiling will keep you happy for a good while. i would dare say you will be ready to build another system before game companies start pumping out game titles that make use of multi-core CPU's.

 

[wargigas]

From the beefy power supply and the SLI motherboard, it looks like you want to leave open the possibility of an expansion.

A 4870 on a P45 motherboard would run a similar price tag at similar graphics performance, while improving memory and overclocking performance and allowing you to add a second 4870 later, for crossfire. Additionally, Crossfire currently beats SLI for scaling, and Radeons typically scale better at high resolutions, which is really the only reason you'd run two cards.

If I'm incorrect about your expansion plans, and you never plan to link a second card, then a P45, G260 (216), and 600W PSU would seem to be most consistent for performance. PC P&P is probably the most reputable of PSU makers, so you needn't budget that much more power than you'll ever use.

I'd also go with Q9550 because, at stock, the likelihood of noticing extra frames on the E8500 is very small, whereas the reverse isn't true any more with some recent games. Additionally, the next upgrade to your CPU would almost certainly involve changing the motherboard, and buying a Wolfdale now and upgrading to a future Penryn would not likely save you anything. So you have extra incentive to future proof your CPU.

Newegg currently has a nice combo deal for EVGA's nforce 750i FTW and the GTX 260. After the combo discount and the rebates it's $385.

The price on newegg for a Saphire HD 4870 w/ 1GB onboard ram + an ASUS P5Q Pro is also $385, although the EVGA combo also comes w/ Farcry 2, not that I really care about it.

However, this thread right here on TH http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-comparison,2007.html shows that on average across 8 games the GTX 260 beats out the HD 4870 using a single card and in SLI vs CF on 1680x1050 res and 1920x1200 res.

The difference, however is that those tests used an HD 4870 w/ 512MB Ram, and one on Newegg has 1GB Ram which I'm sure would give it a significant advantage. One of the GTX 260's big advantages over the regular 512MB HD 4870 is it's extra RAM. Take that away and I'm sure the HD 4870 would win hands down. Definitely something to consider, thanks for the tip.

One sad thing that I noted in that TH article is that neither SLI nor CF actually received much of an increase in FPS on most of the bench tests and in some cases actually showed a notable decline in FPS. This sort of makes me reconsider SLI (or CF) at all which yes is something I wanted leave my system open for in the future. The only thing this really changes, however, is the PSU I'd get but that PC P&C 750W Silencer is so cheap at $100 that there's little reason not to get it anyway.

 

[roofus]

EVGA is an awesome company. That accounts for something as well. Great service and support with a very active, helpful community of their own. As far as multiple card configurations, don't expect miracles lol. When I added my second 260, i gained 3k 3dmark points and some games i got marginal FPS increase and some great. Multi GPU is more about high detail, high resolution than dramatic FPS increase.

 

[mobius435]

I'm in a similar situation right now. I've got a 4870 and a X2 5600+. Performance is just fine for me in everything except for games. I can't decide between the Q6600, E8500, or if I should just pony up for the Q9550... I'm not big on overclocking, but I do overclock a little and I don't really want to buy an aftermarket cooler. Which is the better overclocker on stock cooling?

I'm leaning towards the E8500, but with my luck I have a feeling that if I get it all of a sudden game devs will get their collective rears in gear and start making multi-threaded games. What do you guys suggest? I am really torn on this one!

 

[wargigas]

I have a Thermaltake MaxOrb HSF btw which cools only 2 degress less than the Thermalright 120 Ultra which is one of the best as far as I know so I should be good for cooling if I chose to OC.

I've read elsewhere that the 8500 can be OCed to 3.8 w/out worrying about changing the voltages which is where it got too complicated for me without additional research. Same went for the q9550 OCed to 3.4 I think.

 

[kamkal]

go with the e8500

easily Oc'd to give you maximum gaming performance

 

[roofus]

what he said!

 

[aeiouandxyz]

Go with the E8500. You can always upgrade to the Q9550 or even the Q9650 assuming prices drop once Nahelem hits the scene. High end Nvidia chipsets are s**** compared to P45/X48 boards. You might not even get to 4 Ghz with a Nvidia board. Asus P5Q Pros are been known to reach 500 FSB with a C2D chip. ATI is better than Nvidia at the moment anyways. HD4870 1 GB FTW!!