Gaming rig AMD or Intel cpu?

[Justesting]

Hello there,

Currently i have E6750 @ 3.4Ghz and HD4870, i game on 1680x1050.
Thought to buy new Mobo, CPU, RAM.
Have in mind the Phenom II X4 955 or I5 760, now i saw that there are new CPUS in the near future, should i wait or not, might be that the new CPUS won't improve over the current CPUS by a large margin?

If i go for the x4 955 or I5-760, which one will handle CF better?
Noticed that the 1156 boards have ridiculously prices for a board with PCIEX16X8
config, and that AMD boards at the same time have more features and lower prices, please help with that too.

Thanks in advance.

 

[nenforcer]

With your current CPU, video card and resolution I'm not sure you will see as much improvement right now as you are hoping for.

The AMD 890FX / GX support SATA 6Gbps and USB 3 while some of the Intel P55 boards support both SLI and Crossfire.

You are right, the P55 chipset does seem to be a little crippled in regards to XFire / SLI setups. Socket 1156 is also time line limited for only another 6 months before Socket 1155 comes out with Sandy Bridge CPU's.

Socket AM3 boards will support the first Bulldozer CPU's late next year so its really the most futureproof platform for the time being.

 

[magomago]

Hello there,

Currently i have E6750 @ 3.4Ghz and HD4870, i game on 1680x1050.
Thought to buy new Mobo, CPU, RAM.
Have in mind the Phenom II X4 955 or I5 760, now i saw that there are new CPUS in the near future, should i wait or not, might be that the new CPUS won't improve over the current CPUS by a large margin?

If i go for the x4 955 or I5-760, which one will handle CF better?
Noticed that the 1156 boards have ridiculously prices for a board with PCIEX16X8
config, and that AMD boards at the same time have more features and lower prices, please help with that too.

Thanks in advance.

What game in particular are you struggling with? I would think if anything is giving grief, it MIGHT be the videocard (as silly as that sounds).

 

[Kuzi]

Your CPU should be ok for most games right now.

For the most part, you would get a larger jump in gaming performance if you just upgrade your video card. A 5850 or GTX460 1GB should run most games perfectly fine at your resolution. Check the comparison below between your card and a 5850:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/176?vs=164

If you must upgrade your CPU/Mobo/RAM, get an I5 750 and OC it. The Price/Performance that you get from this processor is excellent.

 

[Justesting]

Well I play Bad company 2, DA:O, Mass Effect 2 currently.
I really get the feeling that I am being hold back in Bad Company 2, as it is an FPS game it's really annoying. My CPU is on 99% while the GPU on 45%-47%.

Also the prices on the AMD boards are way cheaper than Intel boards, I can get AMD board with PCIEX16X16 at the same price of Intel board PCIEX16X8.
Seems to me that most of my current games requires 4 cores for optimized gaming, and also the future games that I intend to purchase.
Please end my sufferings lol, I really need to decide if i buy and if so AMD or Intel, or wait for next year, tough prices at first will be high and i don't know if it'll be worth it, as far as gaming performance goes.

Again Thanks in advance.

 

[WildW]

Bad Company 2 is one of that (currently) small number of games that really benefits from a quad core. I'd say a CPU upgrade isn't a bad idea. The AMD route is probably the cheaper one, particularly if you're happy to hold onto your DDR2 for now. I've done this without any regrets. Intel will give you better performance for more money. An i5 will last you longer before the next upgrade I imagine, but as others have said, socket 1156's days are numbered too.

The 4870 should still hold its own for a bit longer at only 1680x1050. Speaking of that resolution, I'd suggest you not worry about Crossfire/SLI setups unless you're going to change to a bigger monitor. You'll find single cards can max out games at that resolution without having to worry about the issues that come with dual-GPU setups.

 

[Sickamore]

Amd is the cheaper way to go. If yoht going for intel prepare to put a lil dent in your wallet.

 

[richierich1212]

Yeah BFBC2 plays much better with a quad-core. You can also try some BF2 tweaks, like running DX9 mode which helps alot.

You can find a good AMD mobo that takes your current DDR2 ram and then try going for a 955BE.

 

[Axon]

Your CPU is now long in the tooth. While it would still be solid for a mid to low tier game or for multimedia, it will not do well against something like BF:BC2.

There is no question that Intel has the superior CPUs right now, so if you can afford it, I'd recommend it. That said, AMD, for its part, offers very strong performance at approximately 50-70% of the price. You could go in for something like the Athlon X4 620, but I would say spend the extra $50 and get the Phenom X4 955 or 965 BE. Now, be advised that, at your resolution, even the 955 would be a sidegrade in some games. In multi-threaded games and applications, it would be superior.

 

[Dravic]

.

Socket AM3 boards will support the first Bulldozer CPU's late next year so its really the most futureproof platform for the time being.

I believe this is no longer the case. AMD as recently stated that AM3+ will be required for Bulldozer. They tried to make it compatible with AM3 but decided the loss of features required to make it work were no longer worth it, and have decided to make AM3+ the required socket.

 

[Justesting]

@richierich1212
Thanks, but tried it already it wasn't good, dare to say that it got worse, so went back to DX10.

Anyway as it seems if i'll go 955BE and mobo PCIEX16X16, i won't need to upgrade for some time, cause i have DELL 2209WA 1680x1050 and i won't replace it, Just too good.
If i'll get into trouble i'll just throw in another GPU in CF and i'll be golden.

Unless someone here can crash my dream?
Don't worry i'll be glad to know the truth

Also stumbled upon this thing, as it seems my suspicions are right, my E6750 IS the bottleneck:
http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/battlefield_bad_company_2_tuning_guide,4.html

 

[heyheybooboo]

If you are interested in a CF (and you probably should be) now would be a good time to jump.

Inventory of the HD4870s is getting thin but prices are great. Could be the best $120 you ever spend, and in CF should bump your graphics to GTX470/HD5850 levels and beyond.

Probably a good time to make the jump to DDR3 ...




--

 

[TemjinGold]

What's your mobo? Why not just do a drop-in upgrade with a quad?

 

[ModestGamer]

bulldozer client will be AM3+ socket.

 

[Justesting]

@heyheybooboo
that's a sick idea THANKS!

OK, think i've got it, might be my new rig:

CPU:
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Processor 3.2GHz L3 6Mb AM3

Board:
Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P AMD 790FX+SB750 Chipset AM3

RAM:
A-Data DDR3 4096MB (2048MBx2) 1600Mhz CL 7-7-7-20 X Series D34G16XADK

GPU:
HD4870 for CF

PSU:
Seasonic S12D-750 Active PFC 750W

Seems pretty sweet to me, be good for years to come.
Going to ask for the x4 955 C3, then i might be able to get away with 4GHz on stock cooler.

 

[Fanofou]

There's absolutely no reason to OC on a stock cooler when for 20 bucks you can get something like a refurbished hyper 212. You're looking at 15-20 degrees C temp difference, not to mention the noise decrease.

 

[Attic]

What's your mobo? Why not just do a drop-in upgrade with a quad?

Yes, this.

+ 460GTX 1GB or HD5850

Will be the cheapest upgrade with solid performance gains. No need to ship a new mobo/cpu/ect... when all you need is new CPU. The socket 775 quads are still awsome for gaming.

 

[richierich1212]

There's absolutely no reason to OC on a stock cooler when for 20 bucks you can get something like a refurbished hyper 212. You're looking at 15-20 degrees C temp difference, not to mention the noise decrease.

Yeah you can overclock to 3.6-3.7GHz on stock cooler but the temps won't be good to run 24/7. 212+ has been on sale every now and then from Cooler Master for ~$20 as Fanofou has mentioned.

 

[Attic]

@heyheybooboo
that's a sick idea THANKS!

OK, think i've got it, might be my new rig:

CPU:
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Processor 3.2GHz L3 6Mb AM3

Board:
Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P AMD 790FX+SB750 Chipset AM3

RAM:
A-Data DDR3 4096MB (2048MBx2) 1600Mhz CL 7-7-7-20 X Series D34G16XADK

GPU:
HD4870 for CF

PSU:
Seasonic S12D-750 Active PFC 750W

Seems pretty sweet to me, be good for years to come.
Going to ask for the x4 955 C3, then i might be able to get away with 4GHz on stock cooler.

Don't do that right now for a couple reasons.

1) You will be upgrading your GPU's while still locking yourself to DX10. If you want to be gaming happily through the end of the year, let alone the next couple years you are going to need DX11.

2) Your Mobo/CPU upgrade doesn't make sense when you can get near that gaming performance by dropping an Intel socket 775 quad into your current mobo and save on Ram and Mobo Costs

3) Intel Sandy Bridge and AMD AM3+ for their Bulldozer chips are just around the corner. Those are the platforms to upgrade too, not the one you have listed.

 

[Kivada]

I say wait for the new 8 core AMD CUs and the HD6870 to drop late this year~early next. Your current rig is plenty good till then.

 

[magomago]

I say wait for the new 8 core AMD CUs and the HD6870 to drop late this year~early next. Your current rig is plenty good till then.

(a) unless you are talking about some other 8 core (whichis really supposed to be a 4 module cpu, not 8 core...), Bulldozer is not coming out this year.

(b) his rig isn't plenty good because on the game he plays it lags a lot because the game demands a quad core processor.

 

[Kivada]

The rumors going around are that the HD6 series will likely be out this year, the Bulldozer will be out early next, jumping onto an X4 box now isn't worth the money if he can tough it out and get all new everything then. If not a 775 quad is the better option for him then building an X4 rig.

It's generally best to skip a generation or 2 to get more bang for your buck instead of jumping on the upgrade treadmill for gains that aren't that big over what he's already got.

 

[Justesting]

Hey everyone,

Really happy to see all those comments, to be honest i don't think that waiting will do any good for me.
Also as i foresee it (and i might be wrong) Sandy Bridge and Bulldozer won't improve things that much, maybe for other tasks but not for gaming.
I think that the affordable CPU's of Sandy Bridge or Bulldozer will only give an extra 7%-10% of performance over their old counterparts.

Games should be coded to 100% utilize multicore, not the cosmetic utilization of multicore that we see today, so we can see big leap in performance in games, new "architecture" won't help with that.
The GPU have a big role in games, and that's where i'll aim when i'll need to replace the HD4870 CF.

About DX11, it's the same scheme they have played when they introduced DX10 , so i don't care to be "stuck" on DX10.
Those that want a tock and already have a nice CPU should wait 4 years, it's a dream but universal socket someone, 10nm cookies, and new material found on mars, that will replace the old silicon and allow us to reach 4-8GHz with breeze.

Unless there are some new things that will come into the play ground that i don't know of, i am pretty golden with the above rig configuration.

Well that's just my crazy analysis\dreams.

 

[mrcmtl]

Since you are currently having difficulties playing BFBC2, I'd say go for it. Your updated rig should be good enough without problems for another two years at least. Yes, HD6xx0 is around the corner but for the price that you pay for another 4870, no card in the 6xx0 generation can beat a 4870 CF. And since you do get a CF, you'll need a CPU upgrade and I doubt you want to wait until Sandy Bridge .

 

[Bman123]

Sell your cpu and buy a used Q6600 or Q9550