mother board - processor help please!

[Millenwagon]

Hey guys i'm wanting to upgrade my computer with a new mobo and processor.

I have an i5 650 at the moment and i would love something which is far more powerful but im stuck as to which to go for. I'd like one of the new intel i processors, but im unsure what socket they are for on motherboards.

Which are the best when it comes to value/performance? and are the amd phenom 6 cores any where near as good as intels top i processor?

Also another quick question... i Have 4 sticks of 2gb ddr3, running in dual channel, if i removed one stick would that mean 6gb triple channel? and are there any benefits over triple and double? thanks in advance

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

What are you intending to do with this computer??

The new Intel processors use a different socket. In multi-threaded applications the Phenom II X6 has nearly the same performance as a quad core Core i7 but is much cheaper. OTH,performance in lightly threaded applications is lower. They are not as fast as a six core Core i7 but OTH they are £450+ which means unless you want to be spend at least £600 then it is irrelevant to you. Of course Intel makes mores expensive server processors as does AMD but these tend to have loads of cores.

Bulldozer is in the next month or two and HardOCP are having a preview on the 16th. This is the first fully new AMD architecture since the Athlon 64.

TBH,I would look for a secondhand socket 1156 Core i5 quad core. OTH,a Core i5 650 is fast enough for everyday use so maybe investing in an SSD would give your system a nice boost in responsiveness.

[Millenwagon]

thanks! I mostly use it for gaming, the i5 is decent but when new games like battlefield 3 and call of duty mw3 come out i dunno if it will be good enough? Im no expert so i really dunno.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

TBH,I would see how it does. You could always pick up a Core i5 750 or Core i5 760 for under £100 from Ebay and even the Core i7 860 can be had for around £100.

[Millenwagon]

ok cool, but performance wise are they much better than my i5 650? if it would be a noticable upgrade id settle for staying with my 1156 mobo and an purchasing an i7 cpu.

i have another little question that hopefully you can help me with too. I have a corsair gs 700, and the fan makes a bit of a humming noise which is really annoying, can you get replacement fans for psu's? ive googled it but i cant seem to find anything. thanks again.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

ok cool, but performance wise are they much better than my i5 650? if it would be a noticable upgrade id settle for staying with my 1156 mobo and an purchasing an i7 cpu.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/144?vs=191

TBH,I still think you will get playable framerates with your Core i5 650.

i have another little question that hopefully you can help me with too. I have a corsair gs 700, and the fan makes a bit of a humming noise which is really annoying, can you get replacement fans for psu's? ive googled it but i cant seem to find anything. thanks again.

I would check to see if it can be replaced under warranty. It could be a PSU fault.

TBH,the Corsair CX and GS ranges have much poorer build quality than the previous cheaper Corsair ranges. OTH,Antec and XFX have improved build quality.

[Millenwagon]

ah nice comparison site! i think another i5 would be pointless, so if i decided to upgrade then id go for the something like the 870 i7.

Im really annoyed with PSU's. I picked up an ocz stealthxstream 2 700 from pc world which sounded like a vacuum cleaner, so i took it back and swapped for the gs 700 (i paid too much but i needed it quickly when i got them. Maybe i'll just have a look see if ive installed it tight enough, i just want a silent pc!!!! lol

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

ah nice comparison site! i think another i5 would be pointless, so if i decided to upgrade then id go for the something like the 870 i7.

The Core i7 won't improve the framerates in most cases as it is a quad core with HT and most games don't use more than four cores. If anything it will b ethe higher clockspeeds of the Core i7 870 will be useful:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/107?vs=191

Im really annoyed with PSU's. I picked up an ocz stealthxstream 2 700 from pc world which sounded like a vacuum cleaner, so i took it back and swapped for the gs 700 (i paid too much but i needed it quickly when i got them. Maybe i'll just have a look see if ive installed it tight enough, i just want a silent pc!!!! lol

How much did the PSU cost you??

[Millenwagon]

ahh ok, i'll focus more on the clock speed then. I'm gonna do what you said though and give the i5 650 chance, and if it isnt good enough then an upgrade may be in order. if only i could afford a gtx 590 to play with too haha.

PSU cost about £80 or something daft, i've seen it cheaper but nevermind, i needed it urgently.