i7 vs i5 vs amd?

[flowone_uk]

Hi guys,

im building a rig mainly for gaming, ive opted for a beast of a gpu as i like my settings as maxed out as possible so going for the saphire vapor-x 5870 the 2gb version. how much of a difference is the cpu going to make on the game?

at the moment ive got my eyes on an i7 930 however some friends are telling me i wont notice any in game difference at all if i opted for an i5 or even an amd phenom2 x4 or x6?

any help as always is appreciated i would like to save the money but it all depends on how much of a hit on frame rate etc ill loose from a cheaper chip.

Thanks again,

 

[buttkinz]

what res is your monitor??

 

[flowone_uk]

Benq E2220HD 22" LCD Monitor 16:9 Widescreen Full HD 1920x1080 300cd/m2 5000:1 5ms

 

[Marvin]

At that resolution, games will be GPU limited first. The i5 750 is probably the best gaming GPU if you factor in price and performance. That or the Phenom II x4 955. The 955 has cheaper motherboards (much cheaper for the same feature set), and is a little cheaper itself.

If you are only gaming with this rig, don't bother with an i7. If you'll be doing encoding, or something where hyperthreading makes a difference, then perhaps an i7 or X6 would be worth it.

 

[flowone_uk]

Thanks for that,so it does look like i can change my options round and opt for the i5 and save a couple of hundred quid loved your project shrink ray btw good use of what little space you had

 

[Sayso]

The I7 920 DO is at a silly price at the moment and there are some good deals on X58 mobos as well, for top performance go I7

 

[cupofchow]

For gaming you will be better off going with i5 as they have the onboard pcie to reduce latency, or if you want the grunt go for 1156skt i7 860 as it has all the benefits of the i5 for gaming and is more powerful than the i7 920.
The only downside the the i7 860 is the P55 motherboards only usually have 1 x fullspeed x16 slot and go down to x8 if using crossfire or sli, but seeing as i am using 1 graphics card i am fine with it

Oh and folks say there is hardly and difference between x16 and x8 in performance anyway.

Just my 2 cents, good luck deciding.

 

[Phatzy]

i7 and i5 perform roughly the same as a AMD 965 in gaming, its only a few fps that i7 and i5 on top of the AMD 965.

 

[braveheart]

AMD is the exellent for gaming... as u can it much cheaper so save yer money in yer pocket rather than spends too much money..

 

[antran]

got me a really deal on a i7 930 today

 

[Raves]

i5 750 OCd = best evaaaar!!!! kthxbai

 

[Sayso]

i5 750 OCd = best evaaaar!!!! kthxbai

well overclock it more then (3.8 bah )

 

[EvilOne]

I5 750, or AMD 965. Intel gives better performance if you spend the time to overclock it, but the I5 platform has no real future because intel change sockets like socks.

If you go the AMD route you will be able to slot a bulldozer into the same motherboard for a big boost in the next year or so.

I5 750 or AMD 965 will have no speed issues with any current games at your res, unless you plan on getting an extra 5970 to run tri-crossfire with lol. Then your only option is intel, thats where I7 shines.

Lots of options atm