Upgrading from E6320

[imported_Parasite]

I'm wondering about upgrading from my C2D E6320 thats OCed to 2.7GHz but im not sure whether I should get a Phenom 955 or the i3 540, all the benchmarks I've looked at show them as rather similar.

The system will mostly be used for playing games, surfing the net and watching movies.

Need advice on this so please share your $0.2 on this.

 

[Maximilian]

If you are dead set on those two i would pick the phenom, from the AT benches it edges out the i3 slightly in games.

If you are open to other cpu's a proper quad core i5 would be an excellent choice too, not the crappy dual core ones that are just overpriced i3's though.

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

Next upgrade you should think about a SB platform. 2500 or 2500k worth the extra 40usd over the phenoms

 

[imported_Parasite]

I know I should be looking at SB but I live in Iceland and they are really expensive over here, core i5 2300 costs me $290 for example while the Phenom 955 is at $166 and the i3 540 is at $150, I wont really have that much money anywhere in the close future so im looking at the best bang for the buck really.

 

[nanaki333]

haha.. love your user name.

i would go with the AMD given the option. what's the rest of your system going to look like?

 

[imported_Parasite]

Well ive almost decided to get a i5 750 and ASRock P55 Pro/USB3 ATX motherboard with 4GB of DDR3, but im wondering if you have any clue on how well this board overclocks?

 

[Spikesoldier]

Well ive almost decided to get a i5 750 and ASRock P55 Pro/USB3 ATX motherboard with 4GB of DDR3, but im wondering if you have any clue on how well this board overclocks?

you should have no problem getting 200blck with that board.

 

[PopCulture]

Pick the Phenom. For sure!

 

[AtenRa]

If you cant go for the SB i5-i7 then get the Phenom II X4 955 with a nice 8xx series chipset Motherboard, something like the ASUS M4A87TD/USB3.

Second option is to wait for the Intel Z68 chipset and get an SB i3 2100

 

[betasub]

i5 750 and ASRock P55 Pro/USB3 ATX motherboard with 4GB of DDR3

Nice choice. The i5-750 is a true quad, without the "new tax" on SB. You should be able to hit 200 BCLK if you switch off turbo, or or a little lower on the BCLK if you want to make use of the higher turbo multipliers.

 

[Gigantopithecus]

Why not just drop in a Q9450 or Q9550 if your current board supports them? That'd be substantially cheaper than anything mentioned already, and those perform about as well as the Phenom II...

 

[Vette73]

Yea I would wait. Worse case the prices of what you are looking at droop a bit when the Z68 and AMD 9xx AM3+ boards come out.