High-end PCs: Good enough or Wait to buy new PC?

[ilovejedd]

I actually agree with the fast dual-core suggestion. Clarkdales are very overclockable. On the Core i3-530, you can get 4GHz easily with a slight voltage bump. Anandtech was able to get their i5-661 sample stable at 3.85GHz at stock volts. TechReport ran theirs at 4.4~4.5GHz. Granted, the i7-920 is faster clock for clock, and for SLI (not that it really matters for PCSX2), you do want Bloomfield, no question. However, both LGA-1156 and LGA-1366 are dead end anyway. No sense paying extra for Bloomfield and dealing with the additional power and cooling requirement for a single card set-up.

Instead of spending $300~$500 for the CPU alone, I suggest buying a Core i3-530 ($100), a decent H55, H57 or P55 motherboard ($100~$150) and a good cooler for overclocking. Since the Core i3 and i5 Clarkdales also have hyperthreading, you'd probably expect to see 3-core performance. You could just allocate the money saved towards a future upgrade. Bulldozer or Sandy Bridge, anyone?

Edit:
I guess Lynnfield (i5-700 & i7-800 series) is another option but they seem to be trickier to overclock compared to Clarkdale. With a halfway decent mobo, overclocking Clarkdale is almost idiot proof.

[PCSX2Bob42]

hey guys

thanks for the info. For the graphics card I want a Geforce 470 (for gaming in general as well), but there are many of them?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLis...70&x=0&y=0

Which manufacturer is best? I heard the card also runs hot is this a problem for long-term reliability??

[iakoboss7]

hey guys

thanks for the info. For the graphics card I want a Geforce 470 (for gaming in general as well), but there are many of them?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLis...70&x=0&y=0

Which manufacturer is best? I heard the card also runs hot is this a problem for long-term reliability??

it has been made to be ok running hot (just dont get over 90-95c) the only actual problem is the noise is makes, its allot . also the only way to get past 90c is overclock it or if your case doesnt has good ventilation. still there are ways of making it run cooler but requires some experience in moding. [be sure your psu will have 35 amps or more in the +12 rail]

[midlothian]

midlothian:
Don't forget these "bargain Intel i7 920" are meant to be overclocked.
I don't see how that chip at 4Ghz can be too slow for future software, and AMD's Phenom 2 chips are not.
Please remember that for PCSX2 (and all other emulators) an Intel cpu is still preferred.

Edit:
Oh, and let's not forget that currently 90% of all desktop applications can't max out 3 cores.
In the foreseeable future this will not change.

Yeah, exactly as you said, to be honest the only clever solution for somebody that is buying new pc now is to buy cpu with at lest 3 cores that is why I wouldn't recommend to anyone i5-6xx. Overclocking is always bit risky but overclocking like from 2.66GHz to 4GHz is stupidity, you won't do that without huge bump of core voltage. I've overclocked mine cpu to last stable frequency on stock voltage and the temperatures haven't changed much - I do have good cooler. And amd phenom II X4 965 or X6 1090T both outperforms bargain i7's in almost every way. The only cases when i7's seems to be little bit better than amd are benchmarks specially design for intel architecture.

[midlothian]

hey guys

thanks for the info. For the graphics card I want a Geforce 470 (for gaming in general as well), but there are many of them?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLis...70&x=0&y=0

Which manufacturer is best? I heard the card also runs hot is this a problem for long-term reliability??

I recommend Asus and Leadtek, nvidias are run very hot since 7xxx-series and nothing has changed with 4xx. It results in many cards broken when coolers are getting dusty.

[Edit] Sorry for double posting, I thought it will be seen as one big post.

[rama]

Yeah, exactly as you said, to be honest the only clever solution for somebody that is buying new pc now is to buy cpu with at lest 3 cores that is why I wouldn't recommend to anyone i5-6xx.

I said it's rare for most software to max out 3 cores.
That means a dual core is still a valid option for the next 4 years.
You will see better performance with 4 cores in those rare cases
where coders found a good way to utilize that many threads though.

Overclocking is always bit risky but overclocking like from 2.66GHz to 4GHz is stupidity, you won't do that without huge bump of core voltage.

The common i7 920 (new, not from 2008!) gets to 4Ghz on stock or slightly bumped core voltage.
It's the Phenoms that usually need more effort

And amd phenom II X4 965 or X6 1090T both outperforms bargain i7's in almost every way. The only cases when i7's seems to be little bit better than amd are benchmarks specially design for intel architecture.

The Intel processors are still a lot faster clock for clock, and they also
still overclock higher.
So a better IPC and a higher clock rate..

I agree though that at stock clock speed the AMD top end cpu's are a better choice than most Intel offers.
(But who wants stock speeds anyway )

[iakoboss7]

hey guys

thanks for the info. For the graphics card I want a Geforce 470 (for gaming in general as well), but there are many of them?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLis...70&x=0&y=0

Which manufacturer is best? I heard the card also runs hot is this a problem for long-term reliability??

I recommend Asus and Leadtek, nvidias are run very hot since 7xxx-series and nothing has changed with 4xx. It results in many cards broken when coolers are getting dusty.

[Edit] Sorry for double posting, I thought it will be seen as one big post.

well in my opinion leadtek is a totaly unknown brand lol. msi,gigabyte,asus,pny are the best with msi being the top one and after that asus.

[ilovejedd]

And amd phenom II X4 965 or X6 1090T both outperforms bargain i7's in almost every way. The only cases when i7's seems to be little bit better than amd are benchmarks specially design for intel architecture.

True but isn't PCSX2 (and I think Dolphin, too) optimized for Intel?

[iakoboss7]

And amd phenom II X4 965 or X6 1090T both outperforms bargain i7's in almost every way. The only cases when i7's seems to be little bit better than amd are benchmarks specially design for intel architecture.

True but isn't PCSX2 (and I think Dolphin, too) optimized for Intel?

yep pcsx2 prefers intel cause it can use the faster ssse3 and sse4.1 instructions. (idk for dolphin)

[Speedy42]

Dolphin is also optimized for Intel Processors.Also try x64 windows that gives a good speed boost in both the emulators(PCSX2 & DOLPHIN)