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02goswej

02goswej

02goswej

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Just had a last minute change of mind....

I was going to get this:
Argon Extreme Intel Core i3 530 2.93GHz @ 4.40GHz Overclocked Bundle

But am now thinking of putting another £20 in to get this:
Radon AMD Phenom II X4 955 3.20GHz @ 3.60GHz Overclocked Bundle

And if I do switch, should I keep my GTX460 or change it for a 5770?


What are the pros and cons of switching to a quad core AMD from a Dual Core i3 with 4 Threads. I know obviously the Quad Core is going to be more powerful, but there is quite a speed gap.


/Johnathan
 
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The AMD 955BE overclocked bundle uses an older model/chipet motherboard that doesn't have USB3.0 and SATA 6Gbps.

Frame rate for game wise, the Phenom II X4 955BE would pretty much deliver identical frame rate as the i3 530 on the same clock speed using the same graphic card. However, what you need bare in mind that while the X4 offer two more cores, it is only clocked at 3.60GHz...so comparing to the overclocked i3 530 at 4.40GHz, in games that are not optimised for using the two extra cores it will be performing worse...as the 955BE is only being used like a Phenom II X2 3.60GHz.

The i3 530 at 4.40GHz would be able to keep up with graphic card(s) up to around GTX480 level; it's only when you have graphic card(s) higher than a GTX480 (i.e. 5970, CF5850, CF5870, GTX460SLI, GTX470SLI) will you see the X4 955BE at 3.60GHz to show noticable performance increase over the highly overclocked i3 530 (only in games that are optimised to use the extra cores of course). So you have to consider how soon, to what level, and in what way will you be upgrading your graphic card(s) in the future.

And just a reminder, neither the Intel or the AMD bundle's motherboard can SLI/Crossfire properly, as the 2nd PCI-E X16 slot will run at x4 speed.
 
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Thank you for the information. Knowing that the i3 is looking for desirable. I won't be upgrading the graphics card for a long time as I only play games like WOW etc, and I know that's more CPU heavy. So the i3 is most likely better for me.


I don't think I'll be going for the bundle however as there is no 6GB/s SATA Controller on that motherboard. And I am buying a SSD in the near future, can someone give me an idea of a decent mobo that will OC the i3 up and over 4GHz while having a 6GB/s SATA Connector.

Edit: Also which RAM Should I go for

OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3G1600LV4GK) [OCZ3G1600LV4GK]

or

Patriot Viper 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C7 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVS34G1600LLK) [PVS34G1600LLK ]

/Johnathan
 
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Actually the motherboard with the i3 530 4.40GHz bundle does have USB3.0 and SATA 6Gpbs:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-418-AS
- CPU: Intel Core i7/Core i5/Core i3/Pentium Processors (Socket LGA1156)
- Chipset: Intel H55 Express
- Memory: 4x DDR3 DIMM 2200(OC) / 2000 / 1800 / 1866 / 2133 / 1600 / 1333 / 1066 MHz (Max. 16GB) / Dual Channel / Intel Extreme Memory Profile (XMP)
- Expasion slots: 1x PCIe 2.0 x16 Slot, 2x PCIe x1 Slots & 1x PCI Slot
- Storage: 6x SATA 3Gb/s & 2x SATA 6Gb/s
- LAN: RTL8111E Gigabit LAN
- Audio: ALC887 8-channel High Definition Audio CODEC
- 2x IEEE 1394a
- 10x USB 2.0
- 2x USB 3.0/2.0
- 1x PS/2 COMBO (Keyboard & Mouse)
- 1x S/PDIF Out (Optical)
- 1x HDMI
- 1x D-SUB
- GPU Boost
- Auto Tuning
- TurboV
- Turbo Key
- ASUS EPU
- ASUS Express Gate
- ASUS Fanless Design: Heat-sink solution
- ASUS O.C. Profile
- ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3
- ASUS EZ Flash 2
- ASUS MyLogo 2
- 100% All High-quality Conductive Polymer Capacitors
- Micro ATX Form Factor

And if WOW is what you are playing, then the i3 530 at 4.40GHz bundle is practically made for it (as the game don't really use the 3rd and 4th cores). It is the next best thing to 4.0GHz overclocked the i5/i7 Quads for that game (i5/i7's architecture is faster than that of the i3, but with the i3 at 4.40GHz, it should be compariable to the 4.0GHz i5/i7 Quad in WOW since it's clocked at 400MHz higher).
 
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Ah yea. My stupidity.

I was looking at the 4.20GHz one. But there was something I didn't like about the 4.40GHz board.. The lack of expansion slots.

So I'm now looking at this:
2a8orjp.png


So really that's £20 or so more for a Eco Watercooler and an ATX Mobo

What do you think?

Thanks for all the help by the way.

/Johnathan
 
Depends if wow is all you play, lots of games will start using quad cpu's in future, personally id not go dual, id get Intel Core i5 760 2.80GHz at least, but that is dearer of course.
 
Jonathan i think the i3 bundle would suit your needs more and i agree with Marine-RX17 on this save yuo self £20 and get better performance and value for money along with better upgradability prospects.

Rustyy
 
02goswej said:
But there was something I didn't like about the 4.40GHz board.. The lack of expansion slots.
Click to expand...
But I don't really see that you need more expansion slots...
1x PCIe 2.0 x16 Slot, 2x PCIe x1 Slots & 1x PCI Slot

It should be more than enough, unless you have a few old PCI devices that you need using, or need one extra PCIe 2.0 x16 Slot (at x8 lane) for either Crossfire/SLI, or just one extra PCIe 2.0 x16 Slot (at x4 lane) for using an extra Nvidia card as dedicated Physx card.

2x PCIe x1 Slots should be plenty, consider you already got onboard USB3.0 and SATA 6Gbps and not need to use the PCIe x1 Slots for USB3.0 or SATA 6Gbps cards.
 
Thanks for all the input guys.

After thinking about it. One expansion slot will be enough for my needs as well as just one 6GB/s SATA Port.

So I went with my original build for the i3 4.4GHz Overclock Bundle.

/Johnathan
 
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