Gaming rig CPU needed

Hello all, I'm building a new setup soon and I don't know what CPU I should get. This rig is going to be mostly for gaming (with the occasional PS here and there.) I posted a while back almost 2 years ago asking the same thing but I never went through and built it. Now that I have money, I'm here again asking which CPU I should get. I have my eyes right now on the Q9550 and the i7 920. I would like others' opinion on these and other CPUs that might be better suited for me.

Also it would be nice for some mobo ideas as I have no clue either. I don't know much about overclocking but I might give it a try. My budget for this build is about 2gs. I'm still learning like the rest of you, so please be kind this holiday season

Thanks in advance.

Well for gaming you want a Fast dual core. Ive heard good things about the E8400 for OCing. I do gaming but i bought a Quad and then clocked it up, a Q6600. Im not a big spender so I bought cheap and upped the speed. Thats what overclockings about. so save yourself some money

Ive heard good things about the E8400 for OCing.

i7 all the way. I just sold off all my core 2 stuff and i am making the jump. I see i7 showing greater potential as time passes.

Id go for a cheap dual core setup for now. Pick up some things from teh classies.

Theres a good Abit IP35 board for under $100 and a couple good dual core chips. Good budget upgrade until i7 gets it all together and comes out w/ some new chips w/ price drops. Dual core is PLENTY for the time being and if you can hold out a year, i7 will be MUCH cheaper with many more options.

if you got 2g to spend on a gaming right then no dought do it right the first time. build a i7 gaming rig....

i920
Gigabyte X58-UD5

I would agree Core I7 940 all the way. great CPU. and upgrades in the future. atleast 4GB of ram while its cheap. and atleast 1 GTX280.

I believe there is an e8600 on sale in the classies for a mere $200.00

Mathis said:

I believe there is an e8600 on sale in the classies for a mere $200.00

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Thanks Mathis for the heads up, but I just sadly found out that I can't access the classifieds just yet

Thanks everyone for your opinions. Anymore with their .02? I'm starting to lean towards the i7 and try to future proof myself a bit. If its more price efficient if I go C2Q now and upgrade to the i7 later, give me your opinion on that.

I've looked at the Gigabyte mobo and it looks pretty good. What do you guys think about the Asus' line for the i7? If it makes a difference on mobo suggestions, I'm planning on only running 1 video card for now (GTX 280 or HD4870) maybe upgrading to 2 later. I am a complete idiot to overclocking but I'm willing to try once I find out how to. I also rather get the best now to futureproof my self, but if the majority sees that a different board is better, it will help my decision mucho.

Quick question on the matrix raid, do all the new intels have them now? Well, thats all the questions I have for now. Also, I'm planning on building this sometime near the end of January, so if theres something thats coming out soon let me know. Thanks again to everyone.

yea go with i7 there is no point of getting a dual it has been proven many times quads are faster in newer games...

and the asus mobos are really good but gigabyte is a little bit better for overclocking

and keep in mind if you do get a C2Q and want to upgrade to i7 later your going to have to buy a new mobo,cpu and possibly ram depending if you get a ddr3 mobo for your c2q

if your going to build a new rig just go all out

ok man, the only game that can use ALL 4 CORES is GTA IV. I still say Dual core for gaming. Get a quad for a lil more futureproof. Dont bother with i7, cost too much and has no improvement in gaming atm.

RSDXzec said:

ok man, the only game that can use ALL 4 CORES is GTA IV. I still say Dual core for gaming. Get a quad for a lil more futureproof. Dont bother with i7, cost too much and has no improvement in gaming atm.

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I hear that stuff all the time, and most games I've played the task manager clearly shows all 4 cores loaded, though usually 1&2 are at like 80% where 3&4 are like 50%.

@op
IMO the jury is still out on jumping into i7. Later this year intel will introduce a more mainstream socket 1156 (i5 ithink?)with dual channel ddr3. They claim they will not forget about 1366 peeps, but I suspect their focus will be more aimed at the server market than enthusiasts.

Can you expect advancement from memory mfgs, mobo makers, HSF mfgs, when less than 1% of peeps will own this line of nehalem cpus? I doubt it.

There is no question i7 is faster than core2. However, you could easily build a core2 rig for $1000 that is ~80% as fast as a current i7. Save the $1000 left over and this time next year buy the new nehalem CPU, mobo, & ram. Then ebay your old stuff. Then you will get a very nice rig for the coming year & an even more kickarse & futureproofed one next christmas.... all while prolly saving a few hundred bucks.

My 2c

The term futureproof should be banned from the forums. There is NO such thing.

I wouldn't buy a P4 or AMD socket 939, but a C2D is not a bad choice. The bang for the buck is very high right now.

If spending $2000 isn't an issue then go for it. Just be aware that in a year (or less) something better will be out for less money.

Just my opinion of course...

DeadSmiley said:

The term futureproof should be banned from the forums. There is NO such thing.

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I never get the distaste for the term...

While the constituent parts of the words disagree, I don't think anyone thinks of futureproof in absolute terms. I like the word because it implies you are ahead of the direction the curve is arching. This means gaining utility for your money for a longer period of time. Not the last computer you will ever buy.

Get a good 45nm quadcore and a p45 mobo. That should last you a good couple of years at max settings (depending on your graphics card) if overclocked right. By then the i7 will have passed and those 6/8 core processors people are talking about might be out ...

Q9300 = $179 at microcenter
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P for about $120
4gb 1066 RAM an new egg for about $50-60
Good heatsink/fan for $35
Graphics card for $250

You can have yourself a nice rig for pretty cheap right now that will last you a while. Or if you go with the Q9550, there are people like axis who are pushing those things to 4ghz on air. I assure you a 4ghz quadcore will crush even the games that can't handle quads for the next year ... by then most new games will should handle quadcores.

I don't think the i7 is necissary for gaming right now especially with the price and those new chips on the way. C2D is good, but for the price you can get a Q9300 or better. I say go quad.

Core i7 prices are not all that bad. The 940 and 965 extreme are high but the price of the 920 isnt too bad. Invest now in i7. Soon intel will release the 6 core i7's and if you have core i7 now then all you will have to do is buy the new CPU.

karkas said:

I never get the distaste for the term...

While the constituent parts of the words disagree, I don't think anyone thinks of futureproof in absolute terms. I like the word because it implies you are ahead of the direction the curve is arching. This means gaining utility for your money for a longer period of time. Not the last computer you will ever buy.

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Just by overclocking we're ahead of the curve...a dual core C2D at 3.5+ GHz is faster than the vast majority of computers out there.

liftedcj7on44s said:

Core i7 prices are not all that bad. The 940 and 965 extreme are high but the price of the 920 isnt too bad. Invest now in i7. Soon intel will release the 6 core i7's and if you have core i7 now then all you will have to do is buy the new CPU.

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Along with disallowing 'futureproof' we should disallow calling computers 'investements' when we use them basically as toys. In order to be an investement it would have to be used to make money somehow, probably in a business. In addition we all know prices go down for the same performance/size/whatever over time so calling spending more on the newest items an investement is wrong when they depreciate so fast. Sorry, 'investement' is just something that irks me when I read it on forums like this.

So...as for the OP, it's clear he wants a quad which is fine. While Core i7 is faster it's not a huge amount and is also program-dependent, some show larger gains some show almost none. Core i7 vs 775 basically comes down to price, motherboard and RAM for the i7 will add at least a few hundred dollars. If it were me and I felt I wouldn't change anything for a few years I'd spend less initially, in a few years both will have lost a good part of their value, but it's really up to you how much to spend now. Either one will be great. Once you've decided whether you want to spend the additional amount then you can get in to specifics like mobo and RAM.

Well said MadMan!

karkas said:

I never get the distaste for the term...

While the constituent parts of the words disagree, I don't think anyone thinks of futureproof in absolute terms. I like the word because it implies you are ahead of the direction the curve is arching. This means gaining utility for your money for a longer period of time. Not the last computer you will ever buy.

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I took the term as absolute. Perhaps that is just me being my anal self?

liftedcj7on44s said:

i7 all the way. I just sold off all my core 2 stuff and i am making the jump. I see i7 showing greater potential as time passes.

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i7 Has no advantage in games whatsoever, total waste of money.

Go with a high clocking dual or quad like the Q9650.