Which Intel Setup?

[Cespenar]

Hi all,

I have been interested in the difference between average and high-end rigs.

My rig is still quite fast, and I have wondered if some of these newer Intel setups are worth a change.

First I must point out that all I need is reasonable FPS for games. I dont want to win any races.

These are Australian prices:

i7920 is $542.

E8400 is $300.

Q9550 is 594.

That might give you some idea of a price range for cpu's.

P45 motherboards range from down about $100, up to $600 for DDR2 mobo's with 1333FSB.

I want sound, TV, and wireless cards, so there is 3XPCI cards.

I have 2X8800GTX, so SLI might happen.

There is so many boards that it is impossible to know what boards perform like. My AMD crosshair wont overclock worth a damn.

Not that overclocking will give me any extra FPS.

I now know that compatability between some DDR2, a chipset that works really good and the CPU with some decent grunt will be required.

I know that in many cases, compatability works out of the box, but my ASUS board would not work out of the box. I needed three replacements to get it to work.

What sort of chipset have you people been happiest with?

There are so many different chipsets and I don't know any of them. Also, the CPU's tested for games at THG are on lo-res. I'm looking for 1600x1200 CRT.

And again, for todays speeds, is there really any reason to change?

Hope I haven't asked too much of y'all.

[Waco]

What do you want to play now that you can't? That's the first thing you should ask yourself.

[OverclockTheStock]

What do you want to play now that you can't? That's the first thing you should ask yourself.

 

The quad if you have a cooler than can handle it when it is highly overclocked.Get the dual if u just havea decent cooler. i7 is so useless for gaming that its not even funny. It is useful for apps that support multithreading.

[IVIYTH0S]

would you ever consider an AMD Phenom II build?

[Waco]

i7 is so useless for gaming that its not even funny. It is useful for apps that support multithreading.

You must not have been reading the same reviews I've seen. The i7 dominates pretty much every comparison out there.

 

 

Personally I'd go with a Phenom II 940.

Edited March 23, 2009 by Waco

[Kingfisher]

The amd phenom II cpus are nice.

I would get an Intel dual core like the E8400.

[Cespenar]

Thanks, y'all,

Waco: Nothing, really, maybe crisis is slow, but it makes me motion sick. I play Far Cry 2 okay and the STALKER games. I dont do apps.

 

Overclockthestock: Hey Man! Your name says it all. I wont overclock unless the framerates go up 50%.

 

Iviythos: I agree that AMD would probably be better, as I only do games. BUT.... AM2 6400+ is fastest AMD cpu according to THG.

But it isn't fast enough to change the MoBo. If it will run on the ASUS Crosshair v1.0, I might buy it. But I don't think it is faster enough to spend the money. About $160 to $180 in Australia for the cpu.

 

Waco : see above...

Kingfisher : see above ...

 

I haven't seen an AMD 6400+ benchmarked to the max with any game yet. I would appreciate it if someone does it, or even if someone has dropped one into a Crosshair, could they post their speeds please.

 

thanks again folks.