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out of the loop

Q

Quak3R

Gawd
Joined
Mar 24, 2005
Messages
525
Gents,
I've just recently gotten back from deployment, I've earned a little cash on the side, and my 4400x2 is starting to show it's age. Now, I'm a huge FPS shooter fan, I've picked up a maximum PC for the dream machine 2008 article (yes I know it's old, I've been on a submarine for 6 months). I've been an AMD enthusiast for a couple of years now, mainly for thier well-rounded CPUs for gaming. But after reading the article , I'm assuming that intel is well in the lead in terms of performance? Now money isn't an issue for me, but then again, I don't want to spend an expenditure of money for a $1500 application heavy cpu if all I'm going to do is play games. OCing, I was considering the phenom core, but after reading more on it, the 9550 9450 and so forth seems to outbeat the amd cores left and right? is this worth the money? what do you recomend?
 
Or save $150 and get a Q6600 that has about 90% of the performance (when overclocked) - or get the E8400 (dual core but higher overclocks). You could go with a cheaper P35 motherboard also, like the Gigabyte P35-DS3L or Abit IP-35 and save a few more bucks without compromising performance at all. All the rest is spot on (I'd go with the Corsair PSU and some Scythe S-Flex fans for quiet cooling).
 
AMD is mainly only good for non-OCers and budget builds now. All Core2 chips OC like crazy can outperform their AMD counterparts with ease. Though, if you'd like to support the underdog, AMD needs you, lol.

These coolers are cheaper and perform on par with the TRUE120.
$37 - XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler (optional $7 Xigmatek Bolt-Thru-Kit)
$50 - ZEROtherm Nirvana NV120 120mm 2-ball UFO Bearing / Transparent CPU Cooler ($10 MIR)
$59 - Noctua NH-U12P Universal heatsink

I agree, the Q6600 has the best bang for buck right now, and can easily reach 3.2Ghz. Tweak it even more for 3.6Ghz. The Q9450 is around 7% faster at that same clock speed, and 3.6 is also its max. The Yorkfields will perform better with apps that take advantage of SSE4.1, but not many things do so right now.

If you need fans, get medium or low speed Yate Loon 120mm fans from jab-tech.com... they're under $5. If you stick with the TRUE120, pickup a Scythe S-Flex for it. The Noctua would be cheaper and comes with a $20 fan, btw. Both the Xigmatek and ZEROtherm are cheaper alternatives.
 
With the P45's starting to hit market, I would grab one of those. They should be around the same price point as the P35's. Obviously though, the P35's will drop in price and be phased out. For graphics, new cards from both AMD and Nvidia are due out in the coming weeks. Inevitable price drops on previous cards to follow. Or, if you really want to support AMD, buy one of their new cards.
 
+1 for Q6600, no need to sepnd the extra $150 on the Q9450 they both OC to about the same levels. Why get a P45? P45 is only really useful if you're going to be using CF, P35 continues to be the number one motherboard for single GPU setups IMHO.
 
MaStaFLaSH said:
+1 for Q6600, no need to sepnd the extra $150 on the Q9450 they both OC to about the same levels. Why get a P45? P45 is only really useful if you're going to be using CF, P35 continues to be the number one motherboard for single GPU setups IMHO.
Click to expand...

P45 is P35 with improvements. That is, more pci-e lanes as you said, the latest southbridge, and a smaller manufacturing process meaning less heat and power draw. Considering the similar price range, why wouldn't you get the newer one unless you're really sensitive to price?
 
Most of the P45's I've seen coming out are more expensive and don't really offer ANY improvements (besides more PCIe lanes), and there are some quirks with it. Notice the CPU benchmark: http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTUxNSwzLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==
1212627725fFMEHKBGjC_3_14.gif


seems off with both P45 mobos.
 
nsx241 said:
P45 is P35 with improvements. That is, more pci-e lanes as you said, the latest southbridge, and a smaller manufacturing process meaning less heat and power draw. Considering the similar price range, why wouldn't you get the newer one unless you're really sensitive to price?
Click to expand...

Because usually they're around $75 more expensive and again the only major change is the CF at x8 / x8. Other than that they are basically the same. So if not using CF it's not worth it to get P45.
 
MaStaFLaSH said:
Because usually they're around $75 more expensive and again the only major change is the CF at x8 / x8. Other than that they are basically the same. So if not using CF it's not worth it to get P45.
Click to expand...

Its not worth it to get anything if its overpriced. As are all things are when newly released, P45 boards are currently overpriced, and will be for the next month or so. However, not ALL of them are currently overpriced by $75; some just have a $20-$30 price premium. :p
 
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