8GB, 204-pin SODIMM, DDR3 PC3-10600, NON-ECC,

This is a great buy on 8GB of DDR3 PC3-10600 memory.

Some exciting things have happened at the beginning of the year.  First, Intel launched their Sandy Bridge architecture.  Intel has been sitting at the top of the performance mountain for the last several years with AMD trying to dig the middle out from under them.  This is not a strategy that I think AMD wants to continue long term, however judging by the change in Intel’s launch tactics it appears that it’s had some effect.

The first thing to note is that rather than starting with the release of their flagship, uber expensive, ultimate performance chip that most of us can’t afford, Intel has released its mainstream lineup first.  At first I was really excited about this new strategy.  Groundbreaking performance is available at a reasonable price ahead of when I expected it.  After further reflection though I’m disappointed.  Now I feel the need to build myself a new computer, but it’s a good year ahead of my normal schedule.  What’s a tech junkie to do?  I agree. It would be a disservice to my readers to not show them a new build with a Sandy Bridge CPU.  Stay tuned for that.  In the meantime let me give you my CPU recommendations if you are building a new gaming computer this month.

First Choice – Core i5 2500K

Don’t act surprised.  I just told you how excited I was about the Sandy Bridge release.  I assure you that my excitement has in no way skewed my recommendation.  Intel has once again delivered on their new release.

The Core i5 2500K rides on the 1155 socket.  Now don’t get confused with the old socket 1156 that the Lynnfield processors used.  I’m not sure why they reduced the number for the new socket set?  Wouldn’t have made more sense to call it 1157?  Anyhow, you get a little of the old but a lot of new with it.

First, I’m going to start with the only negative.  the 1155 socket shares the limitation 16 PCIe lanes of its predecessor.  Before you throw your hands up in despair this really isn’t a big deal for most of us.  Without being overly technical all this means is that if we want to use multiple video cards the “bandwidth” will be divided between each video card.  So, if you use one video card it runs at x16.  For two video cards each would get x8.  Performance really won’t take a noticeable hit unless you use three or more.  IMHO most of us really don’t need more than two video cards.  My computer kicks serious gaming ass and I’m rocking one video card.  Spend your money wisely.  Would you rather have 3 poodles in a dog fight or one pit bull?

That’s it for the negatives.  There are more, but the details are so technologically in depth that I’ll leave it to my friends at Tom’s Hardware to regale at length about them in their 22 page review. It’s really great information, but if you aren’t an electrical engineer much of the information may go over your head (it does mine).

Intel is claiming a 30% performance boost with Sandy Bridge over Clarkfield.  That’s very significant.  I know better than to take the manufacturer’s word for it.  There was probably a test that it was 30% better.  Judging by the initial benchmarks it looks very promising though.  Stealing from the benchmark results at Tom’s Hardware (don’t judge me, their budget is much larger than mine) when comparing the overall results of PC Mark the Core i5 2500k (Sandy Bridge) was 20,208.  The Core i5 655K (Clarkdale) was 15,981.  That’s a 20% difference.  The gaming score came in about 14% better.  Before you flame at me in the comments I’m well aware of the limitations of these tests.  But we need something to establish a baseline don’t we?

The Core i5 2500K also comes with an unlocked multiplier.  What that means is it’s open for overclocking.  When it comes to gaming, out of the box the Core i5 2500K is a monster.  Overclock it and you will hit performance levels of the much more expensive Core i7 products.   Again, the only reason to go beyond this chip is if you have more money than you know what to do with and you want to brag about your benchmark scores.  In actual game performance I’m willing to wager that the performance difference will be negligible.

So, there you have it.  My top recommendation if you are building a gaming computer is the Core i5 2500K.  You can pick one up for just a little over $200.  It will power midrange gaming computers all the way up to high powered ultimate gaming computers.

Click Here For A Great Price on the Intel Core i5 2500K

Second Choice – AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black

I’m only giving two choices this month.  The top choice is a very reasonable $229.  The AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE is only $140.  It will handle performance for a budget build up to a mid range build.  You can build a very reasonable $800 Gaming Computer based around this processor.  If you want to spend less for a gaming computer I recommend you save some money for a few months and get up to the $800 range.  The $300 difference between a $500 and an $800 build will be noticeable.

The Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition has been around for awhile.  I don’t have much new to say about it.  It is not the highest performing processor from AMD, however I believe it gives the best bang for your buck.  The black edition processors from AMD are traditionally overclocking, well to be cliche “phenoms”.  For $140 you can get a quad core processor that you can overclock to speeds that will rival many of the Intel chips at stock speed for a fraction of the price.

I’m a long time AMD fan.  I really wish they would put out some chips that will hold Intel in check or at least get back in the game near the top.  Hopefully they will with the release of their Bulldozer platform.  At least AMD has much better names for their architecture.  Bulldozer sounds much more intimidating than Sandy Bridge.  We won’t get to see if the Bulldozer can take out the Sandy Bridge until sometime around summer 2011 though.  I can’t wait.

Back to the Phenom II X4 955 BE.  4 cores, overclocks like mad, and it’s cheap.  Not to mention if you are a fan of Radeon Video Cards, AMD platforms work very well with them (AMD bought ATI a while ago, where have you been).  There also isn’t the limitation of the PCIe pipelines so Crossfire your hart out if your goal is to have more video cards than everyone else.

There you have it.  The March recommendations.  Only two to choose from but in my opinion as I am writing this these are the best choices for price/performance.

Click Here For A Great Price on the AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE

Intel Core i7 950

It’s tough to say which is more important in a gaming computer, the CPU or the Video Card.  In my opinion they are both about equal.  You can have the best CPU on the market but if you skimp on your video card your gaming computer will perform like crap.  The same is true of the reverse.  Needless to say, your CPU is very important, so choose wisely my friend.

To help you get started today we’re going to discuss my top three choices for a CPU.  I always build my own computers.  You don’t have to build your own computer, but you should select each of your components just like you were going to, and then find a computer to purchase that is using those components.  I usually put my computers into categories by prices.  The higher priced builds have correspondingly higher performance.  I have Budget ($500), Midrange ($800), Enthusiast ($1,000), and Ultimate ($1,200+).   I’ll show you what CPU I would use for each build.

Ultimate Gaming Computer CPU

For a top of the line computer build you don’t need to spend an obscene amount on your CPU.  There isn’t much need to spend over $200.  With the right components and a little overclocking you can get the same performance as the highest price models.  I really like the Intel Core i5 750 and 760 processors.  However, for a high end build we need to step up to the LGA 1366 platform.

You see, with the LGA 1156 platform we are limited to 16 PCIe lanes.  For a computer using a single video card this is not an issue.  If we run multiple video cards on the LGA 1156 platform we get reduced performance with each additional video card.  For two cards they would run at 8x 8x.  Over three cards it goes down even more.  If we’re going to spend over $1,000 on a gaming computer you better believe we want multiple graphics cards.  With the LGA 1366 platform every video card runs at 16x.  You can fill every open 16x slot with a video card and they all will run at 16x.  My top choice is the Core i7 950.

The Core i7 950 is a little under $300 right now.  The performance you will get from a system built around this video card will be unparalleled.  Fill it up with multiple video cards in SLI or Crossfire mode, take advantage of the triple channel memory, overclock it to get screaming fast speeds, and you will smoke everyone.   Here are some good places to buy one.

Intel Core i7 950	Buy From Amazon.com Price $294.99	Buy From TigerDirect Price 299.99	Buy from Newegg Price $294.99

Enthusiast Gaming Computer CPU

For enthusiast gaming computer we need a CPU that will give us screaming fast clock speeds and will not bottleneck our video card.  We also need to stick with a reasonable budget.  I always preach building a balanced computer.  Everything runs a little smoother when your components can support each other.  The Intel Core i5 line of processors fits the bill nicely.  My favorite for months has been the Core i5 750.  This is the processor I use in my personal computer at the moment.

Unless you are looking to run multiple video cards in SLI or Crossfire mode there is absolutely no reason to spend more on a CPU.  The core i5 750 or 760 can easily be overclocked to match the performance of the stock Core i7-980X Extreme Edition at a fraction of the cost.  Either CPU will work nicely.  Currently the Core i5 760 is only $5 more than the Core i5 750 so you might as well take the small speed boost for the money.

Intel Core i5 760	Buy From Amazon Price $204.99	Buy From Tiger Direct Price $199.99	Buy From Newegg Price $204.99

Midrange Gaming Computer CPU

For a midrange gaming computer we need to squeeze as much performance as possible on a very tight budget.  To do so we are going to look to the AMD platform.  AMD hasn’t quite been able to narrow the performance gap to catch up to Intel’s top of the line CPU’s.  They simply cannot compete with the performance of the Core i7 and Core i5 processors, however when you are on a tight budget they do offer incredible price for performance ratios.

The perfect match here is the Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition.  It has an unlocked multiplier which means we can go crazy overclocking this bad boy.  It is quite possible to overlcock it and match the stock performance of a Core i5 750 processor.   Below are where you can get some excellent prices on the Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition.

Phenom II X4 955 BE	Buy From Amazon Price $144.99	Buy from TigerDirect Price $149.99	Buy From Newegg Price $144.99

Budget Computer CPU

Oh, the budget computer.  We really need to watch our pennies for a budget build.  We want to squeeze every ounce of performance out of our CPU while spending the least amount of money.  The Athlon II X4 640 is less than $100 and will give us admirable performance at this price point.

I try to stick to quad core processors when possible.  There are many reports that games just aren’t taking full advantage of multiple cores.  Programmers have started to utilize more cores with games and the trends will continue.  Very few games take full advantage of more than 3 cores though.  So what’s the point of getting a quad core processor then?  How often do you have programs running in the background while you are gaming?  I do it all the time.  I also use my computer for more than just gaming.  I suspect that very few people have a computer dedicated to just gaming.  Even on a budget build like this I recommend using a quad core processor.  You can find some great deals on this processor below.

AMD Athlon II X4 640	Not Available From Amazon.	Buy From TigerDirect Price $99.99	Buy From NewEgg Price $99.99