Whats a very good Core 2 Processor for a gaming rig thats $4500

[MraK]

Hello Everyone, I am currently building a new gaming rig for myself and I was leaning to make use of a high-end Quad Core processor (Intel) but most of what I have researched on is that Dual Core is where a gamer would benefit most from for the time being until some few years from now. For now I?ll be considering a Core 2 Duo. As for my budget I am currently staying away from the extreme versions and basically to add it all up I just want to make use of the processor to last me at least 2 years since the trend of game requirements aren?t so demanding every few months, well that?s just me.

Question: What?s the best processor for gaming that will last for 1-2 years ahead in gaming? (Intel of course) and thats very overclockable.

My current budget right now is around $4500 grand, including the Monitor

CPU: That?s the Question
Motherboard: Was thinking of the 790i SLI boards or probably wait till the 890i (that if their will ever be one like that by the end of this year lol
Memory: CORSAIR TW3X4G1600C9DHX 4gb kit (4gb x 2) 1600mhz DDR3
Videocard: Dual or even Tri if possible GTX280s, waiting till it comes out (last week of June I believe)
Optical Drive: PIONEER BDC-2202B blu-ray SATA combo DVD rw+ blu-ray player
Casing: Antec Twelve Hundred *Full-tower*
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling TURBO-COOL 1KW-SR EPS12V 1000W
Monitor: Samsung 275T 27? inch HDMI-LCD
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit system
Aftermarket Cooling: Zalman CNPS9700 NT CPU Cooler (not familiar with what watercooling brands are the best, maybe you guys could help me on that department)

Any other suggestions would help me a lot, Thanks in advance



MOD EDIT #2: Thread continued here. - Zap

 

[zsdersw]

E8400 or higher in the E8x00 series would be my choice.

 

[o1die]

If you want the best, you can go with the new 9650 and an x48 board. Fry's has them in today's ad for $998, so the gigabyte board is free, but as usual, it's in stores only. I would wait for nehalem; your current system is very good.

 

[MraK]

zsdersw,

Yea i was kinda leaning to the e8400 but i heard you could get better OC with the e8500 and for me as long as i could get the CPU to at least 4Ghz i would be very happy indeed (Gamerwize). Thanks for the suggestion

o1die,

i heard of the nehalem, whats new and exciting about that processor? When you said "system" did you mean the rig i currently have *my sig* or the one im planning to put together?

 

[Tempered81]

qx9650, e8500, or e8400. If you're waiting til august, E8600. Thermalright Ultra 120/ extreme for the cpu cooler with a twin fan push-pull config & rear exhaust would be my cooler choice.


790i & TRI SLI GTX280's is going to rox the house.

3 gtx280s = $1800

1 qx9650 = $950


790i = $280

 

[DarkRogue]

+1 for the vote to wait for Nehalem here.

Your system looks quite good, definitely well enough to run games until it comes out. With that kind of budget, I'm sure you could be a first adopter and still have some cash left over. Even if Nehalem flops, the option is there to get the better C2D/C2Q processors that aren't out yet.

 

[MraK]

jaredpace,

hmmm e8600 huh, now thats seems to be more interesting, and august you say, maybe that enough time to wait while i read reviews for the new card for the next few months. Thermalright, i always hear is a really great brand, I think i will stick to that. and with TRI-SLI with GTX280s is probably a huge waste of money, i mean yea i would get bragging rights but it would be an overkill. you also mentioned the qx9650, aren't quads slower than the duals when it comes to current gaming?

DarkRogue,

Nehalem, could you tell me more about it, i hear that everywhere *not in the literal sense of course*.

 

[Foxery]

Nehalem is simply the next generation CPU. Call it Core3, or whatever the marketing department comes up with.

You won't be able to get significantly faster than your current CPU+RAM for a while. If you're just itching to spend money to stay on top, stick something like a Q9550 (Quad core, 45nm, 2.83ghz and overclockable) into your existing board, and the same with video cards when the new models arrive.

Rebuilding your entire system is just lighting your wallet on fire at this point. DDR3 and a new motherboard really don't do anything for you. Take yourself out to dinner

 

[Winterpool]

$4500? Do you work in the City or Wall St? Perhaps for a hedge fund? Hoo!

Some of those items are just spending money to spend it, and quite apart from spending the money on something more important (women, wine, the truly needy), if you're going to expend thousands on your computer system, I'd use it on the display(s) or the cpu. How good is that Samsung? Cost about a grand, no? You can get a 26-inch S-IPS panel from NEC for about $1200. Spending a little more you can enter 30-inch territory.

Meanwhile, as others have suggested, you could push another grand at a QX9650, quadcore 45nm at stock 3 GHz, unlocked multiplier. Punters here have overclocked to 4 GHz.

Rumours (possibly baseless) are that nVidia's GT200-based cards are going to be very big and very hot. We'll see.

Nehalem won't be cheap and may not substantially outperform, say, a well overclocked Penryn until some time has passed. But with a multi-grand budget, you do seem like an ideal candidate for Nehalem. You can tell the rest of us then if it's worth it!

Edited: your budget got me to wondering... I think it's about the cost of an HP Blackbird. I wonder what they come kitted out with these days.

 

[taltamir]

with that kind of budget? E8500 (unless a faster one came out since).
E8400 is much cheaper and only slightly slower. But the E8500 is the fastest dual core on the planet. And it can OC the highest.

o1die is smoking crack if he thinks a 2.3ghz quad core phenom is even remotely close to being a "gamers best choice".

DDR2 ram is great for right now, i'd go with 4GB minimum.

Video cards.. I really have to say to wait until the 4870 and the GTX 280 come out in two weeks.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

stop crossposting...
theres one of your threads in a few other subforums

 

[DarkRogue]

As others have said, Nehalem is simply the next CPU from Intel. Actually it's a new microarchitecture, so it's the start of the next CPU socket, LGA-775's days are numbered (If you want to keep up with technology.. for me, this rig will have to last another 4-5 years.)

Anyway, my reasoning is that your current rig seems good enough to tackle pretty much most of today's games and applications quite well - I simply don't see a reason for you to upgrade. Save your money, grab Nehalem when it comes out - it will be expensive but your 4500 budget allows for it - and by then it will probably be a good upgrade to run whatever comes out then.

If you absolutely must upgrade now, the only thing I would suggest is upgrading your ram from 2GB to 4GB. That's about it..

 

[sgrinavi]

Two things to consider

1. Wait until you are ready to spend the cash to spec out your system, prices AND components are too dynamic

2. If you are building a KFA system that is going to last two years then a quad core would probably be a smart move since more apps / games are moving in that direction

 

[o1die]

The 9650 is the top of the line currently. Some folks want the best, no matter what the cost. The Fry's deal isn't bad. Or you can enter the newegg contest to win one, if they haven't already selected the winners.

 

[Acanthus]

There is no appropriate gaming rig for that budget.

 

[RapidSnail]

Originally posted by: MrAK
my whole system would definitely be a huge waste of money, i mean yea i would get bragging rights but it would be an overkill.

Accuracy++

 

[MraK]

Foxery,

So do you think i should just stick with the best high performance DDR2s for now, saying 8GBs, since DDRs are getting really cheap nowadays? And with motherboards, since im planning to get dual GTX280s, i should stick to a 7x0i motherboard? (for SLI purposes). I kind of agree with you with the DDR3 statement you wrote, i guess your right.

Winterpool,

Actually I work in a Car dealership and that with these kind of funds, lets just say i was planning ahead since the beginning of this year lol. Could you suggest what 30inch monitor is the most dependable and that has HDMI at least? As for CPUs which is the main thing in this topic, to be safe and sure i should just get me a Quad extreme? and lastly whens Nehalem coming out?

taltamir,

I was just thinking recently on getting a e8500 yet some are saying to stick with a high-end CPU (coz of my budget) since i can see that you have been posting alot, should i stick with the duals or head on over to the Quads instead? As for memory, would it be seriously overkill if i just got 8GB since DDR2 memory is getting more cheaper? And as for video cards im gonna wait and see how the GTX280 turns out to be.

LOUISSSS,

Sorry about "crossposting" these topics on the other threads were meant to focus on one part of my overall future gaming rig, as you could see im still kinda new to forums and such and that i just was asking for some solid advice from all the other people here.

DarkRogue,

This Nehalem processor that everyone is talking about is giving me the chills, good chills of course. When is is coming out? As for my current rig, the reason for building a new one is because my baby-sister just graduated from high school and I'm giving this rig to her as a gift thats why.

sgrinavi,

1) i am ready to spend it, its just with the GTX280s and Nehalem coming out, im not too sure if i should get anything right now. 2) Someone posted i should stick with a high-end Quad to future proof my rig, since my budget could handle it.

Acanthus,

hmmm can you elaborate with what you are saying? my budget is not enough? (just curious)

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

As long as they don't start making games like Crysis in the next few years, you will do fine with what you have. Stop reading these forums about people upgrading.

Don't forget about the law of diminishing marginal utility with those bragging rights, they come with it too

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

wtf double post - hah

 

[Dadofamunky]

Man, with a $4500 budget, I'd go with an e8500, and get myself a 30-inch Dell with the biggest baddest video card possible. 8 Gigs RAM too. Even after that I think you'll still have money left over to send me for my next upgrade (oops, I mean for you to sock away in the bank heh heh... )

 

[RussianSensation]

To be honest I would MUCH rather buy 3 $1500 computers over the next 4 years than 1 $4500 computer today that'll cost $500 in 3 years. About the only 2 components truly worth spending $ on would be the Monitor and Speakers.

I'd get a 37-42 inch LCD like 1080P Phillips 42 inch and a decent sound system like ONKYO HT-S990 THX 7.1 - $580

I'd wait for new gen cards in June though before I put the rest of it together.

 

[Tempered81]

you could break your 4500 into two ~2000 budgets


pick up the monitor now


buy an e8400 & two 8800gts 512's for sli

when nehalem & gt200 mature, spend the next 2 grand on that.

edit: nm this is the same thing russian just said in the post above me! and probably the most sensible way to enjoy 3 years of top-notch gaming rigs.

 

[DarkRogue]

I see, didn't know you were giving the rig away, that was most of the reason we're advising against upgrading. If you're giving the rig away, then fine that's reason enough to upgrade. However, if you need something soon, then you can't really afford to wait for the new stuff to come out. If you can hold out a month or so, the new video cards come out. Nehalem won't be out until the end of this year / start of 2009.

As others have said, it makes more sense financially to buy 2 good 1-2k rigs over a span of 4 years rather than spend insane amounts right now for a rig that will easily be matched by a budget system in 2-3 years. Technology moves quickly these days and prices start overly high and drop fast.

I don't quite understand that comment about working in a car dealership though. I mean sure you should make a good deal of money off the cars you sell, but with recent gas prices going up, I can't see too many people rushing out to buy cars (or at least I would assume it's slowing down. I don't work in the car industry so I wouldn't know though. And this is an OT remark.)

Anyway, quad core will somewhat "future proof" your purchase, but IIRC Nehalem debuts with 6 cores? As of right now though, most games utilize 2 cores. There will be the occasional game that supports 4 cores, but right now they're few and far in between. In the coming months, perhaps that will change, as quad cores proliferate.

If you can afford the RAM, go ahead and get 8GB of DDR2, DDR3 won't really net you much until Nehalem comes out, after which, DDR3 is required on that platform.
If you're planning SLI, yes the nVIDIA 7x0i chipsets are your only choice (aside from skulltrail.) However, if you plan on SLI I believe the recommendation is do it from the very beginning, SLI is not a viable "upgrade path." By the time you decide to upgrade into SLI, there will be a single card out to beat your SLI.

Monitor and Speakers are for the most part what you really want to invest in if you're upgrading them, because they should last many, many years.

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: MrAK
Acanthus,

hmmm can you elaborate with what you are saying? my budget is not enough? (just curious)

Its just far too much money to spend on a rig.

Once you cross the $2000 mark, you get into the realm of diminishing returns for your money...

A well designed $2000 rig will be literally 0-10% behind a system twice its cost. There wont be a single thing the $4500 rig can do that the $2000 rig cant do acceptably.

Unless you're talking about *VERY* expensive displays and playing nothing but crysis.

As others have said, my reccomendation would be to build two high end systems now... or buy a $2000 system now and upgrade as technology advances.

For an example of what im getting at, whats does a 6800 Ultra SLI system compare to now?

 

[demiurge3141]

If I were you, for $4500, I would get a motorcycle, that will be the best gaming rig you've ever had.