PSU: Antec, Corsair, Seasonic (who makes most of the Antec and Corsair ones), Silverstone. My opinion at least. And I'd be looking in the 750W range, its more than you'll need, but you don't want to be running near max load out of the box. They are most efficient at 50% loading, plus it leaves room for the future
And they 2500K is certainly a good option, especially for gaming. I do other stuff where hyperthreading is nice (hence 2600K).
Some of Ivy Bridge will be 1155, some will be some other socket type according to what I saw. Maybe that was referring more to the stuff coming out next month...(as to the other socket type).
"Chinese Sentries - they're cheap, crappy, and have little lights on the top!" - Pretendica
As the pro AMD guy in this fine community, I feel I should mention that the brand new 8 core Bulldozers went on sale today(yesterday). The low end (3.1 GHz) 8 core will run around $200, the high end(3.6 GHz) for right now(they'll release another chip in the 1st quarter that suppose to be the fastest in the series) will run just under $300. Hell, these chips are so new, you might be able to buy the 6 core 3.3 GHz and unlock the other 2 cores. Ok, I can dream too. Core i5-2500k is $219 today on newegg.
Some thing to consider... you said you're buying a new case. With this new build, you will most likely have usb 3.0 capability on your motherboard. How important is that to you? They make cases now that have usb 3.0 capable front side connectors. Otherwise, you might be able to save some money and say fuck usb 3.0, it's on my motherborad, I can connect it on the back if I need to. Do you need to go full tower or mid? Oh, what about a mini itx build. That'd be sweet. You'd probably need some cable management. Forget it, I've been thinking about it as I write this, bad idea. Go full tower, maximize airflow.
Magus wrote:Yep, I think i'm gonna go AMD. If I can get a cheap bulldozer.... *I have a hookup at AMD who might be able to do something for me*
If you can find it for Cheap (FX-8150 Under 160$) I say it's not too bad. Otherwise don't waste your time with it.
Don't get me wrong, I love AMD, Infact my first PC was AMD, but It's Benchmarks were very Disappointing. In 95% of the cases, the 2500K Beats it. And in some cases it even gets beaten by the Phenom II X6. (Previous Generations of AMD)
Here's a Benchmark for it. You can even see a difference of over 40 Frames in some Games.
From what I've been reading, the i5-2500k is still the processor to beat in terms of bang for your buck. It might be worth waiting for sandy bridge-e to release (supposed to be q4 2011 -- right about now, if I know how to calendar). Even if you don't get sandy bridge-e, old sandy bridge will probably see some price reductions.
And I have to agree with molimo, bulldozer has been benching some seriously disappointing marks.
Yea I would have suggested Bulldozer except AMD is way behind the curve on the CPU end these days. I mean they always have, but their performance at lower prce points was worth it. But the fact that my nearly 4-year old Intel CPU (I've only had it 3 years mind you) can still beat a lot of the modern AMD chips in several cases (no not all) is sad, it wasn't even a top-end chip at the time. The 2500K is definitely the best bang-for-the-buck atm. Same price as the new Bulldozers roughly (cheaper even depending on where you go), but a far stronger performer. Then someday soonish we should see Ivy Bridge, though there is no incentive now for Intel to rush it out...
"Chinese Sentries - they're cheap, crappy, and have little lights on the top!" - Pretendica
I talked to a buddy who works on and tests products from AMD. He says the Phenom II's are good, but the shit they have coming out in the Bulldozers are going to "blow everyone away. Maybe with the exception of ivy-bridge".
I may be able to get a nice price-point from him on AMD parts, I'll get back to you all. If not, I may go intel.
the reason why bulldozer doesnt beat intel on bench marks are because
intel chips are engineered more for single threaded applications
bulldozer on the other hand is engineered for multi threaded apps.
intel chips beat amd on single threaded bench marks
bulldozer will usualy beat intel on multi threaded benchs.
learn to read bench marks before you judge it.
the chip is what it is, nothing spectacular nothing shitty but for the price its a pretty decent chip with 8 cores.
i dont know who your "informent" is at amd but bulldozer series is out, they may release high clock and lower wattage. but it is what it is now they wont be producing anything much faster 5-10%. as for there new series piledriver will be introducing apu to them i see more troubles ahead of them.
someone like you will not notice the difference between a bulldozer and sandy bridge.
the amd is your better solution if your multi task more.
intel is your better solution if your a one window guy.
In multithreaded applications, the fx-8150 places between the i5-2500k and the i7-2600k. This is where it ought to be at it's price point ($245 vs $220 for the 2500k).
In singlethreaded applications, the fx-8150 places behind the phenom II x6. That isn't multithread focus, that's just embarrassing.
EDIT: I'm not saying that AMD can't produce good processors, or that bulldozer will never be any good. I'm just saying that it's almost certainly worth waiting a little bit if you can. (Obviously, if you friend says that he can get you a bulldozer half off, you should buy like 202135109385 of them).
Yeah, he maybe be able to hook me up with a deal on pricing and possibly some free parts. I'm not sure what I could get yet tho, but he knows what I'm looking for.
Tricky thing is, AMD doesn't want any employees shipping their products. There's some huge clause in a contract they signed, so we're going to work out details once he figures out what he's gonna send me.
Quick story: AMD has so much hardware stashed at their office, you could probably steal 10-3tb drives and 3 ssds from one room, and they'd never know. And there's about 1000 rooms.
I completely agree, If you can get it a a very good deal, even a Phenom II X4 or X6 go for it. But If you plan on buying new from a retailer it's not worth it. They work Great don't get me wrong, and like Stephen mentioned you will probably not see a difference. But why Pay 280$ when you can get a 220$ CPU that beats it in most benchmarks. (Took Prices on Newegg for example)
Also Stephen, We're all here to help out, we all have our own opinions, No need to call out people and shit on them "Because apparently we can't read benchmarks". That's Bullshit. I never said the Bulldozer was CRAP, its a great processor, and 95% of applications aren't threaded for more than 4 Cores. That's One of the reasons that the 2600K is almost at par from the 2500K. If you plan on doing alot of Encoding, Photo/Video Editing, then those are often optimized for multiple cores. Otherwise, Gaming, Any Regular Day use, not so much. And you would have to do a SHITLOAD of Multitasking for the Bulldozer to make a difference, and I'm talking more than 10+ Running Programs.
I think we are all knowledgeable people here, We give out our opinions, What Arm said is right on, The Bulldozer is a Great and Powerfull CPU, but not the best Bang for the Buck right now.
And Magus, If you come back tomorrow and say You bought an AMD Bulldozer, I will get online and look for some great AM3+ Mobo and other Components. In other words I will Turn the other way and Help you out no problem. I'm Not Intel Bias, I used AMD For Many Years.
As I said Before If you get a deal GO FOR IT. Otherwise why pay more for less or equal value right?
P.S. What Matt mentioned about a 750W PowerSupply and the Companies he menttioned are Top of my list as well. Can;t go wrong. And having a 750W will allow to be safer on the Load side If you ever need Crossfire/SLI
and thats the thing he didnt excatly say what he will be computing, you were all pushing him towards gaming/single program use.
never fully base your buys on bench marks as no chips or cards are the same, also being that most of the bench marks are synthetic and have no comparison to real world computing.
im not sure what you guys do with your computer but i usualy have lots of programs running doing various things, and properly setting up your core usage per program you would benifit by more cores.
now when the sandy bridge extremes come out they will walk over amds 8 core with intels 8 core. but if you cant afford it the bull dozer would be far more effiective for a multi task user on a budget.
