Help with my new Build

[hikaricloud]

Get the cheaper one, you can overclock it yourself.

The 550 or the 650 will be fine.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Go with the cheaper card. Factory overclocked cards aren't worth the increased cost because you can easily overclock the cheaper card yourself and XFX's waranty even covers overclocking.

A Corsair 650TX would be plenty of power.

 

[hikaricloud]

I still say the AMD build will be better for gaming purposes. Like I was saying earlier, quads don't really make much of a difference in gaming, and not only does the x3 720 come with a higher clock frequency, but it will overclock better than the intel Q9400 as well. So I don't see much of a point in spending more on it, since the x3 will suit you fine for both gaming and everyday tasks.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Quads don't make a difference in most current games because the games aren't multi threaded or if they are can only utilize two cores. As new games are released that do support quads they will start to have more of advantage over dual and tri cores so the quad is a better option in the long run.

The x3 720 can't overclock that much higher on air. Also since the Q9400 is faster clock for clock it doesn't need to clock higher than the x3 to be faster.

 

[hikaricloud]

The x3 720 overclocks pretty well on air cooling, even a stock hsf. I couldn't keep 3.6ghz because of high temps, even though it was stable.

Either way, it comes down to cost, and I still don't think the Q9400 is worth the extra money at that point. Just my opinion.

 

[philbar71]

my q9300 runs about 45C on idle at 3.6GHZ with a 92mm xzimatek rifle cooler, and never broke 65C under load. but now it stays much cooler on water. and i only had to do 1.37V to get to a 500FSB, so to say the q9300 does not overclock well would be a lie it's only the low multi that holds it back.

 

[tim333]

I really like the look of that Intel build. The processor seems to outstrip the AMD in every way, and with the combo they are the same price.

The MB in that combo seems quite a bit worse though, with one 1 PCI x-16 slot. And no on board video (I've found this to be handy every now and again).

I think I will stick with my current Case and HD however. I don't think that will make any difference.

What would I ever do with a PCI x 1 slot? Let alone 4 of them?

 

[hikaricloud]

Not the same price, no. But go with what you want.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Most Intel motherboards won't have any on board video.

Another option for the motherboard is the Biostar TP45HP. It has 2x pcie x16 slots, supports crossfire, and is an exceptional overclocker. I didn't post it before because of the combo deal available on the gigabyte.

Newegg.com - BIOSTAR TForce TP45HP LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

 

[hikaricloud]

FYI, the intel build with the Gigabyte combo deal is $845 without shipping. It's $879.66 after shipping. If you get the Biostar instead of the Gigabyte board, it will be a total of $901.06 after shipping.