i5 2500K and i7 2600K for CoD
 

Please, refrain from dragging AMD into this discussion

picking stuff for a new build... MSI have relased MB Sandy Bridge (yes..fixed and no..not bought yet) but I need to decide on a CPU...Core i5 2500K or Core i7 2600K??? Has maddox games said ANYTHING about hyperthreading support?

Go for the best you can afford. Sandy Bridge pricing means that it's not such an extreme cost bump to get the top CPU available. i7 2600K for the win.

Save your money and go with 2500k. 2600k is a waste of money, CoD wise. HT won't help you with CoD nor any game by that matter.

That or wait for Bulldozers which are due out in late June.

All manufacturers have released B3 stepping boards, for the money difference between 2500k and 2600k I would get a nice Gigabyte board (UD5 or UD7 if you intend to go CF/SLI). ASUS is reported to have many compatibility issues (just browse their forums). Not much of MSI fan, but they make good boards too.

IF you like throwing away money throw some my way!!

I'm going to build a computer for this game soon, but I have a dilemma.

I could buy an i7-950 right now for $200

or

I could wait until late April once the Sandy Bridge problems are fixed and pay who knows how much for the new processor/mobo.

Is getting the newest i7 with the highest price worth it for this game, or will an i7-950 be sufficient?

Since B3 boards are already shipping out to retailers, I see no reason why go with i7 950. If you're staying with 1366 chipset then get something faster, if not - Sandy & 1155 chipset is your best option.

Care to elaborate on this?

No need to wait for april.

Are the B3 boards the new ones with the 1155 socket and the fixed SATA controller problem? Are those already out? Also, is the Sandy worth paying another $100 or more over the 950?

Yup, just make sure you get the B3 revision as some retailers are still selling the affected boards.

How much is in your budget and what parts you have now, video card ram amount and type HDD etc..

I wanted to spend around $1200, but I need everything, including a monitor. Micro Center has a deal on the i7-950 right now for $200 ($80 cheaper than Newegg) and it won't be around much longer, which is prompting me to ask and see if it's worth it to drive to the store now and just buy it.

Sounds like a reasonable discount. On stock 950 should perform much like 2500k, albeit marginally worse. When OC-ed, 2500k leaves 950 way behind. So, if you don't plan on OC-ing your system, and you can get it for a better price - it should be a good choice to go with 950. Plus, then you can go with triple channel RAM which translates into 6GB which are cheaper than 8GB if you want to have more than 4GB of RAM which I would recommend. ;)

I guess the basic question is:

i7-950 (1366 socket) - $200

i5 2500k (1155 socket) - $180 (could overclock up to ~5Ghz)

i7 2600k (1155 socket) - $280

What makes the newer i7s (and the new 1155 socket mobos) worth all the extra money? Is COD really going to take advantage of the hyperthreading in the i7s? I think I might as well save the money and get more RAM or a better monitor or GPU. Am I wrong?

After looking at Micro Center's prices on the other two processors, I may get the 2500k and just OC

so would these two be a good combo?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128475

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115072

For this price - go with 2500k and don't think a second of it. :) 2500k is far better "bang for the buck" if these are the prices in your area / at your local retailer.

HT will only be useful if you do a lot of programming or work in software that uses and can utilize more threads (e.g. video editing). There is absolutely no sense in purchasing a HT CPU that apart from HT has the same performance as the i5 counterpart, in this case 2500k. If those were real cores, than maybe - but the very marginal increase in performance (questionable in games) makes it a pointless purchase.

Would work. But I would go with a P67 chipset, in order to fully utilize 2500k's OC potential. I doubt that you will be able to with H67. If you're going with an H67 then save some money and get an ordinary 2500 with a locked multiplier that can't be OC-ed.

Thanks for the help guys, I'm probably going to get a P67 mobo anyways, but I'm going to go get the 2500K tonight, the sale ends next week. If anyone in the US lives near a Micro Center, take advantage of this NOW.

My brother built a computer in Dec, and he's got the 950. Don't think any of those virtual cores really do anything but idle on his computer. He makes IL2 maps, so maybe for that, but otherwise no.

I really wanna get the new Asus P8P67 (B3 version) mobo... but i cant seem to find it anywhere.

this is from Asus's website
http://usa.asus.com/product.aspx?P_I...cIU&templete=2

I want to get a 2500k cpu paired with an Asus mobo as well. Tigerdirect has an Asus board in stock right now but I don't think it's the one you linked.

Just got back from the store. Got the 2500K, but make sure you get a P67 mobo becuase it doesn't have onbaord graphics, and it allows you to overclock the processor. The guy at the store didn't recommend the Asus 1155 socket boards, he said wait a week or two until stores are stocking the Intel and Gigabyte B3 revision boards.

How much was the total price, including tax? Also im going to wait till the z68 MoBos comes out. Its the p67 and h67 in one plus will have ssd caching. Ssd caching makes a small ssd and a normal hd one drive. Programs you access the most will run off your ssd.

After tax the i5 was $194, defintely a good buy I think. Cheaper than Newegg at the very least. What's the timeframe for the z68 mobos to come out?

2500k all the way. There is no possible way that 2mb L3 cache and Hyperthreading are worth the extra $100 for the 2600k. And at a stock frequency of 3.3Ghz, even if you don't overclock it will still be a very strong CPU. However, with the possibility of hitting upwards of 4.6-5.0Ghz with the right board and cooling solution, I would say Overclocking is the thing to do.

As for the choice of motherboard, it might be smart to wait and see what the other manufacturers come out with. It should be anytime now before all the rest of them release their own revised versions for the P67 chipset. My 2 cents...:rolleyes:

As far as i know no game currenly has support / use HyperT.
So Icore7 is only extra cost for gamers.

Go for the Icore5 2500K clock it to 4GHZ or even 5GHZ on air.

In my opinion the i5 2500K is the best CPU cost/performance and overlocking potential wise for gamers.

Two weeks ago I decided to order the components for a new build based on the i5-2500K. I read as many reviews as i could find and all agreed that the i7-2600K offered only very marginal improvements in games (a few fps in most cases) - not worth the extra cost in my opinion.

The new B3 boards are now available at retailers. I have ordered an Asus P67 board from Scan.co.uk and expect it to arrive today. (I would really recommend Scan very strongly for UK-based readers - very keen prices, great service and speedy delivery).

Also, with the temporary unavailability of Sandy Bridge motherboards I noticed a price reduction on the 1155 processors - in UK on the Scan site the i5-2500K dropped from around 190 pounds down to 162 - it has since went up to 174, but I expect prices will go up again as the motherboard supply situation is sorted and people start buying components.

I'd also recommend a Sandy Bridge processor over an i7-950 - both for performance reasons, bang per buck and future upgradability.

Hi, I’ve just build my new price sensible rig.
I’ve chosen to go for i5 2500k on an ASUS P8P67evo
Video is a MSI twin frzer 560 ti
Both the 2500k and MSI will over clock easily.
The ASUS software makes the oc ing of the 2500K easy as cake.
The system has run stable at 4,7 MHz to be sure ive put a great big Mugen cooler from Scythe on top of it.’ Which keeps it at a unbelievable 37 degrees C at that speed.
Be sure to visit Toms hardware http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...on,2866-4.html and their remarks about buying an i7 2600k .
And do price check on tweakers.net.

Greetz,

Niels

I've just takewn delivery of a new rig with i7 2600 and am mightily impressed with it. It plays IL2 like a dream (as you'd expect) and ROF with all sliders to the max with silky smooth frame rates. Check out the benchmark results yourself and you'll see that the i7 2600 gives loads of bang for your buck compared with other high end processors.

PPanPan

You made a good purchase. The main difference b/n the 2500k and 2600k is the L3 cache and stock clock speed, obviously the 2600k has more but I think you'd be hard pressed to notice a difference on screen.

Re: Can you elaborate on your overclocking comment? Not sure what you mean because I think all socket 1155 CPUs have on-board graphics.

Actually a sensible price would have been with AMD not Intel. Remember if your LCD refresh rate is 60hz you wont get over 60 fps so saying you get 150 fps with intel versus 125 with AMD is pointless.

/offtopic
:-x

/ontopic
Can't go wrong with the 2500K at the moment. Great per core performance + major clockability at a reasonable price!
Sweetes thing in the CPU market since the original C2Duo's.

Would be a good comment if processor power is only aubout frame rates.

True. But game performance wise - pretty much the same as i5 2500k.

That.

It actually is but you dont seem to understand what overall performance is. II try to explain it simply so you can understand it... Your monitor can only display 60 fps max if your refresh rate is 60hz..are you still with me... now if your cpu/gpu combo gets an average of 150 fps with intel and 100 fps with amd which one will have the best fps on your 60 hz monitor???? They will both get 60 fps because your monitor restricts your fps to the refresh rate. Any questions?? So if you pay 1200 for an intel system that gets "60fps" actual frame rate and you pay 800 for amd which gets "60fps" which one has the better fps?

Excuse me if this sounds a bit rude,

what part of "if processor power is only about frame rates" wasn't understandable?

+1

Besides, the guy says he's buying Intel anyways. I'm sure that you (Oldschool) aren't going to change his mind. You are correct about the correlation between your monitors refresh rate and your overall FPS. However, with a game that needs as much processing power as it can get, the Sandy Bridge will blow the doors off ANY current AMD product. It's not that we're not listening... we just have selective hearing ;)

Hear hear! I still have fond memories of my E8500 E0. Not original C2D though but hey. Snappy little bugger, just like the SB procs.

I had an E7200 a long time ago. 4.2Ghz on air, which was pretty darn good for those days. Good memories :)

If your game/sim gets 150fps with one cpu and 100 with another what fps is diplayed on your monitor?? 60 fps or 150fps. Your gameplay will be limited to a maximum of your refresh rate, so yes in theory your intel processes faster than the amd but unless your monitor has an unlimited refresh rate your always be limited to 60 fps which translates to your actual max fps weather your cpu does 100 or 200 is irrelavent as you only get 60fps. Once you exceed your monitors capability its just wasted fps in a sense. SO your gameplay will be the same weather its 150 fps with intel or 100 with amd as they both will display the same 60 FPS.

with your AMD low budget stuff you will have lower minimum fps and that is what counts.

If I could afford the new Intel stuff I would. They are honestly better in pretty much every way, but I bought a quad core AMD Phenom 2 3.1 ghz because it is a huge boost over what I have now, and I can afford it.

Next year my wife tells me I get to go nuts with building a new machine, so it will tide me over for now. :D

If you can afford the Intel "i" processors go for it, but if you can't the AMD processors are a good match for price to performance.

Again, I fail to see the logic behind Oldschool61's posts. What are we talking about here and what is this forum/subforum about?

Hoping to achieve 150 FPS with CoD is pretty optimistic IMO. :)

The point was that if your amd and intel both get a minimum of >60 fps then you wont see any difference

Is err...is that likely to happen?

I just don't want my fps dropping to 10 during an attack on a raid of 100+ Ju88s, that's all I'm sayin

The Sandy Bridge processors are considerably more powerful than current AMD ones. The extra processing power 'headroom' gives a degree of extra future-proofing over the AMD and may result in systems using the intel's being able to handle future demands (in COD and elsewhere) better than the AMD.

For me, the price difference between an AMD and an i5-2500K is not an issue. The intel is well within budget for my upgrade. The extra performance certainly makes the 2500K the current 'sweet spot'

(I got hauled over the coals for using that term 'future-proofing' in a previous post - but it makes sense to build a system that has as much headroom to deal with future needs as you can afford. )

Also Oldschool 61, we can all see that you have an AMD fixation - but the OP did make clear that he wasn't interested. It's a bit disrespectful to keep harping on and on and on.

For myself - I did consider Bulldozer as an option, so I'm not some Intel fanboy, but as I want the new system to play COD - in 2 weeks :) - and Bulldozer won't be out until June...

Additionally, the next gen of Intel processors is supposedly going to use the 1155 socket, which means the 2500K only makes sense

If I was building now,it would be with a sandy 2500k.Seems like a brilliant cpu.
If I was building later in the year and bulldozer was out and outperformed sandybridge,I would use one of them instead.
I don't care who makes the cpu,I care about its performance!

I totally agree with you. I was trying to point out that if a hypothetical system of each cpu manufacturer can render >60 fps worth of game play with 100 JU 88's is you wont see a difference past your monitor refresh rate.

Its like buying a Ferrari over a Prius to drive at 100kph on the highway. Sure the Ferrari has more power and is faster but when your speed is limited to "60hz" they both are equal.

I'm not trying to fight with anyone on here, but once the game comes out, let's have someone make a mission with 200+ planes bombing London with fighters and tons of AAA shooting back. Well have someone with an AMD run the mission and someone with a 2500K run the mission and see who has the best framefrate. Graphics cards and RAM would also have to be similar, but I have no idea what I'm going to get yet. Then the debate will be settled.

From what Luthier as said I doubt any PC would be able to handle that lot.

I have to agree with Tree here as begrudging as that is. :D

Well, you get my point. I my money is on the AMD dropping below 30 fps first compared to a similar 2500K system.


I like to put as much stuff as possible into my missions until the framerate starts to become unacceptable. It seems like most historical action occurred on a much larger scale than COD or IL2 can handle on most computers, and I like to get as close as possible before the computer starts to freak out.

You mean the Ivy Bridge processors? They're supposed to blow away even the Sandy Bridge line of CPUs. Look em up they're awesome!

Edit - No, you did mean bulldozer. Silly me :rolleyes:... But really, look up the Ivy bridge! Should be out in a year supposedly.

Oh man,

Yes i follow now i'm over London chasing a 100 plus bogies then i want the faster of the two posibilities.
So I bought the most price sencible in the performance curve.
Furthermore you are assuming that I have a monitor that does 60 refresh rate.
You assume right but do you know the resolution?. I might be at 2550x1600
As it is i'm not because I would have bought a 580 card.
I Understand quit a lot a bout performance but also a bout what wich performance cost on the polar.
So what is sencible priced and what is not is a price performance equasion.
You might argue that my system is not the best price performance one can get probably that is where your AMD system scores.
I want a system that scores high on the performance curve without costing "me" an arm and a leg.
At under 600 euros this system does that.
In the end we will see who's got it right.
See you over London,

Greetz,

Niels

ASUS P8P67 & Intel i5-2500K 3.3GHz Sandy Bridge salution
 

Was going to wait for CoD to arrive and maybe upgrade later in the year, but the situation of needing another PC for my office has come up.

Instead of purchasing a (yawn) office PC, I might as well move my IL2 home PC to the office and do the home CoD build now. Much more fun. :grin:

I thank you posters for saving me $100 by giving me the skinney on the i5 vs i7! Makes since to me.

Just ordered the .......

Asus P8P67-M PRO P67 B3 Rev i7 i5 i3 LGA1155 DDR3USB 3.0 Quad-CrossFireX & SLI, Micro ATX Motherboard

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz 6MB L3 LGA1155

From........

http://www.centralcomputers.com/commerce

Thanks again

You won't regret it man. Same CPU/Mobo combo i have been looking at. Asus has always been a reliable board for me! And the 2500k will eat CoD for breakfast and for dinner. Cheers!

The current Sandy Bridge processors use the same socket as the Ivy Bridge are going to use, so it makes sense to build now with a $180 2500K and then maybe upgrade in a year or two (if necessary at all) when the Ivy Bridge price comes down. Keep the same mobo.

Is this a good site to order from Wisky? Never heard of it but looks pretty good. I have been looking for a site that has the B3 Sandybridge boards in stock with Asus brands.

What are the differences in all those boards? Just little features and whatnot? I want an Asus Sandybridge board with a decent amount of usb ports for under 150 bucks. I don't need a lot of extra features my build will be pretty simple (1 gpu, nothing crazy) so a cheaper board will be fine. Help?

Thanks!

This.

That's good to know, I'm planning on getting a 2500K in a couple of weeks :)

Is it possible to just swap out your old Mobo and CPU and put in a new set without any issues... im talking about comparability with the OS on the Harddrive... or will i have to wipe my HD and reinstall everything all over again?

Almost immpossible to not get major issues. Back up your hard drive then reformat, install OS, etc etc.

Respect to all those who upgraded now but NLS61's comment is exactly why I would wait until CoD is out.

I've got a nagging suspicion that as soon as we fly over London <paste Tree_UK's comments here ;) > with some medium amount of objects the frames will drop dramatically. Just like with the Crysis euphoria in 2007, people upgraded before the game was out, mainly to have more GPU power, but when released the game just bought any system to it's knees.

With CoD I think it's going be CPU intensive and the 2500k and 2600k may not be enough, don't get wrong it's a great CPU, but a lot of what the reviewer sites base their comparisons and recommendations on are on games that are 12 months old or older and are GPU limited not CPU.

I hope I'm wrong but my male intuition is acting like my cautious wife telling me to wait.

Found the site searching for the MB, Tiger Direct and Newegg like you say did not have any sandy bridge compatible MB's in stock that I could see. CentralComputers out of Cal Looks legit to me, guess I will find out. I know that they ship quick, I ordered it this morning and got a ups confirmation number tonight.

Yea, looks like there are a few variants of the Asus P8P67's. This one looked like it had everything I needed on it http://www.centralcomputers.com/comm...=1299810089640 , does not matter to me how many usb ports it has though, I have a 10 port usb hub for that. I liked that it was Nvidia/sli and ati/crossfire compatible so I am not restricted to one or the other down the road. And it was under $150.

Yea no doubt, be a small miracle to get away with doing that without having some kind of issues. I hate to start over too but want to be sure I have a good clean install with my new hardware. :)

Taken that those two are the top line* processors on the market even beating the 1366 i7 extreme's with 6 cores in some CPU tests, specialy if you plan on overclocking(buying a K model means you are), you can't expect CoD not to run ok on those. If not, nothing will run it at the moment and it'll be just the same not to even buy the game ;)

*not including server oriented multiple CPU builds

I agree waiting is allways a good choise, but this close to realease you realy can't go wrong with those 2 since nothing better is out realy.

+1

With only 2 weeks to go, the smartest thing to do is wait. But on the other hand if you are one that can not wait - current top of the range SB models are the ones to get.

Since I am rebuilding my rig from scratch, I plan on waiting for at least a month or two after the release when we will have an accurate picture what exactly is needed to run this sim and what settings are possible for normal gameplay.

I did a new build, with a 2600k@4,6 GHz , cooled by a Corsair H70, with 8GB DDR3 RAM,
Mobo Asus P67 Pro, Nvidia GTX 580 , SSD 80 GB Intel, HDD WD 1TB,PSU Corsair 850W
I was able to run Crysis warhead in enthusiastic mode ,4AA without any hiccups at 1920x1200 with a processor rate of occupancy of 43% each core no more than that.
It's the faster system I ever had, period and it can run any game you think without a drop of sweat.
I highly recommend it for anyone interested.

Also consider that it is very easy to sell used Intel CPU's on ebay, which makes the LGA1155 part very attractive now since you can sell it a year later for ~70% of what you paid for it. I just sold my E8400 last month, got over half of what I paid for it new over 3 years ago!

Ibuchele, that rig should crunch some numbers fo sho! I'm lookin at the Gigabyte UD7 myself. Will probably go for it.

Cool, that is quite the rig I was planning to buy, simply not sure if I should go for an SSD for the OS.

But definately:

2600k
GTX 580
8Gb DDR3
P67 Mobo
Enermax 620W (existing)

What Ram exactly is it btw?
May I also ask if you are happy with the H70 and what you changed to get the cpu that high and what the temps are?

Screw the 2600k... waste of money compared to the 2500k. There is no way that 2mb L3 cache and hyperthreading (useless for gaming) is worth an extra $100+.

As far as SSD goes, it's really really not necessary at this point in time. Get 2 SATA III drives in Raid 0 and that is WAY MORE than sufficient for games. Even 7200 rpm SATA II drives are plenty fast still. SSD is way too expensive at this point.

8Gb of RAM is alright if you're running a 64 bit OS, but 4Gb is more than sufficient for years to come. It really depends how well it'll run by what kind of configuration you're running. What i mean by that is if your running say 4 x 2Gb sticks vs. 2 x 4Gb sticks. The latter is usually the better choice. Just remember the more sticks of RAM you have, the more stress it puts on the memory controller. This basically means that if you plan to overclock your RAM speeds and reduce timings, than you won't have near as much headroom without becoming unstable. Also make sure to get RAM that has a voltage under 1.65V to be safe. I've heard from several sources that the new memory controllers onboard the Sandy Bridge chips don't like high voltage RAM very much.

My 2 cents ;)

Considering the last interview, there might be Hyperthreading support.

I won't do anything with raid ..., but maybe I will keep my Velociraptor for the OS.

@ Ram: I will go for 2x 4 Gb for sure and yes, Win 7 64 bit

Here's what Oleg said:
He didn't indicate any thing that has to do with hyperthreading. He's basically just stating that the game engine uses a new "hybrid multi-threaded system". Meaning that the game will make better use of the newer multi-core processors and such. Unless you've read something different of coarse.

RAM is G.Skill Ripjaw,don't know the latency.
H70 is a totally sealed no maintenance liquid cooled solution.
Temps at this level of OC is no more than 68C
You need to choose well the fan that will work with the H70.
The guy who build my system did a good job.
My case helps a lot too is a NZXT Phantom.
The OC is really simple,you just change the multiplier,that's all.
And NEVER allow the BCLK change anything up of 100 MHz if you don't want a dead SB.

- ditch/replace the following:

• 2600k for 2500k (money saved, HT is darn right useless for games)
• H70 for Noctua NH-D14 (H70 isn't even a proper water cooler and fans it comes with are shockingly bad/loud)
  - be ware which RAM you're purchasing with NH-D14, I'd recommend something from Mushkin (low heat sinks and they walk over Corsair's RAM)
• get and SSD - no FPS gain, but maps and textures will load faster, overall PC will run faster (not useful for FPS shooters, but useful for simulations)

Only for video editing and software than can utilize more than 4 cores. So, if you belong to that category... For games, not worth it. Money wasted.

@ Hyperthreading:

I quoted Chivas on that one, seems like he was wrong though.


@ Ibuchele: What frequency is that RAM?

Forgot to mention:1600 MHz
I would like to correct the memory I posted early, it's not G.Skill, it's a Corsair Vengeance 1.5V 2x4GB
The Noctua DH 14 is a real good performer, but I'm very satisfied with the H70.

How loud is it? :mrgreen:

There are a comparative review about it, but in my particular case is very low.
You will need to use a good fan and put some money in a good case too (I'm using a NZXT Phantom),because they will guarantee good cooling and a low noise level

Ibuchele, I've got all the components and am just about to assemble a new i5-2500K build - I'll be using an Asus P8P67 with Corsair Vengeance 1.5V 2x4GB 9-9-9-24 memory.

Would be interested to hear if you had any issues with getting the ram to work? I have been reading some reports on forums of people with difficulties with ram timings on Asus P67 boards - most of which seem to be resolved ok after some work. (May have been due to early BIOS versions?)

Did you use the XMP profile or set it up manually?

----
edit: sorry - just read again and realised that someone else put it together for you. Still, if you've any ideas on my questions feel free to reply,
Cheers.

Well,I know the guy who put it together and he reports no difficults with RAM ,only take sometime to understand how the ASUS bios works with the OC.
It's very easy in fact all I had to do is change the multiplier.
I read that 60% of SB goes up to 4,5 GHz , 40% 4,6-4,8 GHz and only 10% goes to 4,9-5,1GHz .
Mine is very stable @4,6 GHZ and surprisingly cool too.

Ok - thanks.

Mine(i5 2500k) is 4.6 GHz at 31 C wich is pretty good I think.
also on a ASUS P8P67 EVO with kingstone 1333 i've put a Scyte Mugen cooler on it.

Just to add my own exprience : bought a 2500K last week, mounted on an Asus P8P67 LE, with 2x2 Gb of Corsair DDR3 PC12800 CAS7. Have to say it is a really great combination of hardware, both in terms of performance (with a good overclocking margin) and temperatures (the 4 cores never exceed 30° idle, and 55° full charge).

Combined with a GTX 460, I can't imagine this will not be enough to run CoD on high settings at least.

BUT I did not change my hardware only for CoD, doing so would be a bit early in my opinion. :cool:

i5 2500K/OC 4,7 GHz,MB Asus P8P67 Pro,8 Gb DDR3 1600MHz,2xAti 5870 :grin:

The question is : how many bombers our systems can draw without a loss in fps or if we will be able to fly over London without hiccups.
I vote we will be fine, maybe with some compromises in graphic quality.

If you turn off v-sync in the nvidia control panel you then get the max FPS in game that the cpu & gpu can handle. it's only locked to your refresh rate when v-snyc is turned on.

Hi
 

If I was you I would get the i7 2600k it's the one I got along with the asus p8p67 pro motherboard it is an excellent system and well worth the extra money.I managed to get overclock it from a 3.4 to a 4.5ghz Im running 2 ati radeon 6970 on crossfire

Wrong your refresh rate is still the same v-sync just synchronizes the frames so you dont get image tearing. V-sync or not your still capped by refresh rates.
LCD's are a little different with this but they still have similar limits.

What kind of framerates are you getting with that setup?

Re: difference between V-Sync and frames per second. If you turn V-Sync off you will get the maximum frames per second your graphics card can manage, but when using a standard LCD monitor you'll have tearing all over the place as their refresh is usual fixed at 60Hz. When V-Sync is off the video card ignores synchronising with the monitor and just pumps out as many frame as it can handle.

So Oldschool is right in terms buying an AMD over an Intel especially if you have a standard LCD, but if you've want to have the best CPU / Video Card / Memory combination, you better make sure the rest of your hardware can match / cater for the performance, otherwise your wasting your money.

To see your games at frame rates higher than 60Hz you'll need a 100Hz+ monitor to get the benefit.

some thing like this ...

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?...ducts_id=15266

I will never ever buy ASUS motherboards again after the screwup I've got from them with the 350 € ASUS Striker Extreme II motherboard, two year and a half after I've bought it, and still they have not solved the hang issues (the damn motherboard is simply locking up now and then, even if your comp just stays idle in desktop).

As it has a 3 years guarantee, I think I'll try to return in and get it exchanged with some other motherboard, one for the new Sandybridges :)

Gigabytes UD4 is the same as UD5, while it costs with almost 100 € less: both motherboards will have their PCI express go down to 8x 8x with a 2 videocards SLI setup.

I7 2600k is worth the extra price even if only for the extra 2 MB L3 cache (which is the difference between 2 MB vs 1.35 MB L3 cache per core). Plus that with MG working on distributing the workloads on more cores, you'll never know..

Also, extra FPS over 60 is not a waste: some have high refresh rate LCD's (like me I have the 120 Hz Samsung 3D one), or want to go with 3D or/and surround resolutions (on 3 monitors) plus that you are not buying a processor just for now, you are actually investing in future games too, as you'll use it for at least another year.

580/590 are a waste of money atm: the best buy would be a GTX 560i with 2 GB VRAM, for almost half of the price of the 580. To which you can add another in SLI at anytime, a combo which would easily beat the 580, and maybe even the 590 too, and all of that while spending less money.

i5-2500K @ 4.9 GHz, Asus P8P67-B3, 8GB Adata DDR3 Ram, Powercolor 6950 @ 6970

Frames are nearly enough, but short freezes and stuttering are getting on my nervs!

try this: make another display profile in your Windows 7 in which you turn Aero off (go with the classic one).

Hi T}{OR, I have a B3 stepping board courtesy of the Intel Sandy Bridge recall, but don't know what B3 means. I assume it's better than the previous version, but does having B3 mean I can expect better performance in CoD?! Here's hoping ;)

Thanks, PPanPan

I am using a rig I bought and built from scratch a month ago..

Intel 2500K @ 4.2 Gig ($219)
MSI P67A-GD65 (Has OUTSTANDING "Auto Overclocking" feature.. can't rave about it enough) ($179)
8 Gig Corsair Vengence DDR3 1600 ($99)
WD Caviar 7400 RPM $49.00
Samsung DVD R $20
FXF 6970 2 Gig VRAM $350
Cooler Master HAF 932 Case $139 (Has LARGE fans that make almost no noise)
RaidMax RX 850 AE PS $119 (I Heard mixed reviews about the "Maker" but have seen good reviews on this particular PS and hasen't had an issue)
Scythe SCMG-2100 Sleeve CPU Cooler $39 Big.. I mean BIG! But almost silent and keeps my CPU at 38' under load so how can you argue?

So if you are short of cash you could get the Mobo, CPU, RAM and a new Power SUpply for about $650 US (Assuming prices are what they were a few weeks ago) Carry over your DVD/HDD or get new ones, they are alsmot free at this point..

The big expense will be the G Card.. It was 1/3rd of my purchase price.

Also a word of advice.. if you are "saving up or trying to buy things a piece at a time, buy RAM whenever its cheap... everything else, and I mean everything will cost the same or less if you wait.. you are better off buying it all in a big lump when you are ready..