Need advice for a PC rebuild

Hello all,

I already have a new GTX460, and am looking for a new CPU, mobo, and memory, and have a $500 budget. I'm shopping around right now and am looking at Core i5 or i7 tech, but any advice would be greatly appreciated

Might wanna start at Father Xmas's guide here
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showt...=124080&page=2

Get a good power supply.

I think the 1000W supply I have will cover it.

Although the lower end rig does not interest me, I might have to consider the recommendations for his higher-end rig. However, why I would need a mobo with two Ethernet ports is beyond me. I also wish his mobo had triple-channel memory instead of dual-channel.

Does anyone know of the significant differences between the i5s, i7s, 1156nm, and 1366nm designs? This is what is confusing me the most.

It's not 1156nm/1366nm. They are (typically) named after the number of pins.
The 1366s will use triple channel. it's also the only (so far) socket Intel-side that will let you go with a six core CPU.

Settle on a socket, then you can look at CPU. You can't divide it as (for instance) "17 goes with 1366" - my system's an 1156 running an 17-860. IIRC, Intel is labeling them by target market - I7, high end consumer/business/enthusiast, i5 mainstream, i3 lower cost.

See my Guides and Tutorials

Tell me about it. Give it six months and it'll get even more confusing.

Socket 1366:

This is the socket used exclusively (knock on wood, who knows what Intel marketing is going to do next) for the i7-9xx series of quad and hex cores. This is meant to be their premium platform. They all use the Intel X58 Northbridge chipset which has 36 PCIe lanes easily allowing motherboards to have three or four (all x8) video card slots for the ultra gamer.

The CPUs use triple channel memory, memory should be installed in threes, but the "official" memory speed is only DDR3-1066 unless you overclock or have one the expensive "Extreme Edition" CPUs. They have Turbo Boost, a feature that increases the speed of the CPU when not all of the cores are being used but it is very conservative when compared to Socket 1156 CPUs. Also all the i7-9xx CPUs have Hyper Threading, which is a way to better utilize all the internal hardware of the CPU by allowing it to run two software threads at the same time on a single core by faking out the Operating System.

Socket 1156:

This is more of a mainstream platform for Intel. Unlike Socket 1366, it doesn't use a Northbridge chip at all and has it's own 16 PCIe lanes integrated right into the CPU. This can be configured to either one x16 or two x8 video card slots (read motherboard specs carefully it make sure, it varies). Also it only uses memory in pairs like most CPUs however it's default speed for memory is DDR3-1333. Also their Turbo Boost is considerably higher than the i7-9xx series when single or dual cores are only being used.

The quads available are either the i5-7xx or i7-8xx series CPUs. The major differences is the i5-7xx doesn't have Hyper Threading, and has memory hard capped at DDR3-1333 without overclocking. The i7-8xx allows DDR3-1600 without need of overclocking. And there are some minor differences in the Turbo Boost amounts.

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Recently Intel has dropped the price and/or introduce faster versions of the i7-8xx and i7-9xx at around the same price. For Socket 1156 there is the 2.8GHz i7-860 for $280 and the 2.93GHz i7-870 for $290. For Socket 1366 there is the 2.8GHz i7-930 for $285 and the 3.06GHz i7-950 for $299. (prices from NewEgg)

Edit: Turbo Boost for the i7-870 is +667MHz for single core usage, +533MHz for dual core, +267MHz for triple and quad (based on power use). Turbo Boost for the i7-950 is +267MHz for single core usage, +133MHz for dual, triple and quad.

Performance wise, it all depends on the application being tested. If you are running a single or dual core software that isn't streaming through a lot of memory then the i7-8xx tends to win due to the better Turbo Boost. If you are running programs that process a lot of memory while using all the cores then the i7-9xx tend to win due to its triple core memory setup.

Here is a comparison between an i7-8xx and a i7-9xx at the same speed.

Platform wise the Socket 1366 tends to be more expensive due to it gamer appeal (shaft the hard core gamer) and triple slotted memory requirement.

I also have no idea why any ordinary person needs dual ethernet ports if all they are doing to connecting to the Internet rather than running game server host during a lan party.

I'm using a Gigabyte P55M UD2 with a Core I5-750. My memory is G. Skill 4GB DDR3 10666.

The board may look cheap, but it's actually very widely lauded as a monster overclocker and rock solid quality. I can tell you from experience that it is. I'm currently running my 750 @ 3.4ghz. It idles at in the 30s and gets up to the mid-high 50s when it's under load. If I was looking to spend more on cooling then I could push it even further.

If you're not interested in SLI and don't mind having a micro ATX board you can consider this option.

IMO hyper threading and the 1366 socket CPUs in general aren't worth the price premium unless you plan on spending a lot of time on heavily multi-threaded applications. Spend half as much, do a little overclocking, and get performance that beats the more expensive options.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpu...d-cpu-review/1

This review gives a ton of info on the range of CPUs you should be looking at. There's a page in the review detailing the qualities/value of hyper threading. As you can see, it does practically nothing for gaming.

Thanks for all the wonderful advice everyone. This is exactly the sort of ammo I need to go into Fry's or NewEgg and shop around. Just pricing right now, but probably shopping this weekend/ next week to put everything together.