What CPU/Motherboard Combo is better ?

DecoySA · 4 Apr 2011 at 12:26

Currently i have :

AMD Phenom II 955 BE Quadcore, Overclocked to 3.8ghz
Gigabyte MA790XT-UD4P

My mate has this for sale for ridiculously cheap:

Intel Core I5 - 2400 3.1ghz (sandybridge)
Foxconn H67A-S Intel H67 (sandybridge)

Is it any better than what i currently have ? will i notice a considerable difference when playing CPU intensive games ?

Hagar · 4 Apr 2011 at 12:32

No and No.

The i5-2400 is not overclockable nor will the H67 chipset allow it.

Watch out for Foxconn B2 revision boards as they have not yet provided a return solution I believe.

stulid · 4 Apr 2011 at 12:38

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i5-2500-2400-2300_7.html#sect0

See how a stock speed 2400 destroys a phenom 975 which has a 3.6GHZ clock speed, and the H67 will have turbo boost which will allow the 2400cpu to go 4 speed bins higher.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/...-core-i7-2600k-i5-2500k-core-i3-2100-tested/3

hybrid572 · 4 Apr 2011 at 12:42

I wouldn't bother. The X4 955 (especially overclocked to 3.8) is actually overkill for 99% of games, and when it struggles on things like Civ V and Ultra Settings SC2, an i5 2400 isn't really any faster unless you want to try overclocking it- and overclocking a locked SB processor is no mean feat.

DecoySA · 4 Apr 2011 at 12:53

just for the record i am borderline computer retarded as well so won't be doing any overclocking whatsoever !

Reaper 392 · 4 Apr 2011 at 12:57

DecoySA said:
just for the record i am borderline computer retarded as well so won't be doing any overclocking whatsoever !

overclocking is pretty simple. theres a beginners guide in the overclocking section. as long as you know what voltages your processor can take, its very hard to go wrong and if you do you can easily reset the processor to its original settings

Hagar · 4 Apr 2011 at 13:08

It also depends on how cheap is ridiculously cheap. For 99% of usage, your 955BE will be adequately fast. Spending low £xxx for a minor, possibly not noticeable improvement is not cheap.

andy.