CPU & GPU hunt.

[lokialex]

Wasn't really sure if this should go to gaming or off-topic, so I took a stab at the closer related of the two.

I have this pretty good rig right now but have decided to upgrade my graphics card and processor in light of all the awesome games coming out in the next few months.
Now I am thinking about spending around 500 dollars all in all for these 2 things. I have been researching for a while now but really can't make a decision as to what brand I should use, either a Asus GPU or Gigabyte GPU and either a AMD CPU or Intel GPU and also just in general what products are better than others.
Basically I'm kinda lost, mainly cause doing this kind of research gives me massive migraines.

So if you, fellow escapists, could give me some solid advice as to what brands and stuff I should get then I would be eternally thankful.

My current rig is as such;

Motherboard: Gigabyte H55M
GPU: ATI Radeon HD 4850 with 1gb memory.
CPU: Intel Core i3 530, so basically 2 cores 2.93GHz each.
RAM: 4.00 GB DDR3
Case: Antec 1200 (with more then enough fans to cool pretty much everything)

Edit: oh and yeah I forgot to mention, my power supply is Antec TruePower TP-550 (550 watt)

 

[MercurySteam]

Asus GPU or Gigabyte GPU and either a AMD CPU or Intel CPU

Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, EVGA and even XFX (if you're buying ATI) are all good and considering Intel and AMD are the only people who really make CPUs, I think they're a good choice too

Your i3 uses socket 1156, so if you don't want to replace your mobo you'll need to upgrade to an i5. May I suggest an i5 760 [http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=187_346_931&products_id=14941]?

As for your GPU an MSI GeForce GTX 460 Hawk 1GB [http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=193_687&products_id=16134] fits into your budget quiet nicely, not to mention that it's a great card.

Also it would help to know what you're gonna be using your rig for.

 

[shado_temple]

Asus GPU or Gigabyte GPU and either a AMD CPU or Intel CPU

Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, EVGA and even XFX (if you're buying ATI) are all good and considering Intel and AMD are the only people who really make CPUs, I think they're a good choice too

Your i3 uses socket 1156, so if you don't want to replace your mobo you'll need to upgrade to an i5. May I suggest an i5 760 [http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=187_346_931&products_id=14941]?

As for your GPU an MSI GeForce GTX 460 Hawk 1GB [http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=193_687&products_id=16134] fits into your budget, quiet nicely not to mention that it's a great card.

Also it would help to know what you're gonna be using your rig for.

This. Getting the 760 gives you the Turbo Boost extra, which gets quite a bit out of the CPU when needed, and the GTX 460 is a fairly well-rounded GPU.

 

[Zer_]

The GTX 460 can outperform the GTX 470 easily. It's one of the best video cards nVidia has to offer.

Also, if you go for AMD, I suggest a 6870 or 6850. Both are solid video cards.

 

[Fenring]

Wait. Get a 2500 (maybe K) with a H67 or P67 motherboard once they come back in stock after Intel fixes them (but then Bulldozer might be out, which is supposed to be rad). For a mobo+current CPU, you'll probably have $200 at tops for a GPU, which means you should be looking at the AMD 6850/70, or maybe a Nvidia 560 (which I'm unsure on pricing). If you want to shell out $50 more, you could get an AMD 6950 1gig, which would be awesome.

 

[MercurySteam]

Also, if you go for AMD, I suggest a 6870 or 6850. Both are solid video cards.

Agreed, though I thought that since he's using Intel with a monster PSU he may want to SLI in the future though he may want to upgrade his mobo by then to get the most out of a setup like that.

 

[lokialex]

Ok some great input, thanks guys!
This'll make things easier for me.

Also it would help to know what you're gonna be using your rig for.

So yeah my main concern would be Crysis 2 (heh, what a suprise) but also I want to be able to run Shogun: Total War decently and of course Portal 2, Deus Ex:HR, Dragon Age II. You get the idea.

Also one thing I found really weird was that I had a really hard time running Dead Rising 2 with my current setup, I had to have everything in the lowest settings and still having awful fps when it came to large numbers of enemies. Not really sure if everyone experienced this or if maybe my parts are just not completely compatible with each other.

 

[MercurySteam]

Also one thing I found really weird was that I had a really hard time running Dead Rising 2 with my current setup, I had to have everything in the lowest settings and still having awful fps when it came to large numbers of enemies. Not really sure if everyone experienced this or if maybe my parts are just not completely compatible with each other.

There could be many reasons for this. I don't suppose you're running Vista?

 

[Slvrwolfen]

Which parts to get tends to boil down to preferences usually, except when budgets get included.

Now, I don't know how much price difference there is between your country and mine, but I only just had to do an emergency fixing upgrade on my system after blowing a PCI-E port and the graphics card I had (GTS 8800 640, may you rest in peace).

Now, I had roughly the same budget, 400-450 euros, and after some pretty extensive research and further setting budgets, I went for:
AMD Athlon II X4 640 - 100e (recommended for the price range)
Asus M4A87TD EVO - 95e (happened to be newer chipset and cheaper, while still offering crossfire)
Asus NVidia ENG460GTX DirectCU 1GB (OC) - 200e (a real bargain for an excellent card, should serve me another 3 years)
Kingston HyperX 1333 CL7 - 50e (My old MOBO used DDR2, so I had to upgrade these as well. Corsair wasn't in stock and would've kept me two months in waiting, so went for personal favorite)

My old case is still doing me justice, Antec 900 first generation ^_^

But, yes, I could've gone for a Phenom II X4 or X6 on the processor, but I had my own budget to keep. 480 GTX was also an option, but once again, budget. Motherboard would've had a double in price for the next viable option.

And why did I go for AMD? The next comparable Intel processor would've cost me 250 euros, and the motherboard would've been 300! For a budget gaming rig, AMD was a fairly obvious choice in my case.

 

[MercurySteam]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

I hope you know that's a Sandybridge LGA1155 Socket CPU meaning he'll need to upgrade his mobo, breaking his wallet in the process.

 

[MercurySteam]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115068

ATM even the newest games only utilize two cores, so you should be all set there.

Why go from a i3 530 to a i3 560 if he could skip all the way up to the best i5 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115067&cm_re=i5_760-_-19-115-067-_-Product]?

EDIT: Stupid me, I thought you were talking in Aussie dollars. Cause you're using USD you can go straight to the MSI GeForce GTX 560 Ti Twin Frozr II [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127565&Tpk=msi%20560%20ti].

Also it's not the game that utilizes the cores, it's how the OS chooses to split the workload [http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_games_use_more_than_2_cores_on_a_processor]. All four cores can be used, just not with 100% workload splitting accuracy.

 

[octafish]

Keeping it budget I'd recommend a i5 760 quad core CPU, you should be able to overclock it a little if you add a cooler. you won't get as large an overclock as on a p55 board but you should be able to get it to 3ghz at least. As for GPUs the best bang for your buck GPU at the moment is the 460 gtx. Asus and Evga have nice software for overclocking but any of the big manufacturers are good.

 

[s0m3th1ng]

Splurge and buy the best video card you can and forget upgrading the processor...You will see a MUCH higher gain in performance that way...the i3 is still more than sufficient for all games. Most newer games(Fuck you Codblops) put nearly all of their load on the GPU.
I could see the slight benefit if you were going to be playing large RTS's but...

 

[MercurySteam]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115068

ATM even the newest games only utilize two cores, so you should be all set there.

Why go from a i3 530 to a i3 560 if he could skip all the way up to the best i5 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115067&cm_re=i5_760-_-19-115-067-_-Product]?

EDIT: Stupid me, I thought you were talking in Aussie dollars. Cause you're using USD you can go straight to the MSI GeForce GTX 560 Ti Twin Frozr II [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127565&Tpk=msi%20560%20ti].

Also it's not the game that utilizes the cores, it's how the OS chooses to split the workload [http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_games_use_more_than_2_cores_on_a_processor]. All four cores can be used, just not with 100% workload splitting accuracy.

Oh, so he can use a i5 but only a certain kind? Forgive me, lol...I've only ever used AMD CPUs.

Go with what MecurySteam has suggested, lol.

I've made similar mistakes in the past. AMD makes everything look so easy with their all-purpose AM3 socket. The one you suggested was a second generation i5 (Sandybridge microarchitecture; socket 1155) while the one I've linked is a first generation i5 (codenamed Lynnfield as the quad core processor utilizing Nehalem microarchitecture ; socket 1156).

You don't need to say it. I'm a big time nerd.

Summary​

Recommended CPU: Intel i5 760 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115067&cm_re=i5_760-_-19-115-067-_-Product]​

Recommended GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 560 Ti Twin Frozr II [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127565&Tpk=msi%20560%20ti]​

That should do it.

 

[MercurySteam]

Splurge and buy the best video card you can and forget upgrading the processor...You will see a MUCH higher gain in performance that way...the i3 is still more than sufficient for all games. Most newer games(Fuck you Codblops) put nearly all of their load on the GPU.
I could see the slight benefit if you were going to be playing large RTS's but...

I agree, the GPU handles most variables that determine good framerates but the CPU plays a key role too. The CPU sits above the Northbridge and controls all interactions between the Southbridge and all the hardware it controls (SATA devices, USB devices, etc), the Northbridge and it's hardware (graphics and memory) and how fast everything goes. Yes the i3 will serve him fine for this year, but to stay in line with recommended requirements for the next couple of years, the i5 will do the job not to mention generally improving performance.

Wow, I really just nerded out...

 

[lokialex]

Ok thanks guys, now I just need to decide between MSI GeForce GTX 460 Hawk and MSI GeForce GTX 560 Ti Twin Frozr II

this. I don't suppose you're running Vista?

Heh, no actually I'm running Windows 7. Skipped vista altogether, straight from XP to 7

 

[Wolfram23]

snip

i5 760: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115067&cm_re=i5_760-_-19-115-067-_-Product

MSI 560 Ti: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127565&cm_re=560-_-14-127-565-_-Product

All for under $500. This is the easiest and best upgrade path for you. You could actually afford a 6950 2gb or 1gb card instead of the 560, but after researching I think the 560 is a better buy unless you plan to go with a 3 monitor setup.