Gaming processor for the family

[NikolaT]

We're going to be building systems for the family (quite a few of us!) pretty soon, so I'd like to know which processor would be ideal both in terms of upgrade-ability and initial potential, using BC2 as a baseline for performance.

 

I know people consider a quad core a must have but I was wondering if an X3 (tri core) would work as well? I tried the game out on a dual core system (Athlon X2 250) armed with a 5770 and it lagged quite a bit due to physics, explosions and particles on the lowest settings - dropping to 15-20 FPS at times. This just confirms that dual cores aren't a great choice for the game.

 

So I was wondering how the following would work in BC2, or in general CPU intensive games:

 

A8-3850 (great base platform)

G620 (it's a dual core, but the Sandy Bridge architecture seems quite potent for gaming)

i3 2100 (this one should perform well, but purchasing systems equipped with it would seriously harm the graphics card)

X3 445 (it's a tri core, and would allow us to purchase fairly potent graphics cards along side it)

 

The G620 seems great - it's Sandy Bridge and the 1155 socket would open up a path to Ivy Bridge.

 

i3 2100 should be very good and stay viable for some time after its purchase, but it's quite pricey in comparison to the other solutions and would force us to get pretty weak graphics AND go over a set price limit. Pretty depressing.

 

The A8-3850 seems nice - an APU based system is cheaper than all of the above and gives you a quad core + entry level graphics. Personally, I find the GPU weak but it might be ideal for people such as my brother and sister. Those not content with its performance can purchase a stand alone card and still have a

decent CPU. (2.9 ghz quad, pretty good at overclocking)

 

The X3 from AMD would open up an upgrade path to Bulldozer and still leave room for a good graphics sollution (a 6670/6750 or something along those lines) - but who knows how they (Bulldozer) will perform and if the X3 will be satisfactory for those not willing to upgrade so quickly.

 

 

 

Notice I don't want recommendations on the systems as a whole - just the processor path with the best initial potential and DECENT upgradability. None of us will have the money to upgrade all that often, let alone to the latest hardware.

[Tazman167]

We're going to be building systems for the family (quite a few of us!) pretty soon, so I'd like to know which processor would be ideal both in terms of upgrade-ability and initial potential, using BC2 as a baseline for performance.

 

I know people consider a quad core a must have but I was wondering if an X3 (tri core) would work as well? I tried the game out on a dual core system (Athlon X2 250) armed with a 5770 and it lagged quite a bit due to physics, explosions and particles on the lowest settings - dropping to 15-20 FPS at times. This just confirms that dual cores aren't a great choice for the game.

 

So I was wondering how the following would work in BC2, or in general CPU intensive games:

 

A8-3850 (great base platform)

G620 (it's a dual core, but the Sandy Bridge architecture seems quite potent for gaming)

i3 2100 (this one should perform well, but purchasing systems equipped with it would seriously harm the graphics card)

X3 445 (it's a tri core, and would allow us to purchase fairly potent graphics cards along side it)

 

The G620 seems great - it's Sandy Bridge and the 1155 socket would open up a path to Ivy Bridge.

 

i3 2100 should be very good and stay viable for some time after its purchase, but it's quite pricey in comparison to the other solutions and would force us to get pretty weak graphics AND go over a set price limit. Pretty depressing.

 

The A8-3850 seems nice - an APU based system is cheaper than all of the above and gives you a quad core + entry level graphics. Personally, I find the GPU weak but it might be ideal for people such as my brother and sister. Those not content with its performance can purchase a stand alone card and still have a

decent CPU. (2.9 ghz quad, pretty good at overclocking)

 

The X3 from AMD would open up an upgrade path to Bulldozer and still leave room for a good graphics sollution (a 6670/6750 or something along those lines) - but who knows how they (Bulldozer) will perform and if the X3 will be satisfactory for those not willing to upgrade so quickly.

 

 

 

Notice I don't want recommendations on the systems as a whole - just the processor path with the best initial potential and DECENT upgradability. None of us will have the money to upgrade all that often, let alone to the latest hardware.

if this is going to be a strictly gaming build then why not go for a phenom 955. it costs less than the A8 and if you get a AM3+ mobo you can upgrade to Bulldozer later on. Even with my 955 and an 8800GT i can play BC2 on all high dx10 without much lag so the 5770 should not be having any problems.

[imm0rt41]

I play on maxed settings, max AA/AF in dx11 mode with great framerates with the rig in my sig. I never bothered to check specific rates because it is always smooth so it never occurred to me lol

[dr_bowtie]

plays fine for my on an older AM2 5000+X2 BE and 4gb of ram and a 5750 video card.

 

But I agree with the poster if you are going to be gaming then get the best CPU and video card you can afford. a Quad will be mostly overkill in gaming but for other not gaming stuff it will really shine.

 

Get what ever the best bang for your buck is. Whether its a 955 Quad and a 1055 6-core or an Intel offering. For gaming I prefer AMD because they run cooler. thats a plus for me from there I would suggest an AM3 or AM3+ board and 8gigs of ddr3-1600 as its pretty cheap right now...even the 4x4gb kits are around 120.00

 

then I would opt for a GTX460 or better if you want a physics game I have both camps of card and the 460 plays games very well...of coarse so does the cheaper 450

[VaporX]

As you said the A8 is a great platform but I am not sure of where the upgrade path for the F1 platform will lead in the future. The Sandybridge chips are great buys with a lot of power headroom but again you mentioned upgrade path and this one looks pretty limited as well right now.

 

The AM3 boards let you use the current Phenom II lineup and then move into Bulldozer when they come out.

 

I am really torn as to what to suggest. I mean if you have a Microcenter nearby an i5 2400 or 2500K are really inexpensive and give you a lot of head room. However the Phenom II 955 is a steal on Newegg at $120 or a 945 at $109. The 955 will overclock better but at stock speeds they are both more than enough for a good gaming machine.

 

As for the video I would look at getting as much as you can. A 6850 is where I would personally bottom out and would shoot for a 6870 or 6950 if I could. As for the nVidia side the 560ti is their real sweet spot right now.

 

When choosing nVidia over AMD you need to look at a few factors. First while nVidia wins in benchmarks often at the same price point, it is seldom pointed out that the AMD cards might have lost the benchmark race but still where just as playable in games. The speed differences are benchmark only, playability wise they are pretty equal. If you want to make a lot of use of 3D or PhysX in games then nVidia is the best way to go by far, mutlimonitor usage AMD wins hands down. If you are a folder then nVidia stomps on AMD however if you do Bitcoin them AMD slaps nVidia. Finally in the case of image qaulity, I think every game I have seen looks better on AMD at the same settings as the nVidia card.

 

Lot of info up there I know but let me break it down. if I was building for my kids right now I would buy a Phenom II 955 and put it on a 970 based motherboard with a 6850 slapped in for video.

[medbor]

I play on maxed settings, max AA/AF in dx11 mode with great framerates with the rig in my sig. I never bothered to check specific rates because it is always smooth so it never occurred to me lol

That is a very much more expensive system! Not relevant for this thread...

 

@OP:

as a start read this:

Tomshardware

Then comes my complete and utter rant...

The 1155 socket will NOT be compatible with ivy bridge (they will release a new socket later this year).

The 1156 socket that was the mainstream alternative (as sandy bridge is now) was dead within a year.

The A8 (and the other APUs) are on a separate socket incompatible with bulldozer/Phenom II.

Overclocking the apu will decrease the graphics cabability of the chip, since they have the same thermal envelope.

 

The Pentium (G620) you mentioned has a quite capable (for your needs, or how read the anyhow) GPU inside, and is fully compatible with upgrading to the best CPUs currently on the market (the i5 2500K or i7 2600K) if you choose the right motherboard (either p67 or z68 chipset, and since you want it cheap multiple graphic card slots are preferrable)

If you instead go with AMD an Athlon II is really outdated technology, but will be socket compatible with bulldozer (if you choose the right motherboard, socket AM3+ is a MUST!)

 

If this was in april i would have definitely recommended the sandy bridge, but now we don't know how long that socket has to live, could be just 6 months.

Right now the am3+ is so new that there are not even new processors for it yet so it will probably last for a while, but we know nothing about the performance of bulldozer yet, or price for that matter.

 

If it was me i wouldn't buy a crap cpu just to upgrade in a while, better to buy the parts you want directly, otherwise its just wasted money.

What i would do is to buy a range of processors (most 3 core Athlon II, and some Ph2 955) and then when someone upgrades down the line the others will get a free upgrade too (by getting one of the then unused phenoms or someting like that), the problem whith this route is that you will use integrated graphics on some machines, and the computers will not cost the same, nor have even close to the same performance in some aspects.

I guess that all of the buyers are not looking for equal performance so that shoud not be an issue.

 

I can't really descide which socket is the best without benchmarks of bulldozer, but any of them will do just fine, just make sure that all computers are compatible, since then you can easily upgrade a lot of them if even a few persons descide to upgrade some parts.

 

I realize that you want to buy new and have warranties, but actually buying used stuff will save you quite a lot. A socket 775 core 2 duo or quad is still regarded as capable chips and they are not so expensive, only cpu, ram and mobo a incompatible with newer tech, but gpu, psu, hdd, ssd... are compatible with any of them.

 

Bottom line:

Either 1155 or AM3+ are valid choises, but don't buy all machines equal (then any upgrade would yield unused "good" hardware), but they have to be compatible (dont mix nvidia and amd gpus, or intel and amd cpus). Don't cheap out on mobos, more slots are by far better in the long run (i actually downgraded my performance, but got more free slots a while ago, never looked back since). Don't cheap out on PSUs (unless they are for really bottom line computers). Buy the ram you need, but leave slots open (same with all other stuff), since there will trickle in some upgrades down the line (if a lot of you buy 6750s but no one can crossfire an upgrade will feel like a waste)

 

 

 

 

 

I know you didn't want complete system recommendations, but this is what the newest tech will actually cost:

 

The best computer to recommend right now is something like this (since we don't have bulldozer yet)

 

CPU: i5 2500K

MoBo: Chipset z68, 4 ram slots, crossfire/sli ready (depending on gpu)

RAM: 2x4GB DDR3 (speed is not important, 2x2GB if money is tight)

GPU: (preferrably 2 of) Radeon 6850/GeForce 460 (Radeon 5770/Geforce 550ti if money is tight)

HDD: depends on howmuch you need, 1TB or 2TB discs are cheap/GB

PSU: Corsair are expensive but highy regarded powersupplys, they have cheaper Buider/Gamer series as well

Case: most are good enough, so it really comes down to preferences regarding price/size/features

total: (900$) 750$ (610$ if going the cheap route)

Then comes the screes, speakers, mouse and other perhepials, but those are usually around from older builds as a start.

Dont know your total budget or what else the computers will be for, but this is what the latest and gratest actually costs.

[NikolaT]

if this is going to be a strictly gaming build then why not go for a phenom 955. it costs less than the A8 and if you get a AM3+ mobo you can upgrade to Bulldozer later on. Even with my 955 and an 8800GT i can play BC2 on all high dx10 without much lag so the 5770 should not be having any problems.

 

The Phenom 955 is around the price of the A8 WITHOUT a graphics solution.

 

And are you guys sure 1155 is not going to be compatible with Ivy Bridge? From what I understood it's just a die shrink of the current SB processors.

 

Any input on how well a tri-core might do? And does the lack of L3 mean anything?

 

 

 

Even if 1155 does not live long, I'm guessing you could get by with a 2500/2600 Sandy Bridge for quite a long time without feeling too outdated. Right now, AM3+ is seeming like a very good choice but the selection of processors to choose from before they actually release Bulldozer is pretty bad when compared to pretty much all of Intel's offerings.

 

 

 

One of the systems should be powerful without a huge emphasis on upgrades - my sister will need a system that can just run things + light gaming (Sims 3, League of Legends..). Any recommendations on a 400-450$ build from Newegg with a cheap case, 30-40$ PSU (something like Antec?), cheap motherboard but a decent CPU and graphics card? Ideally, it should have 4 gigs of RAM and a 500gb HD.

[_TheAlexO]

Bad Company 2 is very CPU dependent. Loves cores and loves clock speed. I would say go with the Tri-Core and OC the crap out of it. Should leave room for a decent graphics solution like you said.

[Tazman167]

The Phenom 955 is around the price of the A8 WITHOUT a graphics solution.

 

And are you guys sure 1155 is not going to be compatible with Ivy Bridge? From what I understood it's just a die shrink of the current SB processors.

 

Any input on how well a tri-core might do? And does the lack of L3 mean anything?

 

 

 

Even if 1155 does not live long, I'm guessing you could get by with a 2500/2600 Sandy Bridge for quite a long time without feeling too outdated. Right now, AM3+ is seeming like a very good choice but the selection of processors to choose from before they actually release Bulldozer is pretty bad when compared to pretty much all of Intel's offerings.

 

 

 

One of the systems should be powerful without a huge emphasis on upgrades - my sister will need a system that can just run things + light gaming (Sims 3, League of Legends..). Any recommendations on a 400-450$ build from Newegg with a cheap case, 30-40$ PSU (something like Antec?), cheap motherboard but a decent CPU and graphics card? Ideally, it should have 4 gigs of RAM and a 500gb HD.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119233&Tpk=haf%20912

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103942

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157261

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371035

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129176

this should be fine for your sister probably overkill since the integrated GPU on the A8 can run lol and sims perfectly fine the reason i put the 6670 is because u can do hybrid crossfire with it and the APu wich gives it a decent performance boost

[imm0rt41]

That is a very much more expensive system! Not relevant for this thread...

You would probably crap out a brick if you knew that this rig cost me less than $1k. I bought a AthlonII rig off craigslist for 300, spent 200 on the PII, a mini ATX mobo and 8GB of DDR3 1333 corsair dominators, then 379 for the 6970 and voila, a grand total of $879 for a rig that can pretty much handle anything I throw at it.

 

You can go big without going broke, you just have to be patient and find the deals. To answer your question though, an AM3 mobo, 955 PII, some good RAM, and a 68xx will be more than enough for you to play BC2 with no issues regarding FPS.

[VaporX]

The Phenom 955 is around the price of the A8 WITHOUT a graphics solution.

 

 

True but if you are adding anything over a 6670 for graphics then that does not matter since the A8 will not match up for crosffire with anything bigger. Also the 955 is the price of the A8 3650 which is a 2.6 Ghz core and locked. The 955 is a full Phenom II core, clock edition at 3.2 Ghz and it will work on the AM3 platform meaning easy upgrade to Bulldozer, the A8 will not.

 

Both chips using something like a 6770 for video and the 955 will eat the A8 3650 for lunch. If you are planning on a solid discrete video card then the 955 is a MUCH better buy.

[Drdeath]

I would couple a A8-3850 with Radeon 6670. The frame rates triple in some games with the crossfire on die and discrete Graphics card. You cannot beat the price/performance imo.....

Edited July 28, 2011 by Drdeath