Advice needed: i5 or i7 or AMD 1090T??

astroccd

Member
Hi

I'm driving myself nuts trying to workout which processor to go for between these three. The new PC will be used for image processing (Lightroom on large RAW files), gaming and running databases for home use.

I would like to future proof the new build as much as is possible i.e. goog mobo, overclocking, USB3, Sata 6Gb/s, 6G or 8G RAM, etc.) and my preferred graphics card is the Nvidia 1Gb GTX460.

Unfortunately, a new job situation means that I need the PC really quickly i.e. within 3 working days and this rules out the Overclocked i7 because of the Asus motherboard availability, and the Next Day system (which is also i7 based) is not overclocked and only has an HD5770 graphics card.

Which seems to leave either the overclocked i5 (approx £1076) or AMD 1090T (approx £1024) based systems. The prices are pretty similar (and about £150 more if I went for the HD5850 based AMD build). Obviously I'd rather spend as little as possible.

Either the i5 or 1090T would be fine for the database work but what I can't work out is which processor would be best for the image processing and gaming. (I think that the i7 would be best but I can't get it within my tight build time constraints).

Any help and advice would be very gratefully received.

Many thanks!
 

Gorman

Author Level
Give us a call and inquire about getting a 460 put into the I7 prebuilt machine and how long it would take is my vote.
 

astroccd

Member
I did phone up earlier this afternoon and unfortunately it seems that the 460 could be put into the prebuilt machine but they are standard clock speed and not overclocked and if I did the overclocking myself I run the risk of voiding the warranty if a component is damaged. (And it seems silly to waste that setup by not overclocking to some degree).

I would like the i7 build but can't see how to get it in the timescales because of the lack of any of the Asus motherboards on the i7 custom builds. :-(

Unless I am missing out on another option somewhere ...
 

PCS

Administrator
Staff member
If you order the pre-built with the GTX460 - we can provide the settings for the overclock. We would recommend you purchase some better thermal paste before doing this though.
 

astroccd

Member
Thanks for the help and responses.

Unfortunately, by saturday morning even the next day pre-built systems had all gone otherwise I would have gone for this option.

Ah well. So I opted for a fast track order for an overclocked i5 based unit which still seems like a very nice and powerful setup and saves me a couple of hundred pounds into the bargain as well.
 
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