I am going to be building a new machine soon, that will be my main machine so this current machine can be for lan parties.
Intel Core i7 920 "D0 Stepping" 2.66Ghz (Nehalem)
**OR**
AMD Quad Core Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 3.2GHz Socket AM3 - Retail
Price, I am not too bothered. Basically I need a good powerful machine because I have college coming up and I dont see myself doing much upgrades then. Anyways Intel would cost more etc but I'm not too fussed.
Basically what ones better? My mates got the above cpu and hes got multithreading - is that literally the same as having eight cores instead of four (in terms of threading) and is it actually that much good etc?
The i7 is way better than the Phenom, but they're both excellent CPU's.
The Phenom II 965 came out though, I think.
[QUOTE=Shadow187(FP);16741342]The i7 is way better than the Phenom, but they're both excellent CPU's.
The Phenom II 965 came out though, I think.[/QUOTE]
All the Deneb CPUs are the same but with different clocks. Also, yes, the i7 is better than the Phenom, but if you get one your budget will have to be above $950 or so.
Maybe with the rest of the computer, but the only 900$ i7 is the 965-Extreme.
Hmm. Whats the best AM3 mobo? I found this to be the best I could find:
£112.89
MSI 790FX-GD70 AMD 790FX AM3 PCI-E (x16) DDR3 Motherboard
[url]http://www.lambda-tek.com/componentshop/index.pl?origin=gbase3.4&prodID=B226596[/url]
Isnt there any AMD motherboards that have six slots for ram
Edit:
Heres the PC I planned to build, its like half the price of an Intel computer:
New AMD PC - Finally theres a good AM3 motherboard out!
========================================
[img]http://images.novatech.co.uk/si-cm-scout.jpg[/img]
Motherboard
==========
£112.89
MSI 790FX-GD70 AMD 790FX AM3 PCI-E (x16) DDR3 Motherboard
[url]http://www.lambda-tek.com/componentshop/index.pl?origin=gbase3.4&prodID=B226596[/url]
Ram x2
======
£71.29
Corsair Dominator XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600C9D Twin3X (TW3X4G1600C9D)
[url]http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?CSR-1604G[/url]
CPU
====
£153.38
AMD Quad Core Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 3.2GHz Socket AM3 - Retail
[url]http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?AMD-P2955[/url]
Case
====
£89.99
Coolermaster Storm Scout Gaming Case - Black (No PSU)
[url]http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?CM-SCOUT#[/url]
Total
=====
153.38+71.29+71.29+112.89+89.99=£498.84
Specs:
3.2ghz cpu (quadcore) and 8gb of DDR3 ram
[QUOTE=djratboy;16741404]Isnt there any AMD motherboards that have six slots for ram?[/QUOTE]
No, only Core i7 supports tri-channel memory setups.
Check here too, though I couldn't find any:[url]http://www.scan.co.uk/Index.aspx?NT=1-0-31-606.653-0[/url]
The Phenom II X4 940 is the best <$200. Dunno if the same rules apply in the UK.
The way I see it the 955 competes with the 920 and the 965 beats the 920.
Then again you have the i7 975's that cost like what $1000 but you aren't that stupid...are you ?
op will get banz, edit quick
Why would I get a ban? This is in the right forum lol.
Also I checked out:
[url]http://www.scan.co.uk/Index.aspx?NT=1-0-31-606.653-0[/url]
That site seems overpriced and most of the mobos don't seem that good.
Edit:
Just incase I am breaching any forum rules:
> From the United Kingdom
> This PC is going to be built in the next two weeks and I will probably be completely finished building it by Christmas (as I plan to buy moar drives etc over time) - however it will be functional before then.
Also choose for me thread, but seeing as you put a bit of detail into the OP, you will probably be safe from lazyv's hammer.
Come on guys, the Phenom IIx4 965 is out :dance:
OP should get 965 and save a ton of cash, and still get performance similar to the core i7 920. Also black edition for awesome overclocking.
Wow, that, although kind of stating the obvious (amd is best for bang buck etc), it really shows the truth.
[quote]this means you are paying $215 for absolutely no gaming performance increase whatsoever. That is probably very sobering for the Intel fanboys in the house right about now.[/quote] that pretty much sums it up.
[QUOTE=n00bmuffin;16755982][url]http://www.pureoverclock.com/review.php?id=794&page=12[/url][/QUOTE]
That's very...interesting.
AMD > Intel in my book. Though I am willing to be swayed once Intel finally outputs some cost-per-performance material.
May find this useful - [url]http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2009-desktop-cpu-charts/compare,1402.html?prod[/url][2615]=on&prod[2607]=on
[b]Copy and paste[/b]- link fucked up!
Anyway, take a look at GTA 4, The i7 only gets around 1 fps for an extra $700
AMD has [b]much[/b] cheaper motherboards. You can easily save $100 on a motherboard by going AMD. The performance difference is rather small too, especially in gaming.
[editline]04:31PM[/editline]
Just one example:
[url]http://anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3619[/url]
[img]http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/amdphenomiix4965_081209165043/19696.png[/img]
to be honest, I have an i7 920 I overclocked to 3.22 ghz, it uses a lot of power and does everything and then some. way more then what I need so I underclocked it back down to defaults.
[url]http://www.termy58.com/wp/?p=108[/url]
[QUOTE=PvtCupcakes;16760848]The performance difference is rather small too, especially in gaming.[/QUOTE]
What about other things?
I'm coming very close to buying all of my parts and after comparing prices, among other things, the Phenom 2 x4-BE together with an expensive (among AMD boards anyway) Motherboard saved me about $200+ compared to my i7 920 build, however, I do more than just game (though that is the main purpose of the computer) such as rendering videos/music (I'm also a big mutil-tasker), those kinds of things.
Is the i7 better in those than the BE? I'm willing to pay the extra if it is but I'd like to know. Given the stats on the BE I would think not, but one can never be too informed.
I mean, does Intel really have it's head up it's ass so far as to have the i7 965 for about $1000 and only has 1 more FPS than the BE, which on newegg is $250.
I guess I may be really ignorant on this issue, I just can't see how Intel could make any money with those prices compared to the BE's.
Put it this way.
The phenom II 965 (x4 3.4ghz) is on par with the Intel Core i7 920.
On stock cooling, the phenom 965 would probably reach 4ghz, which'll put it on par with the next one or two generations of i7, effectively saving you 500$.
Both of those processor will do great in rendering, and any modeling/designing. The i7 is, of course, better. But you would have to be an IDIOT to spend an extra 600$ on a processor that'll be about 10% better.
Hm, is the i7 just made in a superior way then? I can't see how the Phenom 2 965 x4-BE is on par (as in the BE should be better) with the un-overclocked i7 920 considering the base ghz.
Also then, would I see a performance increase worth the i7 from tri-channel? Taking into account my base ram is 6 gigs of DDR3, with another 6 or so later on in upgrades. Doubt it makes much of a difference either way with that much but I'm wondering.
The main reason I'm asking is because I didn't plan on overclocking anything, I'm just trying to future proof myself for another 6 years, I've had my old computer for about that long so I'm used to low FPS, this time around I don't want to suffer (as bad) those last few years.
The architectures are different. It's kinda like the P4 vs athlon days when Intel was putting out ridiculously high clock speeds that couldn't even compete with the lower-clock Athlons. Except now the Phenoms are better overall, but not at the $500+ price range.
Well, considering I wasn't going to get anything higher on the Intel side than the 920 I guess the Phenom 2 is the better choice.
[QUOTE=PvtCupcakes;16760848]AMD has [b]much[/b] cheaper motherboards. You can easily save $100 on a motherboard by going AMD. The performance difference is rather small too, especially in gaming.
[editline]04:31PM[/editline]
Just one example:
[url]http://anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3619[/url]
[img]http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/amdphenomiix4965_081209165043/19696.png[/img][/QUOTE]
is that max framerate or average framerate, if that's max it means nothing.
I'd say if you can, get the i7. If you're on a tighter budget constraint, get the Phenom.
Thanks guys. In the end I got an i7 and the x58 classified motherboard - I just owe my parents about £100 ish - should take a month to pay off lawl. My 8800 is dieing and ingame before I came to Intel I had an AMD Phenom II 2.3ghz with 4gb of DDR2 800mhz ram and my fps was 30-60fps on my server (it use to be near 200 but my cards overheated a lot and its damaged I think since I use to get like 30-40 fps when people started building). Well I did a stress test and got 270fps with the same 8800 but with classified x58, i7, 1600mhz ddr3 ram and in my server I get about 190fps. By Christmas I should be able to afford a GTX 295 - cant wait :D
Edit:
I also got an Antec case - £144 but its worth it - great case - plenty of room - easy to mount things etc.
Thanks again and I successfully built this machine within two weeks of this thread - not breaking the forum rules :P
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