955 or 1090t

welsh_andy · 13 Oct 2011 at 00:06

my bro has just got hold of a Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3 mobo with much cheapness, well £30 he paid for it, but hes unsure what cpu to buy, hes looking at either at x4 955 or x6 1090t. mainly as we been reading most ppl seem to like the above chips
he only does basic pc stuff, fair bit of gaming, and thats bout it. i did say the 955BE would be a ok chip for him 2 start with and saves round £40 on a 1090t. but i thought throw it out for u experts

cheers

blackninja · 13 Oct 2011 at 00:26

welsh_andy said:
my bro has just got hold of a Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3 mobo with much cheapness, well £30 he paid for it, but hes unsure what cpu to buy, hes looking at either at x4 955 or x6 1090t. mainly as we been reading most ppl seem to like the above chips
he only does basic pc stuff, fair bit of gaming, and thats bout it. i did say the 955BE would be a ok chip for him 2 start with and saves round £40 on a 1090t. but i thought throw it out for u experts

cheers

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-254-AM&groupid=595&catid=686&subcat=

CEUOTC · 13 Oct 2011 at 00:28

welsh_andy said:
my bro has just got hold of a Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3 mobo with much cheapness, well £30 he paid for it, but hes unsure what cpu to buy, hes looking at either at x4 955 or x6 1090t. mainly as we been reading most ppl seem to like the above chips
he only does basic pc stuff, fair bit of gaming, and thats bout it. i did say the 955BE would be a ok chip for him 2 start with and saves round £40 on a 1090t. but i thought throw it out for u experts

cheers

IMO go for the 955 and put the 40 quid towards a GC of the AMD variety as they scale better with AMD proc's.

955 + 6870

jobs a good un

Just my 1/2 pence

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-143-OK&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=

welsh_andy · 13 Oct 2011 at 00:53

cheers guys, that answers that

drunkenmaster · 13 Oct 2011 at 01:00

As others said, spend the extra on a gpu, phenoms overclocked will give same fps as basically any other chips out there, he'll be entirely gpu dependant so best gpu possible basically. Assuming its on a budget you could consider second hand, some great value cards at second hand pricing.

tankskun · 13 Oct 2011 at 01:03

No ETA on that X4. Why not go in between and get a AMD Phenom II X6 1055T. It's no Bulldozer but it is more future proof. What games does he play?

welsh_andy · 13 Oct 2011 at 03:56

tankskun said:
No ETA on that X4. Why not go in between and get a AMD Phenom II X6 1055T. It's no Bulldozer but it is more future proof. What games does he play?

FPS mainly, the usual, bf3, cod etc etc. budget limited as he wants a decent gpu, think hes looking at gtx 560 or 6870 at max £150 gpu. he could go up in cpu price, but will detract from gpu budget i guess

tankskun · 13 Oct 2011 at 04:25

welsh_andy said:
FPS mainly, the usual, bf3, cod etc etc. budget limited as he wants a decent gpu, think hes looking at gtx 560 or 6870 at max £150 gpu. he could go up in cpu price, but will detract from gpu budget i guess

I think 6 core is a better option here, BF3 especially should run better with 2 extra cores to help run windows and background programs whilst the other 4 run the game itself.

Lets do the math:

Basic build, standard card.
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition £85.99 inc VAT
OcUK ATI Radeon HD 6870 £136.99 inc VAT
Total=£222.98

Better, near i7-920 speeds and a near silent card + a extra free game.
AMD Phenom II X6 Six Core 1055T £109.99 inc VAT
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 6870 Vapour-X This Week Only Offer £143.99 inc VAT

Total=£253.98

Personally I would go for 1055t & 6870 Vapour X. Sell off the 3 free games (about £15 each), since he won't play them. leaving total @£208.95 Sit back and enjoy a better BF3 gaming experience. Oh try to build up more post for free delivery too.

my 2 pennies worth.

Edit. Actually go extra £5 for a 1055t 95w edition, is a good deal.

welsh_andy · 13 Oct 2011 at 06:14

tankskun said:
I think 6 core is a better option here, BF3 especially should run better with 2 extra cores to help run windows and background programs whilst the other 4 run the game itself.

Lets do the math:

Basic build, standard card.
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition £85.99 inc VAT
OcUK ATI Radeon HD 6870 £136.99 inc VAT
Total=£222.98

Better, near i7-920 speeds and a near silent card + a extra free game.
AMD Phenom II X6 Six Core 1055T £109.99 inc VAT
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 6870 Vapour-X This Week Only Offer £143.99 inc VAT

Total=£253.98

Personally I would go for 1055t & 6870 Vapour X. Sell off the 3 free games (about £15 each), since he won't play them. leaving total @£208.95 Sit back and enjoy a better BF3 gaming experience. Oh try to build up more post for free delivery too.

my 2 pennies worth.

Edit. Actually go extra £5 for a 1055t 95w edition, is a good deal.

i do see your logic, i point it out to him, as far as post count, 250 is a lot. the postage is an issue though, he a tight git, refuses to pay postage on anything, especially if hes paying out a decent amount,lol and certain big names have same price and ship free, tha wa he will say,lol

redfist · 13 Oct 2011 at 07:43

welsh_andy said:
certain big names have same price and ship free, tha wa he will say,lol

That maybe the case but sometimes if things go wrong OCUK at great sorting them out quickly.

welsh_andy · 13 Oct 2011 at 08:01

redfist said:
That maybe the case but sometimes if things go wrong OCUK at great sorting them out quickly.

oh im no doubting that, but i know what he will say, these days its bout getting best price from a reputable company, tis strange as most big companies offer free delivery over say £100, but not getting into that, i got answer i needed.

cheers

Marine-RX179 · 13 Oct 2011 at 08:10

welsh_andy said:
i do see your logic, i point it out to him, as far as post count, 250 is a lot. the postage is an issue though, he a tight git, refuses to pay postage on anything, especially if hes paying out a decent amount,lol and certain big names have same price and ship free, tha wa he will say,lol

Actually it's all about balancing. For BF3, while it does support the uses 6 cores, it doesn't mean its is a game that CPU demanding to the point of NEEDING more than four cores. Having two extra core will barely make any difference to the frame rate for a single GPU card (even a GTX580).

If he has no plan on going for graphic set up faster than GTX580 level, then he should just get a X4. He should only consider X6 if he is planning on either going dual-GPU card, or Crossfire/SLI GTX560Ti 2GB/6950 2GB or faster graphc set up in the future.

I don't mean it is not a good idea to go for a X6 instead of X4, but when it is at the cost of cutting from the graphic budget (dropping from a GTX560Ti 2GB/6950 2GB down to a 6870 1GB), then it will not be worth it.

Final8y · 13 Oct 2011 at 10:06

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,...already-benefit-from-six-cores-CPUs/Practice/

Marine-RX179 · 13 Oct 2011 at 10:20

http://www.techspot.com/review/448-battlefield-3-beta-performance/page7.html

Final8y · 13 Oct 2011 at 10:33

Marine-RX179 said:
http://www.techspot.com/review/448-battlefield-3-beta-performance/page7.html

You got to look past the 1 trick pony as that will not be the only game that he will be playing over the life of the rig.
Some of the stiff in my rig is 10 years old because i looked further than just the now.

Zinth · 13 Oct 2011 at 10:38

Marine-RX179 said:
Actually it's all about balancing. For BF3, while it does support the uses 6 cores, it doesn't mean its is a game that CPU demanding to the point of NEEDING more than four cores. Having two extra core will barely make any difference to the frame rate for a single GPU card (even a GTX580).

If he has no plan on going for graphic set up faster than GTX580 level, then he should just get a X4. He should only consider X6 if he is planning on either going dual-GPU card, or Crossfire/SLI GTX560Ti 2GB/6950 2GB or faster graphc set up in the future.

I don't mean it is not a good idea to go for a X6 instead of X4, but when it is at the cost of cutting from the graphic budget (dropping from a GTX560Ti 2GB/6950 2GB down to a 6870 1GB), then it will not be worth it.

Does a hexcore processor utilize dual gpu's more than a quad core then ??. Ive been thinking about upgrading to a 1090t myself

Final8y · 13 Oct 2011 at 10:43

Zinth said:
Does a hexcore processor utilize dual gpu's more than a quad core then ??. Ive been thinking about upgrading to a 1090t myself

I run Quad CF, the AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 980 Black Edition was maxed out 100% in BFBC2, my 1090T runs 60%min 70%avg 80%max in game, 100% when loading maps.

tankskun · 13 Oct 2011 at 10:50

Marine-RX179 said:
http://www.techspot.com/review/448-battlefield-3-beta-performance/page7.html

Bottom line Athlon II X2 is only 9fps slower than a Intel 2500k lol, the beta is not optimised properly yet. Run that test with Battlefield bad company and the X2 would drop on it's knees. When the BF3 retail release comes out we will see the reality.

Edit. Last one on clearance £79.99 inc VAT AMD Phenom II X6 1075T 3.00GHz http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-294-AM&groupid=595&catid=686&subcat=
Don't think it comes with a heatsink, but still a pretty good price.

Marine-RX179 · 13 Oct 2011 at 12:00

Final8y said:
You got to look past the 1 trick pony as that will not be the only game that he will be playing over the life of the rig.

Bottomline is he will get better frame rate with a faster graphic card pairing with a X4 than a slower card with a X6 if we are talking about right now, right this moment with his limited budget.

And you argument for future games will take advantage of the extra cores become commonplaced for all games is only an assumption- as big an uncertainly as Bulldozer's performance before launch, as right now major of the lazy console port games still don't use 4 cores, let alone 6.

I certainly wouldn't trade extra performance I know I WILL be getting RIGHT NOW (with a faster graphic card) for extra performance that I MAY or MAY NOT be getting in the FUTURE. As I mentioned before...it is a good move to get a X6 over a X4, but ONLY under the condition of not involve in settling for a lesser graphic card due to budget restraint.

Marine-RX179 · 13 Oct 2011 at 12:05

Zinth said:
Does a hexcore processor utilize dual gpu's more than a quad core then ??. Ive been thinking about upgrading to a 1090t myself

For your CF6950, it will worth the upgrade.

tankskun said:
Bottom line Athlon II X2 is only 9fps slower than a Intel 2500k lol, the beta is not optimised properly yet. Run that test with Battlefield bad company and the X2 would drop on it's knees. When the BF3 retail release comes out we will see the reality.

You have to bare in mind that those results are only showing "average" frame rate, but no minimum frame rate. CPU architecture plays quite a big part on the minimum frame rate, and I would imagine the Athlon II X2 would have worst minimum frame rate, not just because it is the slowest CPU, but also has the slowest CPU architecture as well.