PC Hardware Buyer's Guide, June 2010

Written by Clive Webster

June 15, 2010 | 13:08

Tags: #build-advice #buyers-guide #gtx-465

Regular readers of the site will have noticed that our Hardware Buyer's Guide has been stuck on May despite it being mid-June already. There is a reason for this...
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Nothing's changed.

That might sound flippant, but we haven't seen any new products in the last six weeks or so that have changed our minds on what the best hardware to buy is. If you're looking for advice on what to put in your next PC, the PC Hardware Buyers Guide, May 2010 is still the best place to go.

There are a couple of products which have launched in the last fortnight that we're still in the process of testing though - looking at all the shiny new things at Computex 2010 stole a lot of our time. However, there are reasons why these products are still on the to-do list.

Intel's Special K - the most obvious pun ever?
The Intel K-series CPUs and their fully unlocked multipliers might make you pause when considering your new processor, but we're sceptical that they'll change things much. The 3.2GHz Core i5-655K costs £185, while the 3.33GHz Core i5-661 (and its faster integrated GPU) is £170. As the i5-661 also Turbo Boosts to higher frequency (3.6GHz rather than 3.46GHz), it's hard to see the unlocked multiplier and slightly lower TDP (73W versus 87W) of the new i5-655K giving it much appeal. Perhaps it'll turn out to be an epic overclocker, which is why we've got it testing at the moment.

The Core i7-875K is just as odd. This LGA1156 CPU costs £290 and is clocked at 2.9GHz. For £110 less you can get a Core i7-920, with the difference in price offsetting the cost of a decent LGA1366 motherboard and 6GB of triple-channel RAM.

Click here to compare the four CPUs I've talked about (and marvel at Intel's CPU comparison tool).

No GTX 465?
The other big (non)event to happen in the last couple of weeks has been the launch of the GeForce GTX 465. Launch is probably too strong a word, but we've finally persuaded someone to send us a card to test, and we'll bring you the review soon. It would be presumptuous to say that as we weren't sent a card for the launch there's little confidence in the new card, so we'll wait till the testing numbers are in before delivering a verdict.

Stay tuned for these articles (and more) in the coming weeks, and normal buyer's guide service will be resumed next month.
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