I want a new CPU since I've been rendering things a lot, and I want a better one for gaming, too. I probably won't be able to purchase one for a while, but I'd like recommendations on what to start saving for.
You really only need a Dual Core CPU with hyperthreading to play BF3 and with a good GPU you could add GPU Acceleration in your video rendering to speed it up. So really any processor that is Quad Core should do for both those tasks.
If you really want a deal just go with a AMD FX-4100
something with advanced Vector extension like a i7 sandy or ivy, if you're a run_it@stock guy, go with ivy i7
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116502
but if you're overclocking then you might want to go with sandy, or ivy my experience with them has been pretty cool so far and I've seen them at 5.2GHz, not on air of course, but they good on a CM212 EVO up to 4.6-4.8 depending on how much voltage you have to pump through it
as for games you wouldn't be held back by a 4GHz 955, they are much more GPU dependant
gpu acceleration only helps if you have a 300-400 GPU and if your CPU is very crappy
and I wouldn't recommend that CPU as its actually a dual core with amd's answer to hyper threading
Ok, so I am not too familiar with CPUs, but the i7 is $319 and the AMD is $109. Why is there such a giant price difference?
the amd one is a dual core with 4 threads and the i7 is a quadcore with 8 threads and more instructions per cycle and better intsruction sets
I would show you a anandtech bench comparison but they consider the 4xxx and 6xxx so pointless to buy that they don't even list it as an option to compare
I see. So, the i7 would be the optimum choice to save for, then. Hopefully the steam summer sale won't hit me too hard...
wat
For gaming you need at least 8gb ram and the fastest processor that you can afford.
You're kind of asking this at an odd time though. Right now the two latest cards from nvidia and amd are significantly faster than the last generation of cards. Normally I would say buy the last generation of cards but the 7970 and 680 are both around 25% faster than their older brothers and not too much more expensive. It's one of those rare times when it may be worth it if you can afford it. That said, any 7900 amd or a 650 or later nvidia card will last you for years.
The other thing worth considering right now is solid state drives. A lot of gamers are still saying, "It only helps wth load times." Which is semi-true. The only easily discernable boost will be to load times but every time your game accesses the hard drive, having an SSD will be better than having a HDD. That means that your RAM won't be as easily bottlenecked by your HDD. Every time you save a game, load a save, zone, open a large file, save a large file or otherwise access your hard drive it will help. In the long run it makes a big difference and you will never want to go back to a HDD again. This difference can be mitigated by fast mechanical drives in raid with a fast raid controller but at the point you may as well get an SSD anyway because it won't be any cheaper and will only be as good with small files as an SSD. But if you do get an SSD get a fast one. I recommend OCZ Vertex 3 max IOPS or OCZ Vertex 4.
I have a 7970m, 2.6ghz Ivy bridge and two OCZ Vertex 4's in raid 0 on my laptop. With that and 32gb of ram I can work with huge photoshop files, 3ds max and mudbox at great speeds and tear through any game out there on the highest settings with virtually no slow down (except Metro 2033 because nothing short of a dual xeon octo-core could do that).
What kind of rendering? Are we talking 3D work, video editing, or? I'm personally looking at a i7 3730, and 16gb (2x8) of ram to start. If you are wondering, I do 3D work and video work, that's why I ask.
That is a quad core cpu dood, i have one.
I don't use many intel products......AMD Master race here....!