[Need advice]What CPU should I get?

[borisvodofsky]

Fair enough. Thanks for all the help! Going to read around the forum for some info on overclocking in case I need to for anything.

Go buy the stuff right now, almost everyone here has the same intel setup.

We can get you to your overclock target within 2 hours.

 

[Don Karnage]

Fair enough. Thanks for all the help! Going to read around the forum for some info on overclocking in case I need to for anything.

Any questions feel free to PM me. I'm the MF overclocking master on this forum

 

[borisvodofsky]

AMD GPU = Good
AMD CPU = Bad

All you need to know.

As far as the gaming community is concerned.

AMD does not make CPUs.

They do not exist.



sigh..... // hyperventilate

 

[Phynaz]

If you go to microcenter, see if you can talk to a guy and get a 2500k combo with motherboard for < $300, sometimes they'll do it.

If it's a high end z68, pick that over a lower end z77

See my edit.

 

[borisvodofsky]

See my edit.

yea that's what I mean, see if you can get a different board, asus z77 pro or deluxe or v, but NOT the value / se edition.

More phases.

 

[Phynaz]

Nah, I'd be perfectly happy with the Z77 Asrock. They have a solid rep.

 

[Don Karnage]

yea that's what I mean, see if you can get a different board, asus z77 pro or deluxe or v, but NOT the value / se edition.

More phases.

Maximus V had 8 phase's and shamino has taken a 3770K past 6.7Ghz. Not all about the phases bro

 

[borisvodofsky]

Maximus V had 8 phase's and shamino has taken a 3770K past 6.7Ghz. Not all about the phases bro

overclocking is luck, but what i'm trying to iterate is the only feature WORTH comparing between these budget platform motherboards z68/z77 is Phases.

All those other fancy sounding but more/less useless features, like ssd caching, and wifi, that's just marketing fluff. :whiste:

 

[Ventanni]

Not to defend AMD, as Intel CPUs are clearly superior (hence why I have one), but I doubt the OP would notice the difference playing TF2 if he were using a Bulldozer or an Ivy Bridge. Not that there wouldn't be a measurable FPS difference, but not one to be noticed by the human eye. TF2 isn't exactly difficult on the hardware requirements.

With that said, the system Don suggested is clearly superior to anything you can buy already premade. The OP will be very happy with its performance, and then some.

 

[borisvodofsky]

Not to defend AMD, as Intel CPUs are clearly superior (hence why I have one), but I doubt the OP would notice the difference playing TF2 if he were using a Bulldozer or an Ivy Bridge. Not that there wouldn't be a measurable FPS difference, but not one to be noticed by the human eye. TF2 isn't exactly difficult on the hardware requirements.

With that said, the system Don suggested is clearly superior to anything you can buy already premade. The OP will be very happy with its performance, and then some.

With an Intel setup, there will be a significantly higher MINIMUM Frames per second.

The game will feel much smoother, because there will be far less frame dips, when the onscreen action gets extreme.

Given that TF2 if most often played with 32 people during busy hours, an Intel CPU is invaluable. ^_^

 

[Ferzerp]

Not to defend AMD, as Intel CPUs are clearly superior (hence why I have one), but I doubt the OP would notice the difference playing TF2 if he were using a Bulldozer or an Ivy Bridge. Not that there wouldn't be a measurable FPS difference, but not one to be noticed by the human eye. TF2 isn't exactly difficult on the hardware requirements.

With that said, the system Don suggested is clearly superior to anything you can buy already premade. The OP will be very happy with its performance, and then some.

Not noticing a difference in one particular app really isn't much of an excuse for buying an inferior product for similar money.

 

[AtenRa]

Hey this is my first post and I am looking for some insight into what processor I should get for my new pc I am building. I am on a budget and am trying to keep it around 800$ With this budget I am probably going to stick with AMD considering from what I have seen they are cheaper for what you get. But if there is an Intel out there with better bang for my buck, please share!
I want my pc to be able to run modern games like Guild Wars 2, Crisis 2, Arma 2/3, etc.
I want to choose between one of these 4 processors
AMD FX-4100 CPU (4x 3.60GHz/4MB L2 Cache)
AMD FX-6100 CPU (6x 3.30GHz/6MB L2 Cache)
AMD FX-8120 CPU (8x 3.10GHz/8MB L2 Cache)
AMD FX-8150 CPU (8x 3.60GHz/8MB L2 Cache)
I have been told that the 4100 has multithreading and that is good, but not supported by all games. I was also told that most of the time I won't even use the 8 cores if I get a 8000 series. So would my best choice be a 6100?
Since this is the CPU section, I won't go in depth into my video card choice but I think I am going to get the AMD Radeon HD 7770 - 1GB and my mother board will most likely be the Gigabyte GA-970A-D3 -- AMD 970 with 4 GB [2 GB X2] DDR3-1600 RAM .
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Please state what resolution and if you will play BF3 MP. For DX-11 games the HD7770 is too slow for 1080p gaming.

 

[Don Karnage]

Please state what resolution and if you will play BF3 MP. For DX-11 games the HD7770 is too slow for 1080p gaming.

I played BF3 with a 5770 on medium without issue so a 7770 will be fine

 

[AtenRa]

I played BF3 with a 5770 on medium without issue so a 7770 will be fine

You can also play BF3 on 6670 on low without issues but it is not the same as playing at High or Ultra

 

[borisvodofsky]

Please state what resolution and if you will play BF3 MP. For DX-11 games the HD7770 is too slow for 1080p gaming.

acheee achheeeemm... well you see, an amd processor is too slow to run games at any resolution.

I've read the information inside your blog, and those results are very skewed, further proving that amd can't game worth crap.

The benchmark runs in you sig, seems to be heavily biased information. I can't say this enough.


AMD faildozer is Garbage. :whiste:

 

[AtenRa]

Consider the following as well,

AMD FX-6200 Zambezi 3.8GHz (4.1GHz Turbo) + ASRock 970 EXTREME3 combo = $229,98

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.956260

G. Skill 8GB DDR3 1600 - 46.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231428

ASUS HD7850-DC2-2GD5 Radeon HD 7850 2GB = $259,99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121623

ENERMAX NAXN 82+ ENP650AWT B 650W ATX12V 80 PLUS BRONZE = $89,99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&amp;SID=u00000687

CPU + M/B Combo : Nice combination, you can OC that CPU at 4.2GHz with default Vcore and Default CPU Heat-sink. You can even upgrade to 8 core PileDriver CPU in the future.

GPU : HD7850 will allow you to play every game at 1080p with very high Image Quality settings, unlike the 7770.

PSU: More Watts + 80 Bronze, you will have the wattage to upgrade to higher GPU and or CPU in the future.

All that for only $15 more over the previous recommendation. I believe this is a much better and more balanced configuration for a Gaming system while keeping the cost close to the price you are willing to spend.

 

[lehtv]

@ ponyxslayer

Get a 7850. I recommend Sapphire, it has an excellent cooler and it's only $240. To afford it, you can back down to an i5-3550 $200 AP and Asrock B75 $72 AP with stock cooling. Overclocking only really matters when you're CPU bottlenecked anyway; 7850 will nearly double your framerates over 7770 with OC.

@ AtenRa

You're seriously suggesting FX-6200 over and i5 just to spend more on an overkill PSU?

 

[AtenRa]

@lehtv


I believe you missed the HD7850

Edit: The i5-3550 is nice too but i prefer to be able to OC without any limits.

 

[ShintaiDK]

@lehtv


I believe you missed the HD7850

Edit: The i5-3550 is nice too but i prefer to be able to OC without any limits.

You need to OC..alot to get the same performance. And at what, 3x the power consumption? AMD is just horrible in any way. AMD still sits back in 2006 performance.

 

[lehtv]

@lehtv


I believe you missed the HD7850

Edit: The i5-3550 is nice too but i prefer to be able to OC without any limits.

i5-3550 without OC >>> AMD FX with OC

 

[AtenRa]

i5-3550 without OC >>> AMD FX with OC

Since in most of the games he will be GPU limited even the FX6200 will be enough for the HD7850. I dont see why it should not even consider that CPU.

 

[lehtv]

Since in most of the games he will be GPU limited even the FX6200 will be enough for the HD7850. I dont see why it should not even consider that CPU.

Why not make that true in all games? If you can afford an i5, buy it and ensure good performance in all games. FX6100 will definitely bottleneck 7850 2GB in CPU limited games.

i5-3550 is a lot better and doesn't end up costing that much more. You also have to consider upgradeability. i5-3550 can handle the next GPU upgrade, FX-6100 can't. And you have to consider power consumption - like ShintaiDK said, FX6100 would need to be overclocked a lot to even approach the performance of an i5.

 

[Magic Carpet]

With an Intel setup, there will be a significantly higher MINIMUM Frames per second.

You will not get higher minimums, if I hand over to you my ancient Geforce 6200.

For the same money: Any FX processor w/ 7850 > any Intel w/ 7770 at 1080p.

Since in most of the games he will be GPU limited even the FX6200 will be enough for the HD7850. I dont see why it should not even consider that CPU.

Because, well, apparently, the word 'balance' is so hard to grasp, as it seems.

 

[KompuKare]

Sorry OP, but this is aimed at AtenRa:

seeing that you have actually reviewed and overclocked most of Bulldozers, how would a A6-3670k / A8-3870K compare to the FX-6100/FX-6200 when both are overclocked to achievable speeds?

With the price of Llano mobos and good power gating on both Llano and its mobos, Llano might tempt me. Trinity looks okay too but I expect that the desktop Trinitys will probably be released close to their max clockspeed and leave nothing on the table for tinkering. 2500K/3570K don't appeal to me since at those prices overclocking is no longer fun.

To the OP:
Even with a $800 budget, for any gaming the 7850 is a far better bet than the 7770 even if you reduce your CPU budget. If you looked at something like the i3-2100:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/288?vs=289
You'll notice that the 2500K appears a lot faster but if you scroll down to games, the difference isn't that much and here the price is something like £90 vs £150. Of course, future games may become more CPU limited but most of the games in Bench are not.

 

[AtenRa]

Why not make that true in all games? If you can afford an i5, buy it and ensure good performance in all games. FX6100 will definitely bottleneck 7850 2GB in CPU limited games.

I have recommended the FX6200 which is clocked at 3.8GHz base. This CPU even in default will not bottleneck the HD7850. SC2 is an exception to the rule but even a 4GHz Core i will be the bottleneck in that game.

You also have to consider upgradeability. i5-3550 can handle the next GPU upgrade, FX-6100 can't.

FX6200 will not bottleneck even the HD7970 in most of the games. Games tend to be more GPU bound all the time.

And you have to consider power consumption - like ShintaiDK said, FX6100 would need to be overclocked a lot to even approach the performance of an i5.

The power consumption in default clocks is not that high. We are talking a few dollars per year maximum. But yes, if you consider this as a high priority then the Core i5 3550 is better.

As i have said before, the Core i5 3550 is a nice CPU. I just prefer a CPU that i can OC with no limits and play with it.