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i7 920 vs AMD 965 black edition

solway

solway

solway

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Joined
9 Mar 2007
Posts
169
Location
Cornwall
i7 920 vs AMD 965 black edition

ok so for what im looking at on reviews
http://www.trustedreviews.com/cpu-memory/review/2009/08/25/AMD-Phenom-II-X4-965-Black-Edition/p4

the i7 920 is basically the same as AMD flagship and sometimes AMD even beating the i7 flagship

so what's the deal on the cost difference!??

is intel just milking the CPU market and AMD the GPU market

347us1x.jpg
 
Hey solway,

that AMD spec is a bit OTT (inc Tri-channel) memory, this is another OTT AMD spec but a bit more realistic than the first one:

solway.jpg
 
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solway, you selected a i7 930 but ur asking about the 920. the 920 is £20 cheaper.

i think you are paying the premium for overclockability, sure at stock they are quite close, toms hardware thinks the 920 still beats the 965: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/charts/2009-desktop-cpu-charts-update-1/compare,1398.html?prod[2617]=on&prod[2780]=on

the 920 will overclock much higher than the 965 so if ur into that then id go for the 920, otherwise the 965 is the best option, and use the spare money to perhaps beef up the other components in the list.

do u already have a psu / case / cpu cooler capable of handling those components?
 
Have a look at this review on Anandtech, which I would tend to trust more. Here the 2.66Ghz i7 solidly beats the 3.4Ghz X4 965 in almost all tests (gaming generally doesn't count as it is limited by by the GPU under normal conditions).

When you consider that both of these CPUs can hit 4GHz with a decent cooler - the value of the i7 becomes apparent. For the i7 this is a 50% increase in clockspeed compared to stock, on the X4 it is only 18%. As some programs can take full advantage of this clockspeed increase - the overclocked i7 becomes the FAR more powerful system.

As for upgradability of the i7 - the new 32nm 6 core Gulftown CPUs are confirmed to work in i7 X58 boards. When the "sensibly" price i7 970 drops in Q3 I'm sure many will be making the upgrade - I plan to.
 
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theron said:
solway, you selected a i7 930 but ur asking about the 920. the 920 is £20 cheaper.

i think you are paying the premium for overclockability, sure at stock they are quite close, toms hardware thinks the 920 still beats the 965: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/charts/2009-desktop-cpu-charts-update-1/compare,1398.html?prod[2617]=on&prod[2780]=on

the 920 will overclock much higher than the 965 so if ur into that then id go for the 920, otherwise the 965 is the best option, and use the spare money to perhaps beef up the other components in the list.

do u already have a psu / case / cpu cooler capable of handling those components?
Click to expand...

yea sorry guys
i just slapped together something in the basket.

what im saying, why such difference in price anyway?

AM3 has better lifespan?
i7 is faster and has triple channel mem

or it just annoying me!

swings and roundabouts!


want a system, that going to last me, and upgradable. i have a habbit of buying then the buggers change the socket etc...

but i also want high performance.
temped by the i7, but my spider senses are tingling then intel is going to drop the socket soon.
 
solway, if it makes you feel I'd follow this philosophy

If you can afford spending that extra money on something and it won't cause you problems and providing you will use it - then why not if it makes you happy or say "damn I wish I bought x instead of y" ???
 
theron said:
solway, you selected a i7 930 but ur asking about the 920. the 920 is £20 cheaper.

i think you are paying the premium for overclockability, sure at stock they are quite close, toms hardware thinks the 920 still beats the 965: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/charts/2009-desktop-cpu-charts-update-1/compare,1398.html?prod[2617]=on&prod[2780]=on

the 920 will overclock much higher than the 965 so if ur into that then id go for the 920, otherwise the 965 is the best option, and use the spare money to perhaps beef up the other components in the list.

do u already have a psu / case / cpu cooler capable of handling those components?
Click to expand...

well my current system

Althon Xp 3200 barton!
2GB ram
6800GT etc etc

Don't laugh! ive been holding out until shes almost gone on the gaming front. it runs crysis at 30fps on meduim, and l4d2 etc.. so still abit of life. can't play any SSE2 games tho.


anyway, ive updated around the main board.
so HDDs are new
Soundblaster is new
case is a armor so ok
PSU is new, although not sure on watts (surely i should, since that old hardware draws more juice?) think its a hiper 580w with crossfire cert.
 
solway said:
spider senses
Click to expand...
Cool, I got Spider-Senses too! :D

Solway, what computer are you running? . . . and what is the most powerful computer you have ever used? . . . . I'm thinking you have been away from the computer scene for a few years and have come back to load up on tech and trot off for another few years! :)

A couple of things have changed which you might not be aware off, the main point is everything is *ridiculously* powerful now and gone all the days where you need to slap out £1000 to get a juicy system! :cool:
 
Culinia said:
solway, if it makes you feel I'd follow this philosophy

If you can afford spending that extra money on something and it won't cause you problems and providing you will use it - then why not if it makes you happy or say "damn I wish I bought x instead of y" ???
Click to expand...

lol well i got the money, but i keep listening to the annoying stingey git in my head
 
solway said:
Althon Xp 3200 barton!
2GB ram
6800GT etc etc

Don't laugh!
Click to expand...
lol! :D

seriously though, that hardware is *vintage* and will sell for a pretty penny, put me in charge of your upgrade and I reckon we could pull something out the bag for £0.00 (excluding new GPU!) :D
 
Big.Wayne said:
Cool, I got Spider-Senses too! :D

Solway, what computer are you running? . . . and what is the most powerful computer you have ever used? . . . . I'm thinking you have been away from the computer scene for a few years and have come back to load up on tech and trot off for another few years! :)

A couple of things have changed which you might not be aware off, the main point is everything is *ridiculously* powerful now and gone all the days where you need to slap out £1000 to get a juicy system! :cool:
Click to expand...

thats the plan :D
im trying to keep up on tech.

oh the thing is the model numbers that are a pain in the arse nowadays

i always do research before hand anyway
 
solway said:
lol well i got the money, but i keep listening to the annoying stingey git in my head
Click to expand...

lol then it seems that if you did buy it, it would NOT make you happy so therefore you should buy the AMD?

Also if you use it ONLY for gaming, then AMD would probably be the 'justified' choice...

And anyway, Phenom II will be a massive massive improvement over your older PC LOL :)
 
Big.Wayne said:
lol! :D

seriously though, that hardware is *vintage* and will sell for a pretty penny, put me in charge of your upgrade and I reckon we could pull something out the bag for £0.00 (excluding new GPU!) :D
Click to expand...

#cuddles the case# im not letting her go!!! shes running win7 better than xp!

well, im a gamer, current monitor is a samsung 206BW 1650x1050
was think of starting at overclocking, never really got into that. to scared of blowing an expensive part.


so i7 930 path? ATI gpu 5850? 1600mh 6gb ram, mobo with little features, would rather have addons cards (hate this mobo because of that, can't add a sata card, because i can't disable the sata onboard!)
 
solway said:
so i7 930 path?
Click to expand...
Probably not! :p

Gamer @ 1650x1050, who doesn't know how to overclock but is willing to learn if its not too risky or time consuming . . . . Gotta be AMD® for you my man! :cool:

[edit] unless your not gonna be happy if you have cash left over of course!
 
Big.Wayne said:
Probably not! :p

Gamer @ 1650x1050, who doesn't know how to overclock but is willing to learn if its not too risky or time consuming . . . . Gotta be AMD® for you my man! :cool:

[edit] unless your not gonna be happy if you have cash left over of course!
Click to expand...

im not just a gamer, im autocad, PS, websites, etc etc.., just prefer PC gaming to console

ive done a bit of OC ing, but we are talking old hardware (the stuff were even if you breath near it, it dies!)
kinda want to do it again, and get i7 to 4GHZ or something stable.

if we said this system:
11v2j3k.png


any motherboard opinions?
is the RAM ok, or can i7 support 2000mhz? not sure on the bus anymore
gpu- 5870 ok, or can a 5830 do roughly the same, or is that to low end?

i might wait for the new releases of gpus and cpu tho
 
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