• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

Upgrade from Q6600

Ease

Ease

Ease

Associate
Joined
14 Dec 2008
Posts
628
So I've been out of the tech game for about a year, and I'm beginning to think it's time for me to upgrade my CPU. I have virtually no idea about current CPUs, other than i7 > i5 > i3...

I've had a little look across Overclockers, and am quite drawn to
AMD Bulldozer FX-4 Quad Core 4170 Black Edition 4.20Ghz (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-319-AM&groupid=701&catid=1967&subcat=)
with
Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 AMD 760G (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-466-AS&groupid=701&catid=1903&subcat=1481)

My only specific requisite is that the motherboard has at least 6 SATA ports, although a USB 3.0 port or two would be good too. Opinions and advice greatly welcomed.
 
I have the same basic kit as you. I am hoping to go for the i5 sandy of the new Ivy Bridge but the unlocked versions 2500K etc so as to overclock. This looks like the best way forward right now. AMD don't seem to be as good.

What will you be using the new build for? It makes a difference the choice of processor etc
 
It depends on what you use your PC for. I went from a Q6600 at around 3GHZ to a Core i3 2100 and for gaming it was a decent improvement. Performance in video encoding and rendering is lower though.

If you are not overclocking this socket 1155 B75 based motherboard has six SATA ports and is around £60:

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4150#ov

It has two SATA3.0 and four SATA2.0 ports.

The FX4170 in games can be almost as quick as a Core i3 2100 in some instances and in other cases can be closer to a Phenom II X4 960T in performance.

In non-gaming tasks such as rendering and video encoding using the CPU the FX4170 will probably be better.Looking at some overclocking results the FX4100 can be overclocked to between 4.5GHZ to 5GHZ,but require less cooling than the FX6100,FX6200 and FX8100 series.

If you are not overclocking much,then this ATX 970 based motherboard can be had for between £50 to £60:

http://www.gigabyte.my/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4122#ov

It has six SATA3.0 ports.
 
stulid said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £99.95
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £84.98
Total : £196.33 (includes shipping : £9.50).



Did you specifically want a MATX motherboard?
Click to expand...

Nope, didn't specifically want MATX, it was just a cheap motherboard that had everything I required.

Why does everyone recommend the i3 over the Bulldozer? As far as I can see i3 has only 2 cores, admittedly 4 threads, but is that equal to 4 cores? And 0.9Ghz less speed!

I'd like to stress, I'm not an AMD fanboy at all, it just seems that on the face of it the Bulldozer would be the logical choice.

I'll be using the build mostly for gaming, watching media, and programming, but very little rendering. I won't be overclocking much at all, having killed two mobos (one pretty expensive one) and two graphics cards in the last three years.
 
Ease said:
Why does everyone recommend the i3 over the Bulldozer? As far as I can see i3 has only 2 cores, admittedly 4 threads, but is that equal to 4 cores? And 0.9Ghz less speed!
Click to expand...

First off, try not to compare CPUs based on Ghz or MHz across different brands as its like comparing diesel fuel and unleaded :p. Use reviews/benchmarks to get a better understanding of the performance between AMD/Intel CPUs.

The i3 has hyperthreading which effectively makes it appear to have 4 cores to process 4 threads even though it is actually 2 cores. Performance of hyperthreading will never match that of a true quad core CPU as hyperthreading is just a clever way of scheduling CPU threads more efficiently. For gaming, most games are single core or dual core while only a very few select are quad core or more (for example BF3).

Why people recommend the I3 over Bulldozer, well its because the i3 is cooler to run and costs less while at the same time performing roughly the same in gaming.
 
El Jimben said:
No point upgrading from one dead socket to another.

Get a Z77 board & an i3/i5 CPU.
Click to expand...

The performance upgrade is what I looked at. Not the minor issue of it being a discontinued line, which to a lot isn't even slightly important. I can see the argument for getting the latest tech, but the i7 920 OC's to around 4ghz and does well in most games anyway.

I don't know what the price difference is between that and the z77 board and a i3/i5 though. If it's the same, then I agree to maybe go for the newer tech. I have never looked at the prices of i3 and i5's.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom