CPU Part 1 Intel Lineup

Hi everyone,

I would like to apologize for the delay in my update but it is thanksgiving week here which means things are hectic. I have been working long hours and then some just to make sure everything at my work is up to date. But now that my work is done, I am marching on wards with my computer builds and ideas.

I will be discussing Intel CPUs in this post and then following it up with AMD CPUs and finally following it up with what I decided on getting for myself so stay tuned ^_^ .

A.) The CPU


The first and the most crucial part of the build. Which CPU to go with. The choices we have are Intel and AMD in this department. Intel has the powerful Core Family of processors which has three main branches to choose from. Core i3 (The entry level processor), Core i5 (The mid-range processor) and Core i7 (The high-end processor.) My wish to build a gaming PC pretty much ruled out Core i3 for me and left me with Core i5 and Core i7. The processors of interest to me were as follows:

Core i5

Core i5-2500K
The 2500K is a really great processor which runs on the Sandy Bridge architecture. This little beast is amazingly fast and in benchmarks can actually perform better then Core i7-975 Extreme and Core i7-965 Extreme which were the i7's from Intels first generation of the Core i7's. The K in the 2500K denotes that it has an unlocked multiplier which means that you can overclock it with ease. It is  a really great choice and the price is also very competitive. As of the date of this post is priced at $224.99. If you buy this processor please take note you will need a motherboard which has the Socket LGA 1155. Get the wrong socket type and your cpu will not work with it.

Core i7


A lot of options here. From the first Core i7 generation we have

Core i7 980X
An unlocked 6 Core (12 thread) beast of a cpu with the price to match. Currently selling on Amazon (deactivated on Newegg for now so found it on Amazon) for $929.99 (The Amazon price is in fact higher. I am quoting the price I found under the selling as New link.)

Core i7 990X
The ultimate Intel processor on the LGA 1366 socket. Currently selling on for $999.99. Either of these are for a the foreseeable future guaranteed to crush most games (along with a good GPU ofcourse.)








 If you do not want to shell out so much cash you could alternatively go for Core i7 980 which right now is selling for $579.99. Please note that this one has a locked Core which will not allow you to overclock it the way you can OC both the 980X and the 990X. All three listed above are on the LGA 1366 socket type so please choose your motherboard accordingly.

From the 2nd generation (Sandy Bridge) we have


Core i7 2600K
One of my favorite processors. This is an unlocked 4 core processor with hyper threading which basically gives you 8 threads. to work with. It is selling for $319.99. This in my opinion is the best CPU for the value and in benchmarks sits below the 990X, 980X (or above depending on what is being bench marked.)

Core i7 2700K
The latest introduction in the Sandy Bridge lineup, the 2700K has a speed of 3.50Ghz versus the 3.40Ghz of the 2600K. The slightly more brawnier brother of the 2600K is selling for $369.99.







Both CPUs require the LGA 1155 socket motherboards to work with so as always, choose wisely.

The latest addition to all of these processors are the Sandy Bridge Extreme chips which require a motherboard with LGA 2011 socket.

Core i7 3930K
The latest 6Core-12Thread beast which operates at 3.20Ghz. Selling for $599.99. The K as usual denotes an unlocked multiplier for overclocking ease.

Core i7 3960X
The ultimate Intel CPU to date with 6 Cores -12 Threads operating at 3.3Ghz of speed and more L3 Cache than the 3930K. Selling for $1049.99









One main difference to note is that the 2600k and 2700k come with built in Intel HD graphics eliminating the need to buy a separate Video Card whereas the 3930K and 3960X do not have that option. With that being said, if you want to do serious gaming, you are going to need a dedicated GPU for all your visual needs.

My personal thought on which processor to choose are as follows.

If you want to do serious gaming but do not have a big budget, you should choose the i5-2500K. It does not have Hyper Threading which results in 4Cores-4Threads but those 4 Cores with a decent GPU will run just about anything.

If you can spend a little more money you should go for the i7-2600K. It offers some serious computing power and can run through any game with remarkable ease.

Got money to burn? Lots of money to burn? You should choose 3960X. It does everything the 990X does and more. The difference? With 990X you had the option of going with tri-channel ram for some serious performance. The 3960X will give you the option to go with quad-channel ram for ever more potential performance.

Next post I will discuss the world of AMD Processors.

Till then,
Adios--

The PC Build Overview

Hi everyone,

So I just got done with work. Why are Monday's so annoying!? It's the same story every single Monday of your life. You get up and go to work and it always feels like a tornado visited in your absence and decided to re-arrange everything for you!! Deadlines, new things to work on so on and so forth..... 

Okay moving on. Today I will be giving more of an overview about my build list. This will be followed by future posts which will go into each component in more detail. I felt this would give everyone a chance to see what goes inside a computer and also see my motivations for why I decided to acquire certain components over others. 

I wanted to build my computer primarily for gaming but also wanted it to fulfill other functions which include watching and creating high definition video, Listening to high definition music and also editing images. I at some point intend on getting a D-SLR camera and will want to mostly shoot in RAW format and editing those images . 

Okay now for the list.

1. CPU: Two brands to choose from, Intel and AMD. 

2. Motherboard: There are a large number of socket types out there that you can choose from but again they can be broadly divided into again and Intel based motherboard or an AMD based mother board.

3. RAM: The Short term memory of the computer. You have the choice between a DDR2 and DDR3 with DDR3 being the flag-bearer for RAMs. There are various speeds at which they work at as well as Timing values which are of more importance to overclockers then an average everyday user. 

4. GPU: Also known as the video card. If you want to run modern runs at decent or high settings you have to get a modern card preferably the most expensive card you can afford.  There are two main brands when it comes to GPUs. Nvidia and AMD (formerly ATI.) 

5. PSU: The Power Supply Unit which powers everything in your Computer. Your purchase of a PSU in very dependent on how powerful your computer will be. Too little and you might not be able to run things at their full or even intended capacity. Too much and you will have more power then you need and end up under utilizing your PSU. 

6.Sound Card: A lot of people might feel sound cards are not needed. For me though I feel sound cards are important in that no matter what sound card you get, they will make your audio sound much better then any regular on board audio you can find. They also take some load off of your mobo (motherboard) which helps your computer run better. 

7. Hard Drive: These days hard drives are cheap and plentiful. (Though with the recent flooding in Thailand prices have gone up considerably but in general they are cheap.) You have the option of a regular mechanical hard drive, an SSD (Solid State Drive) or Hybrids (which performance wise sit in the middle of HDDs and SSDs.)

8. Optical Drives: DVD players/burners and/or Blu-Ray Drives/Burners. Prices or both are very good these days so you can realistically afford to get both. 

9. Computer Case: You have a lot of options in this category. For now I will list the three main you are likely to encounter namely 1) ATX Full Towers 2) ATX Mid Towers and 3) ATX Mini Towers. 

10. Cooling Options: Most modern computer components put out a lot of heat so you need good cooling options to keep your computer operating at peak efficiency and to prevent them from overheating. A Good case is essential in this regard. You have two popular options in this regard. You can either go for fan based cooling which has the negative of being potentially noisy but is very easy to install or you can opt for liquid cooling which is quieter but sometimes difficult for novice builders to attempt. 

That is everything that goes inside your computer but I am afraid the list is not over yet. For Gaming you will need a good keyboard and mouse setup, either good surround sound or a good headset to communicate with other fellow players. A good monitor is also essential as all the powerful components will be for naught if your monitor cannot display high resolutions. Imagine having a blu-ray player but sitting and watching on a standard definition TV. Also depending on what type of gaming you wish to do you might need other accessories. 

That is all for this post. Next time I promise to include pictures and not just have dry text :). 

Till then

Adios.

Initial Initial Initiation

Hi everyone and a million (heck make that a billion!!) thanks for checking out my blog. I am very new to blogging as my personality tends to make me more of an introvert who is happy just thinking about stuff and not really sharing opinions.

I for lack of a better description am like a magnet without a true north. My curiosity leads me down a multitude of paths when it comes to interests, passions and obsessions. I will be using this blog to record all those paths and hopefully along the way discover my true north.

In the next week or so I will be detailing my current obsession. I am as we speak collecting parts for my very first computer build. It will be an ambitious (for me at least) project for which as I sit and think has no end. My next post will be detailing my initial proposed build followed by what I ended up getting.

With that out of the way I bit you adieu for the while.