Phenom II x4 955?

L

lite

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Ive been lurking these forums for a while, and im glad to have finally become a member ^^
At the moment, i currently have a few parts laying around that i can use for my own pc build. I've wanted to have a fairly recent system for quite a while now. Now, my main question to you guys is which processor i should flow. Should i go with AMD's phenom II x4 955 for the better bang for buck, or should i go with Intel's "better-performance at a high cost" i7 920? I am planning to probably overclock if i purchase a Xigmatek Dark Knight cpu cooler, and i would still have to purchase a motherboard and some ram. One downside to picking the i7 920 is that i would have to purchase it for $280 opposed to Microcenter's $200, because i don't have one anywhere near my house. The Phenom is having some really sweet combo deals at newegg right now.

Maybe these questions can be of some use to whoever is kind enough to help me decide which processor i should pick.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
I will be gaming, which includes everything from the latest games, FPS'es, and MMORPG's/Little video editing with Adobe Premiere and Photoshop work/Web browsing (including youtube/gametrailers)/Watching videos
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
There's no real "budget", but i will only purchase the components that offer me better value. This would, of course, include upgradability and futureproofing.
3) Where do you live?
SF Bay Area, California.
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
CPU, Heatsink, RAM, Motherboard..(Already decided on DVD burner and HDD)
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Cooler Master Centurion 5 Mid-tower Case, EVGA 9800gtx+, and PC Power and Cooling 750w Silencer Quad
6) Will you be overclocking?
Yes(If heatsink is included with purchase)
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
1280x1024 19" LCD. Lol.
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Whenever possible in the future.
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
RAID.....
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
Yes.


I'll be upgrading from a Pentium 4, 1GB Ram, x1650 pro Sony Vaio so i'd probably be happy with any performance increase. Here is a link to my current setup. I'm also open to any other cpu suggestions, but my current attention is pretty much glued to one of these two for now. In summary, I mainly need a CPU, Motherboard, and RAM that have the greatest value.
Edited build i've been looking at:
$215 - AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor
AND $140 - ASUS M4A78T-E AM3 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard for $275
$65 - Gskill 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 Desktop Memory
$30 - COOLER MASTER RR-B10-212P-GP 120mm Long life sleeve CPU Cooler

For a total of $370... What would you think?

Thanks for all of your help
 
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Thanks again for the recommendation. Im actually more knowledgable about Intel's motherboard and processors and didn''t know where to start on AMD's end of the list. I see that the gigabyte motherboard you recommended was capable of ddr3 memory and would love for a ddr3 motherboard (lt_shiro) that i could use for a low cost if i wanted to save more money.

Im cool about adding newegg's combos into the total price, so if you have ideas that include them, feel free to tell me about em
Ive changed my original AMD build and it actually now comes to a total of $370 with the cooler master cpu cooler that shiro recommended.

Altcon, Your build adds up to $623. mhm Im just wondering if it would be worth it in the long run to spend the extra money
Im thinking the less money i spend now, the more i can spend the next time im up for my pc's upgrade in a year or two.
 
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It really depends on what you want to achieve.
If you fancy can afford an upgrade to an I7 system it will last you longer. Remember Intel is launching I5 soon, which should be slower then I7 and about the same as C2Q and Phenom II.
Buying a 215$ Phenom II is really not the wisest choice in my view. Once you hit that level of CPU price, either push up and go I7 or push down and get a similar performing system for less money.
The Phenom II 940Be should provide very similar performance on DDRII, at less cost for the board+CPU+Ram.
Phenom II 940 BE 175 $
Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P 110$
Kingston 4 GB DDR2 Ram 1066 50$
The performance difference between the two systems is negligble at best (and you can OC to the same level with both...).
And that's a serious saving compared to I7.

There are also combo deals which I ignored, but you get my point.
 
For future proofing:
AM3 motherboard
DDR3 RAM

This should allow you to drop in the next CPU upgrade.
 
http://www.firingsquad.com/media/article_image.asp/2413/01

Well, by this diagram, it seems that i7 would get overrun by intel's new technology around the same time. AMD on the other hand, might come out with new and better am3 processors while intel will move their attenion to i5 chips which will have a whole new socket, or thats what i thought at least. Also, like i said before, if i spend two hundred less whenever i purchase the components, i can spend two hundred more the next time im looking to upgrade. The DDR3 memory also aids to this factor. All of this is pretty much just my own opinion though, and im probably too stupid to do enough research and figure out which is better for future proofing, but at first glance, amd seems to win....Maybe im wrong?

By the way, at the moment, im not really doing too much on my computer besides gaming and webbrowsing. The occasional photoshop work sometimes arises but its pretty rarely. I have adobe premiere installed, but havent had a chance to really use it. Maybe these can factor in to which processor i should buy.
 
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lite said:
http://www.firingsquad.com/media/article_image.asp/2413/01
Well, by this diagram, it seems that i7 would get overrun by intel's new technology around the same time. AMD on the other hand, might come out with new and better am3 processors while intel will move their attenion to i5 chips which will have a whole new socket, or thats what i thought at least.
Click to expand...
I5 is set to replace C2Q on Intel's side, IE midrange systems and it should outperform Phenom II, according to preliminary reports on the Web. I7 is set to remain the high end and should receive more upgrades along the path (I can't locate the source but I remember reading more CPUs are on the way for I7). Either way I7 is set as Intels High end and AMD isn't coming close to it for now.
Phenom II on the other hand can only scale clock rates, if you take notice the 955 is a slighthly higher clocked 940 with DDR3 support - that's it!
If you overclock both. you hit the wall at about ~3.7Ghz .
AMD will not be able to bring much more performance to this platform...they will have to launch a faster chipset at the least and I bet even switch sockets.
Theres a good reason why Intel launched new sockets for their next gen CPUs.
Don't get me wrong I love AMD for price/performance, I'm typing this on the wonderful rig in my sig, but if I could spare he cash - I'd be I7.
 
Thanks for all the info altcon, you've been super helpful. Anyways, i don't really feel the need for this build asap, and might as well wait for as long as i can hold. Ill definitely take into consideration what you said about i7 and decide well on into the future.
Thanks again :)

Would +rep you but theres no such featur eon this forum :p
 
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