E5200 vs Phenom II X4 920 questions need help ASAP

Y

yroc

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 24, 2004
Messages
131
Hey guys, I had a thread going a couple weeks ago about building a new rig. Ive got all the parts figured out and was about to order when I decided to check out my local fry's add and I saw a Phenom II X4 920 for $175 with a "gigabyte motherboard" it didn't say which model board though. So I was going to head up there and check out what is going on with that deal.

the rest of the system:
WD 640gb aaks
an ATi 4850 video card
4gb Ram(2x2)
Windows XP pro(32 bit) for now windows 7 later on
a decent PSU and a cooler master case

My Questions:

I had originally planed on a E5200 with a gigabyte p43 mobo, and as it stands now that combo and the frys combo are almost the same price. Will the X4 be that much better and is it worth getting compared to the e5200?

If the X4 is a lot better then it come down to the mobo that is included with the frys combo. I don't want some POS mobo, so what do I need to be looking for as far as north bridge and south bridge chipsets? what chipsets do i need to avoid?

Thanks for the help guys and if you have something to say please do so i am going to head out there soon to take a look and I would like some info to take with me :)
 
hey thanks for the link that helps me a lot.

I figured there was something up when I saw the price of the Frys combo. I havnt built a computer in 5+ years and havnt really been keeping up with the times. from everything that I have read throughput (ie higher cpu clock) is more important in gaming(right now atleast) and thats why the dual cores with higher clocks are better than the quad cores with lower clocks(is this right?) so i am torn as to what to think about my choice.
 
yroc said:
I figured there was something up when I saw the price of the Frys combo. I havnt built a computer in 5+ years and havnt really been keeping up with the times. from everything that I have read throughput (ie higher cpu clock) is more important in gaming(right now atleast) and thats why the dual cores with higher clocks are better than the quad cores with lower clocks(is this right?) so i am torn as to what to think about my choice.
Click to expand...

It's about right, but its often difficult to compare clock speeds between intel and amd processors. That started around the time their clock speeds were a lot lower, but advertised as 2400+ or whatnot, indicating that it ran about the equivalent of a competitor's (intel) 2.4 GHz proc.

Not too many games can handle the 2 cores of quad processors. But what a lot of people right now are doing, are getting the cheaper 3 core phenoms, and unlocking the 4th core, to have them perform on par with the one you first were asking about. But that requires only a biostar mobo. Check out the AMD subforum for more info on that.

Quad cores really only flex their muscle at other, highly threaded applications. Server tasks, rendering, things like that, I dont think too many games do see a benefit of the 2 extra cores. If you intend to keep the system for a while, then you might want to get a quad core, as in the future a lot more software will (likely) be written to take advantage of the extra cores.
 
I think im just gonna go up there and check it out see what its all about and see what the motherboard actually is, if it looks good ill probably just grab it and not open anything, check to make sure it was actually a decent deal and decide if I want to keep it, if it doesnt work out ill just take it back and get the e5200.

We shall see what happens. Thanks for all the help I'll be back and let yall know what I got! :D
 
Let us know what you decide. I love to stoke the flames of a intel vs amd flamewar :D
 
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