17 replies to this topic

[x_byakugan_x]

This would be an upgrade from an e7300 Core2Duo and P5QL mobo.

Should I get this? Thoughts on the mobo? I've only heard good from the CPU.

[oldSkool]

According to what I've read - the motherboard only supports 32gb's of RAM... that gonna be enough?

Review

Cpu specs:
Wiki Intel

For that price, I'd get it
But I come from the land down under - where technology prices are stupidly inflated.
(Board - $329, CPU - $229 = $558).

[way2lazy2care]

That price is solid. The prices on newegg right now are $160 for mobo $225 for processor. nearly $100 of savings. If you were going to upgrade anyway that price is a steal. My only issue would be that it's a p67 board, so it won't use sandybridge's onboard graphics, which should be fine if you have a video card and there's some SSD cache optimizations. You also can only overclock the SB integrated graphics with their newer chipset. You can still overclock the processor though, and from what I've heard the 2500k overclocks like a dream. Waiting to get a new CPU cooler to find out though.

[x_byakugan_x]

God damn you guys telling me it's a good deal, and making me want to buy it. It's all gonna come down to how BF3 runs tonight and tomorrow night really. In beta I ran everything on ULTRA on the metro map with an EXCELLENT framerate. Then caspian border came along and it was like I was playing a completely different game, where I could barely handle medium settings. My core2duo @3.4ghz isn't enough anymore I suspect.. need quad.

Also, why would anyone this day and age use on board graphics? Maybe it's changed from what I remember it being. It's what your motherboard can put out from a tiny onboard chip right... and it's usually SHIT for gaming?
[color=green] After some reading, I see it's graphics prrocessing IN the CPU. Interesting. But a current gen video card beats out sandy bridge is what I read. It's on par with an ATI 5450.

Anyway I have a gtx 560ti, and yea if you remember, I did recently get an SSD.

Oldskool.. $558 for that......? I can't even get that into my head. I hope minimum wage down under is $20~ per hour.

Edited by x_byakugan_x, 24 October 2011 - 10:07 PM.

[oldSkool]

Also, why would anyone this day and age use on board graphics? Maybe it's changed from what I remember it being. It's what your motherboard can put out from a tiny onboard chip right... and it's usually SHIT for gaming?

Because a lot of people play flash-based games, or other not resource-heavy simple games -- which, on old on-board graphics (of between 8 and 64 megabytes) just don't crack it.
A lot of these chips are finding their way into media centres - and, sure, dedicated is always better, but for a cost-effective all purpose unit it's nice to know it'll do an OK job with graphics.

It was also a 'natural evolution' of the processor design, to eliminate the external chips it had to interact with and just let the CPU do all the work (makes it quicker, too).

Oldskool.. $558 for that......? I can't even get that into my head. I hope minimum wage down under is $20~ per hour.

According to this government site:
"Australia's minimum wage is $15.51 per hour or $589.30 per week"
Also outlines junior wages (under 21's).

That was from a relatively well-known PC manufacturer, PC-Casegear. You could possibly get it cheaper, from MSY or CPL - but these places have reputations of 'off the back of the truck' kind of dealings. PC-Casegear has good prices and legit.

[way2lazy2care]

Also, why would anyone this day and age use on board graphics? Maybe it's changed from what I remember it being. It's what your motherboard can put out from a tiny onboard chip right... and it's usually SHIT for gaming?
[color=green] After some reading, I see it's graphics prrocessing IN the CPU. Interesting. But a current gen video card beats out sandy bridge is what I read. It's on par with an ATI 5450.

The thing is that sandybridge integrated graphics are somewhat on par with a middle of the road graphics card, which is way better than they usually are by at least an order of magnitude. I'd love sandybridge in a laptop, and even in my desktop with a z68 board my computer uses sandybridge when it's rendering the windows desktop and most applications and the GPU for games because of virtu netting power savings for me.

Sandybridge is way more powerful than I expected and shouldn't be dismissed just because integrated graphics are usually trash. I'd expect it to run most indy games just fine, which is more than suitable for a lot of people.

[x_byakugan_x]

Well, I see that it really is a good deal.. but now I'm all over the place with my decision.

Some maps/modes I can run everything on ultra with 40+frames.
Others I need to put things on low to even get 25. (full 64 player maps with explosions everywhere.)

Thanks for the input guys, guess I'll make the decision tommorrow x.x.

[oldSkool]

Thanks for the input guys, guess I'll make the decision tommorrow x.x.

Just buy it.

If you don't want it, ship it to me

[7h3 n00b m4573r]

That was from a relatively well-known PC manufacturer, PC-Casegear. You could possibly get it cheaper, from MSY or CPL - but these places have reputations of 'off the back of the truck' kind of dealings. PC-Casegear has good prices and legit.

Nothing wrong with MSY
BTW, umart has that board for $185
http://www.umart.com...i...7&sid=73789

[j type]

Just a btw, the BF3 beta had graphics settings locked at Medium (regardless of which settings you selected in the options) as far as I know, so that might not be the best benchmark for what your setup is capable of.

Edited by j type, 04 November 2011 - 05:22 AM.

[Billy...]

I wouldn't go swinging at ultra settings in bf3 with that thing but I guess it's a fine deal.

[way2lazy2care]

I dunno. If you are comfortable OCing your stuff you should be able to do ultra on that. I've seen videos of a guy getting 40+ FPS on ultra in BF3 with a GTX 460 1GB and a non-OCed i7 2700k, and your graphics card is better.

[x_byakugan_x]

Just a btw, the BF3 beta had graphics settings locked at Medium (regardless of which settings you selected in the options) as far as I know, so that might not be the best benchmark for what your setup is capable of.

Well the retail is running better than the beta for me, although still not on ultra.

[Billy...]

Well the retail is running better than the beta for me, although still not on ultra.

I see... :[ dont add me then.

[BlG_BALLS]

What kinda scores do you get in say 3DMark06 etc?

With my current sys,I get a tad over 31,000 in 3Dmark06,all stock,no OCing.

[x_byakugan_x]

Only used 3dmark 2011, and I forgot the scores. I play BF3 on all low though...

[way2lazy2care]

Only used 3dmark 2011, and I forgot the scores. I play BF3 on all low though...

3dmark always crashes on my new system

Not sure why, but I can't get through the demos. It works great for games so far though. The only thing I have issues with is MSAA because my vram is lower than it could be even though I have throughput for days.

[way2lazy2care]

Only used 3dmark 2011, and I forgot the scores. I play BF3 on all low though...

3dmark always crashes on my new system

Not sure why, but I can't get through the demos. It works great for games so far though. The only thing I have issues with is MSAA because my vram is lower than it could be even though I have throughput for days.