My bro wants to build a Gaming comp!

 
back FULLY on topic rather than only sharing the word "CPU"

A quad core would get much better performance than dual, even on older games that don't utilise all of the cores. All newer games now are multi-threaded (Can use more than one core/thread at once) so take advantage of the extra cores you get.

A dual core will play all games out now still, but for how much longer remains to be seen, they are getting outdated for gaming now most certainly. Although you were advised not to get a tri-core CPU, I have an AMD 720BE, which is a tri-core CPU, and am getting full settings on MW2, CoD4, CoD:WaW, CS:S, basically everything your bro plays and more.

If your brother is on a budget, go for AMD. They are much cheaper for the CPU, leaveing money for better motherboard, memory and graphics and will perfrom just as well in any game as an i5 or i7 will.

If he has a large budget, get an i5 or i7 because out of games things will load slightly faster, not massively mind, but a bit. An AMD quad core will still run everything very quickly, just not uite as qucik as intel will.

It is still more about your graphics card than processor though for gaming, you will get bottlenecked by your GPU long before your CPU on newer games (brought out in the last 5 years or so).
 
An I3 is the best of both worlds, 2 cores but 4 threads for games that can utilize multiple thread. Priced similar to the Athlon II 630 but better gaming performance because of much higher clocks. That is my argument.
 
87dtna said:
An I3 is the best of both worlds, 2 cores but 4 threads for games that can utilize multiple thread. Priced similar to the Athlon II 630 but better gaming performance because of much higher clocks. That is my argument.
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I3 = dual core, PII quad core =, strangely enough, quad core.

4 threads and 4 cores aren't the same thing and never will be, the perfromance of a tri core will go over that of an i3 because it has 4 processors on it, 3 used, so 1 more
 
FIG_JAM963 said:
My bro has this amazing idea of building a wicked gaming computer. His knowledge on hardware is rookie. He wants to play games such as COD: WAW, COD4MW, and MW2, he currently plays CS1.6, CSSource, and most games from 6+ years old. He thinks that by getting a Quad core processor instead of a Dual core would make his ideal computer really fast with most games. Is it worth the extra money to get a Quad Core for FPS gaming?
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Well from his post it just sounded like he wanted to know for gaming was a Dual or Quad better. Not if a Dual with HT was better then a lowend quad or about a lowend processor period!

If he want a Dual, get a Phenom II 550/555, could even make it quad. Or a i3 530. If he want a quad, get a Phenom II 965 C3 or a i5 750. Any of them will run games just fine. Any thing lower would be a waste of time, any thing higher would just be bragging rights.
 
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Aastii said:
I3 = dual core, PII quad core =, strangely enough, quad core.

4 threads and 4 cores aren't the same thing and never will be, the perfromance of a tri core will go over that of an i3 because it has 4 processors on it, 3 used, so 1 more
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:rolleyes: Nobody is talking about Phenom II, we are comparing like price ranged athlon II.

BTW the I3 is about even with a Phenom II 720 in almost any benchmark as well. When it comes to gaming performance, 2 cores + 4 threads at a higher clock speed beats 3 or 4 cores of lower clocks.
 
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They look pretty much like a toss up to me.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=118&p2=83

Test ended here. From the test results ,we can see that in processor subsystem, memory subsystem, processor computing, video encoding, 3D rendering these areas, PhenomII X3 720 and the Core i3 530 alternating lead, but not much difference between each other. ((But to the game, the situation becomes very clear, PhenomII X3 720 has obvious advantage))..
http://www.guruht.com/2010/01/intel-core-i3-530-vs-amd-phenom-ii-x3.html​

 
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StrangleHold said:
They look pretty much like a toss up to me.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=118&p2=83

Test ended here. From the test results ,we can see that in processor subsystem, memory subsystem, processor computing, video encoding, 3D rendering these areas, PhenomII X3 720 and the Core i3 530 alternating lead, but not much difference between each other. ((But to the game, the situation becomes very clear, PhenomII X3 720 has obvious advantage))..
http://www.guruht.com/2010/01/intel-core-i3-530-vs-amd-phenom-ii-x3.html​

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Actually the I3 wins 27 out of 31 benchmarks in that link, the 720 only won 4. A lot of those benchmarks, lower is better. The 720 only won one encoding benchmark, and it wasn't by much...2 seconds.

But anyway, once again we are comparing Athlon II not Phenom II to the I3. The 7.5mb of cache is what gives the Phenom II 720 most of the upper hand when compared the the I3's 4.5, the Athlon II has 2mb.

Take the L3 cache away, IE an Athlon II 435 X3, and look at gaming performance-

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=118&p2=112
 
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I give up, this is as stupid as it gets! Not getting involved anymore, most are so close it doesnt really matter. You could get any of them and by the seat of your pants you could not tell the difference, period!! You fanboys can argue till your eyes bleed over 5 seconds or 3 frame rates.
 
I was just making a point, that the 720's three cores wasn't helping as much as the Cache was when compared to the I3. Look at the Athlon II 435, it has more clock speed and the I3 whips it 10-15 more FPS most of the time.

Thats also another point, if the performance is so close why would you not want the one that uses nearly half as much electric? I don't know about you, but my electric companies rates have gone up 30% in the last couple months.
 
Dont care about the power difference. On come on, the difference in two processor in your whole power bill. You have your 860 overclocked, if your power bill was that important, get my drift? Just babble. Turn off a nite light.

My point was between the 720/550/555 and the i3 530 in games there is really not much difference unless you have benchmarks nailed to the wall to remind you. I dont really care which one he gets.
 
StrangleHold said:
Dont care about the power difference. On come on, the difference in two processor in your whole power bill. You have your 860 overclocked, if your power bill was that important, get my drift? Just babble. Turn off a nite light.

My point was between the 720/550/555 and the i3 530 in games there is really not much difference unless you have benchmarks nailed to the wall to remind you. I dont really care which one he gets.
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I have HT off and the OC is at pretty low voltage. And I bet my system still pulls less wattage than a 720 build, those thing suck the juice.

Besides, this is about the OP, maybe he does care about his energy consumption? I'm just throwing out another + for the I3.

Having owned both, I know for sure the I3 whips the 550 in gaming performance.
 
maroon1 said:
Actually, i3 performed better in the majority of cases. In some benchmarks lower means better, so you have to look more carefully

Not to mention that i3 has much lower power consumption and overclocks better.
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Yeah I've mentioned all that, they don't seem to care.
 
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