New gaming CPU ?

[rezoacken]

Hello

My current spec is as follow :
Radeon 5870
Core 2 Duo E6550 on Asus PB5Plus
4G Ram

My CPU is soon to be 3.5 years old and I'm asking myself if this should be a good investment to change it.

I heard there are new intel processor (sandy bridge) on the way and it might not be a good idea to change now...

My purpose is to find a good quality/price ratio for a new CPU, bear in mind I may have to also change the mother board with the CPU and maybe the RAM (not sure there), so these must be taken into accounts for the budget.

I'm willing to go from 250$ to 400$ for the whole thing.

I'm not sure that I will be changing it for another 3 years, the GPU might change in 1 or 2 years though.

 

[popatim]

The sandy bridge cpus are already out but ther was a problem with their supporting chipset and those have been recalled so currently there are no motherboards to run the new chips (which are very strong performers btw). New motherboards should begin rolling out soon.

 

[rezoacken]

So you advise to wait for those new motherboards to be released ?

My other question was also to know if there is for me a real gain to wait for sandy bridge + mobo if I don't plan to change it for 3 years nor do have a huge budget ?

 

[rezoacken]

Yes but compared to "now available" processors (I believe the fixed motherboards for Sandy Bridge won't come before april right ?) and considering "I don't plan to change it for 3 years nor do have a huge budget" do you advise me to still wait ?

 

[rezoacken]

Ok thank you for every responses.

Should I still wait after they are released in fear of new problems or is there no chance intel will do the same mistake twice ?

Should I also reserve it for shortage ?

May be a stupid question but how will I know the new fixed motherboards from the default ones ?

 

[minitron815]

Fear for the shortage and the initial high cost. They don't sell old faulty boards but there are a lot of people that already purchased everything but a motherboard who are going to buy the boards out. Intel won't make the same $300 billion mistake twice.

If you need a computer in the next week or two go with an i5-760 + LGA 1156.

 

[marquis]

don't bother with intel , you'll be wasting your money ..with 400 dollars you can get the top of the line AMD 1100 T six core processors that runs at 3.3 Mhz and a top of the line AMD mother board GA-890GPA-UD3H .... you can then strip the other componets out of your old system and merge the two ... (if you wanted to save money you could go with an AMD 4 core but i always push the six because i think their a better value investment ) .

remember , building a computer isn't about having top of the line parts , it's about the software your going to be running on it .. unless your going to be running CS 5 on your computer you don't really need to worry about intel ...

 

[Wisecracker]

Hello

My current spec is as follow :
Radeon 5870
Core 2 Duo E6550 on Asus PB5Plus
4G Ram

My CPU is soon to be 3.5 years old and I'm asking myself if this should be a good investment to change it.

I heard there are new intel processor (sandy bridge) on the way and it might not be a good idea to change now...

My purpose is to find a good quality/price ratio for a new CPU, bear in mind I may have to also change the mother board with the CPU and maybe the RAM (not sure there), so these must be taken into accounts for the budget.

I'm willing to go from 250$ to 400$ for the whole thing.

I'm not sure that I will be changing it for another 3 years, the GPU might change in 1 or 2 years though.

That might be a problem.

You should consider an OC with the e6550 to tide you over for a while -- that will not be holding back your HD5870 very much at all. Save up some more money as time goes by.

In the next few months the SB Cougar point mobos will return to the market; a new 'z68' motherboard will arrive for SB; AMD will release their new AM3+ motherboards, the Bulldozer Zambezi CPU & the SB competitor - the Liano APU; and late this year Intel will release the SB-E processors.

The 'E' stands for 'Extreme' :lol: and that's most likely how hard it will hit your wallet!

 

[minitron815]

The i5-760 is faster than the 1100T and costs less.

Don't waste your time with AMD.

Again, if you can wait get a Sandy Bridge or bulldozer (if it ever comes out). If you can't wait go with the i5.

 

[rezoacken]

I don't see the point of X6 for gaming (my purpose)...

As far as I tried to follow advices I'm currently tuned toward waiting a few weeks for the new mobos for sand bridge then I will see if I can afford an i5 2500K.

If it's a lot more pricy than what I expected I will either turn myself toward the i5 1156 but it pains me to buy a dead socket or AMD solutions (phenom II X4 BE ?).

Any more thoughts ?

 

[minitron815]

The 760 is a beast and will be sufficient to power all video cards in any configuration for a while with some overclocking. It'll also cost a great deal less than the comparable Sandy Bridge solution until stock of motherboards reach demand which may take a while.

LGA 1156 allows you to use i7s with hyperthreading if you want a boost in multi-threaded applications.

The Phenom IIs are 2 generations behind; they are comparable to Core 2 Quads.

 

[ern88]

BTW, The new B3 LGA1155 Motherboards are now becoming available. Give it another week and they should be popping up on websites. I have already seen MSI 1155 boards out. I am waiting on ASUS personally. So, They will (and some are now) be available way before April.

 

[Wisecracker]

BTW, The new B3 LGA1155 Motherboards are now becoming available. Give it another week and they should be popping up on websites. I have already seen MSI 1155 boards out. I am waiting on ASUS personally. So, They will (and some are now) be available way before April.

Link or Fail :lol:

Whatever B3 you might find is 'special order' with a minimum wait of 3-4 weeks.

 

[ern88]

My bad sorry. Your correct wisecracker. It's back order. I fail LOL

 

[Wisecracker]

My bad sorry. Your correct wisecracker. It's back order. I fail LOL

[:jaydeejohn:5]

I've been accused of being the engineer on the Fail Train!

Intel is in a very dicey situation -- and it's not necessarily due to the 'recall' of Cougar Point. It's actually the re-release that will tie folks panties into a wadd.

If they show any real (or perceived) bias or favoritism to certain OEMs or distributors with the return of SB to market, some folks might get a bit cranky and lawyer-up.

So I suspect Intel will keep a tight lid on things to keep all the troops in line. If Intel sez sometime in April it will be some time in April. Someone steps out of line with an early re-release and the full force and effect of the Intel legal department will crush them like a bug - LOL


edit: No offense intended toward our Hindu Brothers and Sisters -- I meant bug squashing figuratively

 

[justin1989]

Typically I don't like getting into the intel/amd fanboy competitions. But I think I'm going to this time. To flat out say that the i5-760 is better, I can pull plenty of benchmarks out that prove otherwise in gaming. I personally have an i7-920 and it's a beast. But I by all means know the AMD six core counter part is a beast also. Nor does it get "out paced" in gaming by most intel quads.

 

[rezoacken]

Hello again,

I'm now looking at what deals I can find and a first draw on newegg gave me the following prices :

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 F3-12800CL8D-8GBRM
$134.99

MSI P67A-GD65 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
$179.99

Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost)
$228

So around 545$ total and i need a fan for it too.

Any advice on a way to lower he price of the whole deal, by getting aybe inferior items but with good value.

Edit : These should be CAN$ since it was taken from newegg.ca

 

[Wisecracker]

Asus M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X
AMD Phenom II X4 840 3.2GHz AM3 95W

That's around $235. Not sure why you feel like you need 2x4GB of RAMs -- you can save $60-$70 with 2x2GB 1333. You're in for less than $300 with your inferior AMD 790X AM3.

The XFX Radeon HD 5870 1GB is $220 going down. Jump when you feel froggy - they're moving out.

Inferior AMD FTW.

Even Better: If at any time in the next 12-18 months you feel held back by 2xHD5870s with the PhII 840, buy yourself a nice cooler and clock that sucker to 3.6GHz+ with the IMC/NB around 2500MHz. Should be easy for a 10%+ performance boost --- no telling how high that PhII 840 will OC with an AM3+ 990FX next summer.

Because, if that does not suit you, a Zamdozer upgrade probably will.

 

[Wisecracker]

Buying amd is a waste of money. 2500k or wait and save more money

Good plan.

[:jaydeejohn:5]

Spend more money on Intel for much less performance than 2xHD5870s with the PhII 840.

 

[oby20]

for 450usd, i think i7 2600 is over the budget. although its a very good choice, but if you are on a tight budget, just go with the i5 2300+intel h57 motherboard.
that is a very good choice to build around on a tight budget.

 

[BaronMatrix]

Hello

My current spec is as follow :
Radeon 5870
Core 2 Duo E6550 on Asus PB5Plus
4G Ram

My CPU is soon to be 3.5 years old and I'm asking myself if this should be a good investment to change it.

I heard there are new intel processor (sandy bridge) on the way and it might not be a good idea to change now...

My purpose is to find a good quality/price ratio for a new CPU, bear in mind I may have to also change the mother board with the CPU and maybe the RAM (not sure there), so these must be taken into accounts for the budget.

I'm willing to go from 250$ to 400$ for the whole thing.

I'm not sure that I will be changing it for another 3 years, the GPU might change in 1 or 2 years though.

Just a 3year GPU will be $200, so you may need to stagger your purchases. For the newer CPUs you have to buy new RAM and mobo. Any 2GHz dual core and above will run games (not CrySis) with a $200-250 GPU. SOme of the lower priced Intel chips don't have all of the features, but anythign above $150 ($100 for AMD) will work. 4GB of DDR3 1600 @ Newegg.com is only $100.

There's some good CPU\GPU combos too.


Also, the Vision branding from AMD will help you a lot as you can look at a system and see what's in it, then buy the mobo and CPU. Most review sites - even TomZ - don't just tell you what you can do with your money.

Testing a mid-range 5770 or GTX 450 with a $400+ CPU over-clocked to 3.5GHz doesn't help does it?