Quad-Core or Hyper-threaded Dual Core?

[Drigzz]

As years go by, games are becoming more demanding and graphic cards being released are more becoming hi-spec & hotter. With this in mind, which is the best upgrade solution? I'm planning to assemble a LGA 1155 rig & I have a modest budget. I would rather go to a mid-range card and put a potent CPU in the process. I can't do the other way coz of budget restriction. What's the best configuration, a hyper-threaded quad core or a hyper-threaded dual core? My motherboard of choice is Asus Maximus V Gene but my CPU and video card of choice remains open. Suggestions? Comments? Recommendations? Please help.. Thanks!

[debs3759]

Are you likely to want to overclock the CPU?

[fenyal]

i would always recommend a quad core over a dual core. as they will both be hyperthreaded there is no downfall to taking the quad core counterpart except it will need better cooling.

the general rule of thumb is to spend a 1:1 ratio on cpu and gpu. but you can actually spend more like 1:3 ratio to a cpu:gpu and still not bottleneck in the modern systems.

dont forget ram speeds will also help in your computing tasks. beware however that you match the cpu with ram it can natively support.

i hope i have helped in some way. if you share a bit on the price range you want to spend on graphics we could help with recommendations.

[Drigzz]

[debs3759]

I would recommend an i5 over an i3, as it has 4 real cores to the i3s virtual cores. An i7 would be overkill from what you have said.

An i5 will give you 4 cores without hyperthreading (contrary to what fenyal said), and most games that use multiple cores will make better use of physical cores than hyperthreading.

It is possible that the games you list will perform just as well on an i3, as I understand most games do not use multiple cores yet, but the extra cost of an i5 will mean you are ready for the next generation of games.

[fenyal]

here i have compared both powercolor and sapphire graphics cards for you and gave you a list of prices and abilities of each card so you can see which one you might want for the price range. i have also added the links to the cards so you may take a closer look.

above the $150 range i would go for the 170$ version of powercolor and just overclock it 40 mhz to make it just like the sapphire thats 10 dollars more. however, i have more faith in sapphire over powercolor for quality so the 10 dollars may be better spent there.

this option it ultimately up to you.

i didn't go any lower than 100 dollars because considering you're after a 1155 socket, anything less would be nearly useless. besides that if you were looking for something that cheap i doubt you would be asking for recommendations.

i also added the 2gb version to the list in case you wanted the extra ram. my gpu only has 1gb and running a decent game on ultra settings at 1366/768 and watching a movie on my tv at the same time at 1768/992 resolutions i use less than 450 mb's of ram so 2gb of ram is likely overkill for this age of electronics. however i have no time machine so i have no idea what the future may do to a graphic cards ram.

that is also your choice on what you feel is the best option.

i hope i have helped you in your questions.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202004

180$ 1gb 7850 sapphire 900 core clock 1024 stream processors 256 bit

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131473

185$ 2gb version 7850 powercolor 860 core clock 1024 stream processors 256 bit

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131482

170$ 7850 1gb version powercolor 860 core clock 1024 stream processors 256 bit.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202023

120$ 7770 1gb 1100 mhz 640 stream processors 128 bit sapphire

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131461

100$ 7750 1gb 800 mhz 512 stream processors 128 bit powercolor