I'm in a bit of a pickle

Smoogels

Smoogels

Smoogels

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Joined
27 Oct 2007
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2,147
Hello once again.

I am sorry for making a lot of threads but hardware is not an area I'm strong in and I'm sure its giving me gray hairs looking at all the pages for days on end.

I have currently obtained two builds which I think may be OK. Problem is, one is AMD and one is Intel. My head says "go Intel!" but my heart says "go AMD!"

What I use my computer for is:
  • Gaming (such as Crysis 2)
  • Heavy design software (I program and do web design so I have a lot of applications open at once)
  • Entertainment

Now, I will be getting parts all over the place. Some from OCuk while some from other retailers. Doing this actually saves a fair bit of money and I have totaled the prices based on this.

Here are the two builds in question:
Please note, I am reusing my old 1TB HDD (7200RPM) and I do not need a OS.


AMD:
Corsair 8GB RAM 1600MHz
NZXT Phantom 410 Black Case
AMD FX 6100 CPU (3.3GHz)
ASUS Sabertooth 990FX ATX Motherboard
Crucial 64GB SSD
OCZ MXSP 700W PSU
HD 7850 GPU
£659 Aprox (incl delivery)

Intel:
Corsair 8GB RAM 1600MHz
NZXT Phantom 410 Black Case
Intel i5 2500K
Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H Motherboard
OCZ MXSP 700W PSU
HD 7850 GPU
Total: £686 Aprox (incl delivery)

As you can see they are priced very simulary, which does make it a little harder to choose.

With the AMD build I can grab myself a 64GB SSD (which I will just put Windows on and maybe Dreamweaver). Sadly with the Intel build I cannot afford this. On the other hand Intel CPU will offer a better experiance when I am playing games and a SSD do not really increase performence by that much for games. Although, does the AMD FX CPU series really lack in terms of performence compared to the i5? I have looked at benchmarks but its all giving me a headake.

Thank you sooooo much for all replys and imputs into the thread, i really do appreciate it :)
 
The intel. SSD prices are dropping so perhaps you could pick one up later?

Also, have you thought about a CPU cooler, or just left that off the list by mistake? :P
 
Could go for the hexcore AMD.. should be adequate for gaming and entertainment plus general use.. would be bit better for design software that's if it utilizes all 6 cores. Im not an expert on this so maybe someone could confirm if the AMD hexcore would be better for design? :)
 
At this point in time I have no intrest in a CPU cooler. I can't really afford it at this point in time so I would be using the stock one included for a few months and get one should I need to. As for the SSD I could indeed pick up one later but I would have to wait several months before that can happen :(

And thanks for the AMD suggestion. I have thought this to but because the hex core is deemed as "slower" than the i5 I really am not sure :(
 
I've had less issues with intel based systems than AMD over the last couple of years, so would tend to lean toward intel.

Also, when running design software like the Adobe suite, I tend to always reccomend intel and nvidia as being the most reliable combo. A lot of the new software uses cuda and generally nvidia drivers tend to be more reliable for design based stuff.

E-I
 
 
Thanks for the build idleman but sadly I have no intrest in ivy bridge. I have read that heat is a issue with it and while this may be easily solved with the use of a aftermarket cooler I rather stay with 'old tech' and I would be OK with that since ivy bridge wouldent really give me any new features I would use.

I think I should stay safe and get the i5 build then. Thanks for your help. :)
 
I wouldn't bother with bulldozer unless your going for the 8 core and do cpu intensive work far more than gaming.

Btw the 8120 is at a nice price currently.
 
I would go with Idleman's Intel build here. All in all it's well balanced and gets you the latest tech.

I would seriously reconsider the cooler though. The stock, coolers are noisy when the PWM fan spins up ...which it will a lot and offer barely adequate cooling. It will work, but for the sake of 15 quid, I'd seriously consider buying a better one, you will be glad you did. You don't have to spend £65 on a Noctua, this will do just fine.

The Ivy heat issue is 'only' a factor if you are overclocking it, and I mean quite a lot not just a bit. So it doesn't make any sense to go with Sandybridge at this point, I would only recommend that if you could get one significantly cheaper and or you were planning some heavy overclocking. Which clearly you are not.
 
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Smoogels said:
Thanks for the build idleman but sadly I have no intrest in ivy bridge. I have read that heat is a issue with it and while this may be easily solved with the use of a aftermarket cooler I rather stay with 'old tech' and I would be OK with that since ivy bridge wouldent really give me any new features I would use.

I think I should stay safe and get the i5 build then. Thanks for your help. :)
Click to expand...

There is no issue with it.

People are complaining that it runs hotter, especially when overvolted due to the way the core/IHS are not soldered together.

If your not buying a decent cooler your not going to be over clocking much/at all and therefore you won't have an issue. Mainly due to you won't be pushing the heat transfer rate of the thermal paste.

Ivy Bridge AT OR NEAR STOCK is better than SB, clock for clock as well as performance per watt.
 
I thought the Ivy Bridge had problems with heat in general. If thats not the case then I would happily buy it.

As for overclocking I have no intrest in it what so ever. I like to keep all my parts running at stock (with the expection of that Bulldozer). Although, if I ever needed a little more power in a years time I would bump it up a little.

So, if I grab the 3570k I should have no problems whatso ever with heat? (compared to the 2500K)

Thanks.
 
Smoogels said:
I thought the Ivy Bridge had problems with heat in general. If thats not the case then I would happily buy it.

As for overclocking I have no intrest in it what so ever. I like to keep all my parts running at stock (with the expection of that Bulldozer). Although, if I ever needed a little more power in a years time I would bump it up a little.

So, if I grab the 3570k I should have no problems whatso ever with heat? (compared to the 2500K)

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Correct, no problem whatsoever if you not overclocking and even if you did a bit of overclocking still not a problem ;)
 
Indeed, it will be fine at stock, actually it'd be fine upto the point where you would need to start raising the voltage really, which is typically around about 4.3GHz.
 
Smoogels said:
Thanks for the build idleman but sadly I have no intrest in ivy bridge. I have read that heat is a issue with it and while this may be easily solved with the use of a aftermarket cooler I rather stay with 'old tech' and I would be OK with that since ivy bridge wouldent really give me any new features I would use.

I think I should stay safe and get the i5 build then. Thanks for your help. :)
Click to expand...

No heat issue at stock speeds.. and you wouldn't be OC'ing you're SB anyway... also IB is actually a "cooler" chip in the sense it creates less heat just dissipates it really badly.
 
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Thank you all very much for your imput. Helped a lot :D

I think I will grab that ivy bridge then, mostly because its almost the same price as a sandybridge and *should* offer a slight increase in performence. The heat was the only thing concerning about this chip :)

Thanks again. :)
 
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