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Buying new cpu i3 or i5

ninjabib

ninjabib

ninjabib

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Joined
16 Apr 2003
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UK
Hi

Use my pc only for gaming and the web surfing.

Only got a 17" monitor.

Would i be better going for an i3 and oc'ing or an i5?

Think i know the answer, just after some input.

Thanks :)
 
If you only use your pc for gaming with a 17" monitor, I would personally say just go with an i3 530. I honestly think it should cope admirably with games for some years. Am quite happy with mine.
 
I agree, my i3 is quite happily churning through games no problem and I'm running 23" @ 1080P.

As long as you have a semi-decent card paired with it you'll be fine.:)
 
Or if you want to future proof yourself even more go for the I5 and OC that as you will likely upgrade your monitor sometime anyway
 
I went for the i5 750, not much more ££, with the cost of monitors now days are you sure you wont be upgrading at some point soon, i went from a 19 to a 24 and its so much nicer.
 
There are two ways you could do this:

1.)Get a quad core Core i5 and a cheaper graphics card
2.)Get a Core i3 and a better graphics card

If you are playing RTS games get a quad core Core i5 and if you are playing something like Crysis get the Core i3 530 and buy a better graphics card. If you get a weaker graphics card you will have to upgrade it more times for games which are more GPU dependent and this has to be balanced against how many times you may(or may not) need to upgrade your CPU.Simples!!

simples.bmp
 
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if you are gaming and cruising the web, get the i3, put the cost difference between it and the i5 and put that towards your video card and cpu heatsink budget. then overclock the snot out of that i3. now if you are encoding, go for the i5
 
I would go either i5 and get the quad version, or save money and get an i3. I would not spend extra on i5 if it's dual core version only.
 
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Also as this is "overclockers" forum, factor in the increase in performance of each obtained from a 24/7 usable overclock.
 
Off topic regarding the OP

Topitoff said:
Also as this is "overclockers" forum, factor in the increase in performance of each obtained from a 24/7 usable overclock.
Click to expand...

Good point. If we want to factor in potential maximum overclocks we should also consider potential core unlocking of any Phenom II dual or triple core.

In this thread for example 94 out of 125 of the £72 X2 550BE processors tested unlocked to a quad core and another two unlocked to a triple core:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=227004

Many OcUK users have had similar success too and just like the Core i3 overclocking thread there are many threads regarding this on the forum.

Here is an article regarding the overclocking of the X3 720BE to 3.7GHZ using the stock cooler:

http://ixbtlabs.com/articles3/cpu/phenom-2-cnq-p2.html

Even midrange motherboards under £75 such as the Asus M4A785TD-V Evo and Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P will do the job:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-355-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1481

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-198-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1481
 
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Like I said before for RTS games like Supreme Commander a Core i5 would be a better choice as these tend to take advantage of quad cores.

However for games which do not make good use of quad cores the Core i3 would be the best choice and the extra money saved should be spend on a better graphics card.
 
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Topitoff said:
Also as this is "overclockers" forum, factor in the increase in performance of each obtained from a 24/7 usable overclock.
Click to expand...

Indeed, the i3 530 is a very overclockable chip, what with it being 32nm. I've seen a lot of them at over 4ghz stable and the AMD X2 chips can of course often be unlocked to quad core. Another thing to consider is the i5 750 at stock (2.66ghz) generally outperforms the AMD Phenom II 965 at stock (3.4ghz) yet the i5 generally has more overclocking potential and most people with an i5 750 have hit 4-4.2ghz stable which completely destroys the Phenom II.
 
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