Which CPU for my new rig?

[Jeps]

Hey all I will be building a brand new machine soon and i would like some advice on which CPU to go with.

I know intel will be releasing there new hex core i7 soon and was wondering what peoples opinions are on it? Is it worth me waiting and shelling out the extra cash or just going with a much cheaper quad core i7? I use my PC for gaming and i'm not convinced that i really need 6 cores although it would be damn cool

Thoughts?

 

[cmndr_andi]

Hi there, welcome to the OCUK forums

If its just for gaming, the CPU you want is the AMD Phenom II X3 720 BE or possibly an Intel Core i5 750. Anything more is simply not going to be used, spend the money you save on a better graphics card or monitor.

As for the i7 hex core, the one that will be out in a few weeks time is the i7 980X which is an extreme edition CPU. This means that it comes with an unlocked multiplier and a £750 price tag. I think the forum concesus is "ooooooo,........ but I ain't payin that". Intel have also announced a locked-multiplier i7 970 for Q3 2010. This should be effectively the same chip as the 980X, but with half the price tag. I for one am very interested in this CPU and may well buy it when it comes out. However, I don't use my PC primarily for games so I will be making use of the extra perfomance of these chips in multi-threaded applications. For someone who was purely a gamer - this chip would provide little extra performance compared to the AMD X3 I mentioned earlier.

 

[xBLiNG]

As cmndr_andi said, Welcome to the forum, and yes for gaming you dont need a hex core CPU go with the i5 he listed or a AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition as it will save you unlocking an extra core to make it a quad, and it's still cheaper than the i5.

 

[Jeps]

Thanks for the advice. I hadnt considered AMD's range as i've always been a fan of intels and previously they have outperformed AMD's by a fair margine. Might be worth a look if this has changed.

How does the i5 compare to the i7? Only difference i can see is that the i5 has a dual channel memory controller and does not support hyperthreading. Is there a noticable performance difference?

 

[cmndr_andi]

Thanks for the advice. I hadnt considered AMD's range as i've always been a fan of intels and previously they have outperformed AMD's by a fair margine. Might be worth a look if this has changed.

How does the i5 compare to the i7? Only difference i can see is that the i5 has a dual channel memory controller and does not support hyperthreading. Is there a noticable performance difference?

In games, there really isn't much of a difference any more. Generally, games are so much more Graphics-limited that even a decent triple core will perform as well as a top-end quad core when using the same high-end graphics card.

Comparing the i7 to the i5 - the difference is hyperthreading (the i7 900 series also have triple channel memory, but the 800 series only has dual). However, in games the i7 and i5 perform almost identically when at the same clockspeed. There simply isn't a reason to get an i7 if gaming is the primary use.