• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

AMD: 285 or 290?

Okay, I'm thinking this CPU is outstanding for the money?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-539-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=567

Maybe there's an i5 that punches at a similar weight he could cut down to?

That and the powercolor 290 with the free RAM feels right. We just need a suitable Motherboard to finish things up. I know we're over budget but this stuff feels properly good quality and should easily take him a good 3 years. Let's cap at £650 all in. I can get him to that figure when I explain how good this stuff is.
 
The budget just keeps going up lol. If you're going to spend £260 on that why not just spend an extra 40 on a 5820k :p
 
Well, the advantage the cpu you linked has is that it comes with hyperthreading technology. There are a few games where this can be beneficial. The cpu I initially suggested, is very similar but doesn't have hyperthreading (it's also clocked a little lower). It is possible that, should he wish to eventually go dual gpu, that the cheaper cpu (4690K) will hold back a multiple graphics card system. However, if he's unlikely to go down that road, then I see it as a waste of cash. A simple overclock of the 4690K will take it past the stock speed of the 4790K.
 
arc@css said:
Well, the advantage the cpu you linked has is that it comes with hyperthreading technology. There are a few games where this can be beneficial. The cpu I initially suggested, is very similar but doesn't have hyperthreading (it's also clocked a little lower). It is possible that, should he wish to eventually go dual gpu, that the cheaper cpu (4690K) will hold back a multiple graphics card system. However, if he's unlikely to go down that road, then I see it as a waste of cash. A simple overclock of the 4690K will take it past the stock speed of the 4790K.
Click to expand...


The benchmarks you linked were for the i7 not i5. :P


Still, £175 against £250 is a no brainer. Especially if we can clock it beyond 4.Ghz

Edit: I see you actually recommended the i5 further up! I missed that and thought you meant the chip in the benchmarks.
 
Last edited:
Shampoo said:
The benchmarks you linked were for the i7 not i5. :P


Still, £175 against £250 is a no brainer. Especially if we can clock it beyond 4.Ghz

Edit: I see you actually recommended the i5 further up! I missed that and thought you meant the chip in the benchmarks.
Click to expand...

So I did. :)

You should be able to overclock the 4690K up well in to the 4.4ghz + range. I'm running a 3570K (no hyperthreading like the 4690K), I can get it to reach over 4ghz with good temps - and that's with just the stock cooler! ;)
 
Yes, though to be honest, I would have thought that a reasonable number of them would achieve the same. Currently running at 4.1 ghz.
 
Cool. All we need is a reasonable board to go with it now. It'll be a single card setup so nothing clad in bulletproof armour with a million slots is required. :P
 
Last edited:
For video encoding and those multi threaded tasks you want the higher thread count that i7 can offer.


YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 7 - Devils Canyon Core i7 4790K CPU & Motherboard Bundle **£43 Saving** £351.98
1 x Powercolor Radeon R9 290 PCS+ OC 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE 8GB 2400MHz Memory Kit £293.99
Total : £655.57 (includes shipping : £8.00).






Can just go with a cheaper heatsink or spend more on something a bit more powerful depending on how much the dude wants to OC:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Raijintek Aidos Direct Contact CPU Cooler £14.99
Total : £20.96 (includes shipping : £4.98).

 
Last edited:
remember the 4790k comes at 4.4 turbo boost out of the box, were as the i5 comes in at 3.9, it would require overclocking it which isn't that hard but also not guaranteed. Just something to keep in mind.

The gains of hyper threading are simply not worth it in some situations but totally worth the extra expense in others. My advise? Find out what programmes and games he uses and see if they utilise hyper threading.
 
Last edited:
Spoke to him. He wants to play the new Borderlands, Star Citizen, Alien Isolation etc. Basically all the modern games. Professional use will require Photoshop/Lightroom/Vegas and a bit of Handbrake.
 
I know for Vegas the i7 has a noticeable advantage when encoding (like up to 25%) in some situations. While others not.

Let's put it this way, if he has the money to spend then just go for the i7 it won't be "wasted" money. If he doesn't wanna splash out too much then go for the i5. The i5 is still a great processor.
 
Okay, we just ordered a "Intel Core i7-4790K 4.00GHz (Devil's Canyon)" CPU. I urged the i5 (£84 saving) but he wanted the hyper-threading and it's his cash so...

Next week he's picking a motherboard up for it so can you guys advise on the matter again. A solid good quality board with auto-overclocking would be ideal. He wants to put no more than £100 in for it if possible.

We have already decided on a 290 Tri-X for the video card so just the mobo to finalize.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom