Better for Gaming?

[sm625]

Dont buy a 940 or a 955 and overclock it. Buy an i3 because overclocking is bad and it cant be done anyway. If you own an AM3 board, throw it in the trash and buy something that can take an i3. An i3 is faster than a 955 because a 955 cannot overclock and no one would ever overclock it.

Does the above cover all the stupidity?

 

[Shmee]

buy a 2600K

honestly, if you already have an AM3 board, just get an x6 and wait for IB-E or haswel.

 

[AdamK47]

Best is subjective only if you use subjective criteria. Performance vs cost calculations aren't subjective criteria.

Objective opinions are subjective.

 

[tweakboy]

i3-2120 vs Phenom II 980 or 1100T. An i3-2120 with a budget board (MSI H61M-E33?) will cost me $200, or $10-30 (negligible) more then the best AM3 chips. Which would be a more worthwhile upgrade for gaming at 1680x1050? I also plan on getting a 6870 or GTX560, or possibly waiting for the 7000 series gpus.

Go with 1100T and OC the heck out of it. Isn't that i3 just 2 core ? I know it doesn't have HT. Look the lower in resolution you go down the more a part the CPU plays.

This used to be the case 10 years ago, but now with GPU's literally more powerful then CPU's every gamer demands 1080p gaming with 8xAA 16x AF high quality ... for example......

Couple that 6 core phenom with a 6870. So your gear will all be AMD.

 

[fourdegrees11]

The more I've thought about it, the more it makes sense to just get a 1090T with a decent cooler, and hope to hit at least 3.8 ghz stable. If I can get at least 2 more solid years out of that CPU I would be happy. I do game at 1680x1050 and have no desire to upgrade my monitor. When I get home from vacation on friday I'll make sure I can flash my bios to the newest version before ordering the cpu. If I fail at that, then I guess i'll just get a SB rig haha.

I'm definitely going to wait on the 7000 series gpus also. I originally wanted to have everything upgraded for Skyrim, but it would be a horrible investment to buy a gpu one month before 28nm gpus hit the market.

 

[BD231]

of course the OP should go with an X6. from scratch though I would go i3. and power consumption is not hogwash as the X4 and X6 can use ridiculous amount of power when getting to 4.0. it looks like 3.8 is not much of an issue though here.

That 4.0 graph reads to me as you're not doing yourself any favors once you try and push past the wall, but I wouldn't say its indicitive of power consumption that's all. Its just showing you the chips clear inability to run at those speeds safely. You'd degrade a phenom II quickly at that wattage.

 

[tweakboy]

of course the OP should go with an X6. from scratch though I would go i3. and power consumption is not hogwash as the X4 and X6 can use ridiculous amount of power when getting to 4.0. it looks like 3.8 is not much of an issue though here.



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This is a freakin nice chart. Thank you my friend for posting it.

Im using 180w peak. Or am I incorrect hmmm

 

[exar333]

lol, so now that extra 200 watts is meaningless? you are hilarious and have no logic whatsoever. first your stand was that the X4 was cheaper when in reality its only a few bucks different. you then ignore the fact that it will consume about 200 watts more when oced to 3.8-4.0 to beat the i3. that will require a better psu and better cooler than what you need on the i3 setup. you are too blind to see that your setup is not the best bang for buck when all factors are considered. at least people like you keep AMD in business...

You forgot that excessive power consumption is only bad when Intel does it...

P4 space heater = POS
PhII space heater = beneficial 'space heater'

 

[GoStumpy]

Isn't that i3 just 2 core ? I know it doesn't have HT.

I'm pretty sure the i3 has Hyperthreading :whiste:

 

[Shmee]

ya it does And it actually helps the dual core Sb's quite a bit.