Monocle me a system !

[Cookeh]

Just ordered this:

Item Qty Price
Intel Core i5 760 2.80GHz (Lynnfield) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail 1 £123.39
OcUK Value GeForce GTX 460 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with HAWX2 PC-Game 1 £114.99
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599) 1 £69.99
Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H Intel H55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 microATX Motherboard 1 £58.83
Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black (with 500w Elite Power PSU) 1 £53.61
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) 1 £51.99
Akasa 20/24-Pin 30cm PSU Extension Cable 1 £3.99
Sub Total: £476.79
FREE SHIPPING (DPD Next Day) Shipping: £0.00
Total Vat: £83.44
Total inc Vat: £560.23

Thought I'd dip under budget so my dads wallet wasn't hit too hard !!

Thanks very much for the help lads !
Fun day of building ahead of me on Tuesday

Looks good! Although you have lost the ability of CF now
Not going to be overclocking just yet I assume then

Have fun building it - it never fails to entertain me!

 

[Cookeh]

So I was checking benchmarks and it turns out there's a difference- but I'm pretty sure the graphics card would hinder your FPS more than the X4 640 would. I still think you'd be better off spending that £53 on a better graphics card.

The i5 760 is the best bang-for-buck gaming CPU right now, but on a tight budget, you should downgrade your CPU before the graphics.

Oh, and the current state of cooling is that stock coolers are fine for stock speeds or even mild (100-200MHz) overclocks, but anything much spicier and they won't cut the mustard.

You are correct stating that a graphics card will hinder fps more than the cpu. However, if you want to gain longevity from the system then there isn't much point buying a "cheap and cheerful" cpu

You are also correct about stock coolers
As always there are exceptions. For example, using the Phenom II stock cooler on a Athlon II build will let you overclock by about 600Mhz and still get safe temps!

 

[RJC]

Nice system, enjoy

 

[crunchman]

Yea, by the time he'd want to a add another gpu I think it'll be more economical to just buy another GPU, and that way I get to have his one !

Been a couple of years since I've last built a system, so I'll ease the system in at stock

 

[Cookeh]

Yea, by the time he'd want to a add another gpu I think it'll be more economical to just buy another GPU, and that way I get to have his one !

Been a couple of years since I've last built a system, so I'll ease the system in at stock

Haha, devious - I love it!

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I do have to wonder if you ever look at benchmarks
i7 860 (which can be dropped into a 1156 scoket motherboard) destroys an X6. Hell, an i5 760 beats an X6.

In highly multi-threaded applications a Phenom II X6 is faster than a Core i5 760 and is comparable to a Core i7 860.

There have been plenty of threads on this forum about this.

 

[Cookeh]

In highly multi-threaded applications a Phenom II X6 is faster than a Core i5 760 and is comparable to a Core i7 860.

There have been plenty of threads on this forum about this.

Oh come off it CAT, we all know you adore AMD. I don't have a dislike for them myself, and think they ahve some brilliant stuff and are becoming more competitive - especially at lower budgets but really?
How many applications exist and are used by "normal" people that require more than 4 cores?

Similarly, how is it relevant? OP saids its a gaming rig, X6 is not suitable for gaming so there is no real upgrade path for AM3 for his wants at this moment in time or over the next few years...

X6 Vs. i7 860
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/147?vs=108

Most of the applications there aren't used terribly often and most certainly don't apply to gaming, and yet still see the i7 winning. . .

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Oh come off it CAT, we all know you adore AMD. I don't have a dislike for them myself, and think they ahve some brilliant stuff and are becoming more competitive - especially at lower budgets but really?
How many applications exist and are used by "normal" people that require more than 4 cores?

Similarly, how is it relevant? OP saids its a gaming rig, X6 is not suitable for gaming so there is no real upgrade path for AM3 for his wants at this moment in time or over the next few years...

X6 Vs. i7 860
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/147?vs=108

Most of the applications there aren't used terribly often and most certainly don't apply to gaming, and yet still see the i7 winning. . .

Well, I got the impression you were saying in general and not just for gaming. My mistake.

Perhaps,you should also check more than one website to compare the Core i7 processors and the Phenom II X6 in highly multi-threaded application and there were loads of threads on this forum about this.

On top of this the Phenom II X6 is massively cheaper and the AM3 motherboards are cheaper too. You can get a Phenom II X6 1055T and an 870 motherboard with SATA 3.0 and USB3.0 for the price of a Core i7 860.

BTW, many people know I have a Q6600.

The funny thing is that I have recommended a reasonably number of Intel builds on this forum too.

 

[hybrid572]

The X6 1055T is an excellent budget processor with hyperthreading and 6 cores. For software that takes full advantage of this, the X6 is better than anything else in the same price range (once socket cost has been taken into account, certainly), but the i7 9xx series are generally agreed to trump the X6- albeit at a significant price premium.

Going back to the subject of the thread, X6s and i7s are terrible for gaming because you will never use hyperthreading and you will rarely use more than 2 cores.

 

[VFM Addict]

So I was checking benchmarks and it turns out there's a difference- but I'm pretty sure the graphics card would hinder your FPS more than the X4 640 would. I still think you'd be better off spending that £53 on a better graphics card.

Personally I disagree that the extra L3 makes any significant difference except in benchmarks. It is utterly imperceptible in the real world. Take another look at that anandtech link. You're talking A' 2.9Ghz v P' 3.4GHz. If you make an adjustment clock for clock the difference all but vanishes. I just don't see that the performance difference equates to the price difference unless you are going to clock the nuts of both and then the Phenom may go 0.4Ghz higher than the Athlon. But lets be honest an Athlon II X4 @ 3.7Ghz is no slouch.

 

[skylineboy]

Looks like a good build hope he enjoys it

 

[Cookeh]

Well, I got the impression you were saying in general and not just for gaming. My mistake.

Perhaps,you should also check more than one website to compare the Core i7 processors and the Phenom II X6 in highly multi-threaded application and there were loads of threads on this forum about this.

On top of this the Phenom II X6 is massively cheaper and the AM3 motherboards are cheaper too. You can get a Phenom II X6 1055T and an 870 motherboard with SATA 3.0 and USB3.0 for the price of a Core i7 860.

The X6 1055T is an excellent budget processor with hyperthreading and 6 cores. For software that takes full advantage of this, the X6 is better than anything else in the same price range (once socket cost has been taken into account, certainly), but the i7 9xx series are generally agreed to trump the X6- albeit at a significant price premium.

Going back to the subject of the thread, X6s and i7s are terrible for gaming because you will never use hyperthreading and you will rarely use more than 2 cores.

Don't get me wrong, they are brilliant chips for highly threaded applications and are priced very very competitively.

Point I was trying to make is that it is not at all relevant to the OP!

However, I will certainly check more sites in future as it's obviously good not to get info from just the one site as it may be biased/not run the correct apps.

The funny thing is that I have recommended a reasonably number of Intel builds on this forum too.

I do apologise for my jest, I know you do and I know that often your specs suit the OP perfectly.