# what's important, gpu or cpu....???



## grv750 (Feb 1, 2012)

hey guys,
Wanted a little help.....
I was going to buy my rig today but had to postpone that due to a question, i could'nt find an answer for.....
I5 2400 + HD6850
           OR
Phenom II x4 965 BE + hd6950.
The system would be mostly used for playing FPSs and TPSs at 1080p
Please guys help me out......
Thanks in advance.


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## Zangetsu (Feb 1, 2012)

^GPU is more important if gaming is the requirement but that doesn't mean one will bypass it with a low end CPU...
I prefer the 2nd setup above


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## ico (Feb 1, 2012)

GPU is more important for high resolution gaming. You only need a fast enough CPU in reality.

965 BE + HD 6950 will be quite a lot faster than i5-2400 + HD 6850 in games.

You can also go for i5-2320 + HD 6870 if you want.


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## Mr.V (Feb 1, 2012)

How about amd fx 6core +amd 69xx series?


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## grv750 (Feb 1, 2012)

actually i can spend only 26000 inr on cpu+mobo+gpu+extra fans(if needed)......
So what would be the best combination for that price......??


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## rahulmax (Feb 1, 2012)

grv750 said:


> actually i can spend only 26000 inr on cpu+mobo+gpu+extra fans(if needed)......
> So what would be the best combination for that price......??



i5 2500 -10800 or i5 2400 -9500
asus p8h61 m lx -3200
gtx 560 ti 13000 or gtx 560 (non-ti) -10000

This system will last you long, you won't be needing an upgrade soon after this.


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## Cilus (Feb 1, 2012)

i5 2500 or 2400 in a H61 motherboard is simply not a good idea. H61 is absic entry level board with very limited numbers of expansion ports.

rahulmax, now i3 2400 costs 11.5K, price has been increased a lot. So 2500 won't come at 10.8K. Better check the prices before posting.

grv750, go with the 2nd setup, it is better in gaming.


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## rahulmax (Feb 1, 2012)

Cilus said:


> i5 2500 or 2400 in a H61 motherboard is simply not a good idea. H61 is absic entry level board with very limited numbers of expansion ports.
> 
> rahulmax, now i3 2400 costs 11.5K, price has been increased a lot. So 2500 won't come at 10.8K. Better check the prices before posting.
> 
> grv750, go with the 2nd setup, it is better in gaming.



I have been using h61 mobo with i5 2500  with no problems at all,  it got all the basic expansion slots with one  pci express 2.0 and two slots for memory upto 16gb. I know it lacks some things but one can live without them considering it costs only 3200. And he can always change his motherboard later but you need yo have a good cpu and gpu. 

I recently bought my system 1 month back, so i didn't know that the price fluctuated so much. I bought my i5 2500 for 10800.


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## grv750 (Feb 1, 2012)

Another query.........
If i go with the hd6850 setup would it be sufficient for games for next 2-3 years.....ofcourse not at ultra high settings.......i won't mind medium settings.


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## avinandan012 (Feb 1, 2012)

dont go for the fx series if focus is mainly on gaming

better go for a Phenom II setup + 6950 

try to find 6950 2GB version if possible on that budget


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## ico (Feb 1, 2012)

grv750 said:


> Another query.........
> If i go with the hd6850 setup would it be sufficient for games for next 2-3 years.....ofcourse not at ultra high settings.......i won't mind medium settings.


At the moment, HD 6850 is only fit enough for Medium settings @ 1080p.

The 2GB version of HD 6950 is future proof as per me. Better than GTX 560 Ti as well. GTX 560 Ti usually comes in 1GB versions.

2GB VRAM helps to crank up AA and good for shader heavy games which we are seeing now.


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## vickybat (Feb 1, 2012)

i5 2320 + 6950 2gb will be a good deal. Pair it with a H67 board and if in a tight budget, h61 will do just fine.


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## d6bmg (Feb 1, 2012)

grv750 said:


> Another query.........
> If i go with the hd6850 setup would it be sufficient for games for next 2-3 years.....ofcourse not at ultra high settings.......i won't mind medium settings.



This can't be answered. It depends on the games which will be released. As ico have said already, it *should be* sufficient.

But my vote will go for Phenom II x4 965 BE + HD6950. combo.
Reasons:
1. It is unlocked processor, so you can overclock it when you feel its needed.
2. Better GPU will serve you better in gaming.


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## grv750 (Feb 2, 2012)

i've never used or seen an amd processor machine.......
So even if i want to trust amd,i simply can't.......
So can you guys confirm that amd processors behave in the same way as intel one's......ie there aren't any compatibility issues with amd+windows 7.


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## ico (Feb 2, 2012)

grv750 said:


> i've never used or seen an amd processor machine.......
> So even if i want to trust amd,i simply can't.......
> So can you guys confirm that amd processors behave in the same way as intel one's......ie there aren't any compatibility issues with amd+windows 7.


First of all. Current gen Intel processors behave in the same way as AMD.

AMD created the x86_64 architecture which Intel has licensed from them.

Mere ko aaj tak ek baat samajh nahi aayi, ye baatein tum log laate kaha se ho?


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## the1337est (Feb 2, 2012)

In my opinion go with X4 955 BE + HD6950. 

If you have a good enough CPU, gaming performance highly depends on the GPU.
So, get 955BE for nearly half the price than the i5 and throw the savings on HD6950 rather than an HD6850.


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## grv750 (Feb 2, 2012)

ico said:


> Mere ko aaj tak ek baat samajh nahi aayi, ye baatein tum log laate kaha se ho?


It wasn't me.......it was my father asking the question......
He thinks that intel is the only cpu manufacturer in the world..... 
So it seems that i shud go with amd+6950.......


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## ico (Feb 2, 2012)

But yes, you will have to buy a CPU cooler like Cooler Master Hyper TX3 (Rs. 1300) with Phenom II 955 BE.

Reason? AMD's cooler is cheap, but for working well it gets noisy.

I have Intel i5-2500k. Its cooler is also cheap, but because it NEVER worked well, so never got noisy. So, I also bought a cooler from Cooler Master.


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## grv750 (Feb 2, 2012)

so now that i've made my mind for hd6950..........pls suggest which one is available in nehru place and has good ocing potential.....


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## Jaskanwar Singh (Feb 2, 2012)

^ask for Sapphire dual fan version/MSI twin frozr II/MSI twin frozr III.


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## grv750 (Feb 2, 2012)

guys i've heard that there are heating issues with the phenom II 9** processors...........
I live in delhi and dont have an ac installed in my room.
Keeping in mind the tempratures during summer here would it be good idea to go with 965 BE.....??


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## ico (Feb 2, 2012)

grv750 said:


> guys i've heard that there are heating issues with the phenom II 9** processors...........
> I live in delhi and dont have an ac installed in my room.
> Keeping in mind the tempratures during summer here would it be good idea to go with 965 BE.....??


what did I write above?



ico said:


> But yes, you will have to buy a CPU cooler like Cooler Master Hyper TX3 (Rs. 1300) with Phenom II 955 BE.
> 
> Reason? AMD's cooler is cheap, but for working well it gets noisy.
> 
> I have Intel i5-2500k. Its cooler is also cheap, but because it NEVER worked well, so never got noisy. So, I also bought a cooler from Cooler Master.



My i5-2500k had heating issues as well. The reason why I purchased a custom cooler.


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## sukesh1090 (Feb 2, 2012)

*Re: heating issues with phenom cpus.....???*



grv750 said:


> guys i've heard that there are heating issues with the phenom II 9** processors...........
> I live in delhi and dont have an ac installed in my room.
> Keeping in mind the tempratures during summer here would it be good idea to go with 965 BE.....??



^^
 nothing like that but its cooler noise is very loud but if you don't have any problem with that then you are good to go.btw you won't be able to overclock with stock cooler but it is capable of withstanding 965 at stock speed.


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## grv750 (Feb 2, 2012)

so can i find phenom 965 BE without the stock fan and buy another cpu fan....??


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## ico (Feb 2, 2012)

grv750 said:


> so can i find phenom 965 BE without the stock fan and buy another cpu fan....??


Just buy these. 

*Phenom II X4 955 BE or 965 BE
Cooler Master Hyper TX3*

You don't get CPU without stock heatsink fan. They are in the box. No one sells them lose.


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## sukesh1090 (Feb 2, 2012)

^^
 isn't it better to go with 212evo than tx3 by spending 700bucks more.


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## grv750 (Feb 2, 2012)

so guys....what am i supposed to do with that stock cooler....??? Can i sell it somewhere?
Also i heard about something called oem products.....?
Aren't they without fans...??


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## asingh (Feb 2, 2012)

^^
Use it as a paper weight.


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## Cilus (Feb 2, 2012)

First of all, don't just jump to a CPU cooler. 1st buy the Processor and use it with the Stock fan. Although louder, Phenom II has a far better Stock cooler when compared to Intel offerings. It is actually copper pipe based and keeps the CPU really cool. After using it for some times, if you feel that there are high noise level or heating issues then get an after market cooler.
The noise problem is actually mainly with a certain batch of Phenom II 955 processor's cooler. AFAIK, 965 is quite quieter than 966.


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## Skud (Feb 2, 2012)

AFAIK, if you ever need to RMA your CPU, you will need to return the stock cooler too.


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## grv750 (Feb 2, 2012)

Cilus said:


> First of all, don't just jump to a CPU cooler. 1st buy the Processor and use it with the Stock fan. Although louder, Phenom II has a far better Stock cooler when compared to Intel offerings. It is actually copper pipe based and keeps the CPU really cool. After using it for some times, if you feel that there are high noise level or heating issues then get an after market cooler.
> The noise problem is actually mainly with a certain batch of Phenom II 955 processor's cooler. AFAIK, 965 is quite quieter than 966.


did you meant that 965 cooler is quieter than 955's......??


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## coderunknown (Feb 3, 2012)

grv750 said:


> Also i heard about something called oem products.....?
> Aren't they without fans...??



OEM are sold only as processors but are extremely hard to find and "mayn't" carry warranty.


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## grv750 (Feb 3, 2012)

ok guys.......so 965 it is.
Please suggest mobos now.
I've heard something called 8pin cpu connector and that everyone should consider buying a mobo with that as it keeps the cpu cool.
Also i've read that gigabyte mobos by default provide higher voltages to the cpu.......and that's why so many heating problems with 965 BE......
Please clarify.


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## ico (Feb 3, 2012)

grv750 said:


> Also i've read that gigabyte mobos by default provide higher voltages to the cpu.......and that's why so many heating problems with 965 BE......
> Please clarify.


yeah. That is true. Simply reduce "Vcore" through BIOS. Easy stuff.

I did it for my i5-2500k as well.


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## grv750 (Feb 3, 2012)

what about the mobo guys......??
Pls suggest something with it's nehru place price.....
It would be good if i could crossfire on it later.
Then i would think about getting a 6850 and save some cast and get another 6850 after 5 or 6 months rather than getting a 6950 now......
Would it be good idea??
What do you guys think...??


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## ico (Feb 3, 2012)

^ No one crossfires later. Either you crossfire on day #1 or within a month. Otherwise you don't.

By the time you'll think of Crossfiring, faster "single GPU" cards will be available for cheap.

And single GPU > MultiGPU. Multiple GPU drivers can be buggy. Not a smooth gaming experience.


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## grv750 (Feb 3, 2012)

ico said:


> ^ No one crossfires later. Either you crossfire on day #1 or within a month. Otherwise you don't.
> 
> By the time you'll think of Crossfiring, faster "single GPU" cards will be available for cheap.
> 
> And single GPU > MultiGPU. Multiple GPU drivers can be buggy. Not a smooth gaming experience.



I think you are right ico.....will follow your advice and would get an hd 6950.
But what about the motherboard.....???
If not crossfire,pls suggest me one with usb 3.0......and also under rs5000


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## topgear (Feb 4, 2012)

get Gigabyte GA-880GM-USB3 (rev. 3.1) - price should be around ~4.8k


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## grv750 (Feb 5, 2012)

topgear said:


> get Gigabyte GA-880GM-USB3 (rev. 3.1) - price should be around ~4.8k



Ain't that an matx board.......??
AFAIK the sata ports would be blocked if i use an hd6950 on that board.
What about ga 880ga ud3h....??


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## ico (Feb 5, 2012)

Buy this: Flipkart: ASUS M5A97 Motherboard: Motherboard

Otherwise spend more and buy this: Flipkart: Gigabyte GA-990XA-UD3 Motherboard: Motherboard



grv750 said:


> What about ga 880ga ud3h....??


Not available in Delhi. Hardly available anywhere else.


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## coderunknown (Feb 5, 2012)

grv750 said:


> Ain't that an matx board.......??
> AFAIK the sata ports would be blocked if i use an hd6950 on that board



if you use sata cables with 90degree rotated points, this problem is solved. nowadays gigabyte boards come with these cables.


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## grv750 (Feb 5, 2012)

Sam said:


> if you use sata cables with 90degree rotated points, this problem is solved. nowadays gigabyte boards come with these cables.


Can you pls confirm if would get those cables with my board......??


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## aloodum (Feb 5, 2012)

The keyword here is balanced followed by bottle necking,In the last 5 years most games have been more gpu dependent than CPu ...bariing a few exceptions and anamolies (GTA 4 anyone ?)

I`d advise you to get a Sandy Bridge core i5 system..even the cheapest one. Reasone?
1. Its 32nm..runs way cooler, drinks less wattage juice and more thermally stable than any phenom quad.IIRC phenoms have a max T junction limit of 62 dec C compared to a whopping 105 deg C on the 2nd gen corei5`s

2. It simply whoops the ass of competing CPU`s.

Trust me, think of it as an future proff investment,As more games take advantage of multiple threads on multiple cores of the CPu the gap between a core i5 and a phenom will increase even more.

Having said that i`ll confuse a bit more 

If you wait a lil bit more, do So.Why?

1. Win 8 should show the real potential of 2011`s biggets flop..he bulldozer cpus. If Win 8 can finally understand the Schedling of threads on the BullZi , trust me it will be one game changer.

2. 28 Nm Ivy Bridge is due to come out ...Cooler and faster by upto 20-25% over its sandy brige cousins...this looks like a fireball in the making.

If not anything, they will certaily drive down the prices of SB`s


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## coderunknown (Feb 5, 2012)

grv750 said:


> Can you pls confirm if would get those cables with my board......??



else get some sata cables locally. should cost 50 bucks for a pair. then again you only need to worry about these if the sata ports are blocked.


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## sukesh1090 (Feb 5, 2012)

@grv750,
 buddy it comes with two SATA cables and both have L(bent) connectors at one end and if you want you can always buy connectors separately,it is not a big issue.keep in mind that "kuch pane kiliye kuch khona padtha hei" you can't get everything in the price range you want to spend.so either spend more or just spend five minutes more while assembling your system.those SATA are not very big problem.one thing i can say is you can overclock your 965 like a hell in this board.i reached 4GHz with my 955 without overvolting that is at 1.4v.and reached 4.1GHz at 1.425.if i go further i may able to hit 4.3GHz.
 one problem i found with this board is its dual BIOS.it didn't work for me or i understood it wrongly about how it works.whenever i tried to lower my cas latencies of my vangeance by upping voltage to 1.65v.my system boots but doesn't shows the display i have to clear the CMOS to get it back working.sometimes even it works.except this everything else works amazing.anyhow you are not going to get this dual BIOS feature in any other vendor mobos,you don't take it much seriously.


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## grv750 (Feb 7, 2012)

checked nehru place today......couldn't find 6950 anywhere.... 

also couldn't find 965 be.........but 960be was available.
Can i buy that??


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## ico (Feb 7, 2012)

^^ I think it must be Phenom II X4 960T.

X4 960T can unlock to a 6 core CPU.


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## coderunknown (Feb 7, 2012)

i have same board. don't know how i missed the part 



sukesh1090 said:


> one problem i found with this board is its dual BIOS.it didn't work for me or i understood it wrongly about how it works.whenever i tried to lower my cas latencies of my vangeance by upping voltage to 1.65v.my system boots but doesn't shows the display i have to clear the CMOS to get it back working.sometimes even it works.except this everything else works amazing.anyhow you are not going to get this dual BIOS feature in any other vendor mobos,you don't take it much seriously.



err, does dual bios works like this? AFAIK, second bios acts like a backup bios. if by flashing first bios chip gets damaged or burn off, mobo switches to second bios chip but you can't update second bios.


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## topgear (Feb 8, 2012)

grv750 said:


> checked nehru place today......couldn't find 6950 anywhere....
> 
> also couldn't find 965 be.........but 960be was available.
> Can i buy that??



you can get HD6950 from here 
Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 - 1GB


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## grv750 (Feb 8, 2012)

^^it's not available there also.......they are saying that amd is gonna discontinue 6950.....


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## Joker (Feb 8, 2012)

if u want to buy, then buy. otheriwse u just keep on waiting.


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## Skud (Feb 8, 2012)

sukesh1090 said:


> @grv750,
> buddy it comes with two SATA cables and both have L(bent) connectors at one end and if you want you can always buy connectors separately,it is not a big issue.keep in mind that "kuch pane kiliye kuch khona padtha hei" you can't get everything in the price range you want to spend.so either spend more or just spend five minutes more while assembling your system.those SATA are not very big problem.one thing i can say is you can overclock your 965 like a hell in this board.i reached 4GHz with my 955 without overvolting that is at 1.4v.and reached 4.1GHz at 1.425.if i go further i may able to hit 4.3GHz.
> one problem i found with this board is its dual BIOS.it didn't work for me or i understood it wrongly about how it works.whenever i tried to lower my cas latencies of my vangeance by upping voltage to 1.65v.my system boots but doesn't shows the display i have to clear the CMOS to get it back working.sometimes even it works.except this everything else works amazing.anyhow you are not going to get this dual BIOS feature in any other vendor mobos,you don't take it much seriously.






Sam said:


> i have same board. don't know how i missed the part
> 
> 
> 
> err, does dual bios works like this? AFAIK, second bios acts like a backup bios. if by flashing first bios chip gets damaged or burn off, mobo switches to second bios chip but you can't update second bios.




Sukesh, dual BIOS works almost as stated by Sam. In addition, if your first BIOS gets corrupted due to flashing or something it copies the recovery BIOS to the first BIOS and reboot the system. Actually, this is the first step. Only if there's any physical damage to the first BIOS, the mobo switches to the 2nd BIOS. And other vendors do have this feature in their boards sparingly, although none advertise them or utilize them as much as Gigabyte does.


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## whitestar_999 (Feb 8, 2012)

@grv750,check here by calling.they are listed as sapphire official distributor in India:
Aditya Infotech Ltd. HOME Page

some online options:
HIS H695FN1G2M Radeon HD 6950 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Graphic Card with Eyefinity

SAPPHIRE HD 6950 2GB GDDR5


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## sukesh1090 (Feb 8, 2012)

Sam said:


> i have same board. don't know how i missed the part
> 
> 
> 
> err, does dual bios works like this? AFAIK, second bios acts like a backup bios. if by flashing first bios chip gets damaged or burn off, mobo switches to second bios chip but you can't update second bios.



^^if i am right bro then the second BIOS should work whenever the main BIOS fails it could be anything like addition of wrong values in BIOS,then the first BIOS fails to boot so the details in back up BIOS will be copied to main BIOS and booting process continues.


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## grv750 (Feb 8, 2012)

finally got my rig today.......
Msi 880gma e35 fx + amd phenom II x4 960t BE (rs 10550)
Corsair xms3 4gb ram with heatsink(rs 1200)
Sapphire hd6870 (rs 10950)
Corsair gs600 psu (rs 3950)
Hp dvd rw+ 24x (rs 950)
Wd 500gb sata 2year warranty (rs 4050)
Cooler master elite 311 (rs1750)
Benq g2222hdl 22inch led (rs 6900)
I ball tarang 2.1 (rs 1380)
KB + mouse logitech mk200 combo (rs 650).
Will get it assembled tomorrow.......


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## ico (Feb 8, 2012)

grv750 said:


> Msi 880gma e35


hmm older revisions of that motherboard might give problems. Do update the BIOS as soon as you install Windows and drivers.


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## topgear (Feb 9, 2012)

^^ and he better not oc / unlock the cpu and OP's mobo supports cpus upto 95W TDP only.

@ OP - congrats on your new purchase


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## grv750 (Feb 9, 2012)

^^this is very bad news especially when i went with amd due to their budget oc capabilities.... 
Can i get this mobo replaced.....??
I got it from computer empire nehru place.


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## ico (Feb 9, 2012)

grv750 said:


> ^^this is very bad news especially when i went with amd due to their budget oc capabilities....
> Can i get this mobo replaced.....??
> I got it from computer empire nehru place.


I can't answer whether it can be replaced or not.

But you should have cross checked beforing firing the gun on the motherboard.


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## grv750 (Feb 9, 2012)

i just called them and they said that they will replace it.
Please reply fast which mobo should i buy.......reply fast with 2-3 mobos list as i'm on my way to nehru place.

they dont have ga880gm usb3 as of yesterday.
I dont care about usb3 at this point as long as i'm able to oc both cpu and my gpu. Pls suggest 2-3 boards in rs5500 range.


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## ico (Feb 9, 2012)

^

check out other places too.

Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H.

Gigabyte GA-880GM-USB3 should be there in other places

Otherwise, spend a bit higher and get Asus M5A97.


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## skywalker5555 (Feb 9, 2012)

Both are important .. u cannot ignore any of the one .... just make sure u don't end up buying a low end CPU and a high end GPU resulting in bottleneck ...


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## Jaskanwar Singh (Feb 9, 2012)

NO 880GM UD2H for phenom.
Get M5A97 only.


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## grv750 (Feb 9, 2012)

i got it replaced with gigabyte ga880gm d2h rev 3.1 ........


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## coderunknown (Feb 9, 2012)

nice. now try unlocking the processor


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## Jaskanwar Singh (Feb 9, 2012)

grv750 said:


> i got it replaced with gigabyte ga880gm d2h rev 3.1 ........



nice you didnt get rev4.0


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## topgear (Feb 10, 2012)

grv750 said:


> i got it replaced with gigabyte ga880gm d2h rev 3.1 ........



nice to know that ... btw, what did you say to replace the previous mobo with this one ??


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## grv750 (Feb 10, 2012)

i just told him the truth ie the absence of any scope for ocing.........mr sushant of computer empire made 2-3 calls and told me the boards that were available.
880gm usb3 wasn't available so i chose 880gm d2h.
Who says CE aftersales is not good??? They were very helpful....atleast for me.


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## dashing.sujay (Feb 10, 2012)

^CE= ?


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## coderunknown (Feb 10, 2012)

^^ 


grv750 said:


> computer empire


this.


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## topgear (Feb 11, 2012)

grv750 said:


> i just told him the truth ie the absence of any scope for ocing.........mr sushant of computer empire made 2-3 calls and told me the boards that were available.
> 880gm usb3 wasn't available so i chose 880gm d2h.
> Who says CE aftersales is not good??? They were very helpful....atleast for me.



Ok .. thanks for the info and surprised to see CE guys believed in the reason of non OC - but that proves they don't know much about OC but what you have got is good after sales support - most of the sellers are unwilling change a working product back ( unless you know them really well ) once you've opened the box or even just purchased it and take it to home and make them believe in it's not OCable is impossible at best - anyway, congrats for getting the new mobo


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## grv750 (Feb 11, 2012)

I guess i'm the lucky guy here


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