AMD Athlon II X4 640 + 6950 or 2500k + GTX460/560

[endlessmike133]

my main concern is game performance and i'm gonna be playing at 1080p.


the amd + 6950 would be cheaper and would play games better than the 2500k + gtx 460/560 if im not mistaken.

it's either i get the 2500k and upgrade my GPU a year from now or get the AMD and upgrade my CPU a year from now (probably with the enthusiast bracket sandy bridge)

i cant think of any reason i should go with the sandy bridge; i guess it'd make me feel cool or something?

 

[Castiel]

2500k 560 all the way

 

[soccerballtux]

get the rig with the better video card. People are more happy this way usually.

 

[DaveSimmons]

The 560 isn't out yet, but the 460 is decent at 1080p for most games except Crysis.

The 2500K pummels the Athlon in gaming, and it's much easier to swap out the GPU than replace the CPU and reinstall Windows.

So: I'd go with a 2500K and look for the best deal on a 5850, 6850, 6870, GTX 460, or GTX 560.

 

[adairusmc]

No question, 2500k and whatever video card you can afford.

 

[endlessmike133]

No question, 2500k and whatever video card you can afford.

why is this no question though? if my main purpose is gaming shouldnt i go for the best GPU and then get a decent enough CPU?

 

[DaveSimmons]

Maybe, if you don't mind replacing the CPU in 1-2 years.

The 2500K approach is more CPU than you need + a good enough CPU.

Of course the third option is to save up another $150 and do both.

 

[Termie]

You'll be hugely bottlenecked on an Athlon II X4 640. It's way slower than the Phenom II that's destroyed by the 2500 in this test: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i5-2500-2400-2300_7.html#sect0.

And while some people will be tempted to say "oh, you'll get perfectly good framerates on an Athlon, your minimums will just be a little lower," take a look at the numbers for Starcraft, RUSE, and Metro 2033. Not a chance. The i5/i7 kills AMD in modern games.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

You should consider the i5 2300, 2400, or 2500 as well. Even non-overclocked they are much faster than an Athlon X4.

Also I'm not sure why you lump the 460 and 560 together. I expect there to be a decent price gap between them. The 460 is below $200 and the 560 will most likely be above $200.

But to answer your question, it really depends on what games you are playing.

 

[Termie]

Your whole comparison is actually pretty skewed, as you acknowledge by saying the Athlon is cheaper overall. Why not compare similar price ranges? The Athlon platform is $170 and the 6950 is $290. The SB platform is $350 and the GTX460 is $170.

If you were going AMD, at least you'd get the PII X4 955, right? Now you're talking the same cost overall, and it becomes a much more interesting question.

I think the Sandy Bridge still wins as the better investment, but it's more apples-to-apples.

 

[SolMiester]

The 560 isn't out yet, but the 460 is decent at 1080p for most games except Crysis.

The 2500K pummels the Athlon in gaming, and it's much easier to swap out the GPU than replace the CPU and reinstall Windows.

So: I'd go with a 2500K and look for the best deal on a 5850, 6850, 6870, GTX 460, or GTX 560.

Absolutely no competition, 2500k and GTX560

 

[fffblackmage]

2500K

Pairing a low-end CPU with high-end graphics just doesn't seem balanced to me.

 

[toyota]

You should consider the i5 2300, 2400, or 2500 as well. Even non-overclocked they are much faster than an Athlon X4.

Also I'm not sure why you lump the 460 and 560 together. I expect there to be a decent price gap between them. The 460 is below $200 and the 560 will most likely be above $200.

But to answer your question, it really depends on what games you are playing.

the overall price difference is so small between the i5 2300/2400 and 2500k build that they should not even be considered. a 2500k can oc really well it and will be viable well past the time you have forgotten about the extra $30-40 spent.

 

[namtran512]

Always go big on CPU/Mobo/Ram first, as you can simply just disable eye candy for most games to get it running decent on a solid video card.

 

[toyota]

Always go big on CPU/Mobo/Ram first, as you can simply just disable eye candy for most games to get it running decent on a solid video card.

well always go big in the bang for buck category for a cpu that will meet your needs now and for the next few years if possible. for example the 2600k costs 100 bucks more and will nothing more for gaming which is his purpose. the 2500k is THE cpu at the moment for building a gaming pc.

 

[Rifter]

2500k 560 all the way

First response nailed it! /thread

 

[Termie]

First response nailed it! /thread

Not really. 2500k/GTX560 is $140 more. Not a very interesting comparison to the Athlon/HD6950 setup. We could also say i7-980/GTX580SLI would be better, but that wouldn't really tell us much.

A more interesting question would be 2500k/GTX460 vs. PII955/HD6950, which would be the same price.

 

[Rifter]

Not really. 2500k/GTX560 is $140 more. Not a very interesting comparison to the Athlon/HD6950 setup. We could also say i7-980/GTX580SLI would be better, but that wouldn't really tell us much.

A more interesting question would be 2500k/GTX460 vs. PII955/HD6950, which would be the same price.

I completely agree with you, but that wasnt the OP's question

 

[Insomniator]

Well i think the overall point is, the Athlon X4 is not enough regardless of whatever else you get.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

I completely agree with you, but that wasnt the OP's question

The OP's question isn't very specific. There's a difference between a 460 and 560, yet he lumps them together.

 

[Rifter]

The OP's question isn't very specific. There's a difference between a 460 and 560, yet he lumps them together.

I know, im just saying i would go with the better CPU. AM3 is dead and its not going to get better than whats out now. 1155 should see ivy bridge for a future upgrade, and a sandy bridge is already a much better CPU than a phenom II. GPU's are easier to upgrade than whole platforms(CPU, mobo, ram)

 

[jiffylube1024]

As others have said, get the 2500K and whatever GPU you can afford.

The sandy bridge chip is so much faster, the whole computer should feel faster, if only a tiny bit. With or without overclocking the sandy bridge smokes the AMD, and uses MUCH less power (~40W idle and load).

A GTX 460 is decent but you could also look at a 6850 to pair with the sandy bridge.

 

[blanketyblank]

What you actually want is 2500K + 5870. I saw a saphhire model back at again at $200 so it will be better than a 460 for the money.

 

[GaiaHunter]

First it depends of the resolution - if you play 1080p with AA or higher the main bottleneck is the GPU, as seen in articles like this

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/athlon-ii-x3-440-gaming-performance,2619.html

or this http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-processor-core-i3-athlon-ii,2666.html

or even this http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i3-gaming,2588.html.

Second depends of the budget - you can get the AII X4 + motherboard+ ram for the same as the i5-2500k alone.

So the question would be more "what will offer better performance for gaming - AII X4 + GTX570/6970 or the i5-2500k+GTX460".

That will depend of the resolution and of the game. And by the way in the price range of the AII X4 you have the Phenom II X2 555/560/565, all good unlockers, and you have the Phenom II X4 810 and the Phenom II X4 925.

So going the AII X4 is a bad idea to start with.

As someone pointed though, in some cases the icore architecture is indeed better and will provide somewhat better minimums.

So it really depends on your budget, the games you play, resolution you play, etc.

I don't know the price of the GTX560 and the also upcoming 6950 1GB if they fit your budget they could be excellent options as would a 5870 at $200 and good match for the i5-2500k.

 

[toyota]

I guess there will always be a couple of people that make an excuse to get the weaker cpu platform. it makes NO sense to do an Athlon X4 build at this point no matter what resolution he is running. the Athlon X4 is already weaker than Intel's previous generation and cant even fully push a high end gpu in cpu intensive games today. a gpu can easily be upgraded so it makes more sense to go with the the vastly superior 2500k setup and gtx560 instead of the Athlon X4 and 6950.