• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Air O/C Intel or AMD?

SeaFoam

SeaFoam

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Oct 13, 2004
Messages
5,066
I am planning a new system out - can't decide if I should go AMD or Intel? It seems like the price is going to be pretty close and I am only really concerned with hitting 4 ghz, any more is just a bonus to me. So how is the performance/price between the two?

Oh - and I will be running 285 GTXs, eventually in tri-sli.... Mobo recomendations?
 
Last edited:
At this point in time, It really depends on your personal prefrance. If you want a quad, I've felt that the stock 1333 fsb on the newer Core2 quads made it tougher to OC.....maybe not tougher to OC, but I like having my ram and fsb at the same speed I've seen a performance dip with they aren't running at the same speed. With AMD, just get a black edition X3 or X4 and you'll be happy....I had an easy time OCing my 720. If you can deal with Dual Core, I whole heartily recommend an Intel E5200. I had mine at 4.16 Ghz, but decided to back down, not due to the heat, but because it embarased my Triple and Quad cores on apps that only used duallys. The E5200 is a cheap chip ($70) with a low FSB (800mhz) and a high multiplyer (12.5).......Great chip....But Quad will be more usefull in the future.

My recomendations are as follows
Phenom II X4 940 (only issue is, you'll be stuck with DDR2, but it's multiplier unlocked)
Core 2 Q9550 (Just get some DDR2 1066 along with it to sync memory with FSB)
Core 2 Q8400 (same deal, get DDR2 1066)
Pentium DC E5200 (You'll be able to get away with cheaper DDR2 800)
Phenom II X3 720 (Unlocked like the 940, but you can use DDR3)
Phenom II X2 550 (Same deal as the other two Phenoms, but a Dual core and I've seen em run at 4+Ghz)
Core 2 E8400 (High FSB + low multi = sad, BUT get DDR2 1066, and you'll be golden)

BTW, any of the Core 2's can be run with DDR3 as well given the right board, just get the highest speed grade you can afford, and make sure the memory speed is in sync with the FSB.
 
Orly?

As much as I love AMD, I gotta give it to the i7. Even if the i7 doesn't reach 4Ghz, it'll outperform a Phenom II at 4Ghz. Just figure the Intel is gonna cost a lot more (mobo-the most expensive part, cpu and ram)
 
ill agree the i7 is much faster then the phenom II's.. but overall it depends on what the systems going to be used for.. if its just gaming and daily use.. the phenom II and its lower temps are the way to go.. if its encoding, 3d modeling/rendering then theres no question the i7 is the better choice.. overall in gaming the i7 and phenom II 955 are exactly the same until you get into triple/quad sli or quad crossfire.. anything else then that and theres no difference what so ever between them..

both the i7 and phenom II basicly hit a wall at 4ghz on overclocking... sure.. the i7 has 8 threads.. but in reality its just 4 cores split in 2 to make 8 threads.. its not really the extra 4 threads the i7 has that makes it faster then the phenom II.. its the insanely better QPI technology that puts hypertransport to shame along with the much better triple channel DDR3 IMC..

so buy a system that works for your need.. dont buy a system like half the people on this site do just to say they own an i7 and are better then everyone else that doesnt have one.. because most likely those people with an i7 wont even see that system hit full load outside of running p95 during its entire lifetime so whats the point in having it..
 
sirmonkey1985 said:
so buy a system that works for your need.. dont buy a system like half the people on this site do just to say they own an i7 and are better then everyone else that doesnt have one.. because most likely those people with an i7 wont even see that system hit full load outside of running p95 during its entire lifetime so whats the point in having it..
Click to expand...

Seconded. A newer socket and the i7 combine to offer huge gains in technical performance, however most modern gaming systems are heavily influenced by the GPU. If you're going to spring for such an expensive setup though, it certainly couldn't hurt you to go i7. You'll have the advantage of not needing a new processor, at least for the purpose of gaming, for quite some time to come. Also, the new socket is young and I can only see good things to come.
 
In case it matters to you, I read recently that new AMD motherboards wont have SLI support due to licensing problems caused by the merger of ATI/AMD.
Some links (not the one I read though):
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Nvidia-No-SLI-for-AMD-Based-Motherboards-92800.shtml
http://www.betanews.com/article/Nvi...h-AMD-is-just-as-bad-as-with-Intel/1240526705

Its about time AMD stopped hiding in the shadows and showed some dedication to their own CPUs by making their own motherboards.
Their continued reliance on NVidia is shocking.
 
Nenu said:
In case it matters to you, I read recently that new AMD motherboards wont have SLI support due to licensing problems caused by the merger of ATI/AMD.
Some links (not the one I read though):
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Nvidia-No-SLI-for-AMD-Based-Motherboards-92800.shtml
http://www.betanews.com/article/Nvi...h-AMD-is-just-as-bad-as-with-Intel/1240526705

Its about time AMD stopped hiding in the shadows and showed some dedication to their own CPUs by making their own motherboards.
Their continued reliance on NVidia is shocking.
Click to expand...

its not a license issue.. its just nvidia not wanting to support amd.. mostly because amd is kicking their butts on the gpu market.. its their whole "marketing plan" which will back fire on them anyways since i doubt intel will allow nvidia's NF200 chipset much longer.. theres no reason for intel to use it.. they can already run sli on the x58 chipset without the NF200 chipset..

there will still be am2+ boards produced with the nvidia chipsets though.. not that it really matters.. since they completely suck to begin with.. about the only decent chipset out from nvidia on am2+ is the 8200/8300.. but does it honestly matter if amd keeps nvidia chipsets? i mean really.. when was the last reliable SLI supported chipset released from nvidia? and dont give me specific boards.. say the specific chipset.. because there arent any.. most of them were fixed by the board manufactures to make them run correctly.. and even then most of them didnt..

the last nvidia chipset that was worth anything from nvidia was the NF4.. ever since then its been hit and miss on nvidia chipsets.. especially when it comes to reliability.. intel kicked nvidia's butt during the c2d/c2q era.. and they are still owning nvidia with the x58.. i give nvidia about a year before they completely abandon chipset production and just pay amd and intel to support SLI..
 
This machine is going to be strictly gaming - now I have only one 285 GTX right now, I am not partial to ATI or Nvidia and simply want the best performance, how do the AMD boards do in gaming w/ ATI cards? Still slower than Intel? Is an Intel board w/ ATI faster than Nvidia?
 
SeaFoam said:
This machine is going to be strictly gaming - now I have only one 285 GTX right now, I am not partial to ATI or Nvidia and simply want the best performance, how do the AMD boards do in gaming w/ ATI cards? Still slower than Intel? Is an Intel board w/ ATI faster than Nvidia?
Click to expand...

I have questions for you.

What's your budget for your system? If money really isn't that big of a factor , and you just want the CPU/platform with the most power and ability to hit 4.0 Ghz, I'd recommend i7 every time.

If it's performance you seek, there is no competitor to the i7 right now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top