Help meh with new computer por favor...

[Steamer]

I still disagree with buying a lower CPU just because you don't think you're going to use the extra power right away.

The i7 is barely any faster!!!!!!!!!! The only reason you perceive it faster (In all reality it really isn't) is because of the fucking Hyperthreading. It does multiple threads faster! That is it! Gaming will see maybe 1 or 2 fps.... Many other things will benefit if you plan on doing them though, IE: Video editing, encoding, transcoding, CGI, ect. As for the basic every day things, you won't see much difference at all. The chipset, RAM, and HDD (If using any instead of SSD) will bottleneck before you see any from the CPU, even with an i3. The utter stupidity of some of you is beyond my understanding. Honestly, wait for the Haswell to release in June and watch prices. The build you're thinking of now will be a decent amount cheaper, or you could go with the new. IMHO, I would wait it out a bit and be patient. You will regret it later if you don't. The performance boost (~10% over Ivy Bridge) and wait time will be well worth it. It's the tock (new arch) not the tick (shrinkage).

EVGA is an excellent brand with great upgrade options. I've found their customer support and RMA policies above par as well.

[maynard]

Refurbs are a crap shoot, I do not recommend using them

^this

[Erdenay]

Agreed with Steamer/Stars/Penis - there's absolutely no reason whatsoever to get an i7 if you're on a tight budget and you plan to use it for gaming. Also, I can send my build as well, if you're interested.

[ZERO]

IT might be a good idea to wait 2 months for the next intel cpus to ship to get them or a better deal on the existing chips.

[jwtemp]

This 660Ti is $310. I'd spring for the GTX 670 if I was going to pay that price personally, since you could probably find a GTX 670 for close to that price on sale/with a coupon/gift certificate, and because the 670 outperforms the 660Ti handily (not by a huge margin, maybe 10-15% but it will definitely be worth the extra <$50 you pay for it).

I would not buy refurbished. It's not worth the risk in my opinion, you literally have no clue if it will work flawlessly or be DOA, but I suppose you could check out estimated refurb failure rates if any such data exists. Honestly it probably doesn't exist since it would be in the seller's best interest not to show data like that if it reflected poor performance of their refurbished product.

[Carmichal]

information over load

[Grits]

The i7 is barely any faster!!!!!!!!!! The only reason you perceive it faster (In all reality it really isn't) is because of the fucking Hyperthreading. It does multiple threads faster! That is it! Gaming will see maybe 1 or 2 fps.... Many other things will benefit if you plan on doing them though, IE: Video editing, encoding, transcoding, CGI, ect. As for the basic every day things, you won't see much difference at all. The chipset, RAM, and HDD (If using any instead of SSD) will bottleneck before you see any from the CPU, even with an i3. The utter stupidity of some of you is beyond my understanding. Honestly, wait for the Haswell to release in June and watch prices. The build you're thinking of now will be a decent amount cheaper, or you could go with the new. IMHO, I would wait it out a bit and be patient. You will regret it later if you don't. The performance boost (~10% over Ivy Bridge) and wait time will be well worth it. It's the tock (new arch) not the tick (shrinkage).

EVGA is an excellent brand with great upgrade options. I've found their customer support and RMA policies above par as well.

Appreciate the insults. I realize the differences between the dang i7 and i5. I've been in the business for a decade. In fact, I refurbed CPUs as a successful side business (Vitric Technology... yeah, sucky name) for years.

And, since you've decided to pick me as your target for whatever reason, XFX > eVGA, and your mom is a dirty whore! :-P

Anyway, you've got my .02, so good luck with the build, and above all else, make sure you enjoy it!

[Steamer]

Then you should know it technically isn't faster and (though I may have mistook how you meant it rereading your post[why I chose the quad over the dual years ago{the threading differences really do matter later on at a bottleneck depending what you are doing, E version was ridiculously overpriced at the time}]). Being in the CPU business, figure you would suggest the wait.

I've owned both. XFX customer support in my experiences (though its been a few years) sucked ass. The hardware is on equal terms. I've hit or miss clock/mem/shader speeds around all the same marks. The XFX 8800 GTS was beast in it's hayday. Customer service game me the run around getting warranty out of a 260, so that kind of led me to look elsewhere.

[Patmonster]

information over load

^^ This.

This is why you don't ask an entire room of faggy nerds what computer hardware is the best. We have all used different builds/combos with all different outcomes ANNDDD we are all retarded enough to fight over dumb shit and don't know how to just let the client(you) choose.

If you don't have a budget, get the i7. If you need to save $50-100, get the i5. Simple!

And the fact that anyone is suggesting waiting 2 months for another set of CPUs to hit the market is retarded! If you kept waiting for new tech to come out your computer would NEVER BE BUILT! lol. You would just sit there with a case and wait forever.

[Steamer]

And the fact that anyone is suggesting waiting 2 months for another set of CPUs to hit the market is retarded! If you kept waiting for new tech to come out your computer would NEVER BE BUILT! lol. You would just sit there with a case and wait forever.

You have no idea. This set of CPU's isn't just a simple upgrade, it's a fucking new architect. Get a mobo that supports Haswell and the move to Skylake and possibly Skymont and you are good to go for a few years. Getting an i7 in the current 1155 socket instead of waiting for Haswell in the 1150 socket with potential for future upgrades is asinine. You sir, should just leave.

Basic tick tock diagram. I suggest you learn a bit more. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Tick-Tock