CPU advice

[vesseblah]

Since Intel in general only keeps sockets around for ~2 Years and the power gains in between the releases are mere small increments... I think that whole "future proofing argument" is way overrated.

It's really simple:

Socket 1155 is at the end of it's lifecycle, there will probably never be another processor for it. On the other hand socket 1150 which comes with new processors in June is at the start of it's lifecycle. It doesn't take rocket surgeon to see which one is better for future proofing if purchase isn't required now and it can't wait few months.

second hand Q6600 core 2 quad core

Buying used five years old tech is pretty bad idea unless it's cheaper than sixpack.

[Deleted]

I see all these comments of "so much better" or "40%" better, with little evidence to prove it. I have found plenty of benchmark tests showing the 3570K to be better than the 8350, and vice versa. But nothing to suggest a 40% increase in performance.

[n0cturnal]

I see all these comments of "so much better" or "40%" better, with little evidence to prove it. I have found plenty of benchmark tests showing the 3570K to be better than the 8350, and vice versa. But nothing to suggest a 40% increase in performance.

Here you go, single threaded performance measured with Cinebench. http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Produ...s=697&i=38.344

[Deleted]

Buying used five years old tech is pretty bad idea unless it's cheaper than sixpack.

For someone who might be very tight on cash, it does give an option that wouldn't require a new board too. Although I admit, whilst that cpu can drive even a HD7850 in modern fps games, WoW and other cpu intensive games would benefit from a little more power.

In that case, if you are willing to overclock, the i5-3570k reigns supreme in this price bracket for the moment. If you don't care much for overclocking, the non-k i5s are still decent processors in their own right, only dropping 100,200 or 300mhz depending on the model. Again I would recommend the k version, but if money is tight you could do worse than those processors.

ammendum: (Using uk prices here) You can pick up a Q6600 for about 40 pounds. Compare to i5-3570k which is probably pushing 250 pounds when you factor in a decent motherboard to go with it. Consider that in a years time, 250 pounds will get you a haswell i5 processor of (potentially) the same jump of performance as the lynnfield to sandybridge i5s had and you will have a board with a socket that could handle the broadwell processors due out after that.

[Granyala]

They are focused on power consumption and that horrible igpu because like it or not the money is in the mobile market now days and at the end of the day they are a company out to make money.

Not only that. Due to the large amount of consolitis infected crap produced these days, heavy duty CPUs aren't really needed anymore.

Socket 1155 is at the end of it's lifecycle, there will probably never be another processor for it. On the other hand socket 1150 which comes with new processors in June is at the start of it's lifecycle. It doesn't take rocket surgeon to see which one is better for future proofing if purchase isn't required now and it can't wait few months.

You just have to put things in perspective. You can ALWAYS wait for the next thing in the computer equipment department. Sure, if the need isn't dire, I would wait too. But if he needs a new rig NOW, he can buy 1155 and have peace of mind that waiting for haswell-socket wouldn't have resulted in some dramatic power increase that affects the longevity of his new computer.

By the time an Ivy CPU is crap, that 10% or 5% more power that Haswell grants won't get him anywhere, Since the new stuff has 2-3x the processing power.
If the processing power keeps increasing like it did in the last few years. If it doesn't they'll just start marketing fluff as "essential".

[Deleted]

Here you go, single threaded performance measured with Cinebench. http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Produ...s=697&i=38.344

I'm going to do something now that I don't think I've ever done: admit I'm wrong on the internet.
Although I will still stand by saying the AMD is a capable processor, and can run anything I've thrown at it, I hadn't seen just how impressive the intel i5 3570K is when it comes to gaming. Possibly the last time I was in the market for a CPU (When my motherboard died 6 months) ago, the 3570K was a lot more expensive? This might explain my thinking of why the AMDs were still more bang for buck, but with the price difference of the 8350 and the 3570 (~£10), I would no longer have any hesitation on choosing the intel over the AMD

Please don't mistake my prior arguing as AMD fanboi-ism - I will always be the type to look around and get the best value for my hard earned pennies without being tied down to any brand.

edit: This is my response to looking at every gaming benchmark I could find, which is my (and probably ost people on this site's) primary usage for their computer.

[DumbestWhale]

I recently bought i5 3750k with AsRock LGA1155 ATX Motherboard Z77 EXTREME4 and a MSI GTX 660ti, which is not an expensive set up, but it works like a charm. CPU overclocks easily without fiddling with settings much to 4.4 - 4.5 Ghz and the GPU is more than capable of running WoW, Tera and pretty much anything you throw at it on high-ultra settings. I am not sure about upgradeability of the mobo as it was mentioned in the posts above, but I can tell for sure from my personal experience that the above mentioned CPU mobo GPU set up has proven very capable. Don't forget to buy a decent CPU cooler if you want to OC.

[Granyala]

Possibly the last time I was in the market for a CPU (When my motherboard died 6 months) ago, the 3570K was a lot more expensive? This might explain my thinking of why the AMDs were still more bang for buck, but with the price difference of the 8350 and the 3570 (~£10), I would no longer have any hesitation on choosing the intel over the AMD

Not really. I bought it for 230€ a few days pre release.
I guess you just happened to stumble on the wrong reviews/benchmarks.

Mosts peeps just don't realize that games still are mostly single threaded and all that fancy multithreaded benchmarks don't really tell you about gaming performance.

For all things considered Desktop PC I'd recommend Techreport.com. Lots of interesting reviews and discussions + a very helpful community that will guide you through any upgrade process.

[Deleted]

Mosts peeps just don't realize that games still are mostly single threaded and all that fancy multithreaded benchmarks don't really tell you about gaming performance.

You should also consider that most games are much earlier GPU limited than CPU limited. So in that context going for AMD with an higher end GPU is not a bad choice to make.

This is not against anyone in particular, but it seems that the general opinion is that AMD is shit and that the only way to proper game is going with Intel. That is just wrong, and way to simple. If you only play wow, then yes intel beats amd. But when you play more games and you are on a tight budget, amd might be the better choice.

[Granyala]

This is not against anyone in particular, but it seems that the general opinion is that AMD is shit and that the only way to proper game is going with Intel.

Yeah I noticed that.
People tend to overdramatize stuff quite a bit on the interwebs. As the troll lady already said: Most games will run fine on AMD processors.

With current hardware prices in mind, I don't really get all the budged oriented talk though.
I mean components are so cheap, compared to a few years back.

200€ CPU
250€ GfX (eg: 7870, more than enough for 1080p gaming)
Some quality mobo (No need for super duper deluxe editions)
Some cheap ram (Intel doesn't profit from high clock rates anyway), so buy some cheap 1600MHz modules that are supported by the Mobo.

Yeah and that's basically it.
In this day and age I just don't see the need to squeeze out 30 bucks from CPU to funnel it towards GPU.

[vesseblah]

You just have to put things in perspective. You can ALWAYS wait for the next thing in the computer equipment department.

Try you put it into perspective. We're talking about waiting for three months or buy nearly two years old stuff. It's actually really close now to new gear and waiting bit longer is worth it. Waiting for graphics cards on the other hand is not, since a rumor thread just popped here today saying both AMD and Nvidia won't release new lineup whole year. Two entirely different things, no?

By the time an Ivy CPU is crap, that 10% or 5% more power that Haswell grants won't get him anywhere

All of that is under NDA, so nobody knows for sure. Personally I just think it's dumb to buy into old gen today.

I'm going to do something now that I don't think I've ever done: admit I'm wrong on the internet.
Although I will still stand by saying the AMD is a capable processor, and can run anything I've thrown at it, I hadn't seen just how impressive the intel i5 3570K is when it comes to gaming.

It's not that straightforward as more and more games are taking advantage of multiple cores and the gap between AMD and Intel is closing. But today there is massive gap since most games don't benefit from the extra cores at all. WoW and all current MMOs basically depend heavily on single core performance where Intel is indeed far ahead, but if the normal use is in 3D shooters for example that are mostly graphics card capped AMD is perfectly viable choice. Sure Intel processor costs bit more, but the value for price is not on AMD's side in MMOs.

People tend to overdramatize stuff quite a bit on the interwebs. As the troll lady already said: Most games will run fine on AMD processors.

Read the above paragraph I wrote to the troll lady, and keep in mind this is still WoW fansite.

[Deleted]

To be frank right now i`m kinda confused if i want to go for a cheap i1 3220 or some i5 version since i have to change the hole MB as well since i`m running on LGA 775. Would change the windows drive affect performance? I know it's an OLD 40GB ATA drive with 2MB cache

[Granyala]

Would change the windows drive affect performance? I know it's an OLD 40GB ATA drive with 2MB cache

Shorten loading sequences: yes.
Better performance: no.

Seriously: If you run a crappy 775 system, just save a little and go for a nice Haswell rig in june. 775 is just way too outdated to further invest in it.

[Deleted]

Shorten loading sequences: yes.
Better performance: no.

Seriously: If you run a crappy 775 system, just save a little and go for a nice Haswell rig in june. 775 is just way too outdated to further invest in it.

Well like any other released it will be overprices as hell and since i live in Romania it will be even more overpriced then and god knows how long it will be before it will be available

[Granyala]

Don't know about your country. Guess that's up to your judgment.