Hardware Short term gaming PC upgrade.

[GreatCrippler]

Well, I am upgrading my wife's PC this week, as it is starting to die, and I realize that I am currently running a very dated system. As I can't afford to upgrade my PC right this second, I am looking through what I have for parts to get me by a little while. I am stuck between 2 choices right now for a basic gaming rig, and I thought I'd fish for some opinions. The tower I am typing on is a Dell Studio XPS 435mt. (Stuffed in a Coolermaster case.) i7 975, 3.33 GHz Quad, 24 gigs of DDR3, and a GTX 460 Video card. I do have a much nicer, though less CPU happy AMD board. It's an MSI board with overclocking options out the wazoo, and I have a Phenom 955 Black Edition in it. I could put it at 16 GB of memory with an ATI 6870 and 6850 Crossfired. So, the question ends up being, which is going to perform better in a gaming capacity. The nicer i7 on a Dell OEM board, or the Lesser AMD on a gaming board with a better video option? Any advice is appreciated.



TL;DR Dell OEM Board, i7 975 with 24 GB Ram, and GTX 460 vs AMD Gaming board with Phenom 955, 16 GB Ram, and a Crossfire setup of a 6870 and 6850?

 

[sarkwalvein]

Between those two, the Core i7 nVidia GTX460 based one.

PS: I had a HD6870 like 4 years ago (I had to sell the computer but I still have that board in the box) it is nothing marvelous. The GT460 should be similar, but several degrees hotter. AMD cpus are shit compared to intel, so that might be a problem, specially if you want to emulate something.

 

[GreatCrippler]

Between those two, the Core i7 nVidia GTX460 based one.

Yea, that's what I am currently on. So, you think the Much better CPU trumps the better board, and better video?

 

[sarkwalvein]

Yea, that's what I am currently on. So, you think the Much better CPU trumps the better board, and better video?

It depends on what you play, if you emulate the corei7 wins almost no matter the GPU.
Anyway, the GT460 is similar to the HD6870, that GPU is not so much better.

 

[GreatCrippler]

I know the 6870 and the 460 are a wash between them, but with the AMD board I would have a crossfire with the 6870 and a 6850... making the video much better. As for what kind of games, mostly Steam stuff

 

[sarkwalvein]

If you crossfire the performance depends to much on the game you play, but yes your GPU setup will be better in the AMD/ATI based computer.
Anyway I don't think it will make to much of a difference to be honest, and I think the CPU difference will be more significant.

Nevertheless both setups you described should run almost anything relatively OK if you are not a friend of very high graphic detail level.

 

[GreatCrippler]

If you crossfire the performance depends to much on the game you play, but yes your GPU setup will be better in the AMD/ATI based computer.
Anyway I don't think it will make to much of a difference to be honest, and I think the CPU difference will be more significant.

Nevertheless both setups you described should run almost anything relatively OK if you are not a friend of very high graphic detail level.

Fair... Mostly what I expected, and tbh I can Build the AMD rig with 8 GB of performance memory, and not touch this rig anyways. I can bench it side by side for fun at that point. Now that I am back to work, I am hoping to be able to afford to build myself something new in a few months anyways.