Best Bang For the Buck? (for gaming PC)

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Melkorus

Junior Member
Mar 2, 2010
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Hello,

OK, my core 2 e8400 is not cutting it any longer for my gaming needs, so I need to upgrade to something a bit better.

I'm looking at i7-920 and i7-930 (socket 1366), would those be worthwhile upgrades? Or should I look for something else? Perhaps one of the i7s on 1156 socket for better value?

As a sidenote..... why is i7-930 (2.8Ghz) $5 cheaper than i7-920 (2.6Ghz) on newegg? Is 930 handicapped in some way compared to 920? Would make sense if 930 was at least $20 more expensive instead of $5 cheaper.

P.S. I am willing to switch to AMD as well if the price/performance is right...lol...I'm gonna go to hell :D

Thanks,
Mel
 
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LoneNinja

Senior member
Jan 5, 2009
825
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If your concerned over price/performance and gaming is all your intending to do, well at least the primary thing, than I would grab an I5 750. AMD has great price/performance but they don't really have performance to match the I5/I7(Phenom II does come really close in gaming, gets blown away else where).

Not sure why the 930 is cheaper than the 920, but they're the same processor except the 930 is a newer speed bump. It's just newegg pricing, they usually have the older C2 Phenom II processors priced a little higher than the newer better C3 stepping. lol
 
DrMrLordX

DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
22,772
12,781
136
LoneNinja said:
(Phenom II does come really close in gaming, gets blown away else where).
Click to expand...

This statement is a little out-of-date. Thuban did a lot to help AMD close the gap with Bloomfield and Lynnfield in multithreaded apps, but did nothing to help AMD's gaming performance (other than present overclockers with a better overclocker than Deneb).
 
Sp12

Sp12

Senior member
Jun 12, 2010
799
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richierich1212 said:
How so?
Click to expand...

The Phenom 2 series has exceptional game performance, but in things like media encoding/folding, the i series has much better perclock performance.

With either CPU, you're going to end up GPU limited before they hit a CPU wall.

So if gaming is pretty much your only compute-heavy concern, and you don't have multiple GPUs, then a P2 is probably the best bang for buck.
 
richierich1212

richierich1212

Platinum Member
Jul 5, 2002
2,741
360
126
um encoding is where the Thubans do well. And in the case of folding, the only reason why the i7s do well there is because of -adv. If Stanford allowed the AMD hexa-cores -adv they would be about even.
 
RaistlinZ

RaistlinZ

Diamond Member
Oct 15, 2001
7,470
9
91
Doesn't the i5-750 trounce the 955 BE on most benchmarks? For gaming only, I'd opt for the Intel chips over the AMD. An i5-750/i7-860 would be sweet for gaming.
 
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LoneNinja

Senior member
Jan 5, 2009
825
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Sorry guys, was a bit sleep deprived on my previous post. When I said Phenom II looses to the I5 750 in most benchmarks, I was referring to Deneb and not Thuban. I should have clarified that.
 
RussianSensation

RussianSensation

Elite Member
Sep 5, 2003
19,458
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OBLAMA2009

OBLAMA2009

Diamond Member
Apr 17, 2008
6,574
3
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arent they coming out with an i5 760 soon. id wait a month for that if you want i5. but really i5 doenst make sense if you can get i7 at mc
 
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Bman123

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2008
3,221
1
81
You can get a q9550 and not have to change sockets or ram at all. It's only $179.99 at microcenter and it's simply drop in and go. Sell your e8400 for $80 and only pay $100 for the upgrade.
 
M

Melkorus

Junior Member
Mar 2, 2010
8
0
0
Well...what do you know, I noticed a lot of people mention Micro Center here on the forums, I never heard of them before, so I googled them, went to their site, and behold, there is a store like 2 miles from where I work :D.

So I browsed around for a bit, and what do I find? They got i7-930 for.....wait for it... $199!!!!!! That's crazy! Almost a $100 saving compared to new egg, so I'm gonna go there tomorrow and get one, I don't think I'll run into better deal anywhere else no point in waiting.

Now time to hunt for a bargain LGA 1366 motherboard :)

Thanks for all you responses guys, I'm very excited now!
 
DrMrLordX

DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
22,772
12,781
136
Is there something the i5-760 will do that the 750 won't, aside from the increase in CPU multi? It sounds to me like either CPU will be fine if/when overclocking comes into the picture. Maybe the 760 will be binned a little better.
 
toyota

toyota

Lifer
Apr 15, 2001
12,957
1
0
i5 750 is easily the best bang for buck gaming cpu if doing a new build from scratch. with overclocking its also got a lot of staying power to push those future gpu upgrades.
 
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RussianSensation

RussianSensation

Elite Member
Sep 5, 2003
19,458
765
126
Guys you realize a Core i5 750 is $190 at Microcenter and Core i7 860 is $230, while Core i7 930 is $200. At these prices, I would not choose the 750.
 
Axon

Axon

Platinum Member
Sep 25, 2003
2,541
1
76
Yeah, at $200 you really can't beat the i7 930. Just pair it up with an ASROCK Extreme X58. You don't need 6 gigs of RAM, but you can get it if you want.

They bumped the i7 860 to $230 at Microcenter? Disappointing.
 
D

daveymark

Lifer
Sep 15, 2003
10,573
1
0
what about the Phenom II X2 555 black edition?


that cpu plus ddr2 mobo is $99 at microcenter, same cpu with ddr3 mobo is $99 - $10 rebate @ fry's. Chances of unlocking the extra cores is pretty good, I had success on 3 different occasions. YMMV but if it works you're getting close to i5 equivalent plus the mobo for only $100. Fry's you can return the cpu if it doesn't unlock. Not to mention generally you can OC to 3.6ghz+ easily on air, and with an aftermarket cooler you can hit 4ghz with no problems.

IMO this is the absolute best bang for the buck out there if the cores unlock. take the extra $100 and put it towards your video card.

Fry's Deal:
http://latimes.p2ionline.com/shoppi...18622598&type=adv&area=ROP&adid=2415261&pop=1 (,-----typo, it says athlon but its phenom)

Microcenter deal:
http://www.microcenter.com/specials/...e=ACT_NON_BYO&

processor reviews :

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103846
 
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DrMrLordX

DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
22,772
12,781
136
That's a crazy-good deal on an x2 555 BE. They retail for $95+ in most online stores. As always, MC and Fry's are great if you've got physical access to their B&M stores.
 
D

DJFuji

Diamond Member
Oct 18, 1999
3,643
1
76
How will a 3.6-4ghz o/ced Phenom II X2 555 compare to an i7 930 overclocked in desktop apps, video encoding, and games?
 
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