an i5 or black edition x4?

[Infamous]

i have determined i am going to have to do a computer upgrade in stages. buy a vid cards, cpu & mobo then get some ram and psu,

i like the fact these black editions sem to be easily over clocked, and 4 cores. the i5's seem all the rage, but which one do you think is better?

Also, when it comes to vid cards, i was going to get 1 gts 450, and then one later,, should i just wait? would i be able to get the same card again in 6 mos?

i am basically looking to get my system up to close to the reccomened specs on BF3.

[Devilguns]

If your looking to spend $200-$230 for a cpu, I'd go with the Intel. Best bang for your buck. By I5 are you talking Sand Bridge I5 or just the regular I5?

[BlackArrow]

i5-2500K seems to be the favorite of every overclocking site I have read.

[Infamous]

the black edition comes in cheaper, and i have heard of folks getting those to run steady @ 4ghz. i am not tech savvy. i do not know what all the numbers mean, so looking at them doesnt always do me good.

i can keep my dual cores for a while yet, but OS and vid cards come first. Mentioned in the dual core GPU thread, older 2-3 generation cards will be really cheap, this is sort of what i am hoping with the gts 450's.. its a good card, ran in SLI id think would meet my gaming needs for quite some time. technically my 2 8600 gts's dp an ok job, but new games are getting set to damn near "off" in all detail categories.

if you had to choose 2 cheaper slightly older generation cards, what would they be? again, sort of on a budget, looking to do cards, cpu and mobo for no more than 600 at all.

Also, would buying two of these...Newegg.com - 50SGH8HX3OMJ GeForce GTS 450 SuperOC 1GB 128-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card help me out or will i just be slowed down too much by my CPU? like i said, currently i run 2 8600GTS in sli, so i figure one of these cards is probably faster than both of mine.

[Devilguns]

Well you will notice a big performance bump just from going to a dual core to a quad. When I first tried to run COD Black Ops on my old machine it ran horrible, no flame effects, stuttering. The machine was a Intel core 2 duo 2.66 ghz, oc'd to 3.2ghz with a single 8800GS. I purchased a 460GT thinking it would help, but made no difference what so ever. Not even in bench marks. My machine was just over 2 years old and it seems that is the time frame I either heavily upgrade or build a new machine any way.

So I went with a 2.66 I5-750 and was blown away. Even running at the stock 2.66ghz it ran circles around my dual core. Then when I got it 4ghz stable it was nothing like I ever had before.

My suggestion would be do the cpu and mobo first, then video card.

[Infamous]

bummer, didnt want to hear that! ha. the reason i was going to do vid cards first, at least hoping to , was with some psu calculators, i need like 635 W to run the rig with a new mobo and cpu,, current psu is 650w,, thats too close for me to be comfortable with, at least when i know i will be loading things out.

i was going to get copy of win7 and cards to in hopes to get me shogun:2 and BF3 "playable" then get the cpu mobo,psu, gotta get some new ram at some point with a cpu mobo upgrade.

my cpu is a core 2 duo 3.00 stock, not over clocked yet.
ASUS mobo, i can easily try over clocking options.
4 GB RAM WinXP sp3
dual 8600 gts sli
650w psu.

i do not have my whole tax return to spend, otherwise it would just be new system hands down without question at once.

[Duke{CLR}]

I would strongly suggest that you save your money and buy all new parts at the same time to get the best value. Come up with the amount you could likely have by the time BF3 comes out and make a wish list at New Egg then watch what the prices are doing. As you keep on top of your list you will know when a great deal comes out and pull the trigger at the appropriate time. You can also keep up on what parts are best for you.

Put up you budget and let us try to find some parts for you.

[Dead...Again]

I would also suggest waiting and getting Sandy Bridge. It will be a relatively cheap CPU and blow anything current out of the water.

[BlackArrow]

I would also suggest waiting and getting Sandy Bridge. It will be a relatively cheap CPU and blow anything current out of the water.

No need to wait...they are out already. And the i5-2500K is an instant darling and it's only $220. Newegg.com - Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K

MoBo = ASUS P8P67 - LGA1155 Socket is only $150

and with Graphic Card prices down for some excellent performance...I have never seen a better performance to cost ratio to build an extremely capable gaming PC.

[Dead...Again]

What I should have said was wait until the SATA thing is definitely cleared up. I haven't read anything about it being fixed.

[Duke{CLR}]

Here is an article about the fix and how some companies are handling the marketing of the B3 stepping. I looked at the boards at New Egg and the pictures didn't have the boxes that specified the improved B3 steeping so I would check into that before buying one.

Gigabyte Goes B3 with Updated 6-Series Motherboards > News on Motherboards PCs & Laptops > Tech2.com India

Here is an article on getting the best Video card for the money. It looks like the GTX 560 - ti or the Radeon 6950 1 Gb will give you good bang for the buck.

Best Graphics Cards For The Money: February 2011 : February Updates

I used a PSU calculator and put in an OCed i5 2500 at 4 Ghz and dual 560 ti cards to see what kind of wattage you would need and it came to 554. I was guessing on things like the Hdds, optical drives and the fans so it may be a bit off but it looks like you current PSU should have the wattage and could be used if its in good condition.

Here is a rundown of what I found just messing around on New Egg. $627 plus shipping

OS $99.00
Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - Operating Systems

CPU $229.00
Newegg.com - Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K

Video card $250.00
Newegg.com - EVGA 01G-P3-1561-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti FPB 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Memory $49.00
Newegg.com - CORSAIR XMS3 4GB Desktop Memory Model CMX4GX3M2A1600C9

[Infamous]

why 64 bit on the OS instead of 32? whats the real difference?

As for a budget, id say no more than 600$ ill have about 300 her in a week or two, but the other 300, boy, that will be hard to get. between lousy job, low pay, and having to pay for child support( stay married fellas) coming up with extra cash for things like new system are next to impossible. do able, but barely!!

vid card question, best to get 1 top of the line or 2 1 generation older and run in SLi? i can get two gts 450's for the price of that card suggested.

also, no mobo listed in the above , throwing that in, way too high.

[Donziboy2]

Newegg doesnt list any 1155 mobo's on there site atm, so when they come back up on listing you will know when the fix is out lol.

[Infamous]

i come in at we will call it 700 with shipping on all this...

MoBo
Newegg.com - MSI 870-G45 AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard

Vid Cards
Newegg.com - 50SGH8HX3OMJ GeForce GTS 450 SuperOC 1GB 128-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

CPU
Newegg.com - AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ965FBGMBOX

Memory
Newegg.com - G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL

OS
Win7 but what are the differences between the 32 and 64, pros? cons? just using it for gaming, so do i need either or, does one interfere with games?


so all that with the OS in the price included... i do not see any socket 1156 mobo anywhere, this is the tentative build. The GTS 450 came in on best card for 115$ and beat out the radeon especially if ran in SLi.

if the sandy bridges and mobos are out in next month or so, we will see. Also will have to see what the price of the P67 chipsets are.

[Devilguns]

You'll need 64bit to run more than 3 gigs of memory.