Upgrading to an i5 Suggestions?

Hi, ive decided to go and upgrade to an i5 750, ive been having performance issues. FPS's still play ok on my Q6600 but on games like Napoleon Total War and SupCom it can get really laggy. i also do a fair amount of video encoding so the extra speed would be appreciated

Incase i didnt update my rig since i was last here this is my current spec

Q6600@3ghz (1333)
Gigabyte P35-DS3L
4gb OCZ Sli (800mhz)
XFX 5850
Audigy 2zs sound card
Cosair VX 550w


Moving to Socket 1156 means i need to replace my mobo and RAM correct?

Currently i am looking at these two motherboards

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Asus-1156-P7..._bxgy_ce_img_b

or

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Gigab...SATAIIRAID-ATX

Ive never had a bad experience with Asus or Gigabyte so i dont have brand preferance

Memory

http://www.amazon.co.uk/G-Skill-1600...625340&sr=1-18

or

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/4GB-%...-9-24-XMP-165V


Also the cheapest i can find the i5 750 is around £155 does anyone know where is best to buy it from?

I am also looking for a third party heatsink to do some overclocking £30 would be the max budget, although id rather pay less if possible.

Thanks for your help :)

Hi Ares.

I recently built my i5 rig, and its really good! £155 for the processor? No wai! I got mine for £114.99 ex VAT (£134.98 inc)! :D

See:

i5 @ £135
http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/...roductId=37674

Titan Fenrir @ £32
http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/...roductId=39579

Asus P7P55D-E @ £129
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=40043

I have the Asus P7P55D-E (Which I also got from aria) but I got it for the same price as the one you linked from Amazon. They're really good with sorting you out deals, worth giving them a ring for a bundle price.

[edit]: 1 thing to note the mb is really good - I've had no problems with it and its a great overclocker, but its completely useless if yuor thinking of going for an xfire setup in the future as the second PCI-E slot will run at x4. Also, if you run USB3 or SATA6Gb/s it will download the graphics cards PCI-E slot from x16 to x8. I have USB3/SATA3 disabled because I dont have a sata3 drive or any usb3 peripherals - but it defaults at sata3 and I noticed no realworld differences between x16 and x8.

You'll want to get DDR3 Ram also yes.

Also, I have the Titan Fenrir on my i5, and ran BC2 for about 3 hours on max settings with it clocked at 4.01Ghz and my temps didnt go over 42c. I haven't hardcore stress tested it yet - but the Titan Fenrir (currently £32 on special @ aria) gets great reviews.

1 thing I will mention is, this CPU cooler and these mother boards can be a pain. I had to flip the fan and have it running on a pull system as opposed to push because the fan didnt fit in next to my Corsair Dominator RAM:

http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/9977/sdc10676b.jpg

Hope this helps!

I run Supreme Commander at 1680X1050 on a computer with a Q6600 at around 2.9GHZ and I don't seem to be getting any lag.

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Originally Posted by Callum1001

Hi Ares.

I recently built my i5 rig, and its really good! £155 for the processor? No wai! I got mine for £114.99 ex VAT (£134.98 inc)! :D

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Thanks for the links, really appreciated

Quote:

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if you run USB3 or SATA6Gb/s it will download the graphics cards PCI-E slot from x16 to x8. I have USB3/SATA3 disabled because I dont have a sata3 drive or any usb3 peripherals - but it defaults at sata3 and I noticed no realworld differences between x16 and x8.

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yeh but thats the same for all P55 boards, ive got no money for X58 :mad:

Probably going to go for the Gigabyte board, it seems to get better overclocks on average

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH

I run Supreme Commander at 1680X1050 on a computer with a Q6600 at around 2.9GHZ and I don't seem to be getting any lag.

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Skirmish and single player is where i get issues, multiplayer is usually fine unless i get a player with a bad connection


Is 7-7-7-24 Latency good enough for the memory? Or should i look for something a little higher spec?

What resolution are you playing games at?

My word of warning about the Asus P7P55D range is that quite a few of them are not x16/x8+x8
ie two x16 slots but is both are used they drop to x8
Quite a few of the P7P55d's are actually x4 electrical on the 2nd x16 slot.
ie while the motherboard has two x16 slots the lower one runs at x4 reguardless.
This makes them rather bad for sli or crossfire and the ability to do ether is a major feature of the p55 motherboards.

Just double check which type a model is before you part with your cash
http://www.asus.com/Search.aspx?SearchKey=P7P55D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dirky

What resolution are you playing games at?

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1920x1200 i like lots of AA too, i dont see how it matters for a cpu upgrade?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pob255

My word of warning about the Asus P7P55D range is that quite a few of them are not x16/x8+x8
ie two x16 slots but is both are used they drop to x8
Quite a few of the P7P55d's are actually x4 electrical on the 2nd x16 slot.
ie while the motherboard has two x16 slots the lower one runs at x4 reguardless.
This makes them rather bad for sli or crossfire and the ability to do ether is a major feature of the p55 motherboards.

Just double check which type a model is before you part with your cash
http://www.asus.com/Search.aspx?SearchKey=P7P55D

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Yeh i think all P55's have this issue, id like a motherboard where i could have x8/x8 but i cant afford, ive never done crossfire/sli before and am happy to stick with single cards if need be.

Not all of them, of the original p7p55d the Pro, deluxe, evo and premium all had x8/x8
simular for the p7p55d-e only the vanilla and LX versions lack it

if you did want it then a cheap option is the ASRock P55 Extreme
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Asroc...rboard-LGA1156

Otherwise you're looking closer to £130, although there's still the msi p55-gd65 for £120
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/MSI-P...rboard-LGA1156

Other than that, I'd think about looking at an AMD system insead.

Have you considered an i7 system?

IIRC, the gaming performance between i5/i7 (4Ghz for both) was minuscule, but for video encoding etc the hyperthreading on i7 processors makes a big difference. If you are going to be doing a lot of encoding an i7 could be worth the extra money.

Hope this helps.

My GD-65 does the job brilliantly. Tiny bit of vdroop, but who cares, just up the voltage a bit. I'm at 3.7GHz and not too much higher than stock volts, so I already have a 1GHz+ overclock. It's cool and quiet, only running a single 120mm intake fan and 1 x 120mm and 1 x 140mm outtake fan.

If you're doing video encoding you'd be much better off with either a i7 8x0, or - to throw in a bit of a wildcard - a Phenom II X6.

The X6 1055T easily outpaces an i5 750 in heavily multithreaded tasks like video encoding, and is not much more expensive - you can save at least the difference by going for a 790X-based motherboard (which also does x8 x8 for crossfire)...

But get the gigabyte board then, so much nicer ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scaryjim

If you're doing video encoding you'd be much better off with either a i7 8x0, or - to throw in a bit of a wildcard - a Phenom II X6.

The X6 1055T easily outpaces an i5 750 in heavily multithreaded tasks like video encoding, and is not much more expensive - you can save at least the difference by going for a 790X-based motherboard (which also does x8 x8 for crossfire)...

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Just touching on what your saying, 1055T slightly cheaper here

That said you'll pay delivery with aria. Also, if you want to overclock the 1055T go for a motherboard that can maintain a high HTT as the multiplier isn't unlocked. In that respect, the gigabyte 790x-ud4p really is a winner as I think it hits 285mhz which for a 700series chipset board is fantastic.

I'd go with the hex-core if video encoding is on your list, possibly save some £££ on the motherboard as well.

The gigabyte boards are on today only at scan:
http://www.scan.co.uk/product.aspx?ProductId=33759
Although you may as well get this then:
http://www.scan.co.uk/product.aspx?ProductId=35938
Probably a better deal afoot tbh...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH

I run Supreme Commander at 1680X1050 on a computer with a Q6600 at around 2.9GHZ and I don't seem to be getting any lag.

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I run the same on a socket 939 X2 and 4870 and also don't get any lag ;)

Ive gone with the i5 and the Gigabyte P55-UD3 motherboard

For cooling i went with the coolermaster hyper 212 plus. Im getting around 60c at load and 30c idle (room temp is around 20-21c) with no overclocking but turbo boost turned on (i5 clocks to 3.15ghz) is this normal? Or should i try reseating the Heatsink?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scaryjim

... The X6 1055T easily outpaces an i5 750 in heavily multithreaded tasks like video encoding ...

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ares_202

... Ive gone with the i5 and the Gigabyte P55-UD3 motherboard ...

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Your video encoding is going to take a lot longer then :rolleyes: ;)

Temps sound a little high to me but a lot depends on your case airflow - my Q6600 under a stock cooler dropped 10 degrees at idle just by taking the side panel off my case: you might want to try that and see what happens. If your temps drop significantly, you need to think about the airflow through your case!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scaryjim

Your video encoding is going to take a lot longer then :rolleyes: ;)

Temps sound a little high to me but a lot depends on your case airflow - my Q6600 under a stock cooler dropped 10 degrees at idle just by taking the side panel off my case: you might want to try that and see what happens. If your temps drop significantly, you need to think about the airflow through your case!

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Temps drop 5-6c with no side on, although my Q6600 ran around cooler at 55-59c with a cheap £15 aftermarket cooler. Im going to reseat it as thinking back i just rushed it and didnt apply the thermal paste properly using the card.

RE the video encoding, i was thinking about it and decided that to go to an i7-920 would cost me an extra £70-80 which given the 10-20% better encoding speed isnt worth it IMO. Im primarily upgrading for better gaming performance, the 1055t wouldnt give me that, if intel's and AMD's performed very close to each other id buy AMD every time, i just think intels chips are better performers when looking at what i do most of the time on my PC.

It could be a mistake in the long run as LGA1366 will probably get new 32nm chips whereas LGA1156 will reach end of life from what hear.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ares_202

It could be a mistake in the long run as LGA1366 will probably get new 32nm chips whereas LGA1156 will reach end of life from what hear.

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Not that many new chips for 1366 - only westmere. The new generation are skt 2011 and 1155, obsoleting both current ones. If you want long life systems then head to AMD.

Not to mention there are 32nm chips on 1156 already ;)

FAO Callum 1001:

That is some very neat wiring...did u do it yourself? What did u use to keep ething inplace?