6-core vs 4-core

[Discobeard]

For playing games like Starcraft, WoW, and SWtOR, will you see a benefit going with a 6-core vs. a 4-core processor?

These are the two CPUs I was considering:

Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-070-_-Product

Intel Core i7 970 Gulftown 3.2GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-066-_-Product



To go with the CPU:

GPU - GeForce GTX 580
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-567-_-Product

SSD - 30 GB Kingston 2.5 inch SATA MLC Solid State Disk
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820139162

HDD - 300GB Gaming Western Digital VelociRaptor 10,000RPM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-762-_-Product

None of the parts have been purchased, so if you see something that should be upgraded or can stand to be downgraded feel free to critique.

Thanks for the help!

[llDemonll]

30gb ssd? too small

raptor HDD? waste of money

go with the i7 2600K, even if it's not better, it's within 90% of all performance marks of the 970 (where it doesn't beat it) and costs about half the price

if you arent doing video rending though, the i5 2500k will be fine, but since money doesn't seem an issue the i7 2600K is good

[Deleted]

Get an intel core i5 2500k, blows away the second, and unless you're into rendering and stuff the 2600k is a waste of money

[Discobeard]

30gb ssd? too small

What size is appropriate? What programs need to be on it?

[Fraza]

A 6-core is definitely overkill. I'd even say i7 is overkill and an i5-2500k would do just fine.

While pouring tons of money into hardware is cool and all, and I'm not the one to stop you, I'd invest the extra cash in hookers instead. At least then you'd have a memory of a threesome and that stays with you forever. Computer hardware on the other hand ages fast.

What size is appropriate? What programs need to be on it?

Get a 64-128GB SSD and put the OS and games on it. Everything else can go on a regular 7200RPM 2TB drive.

[Asmekiel]

What size is appropriate? What programs need to be on it?

Go for 60GB+ since you want the OS and most used programs on it.
I have Win7 on it, with drivers and stuff like MSN, Office, browsers, etc.. All other data (games, music, movies, etc..) I have on a normal HDD.

[Cyanotical]

afaik the 990x is the only first gen i7 still better then the 2600k, and unless you really want a beefy system right now, there is no point to getting the x58, its a good chipset, and has been top for almost 3 years, but with x79 just around the corner and p67 being so much cheaper, go with the quad core i7-2600k or the i5-2500k if you don't want hyperthreading

also, if you are only gonna use 1 gpu card, you could buy a GTX-590, it's better then the 580 in single card setups and is only $200 more

[Deleted]

downgrade to an i5 2500k as all you want to do is play games. in a couple of benchmarks i seen this actually get slightly higher fps than a 2600k.

and yeah, as someone else said, 30gb SSD is really cutting it fine. you obviously don't have many price limits seeing as you was willing to pay for a 600$ processor, so i'd try to get a 128gb SSD. you'd be able to run the OS off it and still have enough room to put your frequently played games onto it - that would mean you would no longer need that raptor HDD and you can instead get a cheaper 1 or 2tb storage drive for all of your data.

580 is a good card but you may as well spend 20 dollars extra and get the MSI N580GTX Lightning GeForce GTX 580, rather than the frozr edition.

good luck with your build!

[Morgaith]

Go for 60GB+ since you want the OS and most used programs on it.
I have Win7 on it, with drivers and stuff like MSN, Office, browsers, etc.. All other data (games, music, movies, etc..) I have on a normal HDD.

120+ imo (10chars)

[Skelly]

Go for 60GB+ since you want the OS and most used programs on it.
I have Win7 on it, with drivers and stuff like MSN, Office, browsers, etc.. All other data (games, music, movies, etc..) I have on a normal HDD.

60GB is bare minimum to fit this stuff on it. I usually suggest 80GB so you have room to patch WoW
Also, if you only game, see sig for difference between 2500k and 2600k (hint:none).

[Discobeard]

also, if you are only gonna use 1 gpu card, you could buy a GTX-590, it's better then the 580 in single card setups and is only $200 more

Is the GPU going to be the bottleneck? The extra money from downgrading to an i5-2500k could be put into another card if it would help.

[Wries]

What size is appropriate? What programs need to be on it?

Well some programs do see a benefit from being on an SSD and some see less. Games in general might see a benefit but there's often a part of processing that needs to be done during loading screens as well so the use of an SSD might not give as big of an impact as some people think. Add to that games occupy a lot of space and should you have many of them it might becomes kind of expensive to have all of them on SSD-space.

But 30GB is barely enough for anything. You'd have to start worrying about windows updates taking up space and programs storing data on your C-drive. I'd say 60GB is the bare minimum while 120GB+ would feel so much better to have after a year or so.

[Asmekiel]

60GB is bare minimum to fit this stuff on it. I usually suggest 80GB so you have room to patch WoW
Also, if you only game, see sig for difference between 2500k and 2600k (hint:none).

Depends if you put WoW on the SSD or HDD

This is how it currently looks at my PC, I don't play WoW anymore, but I would still have the 85GB of free space if I would.
But ye, I have a RAID0 setup :P

[Cyanotical]

Is the GPU going to be the bottleneck? The extra money from downgrading to an i5-2500k could be put into another card if it would help.

bottleneck is a bad word

if you run a i5 and a 580 you will be able to play most games very well, if you use a 590 you can play very well, across 3 screens in stereoscopic 3d

[Uggorthaholy]

i5 2500k
GTX 590
8gb ram
120gb SSD

#profit

[Fraza]

Is the GPU going to be the bottleneck? The extra money from downgrading to an i5-2500k could be put into another card if it would help.

Save that money and upgrade the card when it actually becomes a problem. You can play pretty much anything with an i5-2500k + GTX580 for years to come.

[Skelly]

Save that money and upgrade the card when it actually becomes a problem. You can play pretty much anything with an i5-2500k + GTX580 for years to come.

I agree with this.

[Discobeard]

if you run a i5 and a 580 you will be able to play most games very well, if you use a 590 you can play very well, across 3 screens in stereoscopic 3d

Is CPU benchmark a reliable review? It rates the 590 lower than the 580.

[Cyanotical]

Is CPU benchmark a reliable review? It rates the 590 lower than the 580.

2 580's are better then one 590, but a single 580 is not

in ranking:
1. quad 580's
2. dual 590's
3. triple 580's
4. dual 580's
5. single 590
6. single 580

[ispano]

That bench likely cannot use the second GPU on the 590, which would place it below a 580 by simple fact that the cores on the 590 are underclocked a bit. Much like any dual GPU card. But otherwise, what he said above me.