Upgrades

[Mentali$T]

Hi guys, haven't been on here in ages but now I need some help deciding on what I should buy to replace some old parts. Havn't done this in 5 years so a bit lost in everything new. All I need is cpu, mobo and ram everything else is fine.

I dont game as much as i used to on my pc but i still would like the option to, plus i kinda have to for the course im doing at uni. I also need to be able to run Zbrush, 3ds max and maya keeping rendering times to( as little as possible.

Max budget 500
Heres what i thought to get first

CPU - Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz Socket 1366 D0 stepping 8MB.. | Ebuyer.com
Ram - Corsair 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz XMS3 Memory Kit.. | Ebuyer.com
Mobo - Asus P6X58D-E X58 Socket 1366 Gigabit Lan Tripple.. | Ebuyer.com

This works out at £470 (plus i'd need heatsink etc) which is fine but then i thought i might be able to get better price/performance from amd phenom x6 1055T but Im not really sure how this compares with an i7. I also heard about the i9 is meant to be out soon? Maybe i should wait for that so prices drop. Any idea on release dates?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[Muffin Man]

yea those parts would work.

there's no such thing as an i9. before intel's 6 core cpu was released it was rumored to be called i9, but it's still an i7 (i7 980x).

 

[Mentali$T]

Ahhh thanks for clearing that up! haha

So anyway would i be better off going intel or amd x6 for price/performance

For example
CPU - AMD Phenom II X6 1055T 2.8GHz 9MB Cache Socket AM3.. | Ebuyer.com
Mobo - Asus M4A87TD EVO 870 Socket AM3 8 Channel Audio ATX.. | Ebuyer.com (so many to choose from not sure which is best option)
and same ram as above comes to £362.13 but how would this perform compared to the i7 system? is i7 worth the extra £100+

 

[Trotter]

AMD uses dual channel RAM, so you would need to get a kit with either two or four DIMMS, not three.

For sheer speed the i7 wins over the AMD line hands down. However, the Phenom II line is no slouch, either. £100+ is like $200 in the US, plus you will save some dough by going to 4GB of RAM. These look good (G.Skill are awesome)
G-Skill 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz/PC3-12800 Ripjaw.. | Ebuyer.com
£100.00 (-£20 right there)

I would go with a quad instead of the x6 (unless you are doing some serious transcoding or such). The 465 Black Edition (unlocked multiplier) is a very nice CPU.
AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 3.4GHz Socket AM3.. | Ebuyer.com
£147.39 (-£33.59)

It looks like the mobo is what is going to make the biggest bank.

Basically it comes down to how much you want to spend, mate. Any of them will give you great performance.

EDIT: Oh, and good to see you back around.

 

[Mentali$T]

That looks like a really good option there for price/performance and yeah i definitely dont need 6 cores lol.

Would something like OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1866MHz/PC3-15000 Gold i5 Memory.. | Ebuyer.com be much better than 1600Mhz ram because the timings are a lot higher but not sure which is the best option.

Think this motherboard will be fine too Asus M4A785TD-V EVO 785G Socket AM3 onboard DVI VGA.. | Ebuyer.com

Thanks trotter, nice to be back

 

[Muffin Man]

lower timings are better, not higher.

go with the kit Trotter linked.

 

[Mentali$T]

Yeah i know lower is better, I didnt know whether faster with higher timings would be much better than 1600 with good timings.

Think I'll go with this then
AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 3.4GHz Socket AM3.. | Ebuyer.com
Asus M4A785TD-V EVO 785G Socket AM3 onboard DVI VGA.. | Ebuyer.com
G-Skill 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz/PC3-12800 Ripjaw.. | Ebuyer.com

£316.06

Thanks for all the help guys

 

[Slaymate]

I agree, stick with the G.Skill memory Trotter linked to.

If you raised the latencies up a little the G.Skills will "probably" run at 1866MHz or higher also. You might have to tweak a few other settings but it wouldn't surprise me.

 

[Mentali$T]

Went ahead and ordered last night, should be here monday

Thanks again for the help

 

[GoogleIntel]

AMD uses dual channel RAM, so you would need to get a kit with either two or four DIMMS, not three.

Three DIMMS is optional. You can still get two or four for LGA 1366 i7