Quad-5970 - Best CPU to date?

[snedie]

Looking to shift from my i5 750 to something that supports true x16-x16 PCIE lanes. What's considered the best for these cards today?

Note, can be AMD or Intel. I have no preference to either, seen as I'm not an inept retard

 

[Speed]

Budget?

 

[kiel367]

i5 2500k /thread

 

[Speed]

i5 2500k /thread

Not really, you need a board with an NF200 chipset to get 16x/16x on a Z68 board with a 2500K.

 

[snedie]

i5 2500k /thread

Given that there are half a dozen more CPU's since 2500k, does it really make sense to just buy it given that fact?

Budget is set at £4-500 for both CPU and MB, which given say £200 for a MB leaves a decent chunk for a CPU.

 

[Martini1991]

Not really, you need a board with an NF200 chipset to get 16x/16x on a Z68 board with a 2500K.

But that's his only option regardless, AMD will bottleneck, ironically giving lower frame rates with the higher bandwidth.
EDIT : OP, the 2600k/2700k are also available, but they're just hyperthreaded and higher clocked 2500k's, so it's not like there's a massive difference, Bulldozer pales in comparison for gaming.
2500k + decent motherboard and you're onto a winner.
8/8 won't cripple the 5970's anyway.

 

[psychas]

ivy bridge coming out in few months might as well wait for it ,in mean while clock that 750 if its is not done already

 

[Speed]

But that's his only option regardless, AMD will bottleneck, ironically giving lower frame rates with the higher bandwidth.
EDIT : OP, the 2600k/2700k launched, but they're just hyperthreaded and higher clocked 2500k's, so it's not like there's a massive difference, Bulldozer pales in comparison for gaming.
2500k + decent motherboard and you're onto a winner.

It isn't, Socket 2011 under the X79 chipset supports 40 PCI-E lanes so boards will do x16/x16. However that being said I wouldn't recommend it due to the cost unless you do plenty of encoding or similar CPU work. snedie do you do anything but game? Any encoding?

Difference between x16/x16 and 8x/8x even on 5970 Quad isn't much.

Frankly waiting would be my suggestion with the new 22nm CPUs on their way. If you MUST upgrade now then a overclocked 2500K with Z68 board will be my suggestion, it will be a much smaller bottleneck to your cards even if it doesn't support x16/x16.

 

[Martini1991]

I didn't say X79 as the 3820 isn't on OCUK yet and the hexcores don't fit into his budget.
A 3820 set up should cost around 500 however.

 

[snedie]

Right now all this rig is used for is Netflix, Skyrim and BF3....and maybe some of raunchy films

My i5 750 is clocked in at 4Ghz stable 24/7, alongside 8GB of Corsair ram at 1600Mhz. BF3 for one runs the i5 750 at 90% pretty much all match, with lows of 83%, Crysis 2 is similar, and Skyrim isn't to bad at around 40% but stuttering is still a huge issue when loading textures at a fast rate (I'm using SSD's).

I guess I'll wait for the new Intel CPU's to be released then and see how the perform with Quad 7k cards....who knows I may be lucky enough to run a quad 7k system if I get another job.

 

[Speed]

I didn't say X79 as the 3820 isn't on OCUK yet and the hexcores don't fit into his budget.
A 3820 set up should cost around 500 however.

Indeed. I was just pointing out it wasn't the only option, didnt see his budget post until ater. I agree as per my last post that waiting or an overclocked i5 2500K are the best suggestions.

 

[snedie]

I didn't say X79 as the 3820 isn't on OCUK yet and the hexcores don't fit into his budget.
A 3820 set up should cost around 500 however.

I thought 8 core CPU's where pointless for gaming given that no games are threaded for more than 4 cores anyway? Sure there is better bandwidth, but I don't see it been any better than a fast quad.....

 

[Martini1991]

Your problem could even be the fact it's a quad gpu set up.

I thought 8 core CPU's where pointless for gaming given that no games are threaded for more than 4 cores anyway? Sure there is better bandwidth, but I don't see it been any better than a fast quad.....

The 3820's a quad core.
8 core SB-E ain't out, but the hex cores are octo cores, just locked or something.