CPU SPECS

[globe94]

* hey guys..
* a friend of mine, ask me what is best among these.. for gaming.

* but i dont know much about computer hardware..
* so i ask here..

* thanks..

[darkjoe16]

just pick the highest Ghz, if you planning to make state of emergency at GTA5 or Battlefield 4, but i don't think it will run at 256mb vga, since in the paper just show only processor brand,

[I.S.T.]

i5 is what you'll want. More cores, and a lot of games are taking advantage of three or more cores now.

[Squall]

What does he want to play?
Intel Core i5 3GHz is the best CPU for gaming, but it is way expensive. It is also the best option if he wants to run Dolphin and PCSX2.
Intel Core i3 3.3GHz is a good cheaper option for PC games, but if he wants to play future releases on PC, it is recommended to get Core i5.
Intel Dual Core is too old and it is not recommended as an upgrade.

I do not know the AMD CPUs.

[Gurlok]

I'll throw my 2 cents waiting for someone with better knowledge than me. Regarding the cpu Squall is right, just keep in mind to look for ghz as high as possible (throw away anything lower than 3.0ghz) BUT, if he is planning to play some heavy games he need to choose a good gpu too, as a matter of tastes I'd go for nvidia. In that attachment, the intel core I5 3.0ghz 3rd gen is the only "decent" thing, the rest is all about crap if you ask me. To put it clearly everything depends on the budget of your friend, but cpu and gpu are the key requirements for playing games in general.

[globe94]

* oh, thanks for quick replies.
* so, games he wants to play, are assasins creed, gta,
and ppsspp too.
* and DOTA (Defense of the Ancient?)
* Dota is really popular here.
* everyone plays it. except me.
* i just dont like that game, im not interested. hahaha!


* so, we ended up with what?
* intel core i5?
* he also showed me, intel core i7, which is better?

* and how about AMD Trinity A10, with 4.2ghz? thats the highest frequency there.

[Elucidator]

the i5 is easily the most powerful CPU in that list, please note however, the task manager does not show true CPU core counts, it just shows the the number of threads your CPU supports,the i5 is only dual core(with two hyperthreads or "virtual cores"), while the AMD trinity is a dual module APU, and if your not planning on buying a video card, then the AMD trinity A10 5800K is your best bet since it has a rather good integrated GPU (way better than HD 4000 on 3rd gen ivy bridge) although you need to invest on a good RAM (at least dual channel,get the fastest speed RAM you can buy and at least 8GB (4 + 4)) since the integrated GPU shares bandwidth and memory with the CPU...

and about the frequency, its all about how much your CPU can do in one cycle not frequency, for example, CPU-A rated at 3Ghz, can do 4 instructions per cycle, while CPU-B rated at 4Ghz, can do 2 instructions per cycle, in this case CPU-A wins since it can do double the work in one cycle compared to CPU-B...

i7 is the fastest but also the priciest...

AMD Trinity is actually more than enough for what he wants to play, although if you want to play heavy emulators, like PCSX2, then the iseries is a better choice though you also need a powerful video card but CPU is more important in emulators...

one more thing, video cards here in the Philippines are crazy expensive for what they can do, so if I were you Ill take the AMD trinity A10 5800k, or wait a few more weeks since AMD Kaveri is already out, although once again, its very late here in the Philippines!

[globe94]

* wow, very detailed.
* salamat, kababayan

* my friend has no money limit, actually. hahaha.
* maybe around maximum of 40,000 pesos, or 50,000 pesos? (i dont how many U.S Dollar is that, so you convert! )
* he just want to know, ofcourse. which will give him the best performance, and best value for money.


* i will tell him about this,
* thanks guys. .


* maybe this thread can be closed.

[tiktakt0w]

(02-18-2014 04:10 AM)Elucidator Wrote:  the i5 is easily the most powerful CPU in that list, please note however, the task manager does not show true CPU core counts, it just shows the the number of threads your CPU supports,the i5 is only dual core(with two hyperthreads or "virtual cores"), while the AMD trinity is a dual module APU, and if your not planning on buying a video card, then the AMD trinity A10 5800K is your best bet since it has a rather good integrated GPU (way better than HD 4000 on 3rd gen ivy bridge) although you need to invest on a good RAM (at least dual channel,get the fastest speed RAM you can buy and at least 8GB (4 + 4)) since the integrated GPU shares bandwidth and memory with the CPU...

and about the frequency, its all about how much your CPU can do in one cycle not frequency, for example, CPU-A rated at 3Ghz, can do 4 instructions per cycle, while CPU-B rated at 4Ghz, can do 2 instructions per cycle, in this case CPU-A wins since it can do double the work in one cycle compared to CPU-B...

i7 is the fastest but also the priciest...

AMD Trinity is actually more than enough for what he wants to play, although if you want to play heavy emulators, like PCSX2, then the iseries is a better choice though you also need a powerful video card but CPU is more important in emulators...

one more thing, video cards here in the Philippines are crazy expensive for what they can do, so if I were you Ill take the AMD trinity A10 5800k, or wait a few more weeks since AMD Kaveri is already out, although once again, its very late here in the Philippines!

Hold your horses there. Task manager does show how much core and threads your processor has and the desktop variant of the Core i5 is not a dual core processor except for a few models.

Spending too much on RAM wouldn't help if you're in a budget. I would spend more of my money towards Processor>GPU>PSU.


@OP If your friend will just play PC games, A third Gen I3 or I5 would be enough coupled with a GTX 650Ti, It would let you play games without breaking the bank too much.
Don't even bother on buying an APU for gaming, trust me, they are crap and would leave you disappointed in the end. Buy a dedicated GPU! as mentioned above, a GTX 650ti would be enough for most people and I saw it for just like 5500 Pesos at SM Bacoor.

But! if you're gonna play Wii/gamecube games using Dolphin, I would say get a Haswell processor because Dolphin loves processors that has High performance per clock/performance per Mhz and Dolphin doesn't need beefy GPU's.

Heck, an Intel Core I7 4700MQ which is a mobile processor performs better than an AMD FX8350 on dolphin.

One final thing to take note of,

More cores doesn't mean more performance in apps/games. The app/game needs to support multi core implementations to benefit from it. Multi-tasking would benefit from multi-cores though.


It's a pain in the but to implement multi-core support in apps. -.-

[Elucidator]

I see your point, however, as I said before, the task manager does not always show true CPU core counts or rather it is not a reliable way to know how many cores your CPU has, take my laptop for example, the task manager shows four graphs for my core i3-3110m which is definitely a mobile dual core CPU... the introduction of hyperthreads made things easier to fool people especially those who arent knowledgeable in these areas... use CPU-Z when in doubt since its much more reliable and make sure its your own copy, or just google the CPU model yourself...

I've seen lots of people get fooled by the task manager and one of those instances is my friend's case, his Pentium HT CPU which shows two graphs and his device manager shows two processors although its definitely a single core CPU... the bad thing is its his own uncle who assured him its a dual core CPU so hes not getting an upgrade anytime soon... then again the i5 listed there, i dont even know what model it is, be extra careful in examining it before buying...

about the RAM, its important for the trinity APU to get the fastest RAM he can get since if hes planning on using the integrated GPU then the RAM will become the bottleneck of his system... Even for my laptop, my HD 4000 is bottlenecked by RAM in both size and speed, upgrading it to dual channel and increasing size to 8GB yielded way faster performance than before... and besides system RAM is much slower than its GDDR counterparts, and RAM is cheap these days, I bought mine on Ebay, so you definitely need as much speed as possible...

personally, I prefer buying my own parts than buying a "package" from that list since its too vague and quality isn't assured at all...

and one more thing, those GPUs you were talking about are way more expensive here in my country and were late compared to the US... very late...

---

then again maybe you should just wait for Kaveri, the trinity APU is good value for money however, with Kaveri already available overseas and with the push of Mantle and HSA, the Kaveri offers more potential performance increases than the iseries Intel CPUs, although sheer CPU performance crown still belongs to Intel...

heres the rundown:

No money limit = get Intel i7 CPU, if youre not into overclocking get Haswell, if you are, get sandybridge or ivybridge.
watch out for the E in the model # its usually the fastest variant, example is ivybridge E (E for extreme)
get high end discrete GPU, its up to you what brand, radeons can now match nvidia although hotter and more power
hungry they're cheaper to buy though...
a good RAM, avoid 1600mhz... at least 8GB
get SSD(solid state drive) now boot up time really will be in seconds!

midddle class = get i5 CPU, avoid i3s since they dont have turbo boost, see above...
still better to get middle class discrete GPU...
1600mhz is good enough but push for 1866mhz RAM...
a 64gb SSD should be enough for a windows drive and frequently used apps, get HDD as well for general storage...

budget gaming = get an APU, preferably Kaveri, top end kaveri is around as much as an entry level i5...
no need for discrete GPU in this case, entry level GPU's are easily beaten by kaveri's integrated GPU
put the money saved from not buying a discrete GPU to a better RAM(very important for an APU!)...
no choice here actually, get a 7200RPM HDD, if you have some money left, get a 32GB SSD strictly for windows...

applies to all: get a good screen, IPS LCDs is the way to go, if on a budget, order from taiwan, its cheap there...
get a good cooler, water cooling for middle and no money limit, decent air cooler for budget...
get a good case, prioritize airflow than design...
get a good PSU, make sure youre PSU can power all the components and still have some room to spare, calculate it
carefully...

I still have many things to add but its getting too long, but most of the basic stuff should be there...
its still hard to assemble in this country hahaha!

---

oh and the motherboard! hahaha!, I wont list it all but get the best one you can find!

[tiktakt0w]

Ahh yes, I totally forgot about them less knowledgable people.

But,
You were certain that the Task manager does not show true CPU Core count.

Well, it does show many cores you have.

I forgot to mention though that the task manager found in Windows 8 does show how many cores and threads a processor has.

And ei, please do read my post again. I clearly stated that I found a GTX 650 Ti on sale at SM Bacoor for 5500 PHP. You get what I'm trying to say? SM Bacoor = @ Philippines.

OP did stated that his friend's budget was 40-50k php and with that, a fairly decent rig could be made. I could easily see a rig of i5 paired with a Decent GPU with that budget. Heck, I once made a rig consisting of an intel core i3 2100 @ 3GHz + a Radeon 6770 1gb GDDR5 plus a 600 watt PSU for only 20K php.

Again, with that budget, any APU is not a wise decision for gaming.

[Elucidator]

indeed, APUs are still lagging behind intel's CPU, but then again its all about what you need that CPU for in the first place, top end APUs are currently on par with core i3 and with that performance you wont notice the difference at all except for very CPU intensive apps...

personally, I regret getting my i3 laptop, using my friend's A10 trinity APU laptop proved that you really cant tell the difference between them, heck if it werent for the A10 sticker I would have thought its an i3 as well...

the iGPU is useful as well especially in laptop form, i cant even play battlefield 3 on my HD 4000, but the trinity APU can at least play it over a stable 30FPS...

and once again, GTX 650 Ti is last gen... around 2012... VERY LATE...

its up to you, get what you want with your money, its yours after all...

as for me, Ill always get my moneys worth since I make sure that I'm on top of everything...

and the task manager thingy, dont use it as a basis for core counts...

my next upgrade plan for myself is definitely an APU, I had enough of Intel's slacking off and lack of innovation, and I need mantle and HSA certified APU for my future plans...

[tiktakt0w]

Don't compare mobile i3 to APU's from AMD.

The point is, OP's friend is gonna buy a desktop rig and not a freaking laptop. And don't forget his budget which is at 40-50k php.

And last gen doesn't necessarily means obsolete.

The old or should I say, "ancient" GTX 480 will destroy everything the GTX 650 ti has to offer.
I am giving advice on how to build a rig in a budget. And again the GTX 650 ti will give you enough performance without breaking the bank.

Seriously though, I Lol'ed on your:


"its up to you, get what you want with your money, its yours after all...

as for me, Ill always get my moneys worth since I make sure that I'm on top of everything..."

Any APU wouldn't even be able to go toe to toe with the "old" 650 ti.

You're going to upgrade to an APU? Gimme a break. I wouldn't even call that an upgrade. Just get a freaking Dedicated GPU and you're off to a good start.

[Elucidator]

as I said before, its your money, go buy what you want, its not my loss anyway...

what are you talking about? Im comparing a mobile APU to a moblie i3...

and dont say Im comparing apples to oranges because theyre the same, both actualy has all you need to consider them APUs...

I have no use for a dedicated GPU without HSA features...

cant go toe to toe with the 650 Ti? this isnt the llano generation anymore,while its true that iGPUs still cant match dedicated mid range to high end cards, the difference is no longer as big as you think... the only thing holding back kaveri is lack of dedicated and ultra fast RAM, then again youll argue that its not dedicated so it sucks so ill stop here...

are you serious?, GTX 480 has such a horrible performance per watt, 190 vs 110 of the 650 Ti... the performance difference is too small to justify the power difference, and why buy an old card when the new lower middle class cards leaves both in the dust... while being cheaper as well..

once again, I need an APU for my future plans, which need mantle, HSA, and hUMA... laughable upgrade? well see soon enough once youre so called cutting edge CPU is no longer the dominant part of a PC system...

[Elucidator]

and one more thing, you seem to be under the impression that I'm recommending the APU for him... I'm not, I clearly stated above that that I recommend the APU for budget gaming...