Budget intel build... now or wait?

[nyker96]

get a quad, skip the dual cores. on AMD side the 955BE for about $140 is excellent, Intel side the SB 2500k ($230) is the way to go, although corrected SB boards will be out in April I think.

 

[birthdaymonkey]

There should be a "CPU-NB" frequency setting or divider in your BIOS, along with a "CPU-NB voltage". I run my CPU-NB at 2400mhz, and I had to increase the CPU-NB voltage moderately.

Currently attempting this. I set my CPU-NB multi to 12 (FSB is currently at 203), and have been trying to get a stable voltage. I gave CPU-NB VID an extra .05, .075 and got rounding errors in Prime and a reboot, respectively. I thought the +0.075 would be the ticket, but I got the reboot after more than an hour. Currently Priming at +0.1v... hopefully third time's a charm.

SickBeast, how much extra juice did you have to give it to get it stable at 2400?

EDIT: +0.1 -> reboot after an hour

 

[Dadofamunky]

The Intel® Core™ I5 760 is a great processor to start your build around. You will find that the Core I5 760 should handle anything that Starcraft 2 can throw at it. If you match that up with a good video card and memory it should make a big difference on your playing experience.
Christian Wood
Intel Enthusiast Team

Sandy Bridge makes it obsolete at a similar price point.

 

[Dadofamunky]

For the love of god, plan your sale of the old components (dual-core socket 939 stuff can bring shocking $ on ebay, am2 a lot less so) ..

The Clarkdale i3s are all overpriced imho.

Heh. Just because people are asking $200 for an S939 4800+ doesn't mean anyone is bidding on them. I love mine but I doubt I could get $200 for the whole SYSTEM. Fact I know I couldn't 'cause I tried.

I do agree completely about the Clarkdale however.

 

[birthdaymonkey]

Situation resolved: I ended up picking up a used i5 750 and Asus P7P55D motherboard for the same amount a new i3 setup was going to cost me. Awaiting delivery of parts next week... Hoping for 3.6-4GHz, which should be fairly easy to achieve according to most of the posts I've read on overclocking the 750.

 

[bryanW1995]

Holy smokes you were right!

You can get a AM2 setup cheaper than 939!

Instead of giving my 939 Mb/cpu/memory to my GF I will sell it on ebay!

Guess she will have to get her own upgrades.:biggrin:

yeah, skt 939 stuff is gold these days. lots of people just assume that it will be cheaper to upgrade their skt 939 cpu/ram or replace the mobo instead of "splurging" for a new system that would probably not cost them any more than the replace/upgrade parts. of course, a very small % is probably people still using win 98/agp/etc for legacy games or some such.

@birthdaymonkey: you should be able to get pretty close to 4.0 with no issues whatsoever, that is a much better play than a dual imho. :thumbsup: