AMD vs Intel?

Energize · 27 Mar 2011 at 14:11

For a mobo + cpu combo of around £150 or less, which is going to give me better performance?

I have a q6600 atm which is only at 3.1GHz because of the pos motherboard, but obviously there's no point in buying a new mobo when 775 has been superseded. Four or more cores is required because I do video encoding and graphics rendering.

Brumboy · 27 Mar 2011 at 14:16

AMD has the better value at that price range. Check their Phenom range.

MouthBoy · 27 Mar 2011 at 14:21

I must ask in honesty, why are you looking to upgrade? For £150 mark I dont think you will see a massive improvement. I went from a Q6600 @ 3.6Ghz to an i5 760 @ 3.8Ghz and yes its slightly faster, but its not a major speed boost.

Liquid · 27 Mar 2011 at 14:21

your not going to get much going if anything the intel route with that budget i'm afraid, AMD for you my friend. You will also require ram, so imo either way your budget has to go up.

DragonQ · 27 Mar 2011 at 14:21

X4 555BE + GA-880GM-UD2H

You sure you wouldn't need RAM? Also, as above, I doubt you'd see much improvement - especially without a separate cooler for proper overclocking. Probably better to save your money and buy something better further down the line.

Liquid · 27 Mar 2011 at 14:26

DragonQ said:
X4 555BE + GA-880GM-UD2H

You sure you wouldn't need RAM? Also, as above, I doubt you'd see much improvement - especially without a separate cooler for proper overclocking. Probably better to save your money and buy something better further down the line.

Sadly not a lot of upgrade there, but then £150 is a paltry budget.

olivier renault · 27 Mar 2011 at 14:34

I'd wait to get double the budget though. With DDR2(?) and £150, you wont get much better for your money's worth. I'd be aiming at a i5 + P67 and 4GB 12800 DDR3.

Or a better 775 mobo on the second hand market. Not sure how much these sell for.

wentalong · 27 Mar 2011 at 15:12

How about;

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £95.99
(£79.99) £95.99
(£79.99)
MSI 870A-G54 AMD 870 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £72.98
(£60.82) £72.98
(£60.82)
* Sub Total : £140.81 and £180 inc. VAT AND DELIVERY,

Its over budget but worth the money, and it will overclock great

but for ram its another £35 as this board only supports ddr3,,,

Energize · 27 Mar 2011 at 16:45

I already have ddr3 ram and a cpu cooler guys, I'm just considering the cpu and mobo.

olivier renault said:
I'd wait to get double the budget though. With DDR2(?) and £150, you wont get much better for your money's worth. I'd be aiming at a i5 + P67 and 4GB 12800 DDR3.

Wouldn't the hex phenoms perform better than quad Intels?

MouthBoy · 27 Mar 2011 at 17:03

Energize said:
I already have ddr3 ram and a cpu cooler guys, I'm just considering the cpu and mobo.

What cooler do you own and are you factoring in some overclocking potential?

Energize · 27 Mar 2011 at 17:05

smeaney said:
What cooler do you own and are you factoring in some overclocking potential?

The titan fenrir evo. Yes, my current cpu is overclocked.

wannabedamned · 27 Mar 2011 at 17:10

Do you need XLI or Xfire? or Will you in the future

Energize · 27 Mar 2011 at 17:11

wannabedamned · 27 Mar 2011 at 17:32

With that budget, You have to either skimp on processor or motherboard slightly. If you ask me, I would spend more on the motherboard and less on the processor, especially considering the overclock.

Best OC motherboard at sub £100 IMO
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-402-AS

And that leaves you with the processor to sort, The cheapest quad phenom is £79.99 and capable of overclocking to 3.8ghz with good cooling and voltage increase. 3.6 at stock volts.

I know the 840 x4 beats the QX6700 for comparison sake(with you having the Q6600)

Total is £171.98 Which is over budget i know, But I'm guessing you'll get free postage right?

Getting the better motherboard also means you can pop in a better AM3 processor in the future if you feel the urge.

MouthBoy · 27 Mar 2011 at 17:46

wannabedamned said:
With that budget, You have to either skimp on processor or motherboard slightly. If you ask me, I would spend more on the motherboard and less on the processor, especially considering the overclock.

Best OC motherboard at sub £100 IMO
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-402-AS

And that leaves you with the processor to sort, The cheapest quad phenom is £79.99 and capable of overclocking to 3.8ghz with good cooling and voltage increase. 3.6 at stock volts.

I know the 840 x4 beats the QX6700 for comparison sake(with you having the Q6600)

Total is £171.98 Which is over budget i know, But I'm guessing you'll get free postage right?

Getting the better motherboard also means you can pop in a better AM3 processor in the future if you feel the urge.

This I agree with, but I still feel that you are not going to see much of an improvement, or maybe you will but not the improvement you are looking for. Are you just looking for an overal faster system for doing what you stated in your OP? Technically a hex core would be faster then your current system, but you wouldnt get one in your price range.

Energize · 27 Mar 2011 at 17:59

smeaney said:
This I agree with, but I still feel that you are not going to see much of an improvement, or maybe you will but not the improvement you are looking for. Are you just looking for an overal faster system for doing what you stated in your OP? Technically a hex core would be faster then your current system, but you wouldnt get one in your price range.

Generally just an overall faster system for the above yes, maybe I can srape together some more money yet for a hex.

MouthBoy · 27 Mar 2011 at 18:24

I wont pretend to know a great deal about the hex cores from AMD, but I am sure that if you purchased one with a motherboard able to overclock a little, you could see a good performance increase in video editing and rendering, but for general use you wouldnt notice the difference.