My < $1000 Complete Gaming Package

[seancwatson]

That is certainly the case; 1156 CPU on an 1155 socket? Eeeeh.

I was just messing around with different cpu's seeing the differences and stuff. It's not like I was actually going to buy it. It's fixed now with a compatible cpu

[Drunkenvalley]

I was just messing around with different cpu's seeing the differences and stuff. It's not like I was actually going to buy it. It's fixed now with a compatible cpu

Goodie.

[seancwatson]

I'm stuck between the Intel Core i3-2120 or for $40 more I can get the Intel Core i5-2400
I'd like to dabble about with overclocking.
Differences: Intel Core i3 i3-2120 vs Intel Core i5 i5-2400

[TanAxys]

don't bother with the 2120, too much of a price jump for very little performance gain

the advantage of the i5 series is that it's 4 real cores, instead of 2 with 2 virtual cores.

every processor in the universe can be over-clocked. some are just easier to OC and have a higher ceiling... i.e. the k series (2500k or 2600k).

if you start OCing then you need to make sure you have the cooling to cover it, which brings you right back to that $50 cpu cooler you had picked out earlier.

if you really want to get into it, it's going to blow your $1k budget.... but do the i5-2500k. I would suggest starting with the i3-2100 for now, and then save up for the cpu upgrade later.

I think you'll be really impressed with the i3, and once you start using it you might just forget all about the ultimate cpu OC set up of doom.