Gaming PC CPU ideas?

[RMSe17]

I currently have
Phenom II X4 940,
GA-MA790GP-UD4H,
4x 2GB OCZ Reaper DDR2 1066,
GeForce GTX285

I am looking for an upgrade, primarily because my video card is not performing up to my liking any more. Since GTX480 is running too hot, and 5870 is slower, I figure the best way to go is 2x GTX460. That requires a new mobo...

So, I have 3 options.
P55 with an i5-760
P55 with an i7-860
X58 with i7-930.

Obviously the 760 is the cheapest option, but is that chip fast enough to keep up with 2x GTX460? Also, is P55 suffecient for 2x GTX460, or do I need more PCIE lanes? I was looking at the comparison of X58 vs P55 gaming at tomshardware, and it seems that there is some difference, but they are using 2 Radeon 4870x2 and I am not sure how that stacks up against GTX460 as far as PCIE bandwidth needs...

If P55 is sufficient, does gaming benefit from hyperthreading? I am thinking SC2 and GTA4 might, but I am not sure.

Thanks!

 

[ZipSpeed]

Honestly, before you do any major overhauls, I would wait for the Radeon 6000 series which is up and coming. Your quad CPU @ 3 GHz is more than sufficient for gaming and I'd be hesitant upgrading that part of the platform. Have you considered overclocking your CPU?

 

[zagood]

CPU/GPU bottleneck discussion: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2111619

Going SLI, I'd want an X58 system. You don't NEED it, since the difference between x16/x16 and x8/x8 isn't significant, but there are other issues, like USB3 and SATA6 being disabled when using both PCI-e slots. It's a significant price difference between X58 and P55 so weigh what you want to accomplish carefully.

 

[exar333]

Sure an i7 is faster than your current system, but its not a huge upgrade. I would suggest getting a performance version of the 6xxx series, or getting a GTX480 refresh (GTX485?) when it is released. Overhauling your whole system doesn't make a lot of sense with a lot of new platforms being released in the next 3-4 months.

 

[PlasmaBomb]

Yeah socket 1056 is soon going to be a dead end with SB coming out in January.

 

[lsv]

Yeah socket 1056 is soon going to be a dead end with SB coming out in January.

Exactly that, wait a bit. Buy a high end 6series and a new Sandy Bridge i7 and BAM super ultra gaming machine for about the same price you would pay for an i7 right now.

 

[RMSe17]

Honestly, before you do any major overhauls, I would wait for the Radeon 6000 series which is up and coming. Your quad CPU @ 3 GHz is more than sufficient for gaming and I'd be hesitant upgrading that part of the platform. Have you considered overclocking your CPU?

Yea, with Radeon 6000 announced next week, I will know for sure what my plans are as far as waiting for Radeons or not.

CPU/GPU bottleneck discussion: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2111619

Going SLI, I'd want an X58 system. You don't NEED it, since the difference between x16/x16 and x8/x8 isn't significant, but there are other issues, like USB3 and SATA6 being disabled when using both PCI-e slots. It's a significant price difference between X58 and P55 so weigh what you want to accomplish carefully.

USB3 is probably not going to take off any time soon since there is still no official support from AMD/Intel chipsets, and Intel stated that they wont have it in Sandy bridge either...
SATA6 though would be nice to have. I have to figure out what the Turbo status is on 930.

Sure an i7 is faster than your current system, but its not a huge upgrade. I would suggest getting a performance version of the 6xxx series, or getting a GTX480 refresh (GTX485?) when it is released. Overhauling your whole system doesn't make a lot of sense with a lot of new platforms being released in the next 3-4 months.

i7's primary reason is for SLI setup, I know my CPU is still not obsolete, though obviously not the fastest. I will take a look at what AMD announces next week, but nVidia stated that GTX480 refresh is not due till next year, which means.. probably not first quarter.

Yeah socket 1056 is soon going to be a dead end with SB coming out in January.

I am not liking the whole locked fsb stuff and not being able to OC. Sure, the K chips will have unlocked multiplier, but if Wikipedia is accurate, the K chips are the fastest ones of each batch, which kinda defeats the whole point to me, and echo's of extreme edition. I think OC'd 760 or 930 will beat Sandy Bridge, plus there is still no date given on SB market availability. Given what Intel told us so far, I am not sold on SB.

Exactly that, wait a bit. Buy a high end 6series and a new Sandy Bridge i7 and BAM super ultra gaming machine for about the same price you would pay for an i7 right now.

Yea, I will wait to see what AMD states about 6 series, but I am not sold on SB just yet. Not with no OC potential on any of the lower end chips.

 

[Medikit]

Your current system is awesome.

 

[jihe]

I currently have
Phenom II X4 940,
GA-MA790GP-UD4H,
4x 2GB OCZ Reaper DDR2 1066,
GeForce GTX285

I am looking for an upgrade, primarily because my video card is not performing up to my liking any more. Since GTX480 is running too hot, and 5870 is slower, I figure the best way to go is 2x GTX460. That requires a new mobo...

So, I have 3 options.
P55 with an i5-760
P55 with an i7-860
X58 with i7-930.

Obviously the 760 is the cheapest option, but is that chip fast enough to keep up with 2x GTX460? Also, is P55 suffecient for 2x GTX460, or do I need more PCIE lanes? I was looking at the comparison of X58 vs P55 gaming at tomshardware, and it seems that there is some difference, but they are using 2 Radeon 4870x2 and I am not sure how that stacks up against GTX460 as far as PCIE bandwidth needs...

If P55 is sufficient, does gaming benefit from hyperthreading? I am thinking SC2 and GTA4 might, but I am not sure.

Thanks!

Seriously SLI is only ever worth it if you already have one card.

 

[nenforcer]

Seriously SLI is only ever worth it if you already have one card.

And a motherboard which already supports SLI!

He'd have to switch to an Intel system for SLI since recommending an nForce 980A is also a dead end platform with only 2 choices for mb's.

 

[MustangSVT]

what games and what resolution are u running them? curious what requires more power cause I'm still happy with my 3 year old rig. or was it 4

 

[RMSe17]

what games and what resolution are u running them? curious what requires more power cause I'm still happy with my 3 year old rig. or was it 4

I play at 1920x1080 since the time when I switched from my CRT to an LCD. Games I play include.. Crysis, Crysis Warhead, Mass Effect 2, GTA4, SC2, Borderlands, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (all 3), X3-Terran Conflict...

 

[RMSe17]

Seriously SLI is only ever worth it if you already have one card.

In terms of initial purchase, yes. However, looking at GTX480 vs 2xGTX460, the total power used vs performance, the 2xGTX460 give a lot more performance per power used and per heat generated.