Please Recommend A CPU

[mentos]

I haven't upgraded in years and am finally looking at overhauling my aging 6300 c2d.

I have already purchased the video card, a 2gb 6950 from a 4850.

i like the 6 core options from amd from the 1055 to the 1100

which processor do you gurus think would give me the best value for my money? how much of an improvement will i see from everyday use?

i game occasionally but prefer my 360.

thx!!

 

[betasub]

Well, the standard recommendation to drive a 6950 would be the i5-2500k.

But you need to provide more information about your usage profile and view on overclocking. Six cores, or HT, maybe benefit specialist workloads or particular apps, but for general power usage Intel's fast Sandybridge quads are great; AMD's quads are good if you are on a tight budget.

"how much of an improvement?" again depends on your usage profile. Improvement by what metric or benchmark?

 

[mentos]

you would recommend a i5 over the 6 core series? the 6 cores are too powerful or not powerful enough to drive that card?

i like media stuff, watching movies 1080p and photoshop. i play occasional shooters, dead space 2, black ops etc.

i always have many programs running in the backgound so i do a lot of multi tasking stuff.

i also have a vertex2 120gb. im lookng for great windows speed.

thx!

 

[aigomorla]

you would recommend a i5 over the 6 core series? the 6 cores are too powerful or not powerful enough to drive that card?

i like media stuff, watching movies 1080p and photoshop. i play occasional shooters, dead space 2, black ops etc.

i always have many programs running in the backgound so i do a lot of multi tasking stuff.

i also have a vertex2 120gb. im lookng for great windows speed.

thx!

AMD doesnt have anything to fight against sandy bridge.

Sandy bridge is a 4 core, but it has 8 workable threads, though Hyper Threading on the 2600K.

And in your wants.. Sandy bridge is a better option if it fits your budget.

Also AMD doesnt have a IDE controller which can compete against the ICH10R (or am i wrong? Anyone care to correct this statement?),
which Sandy bridge offers, so you will gain the most benifit from your SSD + GPU though sandy bridge.


Lastly, incase u ever want to add another gpu, Sandy bridge offers BOTH SLI and XFIRE.

This is something AMD hasnt acquired yet.



Dont get me wrong... the AMD system is a solid system.
But if your going after the best, and it fits your budget, the intel offers are better.

 

[mentos]

thanks for the input. but seeing as intel is more expensive, id rather stay in the price range of the 6 core amds.

i just don't know which model offers the best value.

on a side note, if i migrate to amd, will my ssd perform poorly compared to the current chipset controller of the ich7? right now i get the advertised read and writed of the vertex2.

if intel offers a price similar to amd 6 cores with equal performance i will consider it.

the current choices out there are overwhelming and i have been out of the loop for some time.

it took me 2 weeks just to research the video card and i didnt ask any questions!

this time around i need to cut to the chase and save time and make a decision!

thx

 

[mnewsham]

Motherboard

CPU

RAM


Total $389.97

That will crush ANY AMD 6 core out there in gaming or regular PC usage and would probably kick it's ass in highly threaded tasks as well.

 

[BD231]

You'd take a six core AMD over a Quad I5/i7!?!?!?!?!?

That's a huge mistake

 

[Cerb]

Also AMD doesnt have a IDE controller which can compete against the ICH10R (or am i wrong? Anyone care to correct this statement?),
which Sandy bridge offers, so you will gain the most benifit from your SSD + GPU though sandy bridge.

Yes. It's the other way around: Intel no longer has an IDE controller to compete with AMD, and quite frankly, I think it's about time AMD started saving their IO pins. ()

On a less smartassy note, Intel's ICH offers better SSD performance than AMD's, though both offer in excess of an order of magnitude of performance increase over the fastest mechanical drives (sequential results are just for epeen comparisons, IMO: 4k random tests show real capability).

thanks for the input. but seeing as intel is more expensive, id rather stay in the price range of the 6 core amds.

Your video card purchase, and looking at the 6-core AMDs, clearly shows that you're willing to spend that much. If not, then you should probably return the video card and get something lesser, because it will not do any good to have such a nice video card, and not be able to feed it.

An i5 costs $30-60 more than a 1100T, due to not having cheap motherboard options w/ 4 DDR3 slots. That difference in total system cost is far below the performance delta between them, stock or overclocked.

Prior to SB, the 6-core Phenom IIs had promise for some users. SB rained on that parade. If you can afford a 2GB 6950 and a Phenom II, you can afford a SB i5.

 

[Concillian]

thanks for the input. but seeing as intel is more expensive, id rather stay in the price range of the 6 core amds.

i just don't know which model offers the best value.

1090T = 200
i5-2500 = 210
i5-2500k = 220

They are in the same price range... and the i5 is faster for almost everything.

 

[mentos]

great input so far!

is there a big difference between:

Intel Core I5 2500K Quad Core Unlocked Processor LGA1155 3.3GHZ Sandy Bridge 6MB

and

Intel Core I5 2500 Quad Core Processor LGA1155 3.3GHZ Sandy Bridge 6MB

and

Intel Core I5 2400 Quad Core Processor LGA1155 3.1GHZ Sandy Bridge 6MB

also whats it mean with K at the end of the number?

i mean, i was looking at amd to save money so howabout these options?

 

[gevorg]

Go with AMD 6 core only if you have a MicroCenter around you, and you're on a tight budget:

http://www.microcenter.com/specials/...ndlePROMO.html

 

[Cerb]

SB uses the CPU's base clock for other things on the chipset (remember the days when OCing the bus OCed PCI and everything else? It's like that all over again), so even a minor OC of the clock speed can cause disastrous problems. The K series CPUs give you freedom to up the multiplier of the CPU, allowing you to overclock it by that alone.

 

[mentos]

those are good prices, but i am in canada.

thx for hunting a deal for me!

 

[aigomorla]

Yes. It's the other way around: Intel no longer has an IDE controller to compete with AMD, and quite frankly, I think it's about time AMD started saving their IO pins. ()

On a less smartassy note, Intel's ICH offers better SSD performance than AMD's, though both offer in excess of an order of magnitude of performance increase over the fastest mechanical drives (sequential results are just for epeen comparisons, IMO: 4k random tests show real capability)..

oh didnt know this.

So amd has the better controller, but intel's is only more optimized for SSD?

thanks for the input. but seeing as intel is more expensive, id rather stay in the price range of the 6 core amds.

i just don't know which model offers the best value.

thx

Then i think we should all respect his decision.

There is nothing wrong with a X6, there solid cpu's and worth every last dollar you spend in it.
Just be aware, that intel's SB 4core offerings will be faster, so when you see an SB 4 core beating your 6 core, its normal.

To answer your question on which X6, are you willing to learn how to overclock?
If you are, then the 1090T Black Edition wins hands down...

If your not... then i would probably just get the 1055T, as you probably wont notice the speed difference.

those are good prices, but i am in canada.

thx for hunting a deal for me!

So wait now were going back to sandy bridge? LOL...

also whats it mean with K at the end of the number?

K = unlocked multi.
You need this if you want to overclock on Sandy Bridge, because Bclk overclocking is near non existent.




Lastly... anyone know if AMD chipsets supports TRIM?

 

[mentos]

SB uses the CPU's base clock for other things on the chipset, so even a minor OC of the clock speed can cause disastrous problems. The K series CPUs give you freedom to up the multiplier of the CPU, allowing you to overclock it by that alone.

thanks for making that clear. i did overclock my 6300 from 1.8 to 3.14 for years so i am open to playing with its speed!

i guess the only thing left to do is chose which board to get.

last question, which board regarless of which chip i chose, should i get?

 

[Cerb]

thanks for making that clear. i did overclock my 6300 from 1.8 to 3.14 for years so i am open to playing with its speed!

That's pretty nice for a 6300!

Given that boards are just trickling back in, and I haven't done any 6-series Intel builds, I'll leave that recommendation to others.

 

[mnewsham]

Any P67 motherboard For what you are doing a 140-150 should be fine.

 

[mentos]

ok, one last question!

which cpu would destroy aprogram like winrar:

the 2500k or the 1090?

this is the deciding factor cuz the 2500k is about $30 more expensive and that money i wanted to put towards more ram.

thanks to all the input. this was my first post/thread and am blown away by the responses and knowledge on this forum.

 

[Cerb]

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/288?vs=203

Do a find on Winrar...as you can see, there's really no comparison. If you're concerned about RAM, my rec would be to get a board w/ 4 slots, and get 4GB now, and move to 8GB later.

 

[mnewsham]

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/203?vs=288

As seen there comparing the HIGHEST 6 core AMD CPU the 1100BE against the i5-2500k the i5-2500k wins in almost EVERY benchmark.


EDIT: Ninga'd

 

[betasub]

^ Yes, to return to my original statement @ #2, there are a few specialist cases where the extra cores on the AMD 6core give it an edge, but across the board the SandyBridge "flat 4"cores (no HT) of the i5 perform better. On OP's budget, with overclocking, the i5-2500k is my recommendation. On a tighter budget, look at AMD's quads (priced sensibly lower that the 6core).

 

[gammaray]

Mentos,

even tho you seem to like AMD, right now, Intel is the better choice. If AMD would drop is X6 by 50% then it would be hard to decide.

 

[Elixer]

oh didnt know this.

So amd has the better controller, but intel's is only more optimized for SSD?

The controller on the yet to be released Z series of boards is the one that will be optimized for SSDs.

There is nothing wrong with a X6, there solid cpu's and worth every last dollar you spend in it.
Just be aware, that intel's SB 4core offerings will be faster, so when you see an SB 4 core beating your 6 core, its normal.

Not if all he does is run winrar... then 6 cores are better.
Anything that can use the extra cores will be faster than 4 cores

Lastly... anyone know if AMD chipsets supports TRIM?

Yes, AMD's drivers (AHCI) do support TRIM commands.

ok, one last question!

which cpu would destroy aprogram like winrar:

the 2500k or the 1090?

this is the deciding factor cuz the 2500k is about $30 more expensive and that money i wanted to put towards more ram.

thanks to all the input. this was my first post/thread and am blown away by the responses and knowledge on this forum.

winrar ? What the heck do you do that, that is your #1 application you are going to use as the deciding factor ?

Just list the top 10 applications you run, list the amount of $$$ you want to spend, and what is your timeframe for all this ?

IMO, you are still OK with your old system (depending on what your running ), and if you can wait until summer, then your options will be MUCH better with AMD's new bulldozer line which should be out then.
If it is good, the intel will drop prices on the 2X00K chips. If not, AMD will set the price accordingly, and you will end up with much more bang for the buck.