Processor Core Question

L

Luigio97

New Member
I'm looking into building a desktop computer.
Which aspect is more important? The GHz or the number of cores?
There are cheaper tri-core processors with higher GHz than the Quad core processors available.
Can anyone shed some light on which is more important?
 
Both the no. of cores and speed really,It depends.

Your best posting your budget on here,with what you intend to do with the Pc and letting someone do you a build list so you know your getting the best performing pc for your budget. :)
 
I'm working on my first build.
I plan on using it for my work at school (mainly computer programming, papers, and such for now), internet, watching movies, potentially some gaming (I'm mainly a console gamer).
As for a budget, I'm just trying to build something decent. Something I can upgrade later. I want something that can comfortably handle what I need it to do (which I'm not totally sure on). I guess I just want it to be cost efficient. I don't want to be too terribly cheap, but I also don't want to spend thousands of dollars on a computer that will be outdated in a few years.
I've already got windows 7, and I may potentially dual boot with ubuntu. I'm thinking 4 gb ram, 320-500gb hdd. Wireless internet. Possibly hdmi.
I don't really think this is too terribly descriptive, but it's hard to be descriptive when I'm not entirely sure how much computing power I need.
 
I prefer AMD. I haven't really done much with Intel, I just know that intel is more expensive than AMD.

I used to be big on Nvidia, but the laptop I'm using now has ATI. The brand really doesn't matter to me for graphics, I'd rather have better performance for the money, whatever brand that may be.
 
ok, ill build you up a amd/ati PC in just a bit from newegg.
Do you have Windows 7 already, or any parts that you already have that you want to use?
Do you want Blueray compatibility with it?
 
I've already got windows 7. I've also probably got a dvd drive lying around here somewhere. I don't need bluray.
 
case Antec 900
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021
Motherboard ASUS M4A89GTD PRO
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131631
CPU Phenom II x4 955 Black Edition
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808
CPU Cooler XIGMATEK LOKI SD963 (it was cheep and compatible)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233081
RAM G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428
GPU Raedon HD 6950
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102921
PSU COOLER MASTER Silent Pro Gold
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171057
SSD (needed to take full advantage of Windows 7)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148357
HDD (storage) Western Digital Black 1TB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284
DVD Burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289

comes to 1150.90 USD before shipping. If you can narrow your expected uses, we can tweak the build to a tighter budget. As is will handle just about anything you throw at it. If you plan on doing a lot of image processing and such, I would suggest that you choose a Phenom II x6 1090T cpu, but for every day use, the 955 is just fine,and will kick butt overclocked.
 
There are a lot of wasted things in that, and things that just aren't necessary or are completely incorrect for the component place. For a system for school, every day use and light gaming, the top end of what you would need (It can be cut down in a lot of places):

Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119137

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808

Mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157198

Memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231179

Hard Drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152244

PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371007

Video Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127519

DVD drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135224

Network adapter: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320036

Total: $641

When I say you can cut down:

Video card, drop to:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161352

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125342

$30 saved, and you will still get good gaming performance.

CPU, drop to:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103921

save $30 or drop to:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103846

save another $20

Change your case to:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119233

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119233

$20 saved

or to:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147153

Another $5 saved.

You could, if you specify what you really need and what sort of games you will be playing, cut that down even further, but as it stands, it would be more than possible to get a ~$600 build, maybe even less
 
Last edited:
Thank you for the tips.

Gaming wise though, I'd probably only be playing things like Counterstrike, maybe Starcraft, possibly WoW. Nothing like Crysis. I just want to it to be able to play things on at least a decent graphics setting, and not be too terribly laggy. Like I said before, most of my gaming is done on consoles, so pc would be saved for pc exclusives.

I like Aastii's build a little better. Nothing wrong with the other build, I just like the price a lot better.

Really though, all it needs to do is play videos, play games like the ones listed above. The main purpose though is school. Papers, programmings, etc. I've already got copies of Windows 7 and microsoft office.
 
Here is another build, just giving my input. For sub $800 this is a beast IMO.

Case: Antec 300
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129066
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128435
CPU: Phenom II x4 965 3.4 ghz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727
RAM: G.SKILL 4gb
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277
GPU: XFX 6950
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150523&cm_re=6950-_-14-150-523-_-ProductPSU
Corsair 750w
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006
HDD: Western Digital 600gb 10k Raptor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...555&cm_re=raptor_600gb-_-22-136-555-_-Product
DVD Burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106289

Total - $767
 
whats the point of a 965 when a 955 can be bumped up to 965 settings very nicely using only the multiplier setting. 955 is cheaper too.
 
Based on the OP's first question I was not about to hurry to the assumption that he a) Has any idea how to overclock a cpu and/or b) has any desire to OC his new PC.

You may have an accurate statement, but need to remember the end user.
 
Again, there is a lot wasted in that build - a 6950 for CS and WoW is complete overkill, a 750W PSU for a system that doesn't have a multi-GPU setup with high end cards is a waste, a WD Raptor, when a Samsung F4 performs as well for much less, is again not the best choice.

Also, you might want to recheck your prices:

Case: $55
Mobo: $135
CPU: $160
GPU: $255
PSU: $110
HDD:$250
DVD: $18

Total - $983 before shipping

With the extra information you gave, the system I listed is still pretty much all you need at the best price you will get. As I said, you can cut down to a sub $600 system pretty easily and still have the computer do everything you need it to
 
I vote for Aastii's build being the best buy for the money. I can also vouch for the SAMSUNG Spinpoint F4 model HD322GJ/U hard drive. I own one and like the performance I get out of it.
 
How do you judge the performance of a video card?

I was looking at the graphics cards Aastii posted, and the one thing that was more appealing about the alternate card was the hdmi (not mini hdmi) port.
 
Luigio97 said:
How do you judge the performance of a video card?

I was looking at the graphics cards Aastii posted, and the one thing that was more appealing about the alternate card was the hdmi (not mini hdmi) port.
Click to expand...

The level of performance is measured in fps (frames per second). It is the rate at which it calculates the data required for each frame. 60fps is the max you will notice on any standard monitor, because most have 60Hz refresh rate, which means your monitor changes picture 60 times every second.

As you raise the settings, be it quality, resolution or features such as anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering, the graphics card obviously has to perform more calculations, so fps, should, drop. Depending how well it is able to perform at higher settings, and at what settings it can handle in most games whilst still maintaining decent frame rates (atleast 30 fps would be acceptable fore most people) is the way you tell how good the card is.

There are other things to take into account that don't directly relate to performance, but could affect the decision, such as power consumption, size, temperature, extra features (DX11 for instance, or Physx for Nvidia, Eyefinity for ATi etc)


If it is within the same family, you can use the numbers to tell which card is better than another. The first number is the family (2xx, 4xx, 5xx etc for Nvidia, 4xxx, 5xxx, 6xxx etc for ATi), then the following numbers, the higher the better.

Across families though, you will have to look at benchmarks. Just because a GTS450 is a higher umber than the 280 doesn't make it a better card, in reality the 450 is sat in between a GTS250 and a GTX260.

Just type into google "<card> review" for instance, for the GTS 450: "GTS450 review" and it will come up with:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=gts450+review

the first result show the performance pretty well compared to other cards:

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2010/09/13/nvidia-geforce-gts-450-review/1
 
I figured I'd just bump this thread instead of creating a new one.
My laptop currently has an ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics card. Is the card posted in Aastii's build better than the one in my laptop? I'd like to have a card >= the one I'm using.
 
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