i7 vs i5 and other hardware stuff!

[rcL]

I've come to pick the brains of your very knowledgeable selves.

I'm considering a new rig since the one I've got, whilst it has served me very well is starting to break under the strains of starcraft two and other rather intensive games.

I've been looking at the i7's but came across an interesting article about how with the right motherboard and with a decent motherboard and a hefty fan it's possible to overclock the i5 2500k to 4.5 ghz quite safely.

Being more of a gamer and less of a multi-tasker I was wondering if this would be a better choice for game performance?

I'm not new to gaming and the gear will be inside an antec 900 and with the money i'd save on the cpu i'd be prepared to get a pretty strong cpu fan to keep the overclock happy.

So, with that explained, I was considering going for:

i5 2500k OC'd to 4.5ghz
Radeon HD 6950
Asus P8P67 Deluxe

and i've got a 750watt Tagan powersupply, though i dont remember the specifics.

I'm unsure on what ram, but I'm not sure that that's such a critical component as long as I find something with high speed and low latency. (any recommendations that are'nt obscenely expensive?)

What's the verdict, would that be more gaming bang for the buck than an i7?

And any recommendations for the other gear?

Many thanks guys.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would check this thread:

http://forums.hexus.net/hexus-hardwa...gaming-pc.html

There should be some ideas on the hardware in that thread.

However do remember that any modern Core i5,Core2 quad or Phenom II X4 processor will be fine for gaming.

Even if you were to buy a Core i5 2300 and keep it at stock clockspeeds it would be fine for gaming for years IMHO.

[rcL]

hmm, that's a great thread, so you think before i consider anything i should wait for AMD's new flagship anyway?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

hmm, that's a great thread, so you think before i consider anything i should wait for AMD's new flagship anyway?

It depends. If you really need a new PC now then perhaps not. If you can wait a few months then I would personally wait just to see how it performs. However,the release date for AMD Bulldozer is Q2 2011(around April or May supposedly).

If AMD Bulldozer is good it will mean cheaper CPUs for us and if not then you have always got the Core i5 still.

I have a Q6600 ATM so I am fine for the next few months unless a Moose falls on my PC.

[rcL]

yea, im also on a q6600 atm with an 8800 gtx, it's not bad by any means but i cant play starcraft 2 on high without some lag right at the begining, and being the massive competetive nerd i am it's not something that's really an option, and it's a shame to lose out on the great graphics i know it can produce.

Think i'll wait a while, might have enough to spring for an ssd aswell then.

Many thanks, thread closed.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

yea, im also on a q6600 atm with an 8800 gtx, it's not bad by any means but i cant play starcraft 2 on high without some lag right at the begining, and being the massive competetive nerd i am it's not something that's really an option, and it's a shame to lose out on the great graphics i know it can produce.

Think i'll wait a while, might have enough to spring for an ssd aswell then.

Many thanks, thread closed.

Perhaps if you overclock your Q6600 a bit it may help??

I have the upgrade itch too but the longer I can keep my Q6600 the better IMHO.

Having said that I may get locked into Intel again since AMD have worse SFF motherboard support ATM!

[rcL]

Perhaps if you overclock your Q6600 a bit it may help??

I have the upgrade itch too but the longer I can keep my Q6600 the better IMHO.

Having said that I may get locked into Intel again since AMD have worse SFF motherboard support ATM!

overclocked to 3.8, not huge i know, but i've got a real bad motherboard, i bought the processor forgetting it needed a different socket when the quads first came out and sprung 70 quid for the mobo, it dosent support much higher >.<

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

overclocked to 3.8, not huge i know, but i've got a real bad motherboard, i bought the processor forgetting it needed a different socket when the quads first came out and sprung 70 quid for the mobo, it dosent support much higher >.<

A Q6600 overclocked to around 3.8GHZ is actually quite a decent overclock for a Q6600.

At this speed it is pretty much close to a Core i5 750 and around the speed of a higher end Phenom II X4 in games.