Best build for gaming

V4nger · 2 May 2010 at 23:03

which would be better for gaming. a low endish i7 920 build with a 5850 or a top notch AMD Phenom II 965 build with a 5870? And what's a good overclock on a phenom? i know 4GHz is good for an i7 but what about the Phenom II 965?

mattjd · 2 May 2010 at 23:04

I would prefer to have the AMD with 5870 build. Realistically you will get 3.8 - 4.0GHz with a 965 with decent cooling.

manbearpig · 2 May 2010 at 23:04

The AMD with a 5870 would be better for gaming. I dont know much about overclocking but I think around 3.8Ghz is pretty good.

stulid · 2 May 2010 at 23:06

As above.

V4nger · 2 May 2010 at 23:10

cool thanks. im not going to be buying any time soon but im wondering which path to take. at least AM3 isn't going to be replaced next year. both builds i have specced are pretty much the same price

V4nger · 2 May 2010 at 23:24

or what about a decent i5 750 build with a 5870? would it be as good or better than the Phenom one?

Mr Krugga · 2 May 2010 at 23:29

Better. It would be the best choice tbh.

stulid · 2 May 2010 at 23:30

V4nger said:
or what about a decent i5 750 build with a 5870? would it be as good or better than the Phenom one?

Very similar.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/102?vs=109

V4nger · 2 May 2010 at 23:33

thanks stulid. i will spec a few builds when the time comes in a few months and see what you guys think about them.

stulid · 2 May 2010 at 23:35

I altered the link, I selected a 955 by mistake, it now shows a 965!

I blame the Thatchers gold.

Mr Krugga · 2 May 2010 at 23:37

It's 3.2GHz Phenom vs 2.66GHz Core i5. And the later is still better in every single task. You can oc the Core i5 by 50% fairly easily with a decent cooling, I wish you good luck doing that with any Phenom...

Fallen god · 3 May 2010 at 00:17

I would go with the AMD, you get a better system overall imo, the cpu is cheaper and so the mobo and the AMD mobo at arounf £100 mark come with all the goodness you need and should last longer than i5 build. But thats just me.

Ordokai · 3 May 2010 at 03:34

Quite simply, the rig with the best GPU will be better in most conventional games. CPU gains in gaming are negligible, especially considering that all proposed choices are good enough pieces of kit. The overclock is hands-down better with intel chips this round, but the added benefit when it comes to gaming is debatable.

However, I would lean slightly towards AMD this round for the future compatibility. Hyperthreading, the best argument for getting an intel chip is largely moot when it comes to gaming and while it would be logical to expect it to start making a difference sometime in the future, I assure you it won't be before you can drop in the next gen AMD chip in your rig and save literally hundreds on the mobo and the CPU itself to buy the best GPU available at the time. Overall it just makes much more sense.

- Ordokai