AMDx6 1055T or i7 950

xRowan · 8 Sep 2010 at 12:36

Since I messed up my previous post :mad:

I made a new one. I have a build planned out (in my sig) but i was taking a look at AMD and have come up with a build for much cheaper than the i7 one. I have never owned an AMD Cpu before and I think the i7 is amazing

. I cant decide which build to get. I like the money saving aspect of AMD but will the 6 core out perform the i7 950? I will be using it for mainly Gaming and video editing. Thanks.

I plan to do crossfirein the future.

cmndr_andi · 8 Sep 2010 at 13:05

Hi there

What video editing programmes do you mainly use?

xRowan · 8 Sep 2010 at 13:10

cmndr_andi said:
Hi there

What video editing programmes do you mainly use?

I use Sony Vegas Pro 9.0, Adobe After Effects CS5 and 3Ds Max. Cheers

cmndr_andi · 8 Sep 2010 at 14:02

xRowan said:
I use Sony Vegas Pro 9.0, Adobe After Effects CS5 and 3Ds Max. Cheers

Cheers. I have pulled together a few benchmarks of these to give you a comparison of the i7 and AMD Phenom II X6 in these apps.

In the older version of sony vegas pro - Sony Vegas Pro 8 - Blu-ray Disc Image Creation (25Mbps MPEG-2) - it seems to favour the i7

In the various 3Ds Max tests (click on the second-down pull-down menu on the left for more tests) the i7 950 is consistently either faster or approximately as fast as the X6 1090T and a good deal faster than the 1055T (which is much cheaper than both of these cpus).

In adobe after effects the i7 950 is marginally faster than the X6 1090T.

Personally, I would go with the i7 950, as it is a bit faster for your uses (most of the time) and the platform is uses (Intel X58) also supports Gulftown Hex cores, so you can do a simple drop-in CPU upgrade in the future (when gulftown prices go down). Unfortunately this is not possible with the AM3 X6 1090T, as the new Bulldozer CPUs will require a new motherboard - AM3+.

xRowan · 8 Sep 2010 at 14:31

cmndr_andi said:
Cheers. I have pulled together a few benchmarks of these to give you a comparison of the i7 and AMD Phenom II X6 in these apps.

In the older version of sony vegas pro - Sony Vegas Pro 8 - Blu-ray Disc Image Creation (25Mbps MPEG-2) - it seems to favour the i7

In the various 3Ds Max tests (click on the second-down pull-down menu on the left for more tests) the i7 950 is consistently either faster or approximately as fast as the X6 1090T and a good deal faster than the 1055T (which is much cheaper than both of these cpus).

In adobe after effects the i7 950 is marginally faster than the X6 1090T.

Personally, I would go with the i7 950, as it is a bit faster for your uses (most of the time) and the platform is uses (Intel X58) also supports Gulftown Hex cores, so you can do a simple drop-in CPU upgrade in the future (when gulftown prices go down). Unfortunately this is not possible with the AM3 X6 1090T, as the new Bulldozer CPUs will require a new motherboard - AM3+.

Thanks a lot mate. Looks like I will be getting i7

Big.Wayne · 8 Sep 2010 at 17:05

Hey cmndr_andi,

quite a tidy post (kudos) . . . may I in the sake of "thoroughness" check a few points with you please?

cmndr_andi said:
In the older version of sony vegas pro - Sony Vegas Pro 8 - Blu-ray Disc Image Creation (25Mbps MPEG-2) - it seems to favour the i7

Is there an newer or updated version? . . that perhaps changes these results?

cmndr_andi said:
the i7 950 is consistently either faster or approximately as fast as the X6 1090T and a good deal faster than the 1055T (which is much cheaper than both of these cpus)

Nice worded!

. . . another perspective here is that the i7 950 "system" is approx about £150 more expensive! . . . do these gains "justify" the additional expense or?

cmndr_andi said:
it is a bit faster for your uses (most of the time)

"bit faster" . . . . £150 more expensive . . . . good "Value" or?

cmndr_andi said:
the platform is uses (Intel X58) also supports Gulftown Hex cores, so you can do a simple drop-in CPU upgrade in the future (when gulftown prices go down)

Nice angle on the LGA1366 platform . . . so when are the £776.99 gulftown HexCores coming down in price exactly? . . . honest question btw?

cmndr_andi said:
Unfortunately this is not possible with the AM3 X6 [1055t], as the new Bulldozer CPUs will require a new motherboard - AM3+.

So your "speculating" that in the future the Gulftowns will drop down in price and offer xRowan a realistic upgrade path but somehow you "speculate" that there will be no upgrade option beyond the X6 1055T/1090T? :confused:

How do you do it cmndr_andi . . . please lend me your time machine! :cool:

cmndr_andi said:
Personally, I would go with the i7 950

Big.Wayne · 8 Sep 2010 at 17:08

xRowan said:
I think the i7 is amazing

xRowan said:
Looks like I will be getting i7

I'm not sure anything we can say will alter this . . . the "admiration" for the product is strong indeed!

jakesnake · 8 Sep 2010 at 17:22

by the time the "Gulftown Hex" is the price of a "1090T"
you will probably already have a Sandy bridge or Bulldozer rig.

would i be wrong in saying that the 1090T would be spot on
for him and will last him long enuff so that sb and bulldozer
prices have come down by the time he needs another new rig.

this is kind of the logic im going for with my rig, but saying that
i only game on my rig and the op video edits also.

im interested in this thread now

cmndr_andi · 8 Sep 2010 at 17:30

Big.Wayne said:
Hey cmndr_andi,

quite a tidy post (kudos) . . . may I in the sake of "thoroughness" check a few points with you please?

Absolutely.

Big.Wayne said:
Is there an newer or updated version? . . that perhaps changes these results?

Sure thing, just found this review. If you assume that i7 performance scales with clockspeed, then the 3.06GHz i7 950 will produce a result of 179 seconds, slightly better than the X6 1090T at 185 seconds.

Big.Wayne said:
Nice worded! . . . another perspective here is that the i7 950 "system" is approx about £150 more expensive! . . . do these gains "justify" the additional expense or?

Why thank you, I always try to chose words that convey what I am meaning at the time, I generally find it works.

Depending on what RAM and motherboard chosen, the "system" can indeed be £150 more expensive if you go for an i7. However, if you go with dual channel RAM and £150 ASUS board then this price difference drops to £90 (assuming you use one of the cheaper AM3 boards). If you go for an AM3 board with similar features to an X58 then the price difference will be around £30 in favour of the AMD. As I have pointed out, there are certain features and better performance in some applications if you go with the i7/X58 - whether this is worth the extra money is entirely up to the OP.

Big.Wayne said:
Nice angle on the LGA1366 platform . . . so when are the £776.99 gulftown HexCores coming down in price exactly? . . . honest question btw?

I honestly don't know when i7 hex core prices will drop, or what prices they will fall to. However, I can estimate based on past experience than they will drop in price when their successors are released (socket 2011 in Q3 next year). As to what price they will drop to I also can't tell you, but I generally operate on the assumption that things go down in price over time, and usually even more so when they are end-of-life.

Big.Wayne said:
So your "speculating" that in the future the Gulftowns will drop down in price and offer xRowan a realistic upgrade path but somehow you "speculate" that there will be no upgrade option beyond the X6 1055T/1090T?

I do apologise, i didn't wish to give this impression. I would not be surprised if new CPUs are released on the AM3 platform that are even faster than the 1090T. However, knowing that Bulldozer will not be an AM3 compatible part suggests future high-end AMD processors will require a new motherboard and any new AM3 parts will not be a paradigm-shift compared to a 1090T.

Big.Wayne said:
How do you do it cmndr_andi . . . please lend me your time machine!

I just try to make sense of all the info that comes out of the web about this new tech. If I have got anything wrong, I appreciate being told so I don't make the same mistake again. However, to the best of my knowledge the info I gave the the OP (the benchmarks) is as relevant as possible and the analysis is the situation as I currently understand it, if you see it in a different way or have different/more up-to-date info then please post it.

Big.Wayne · 8 Sep 2010 at 18:24

Hey cmndr_andi

cmndr_andi said:
Sure thing, just found this review. If you assume that i7 performance scales with clockspeed, then the 3.06GHz i7 950 will produce a result of 179 seconds, slightly better than the X6 1090T at 185 seconds.

Well it's always preferable to have real data to hand and not "assume" anything . . . we are also talking about a i7 950 and X6 1055T and not a X6 1090T . . . still all these things considered and working on some rough "assumptions" what do we have

185 seconds down to 179 seconds= 3% faster :confused:

Data for i7 950 and X6 1055T would be ideal really . . .

cmndr_andi said:
Depending on what RAM and motherboard chosen, the "system" can indeed be £150 more expensive if you go for an i7. However, if you go with dual channel RAM and £150 ASUS board then this price difference drops to £90 (assuming you use one of the cheaper AM3 boards). If you go for an AM3 board with similar features to an X58 then the price difference will be around £30 in favour of the AMD. As I have pointed out, there are certain features and better performance in some applications if you go with the i7/X58 - whether this is worth the extra money is entirely up to the OP.

cmndr_andi, I'm not sure if you realise but you seem to have decided this thread is about the X6 1090T? . . . look at the thread title:

AMDx6 1055T or i7 950

Now fair enough I supect you have done this because of the set of data you are using as a reference but that's not a good excuse really?

Secondly where on earth are you pulling these financial figures from? . . . £90 . . £30 etc? . . . are you still thinking this thread is about the X6 1090T?

cmndr_andi said:
I honestly don't know when i7 hex core prices will drop, or what prices they will fall to. However, I can estimate based on past experience than they will drop in price when their successors are released (socket 2011 in Q3 next year). As to what price they will drop to I also can't tell you, but I generally operate on the assumption that things go down in price over time, and usually even more so when they are end-of-life.

Interesting . . . so we are giving buyers advice based on things we "honestly don't know" and also telling them things which are based on an "assumption"

Your experiences seem to be quite different to mine and I find this perplexing, regarding Intel® products dropping in price? . . . I've not seen many Intel® prices drop like what you are "suggesting" . . . I think Intel® will prefer to keep the prices as high as possible while the punter is still happy to pay for them . . .

I'm totally not sure about this EOL business you are describing? . . . when does the LGA1366 go EOL? . . . also doesn't this tend to drive the prices up? . . . Scarcity and all that? . . . LGA775 Yorkfields still seem quite pricy to me considering it is about two years old?

If what you are saying about a £776.99 pound Gulftown dropping in price is true then that certainly is an interesting angle for anyone looking to get maximum longevity out of their LGA1366 computer . . . however if what you are saying is false and you are not entirely sure I would be cautious about using this as a selling point . . . I'm pretty confident you have the buyers best interest at heart after all!

Intel® Core™ i7 Bloomfield must be getting on for nearly two years old now, amazing that the price has remained nearly constant with just a slight stepping revision and the multi adjusted up slowly . . . November 2008 seems like a long time ago! :eek:

cmndr_andi said:
I do apologise, i didn't wish to give this impression. I would not be surprised if new CPUs are released on the AM3 platform that are even faster than the 1090T. However, knowing that Bulldozer will not be an AM3 compatible part suggests future high-end AMD processors will require a new motherboard and any new AM3 parts will not be a paradigm-shift compared to a 1090T

Personally I don't know myself . . . and in the absence of that "Knowledge" I would personally not tell anyone that buying an AM3 platform will mean there is no upgrade . . . I mean historically AMD have been pretty good at keeping their customers happy right?

Intel® on the other hand "seem" to prefer you junk your old system entirely and buy buy some new Intel® shiny . . . the buying choice is not made any easier by the fact their old kit has its prices kept nice and profitable . . so junk and buy new or keep on the same platform and pay-through-the-nose!

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400

£159.99 inc

And you are suggesting the Intel® Core™i7 980X (gulftown) will become a realistic upgrade path down the line . . .

cmndr_andi said:
I just try to make sense of all the info that comes out of the web about this new tech. If I have got anything wrong, I appreciate being told so I don't make the same mistake again. However, to the best of my knowledge the info I gave the the OP (the benchmarks) is as relevant as possible and the analysis is the situation as I currently understand it, if you see it in a different way or have different/more up-to-date info then please post it

I think xRowan is getting a Intel® Core™i7 no matter what he reads or see's in this thread . . . despite the fact the technology he wants to buy is pretty old in tech terms and despite the fact the newer Intel® kit is "likey" to blow the Core™i7 out the water when it comes . . .

I wouldn't say you particulary did anything wrong apart from not offer as much factual information about the two products he asked about (i7 950 & X6 1055T) including the pricing details, not made him "think" about how he was spending his money and what "Value" he was getting . . . offered him up "buying" reasons that were based on stuff which you "honestly don't know" about or based on total "assumption" . . .

Are you serving his best interests and helping him "consider" the Pro's and Con's of each choice . . . or are you perhaps changing the facts a little to suit your own personal viewpoint? :cool:

cmndr_andi said:
Personally, I would go with the i7 950

cmndr_andi · 8 Sep 2010 at 18:52

Thanks for your response, it was my error in referring to the 1090T - but please don't crucify me for this. If you notice, the benchmarks I offered also show the performance of the 1055T as well.

As for buying EOL CPUs, I agree that at retail outlets the prices will not drop so much, but it is the second-hand market where the bargains are to be had.

As you seem to realise, I am certainly only interested in getting the OP the best system for his needs and budget. If that happens to be an Phenom II X6 then great. The point I have been trying to make is that for his particular uses an i7 950 is faster than a AMD Phenom II X6 (1055T). However, there is a considerable price premium for this option and the increase in performance of the i7 does not scale with increase in cost (as is the way with almost all high-end tech). It is up to the OP to decide which option he feels is better for him.

easyrider · 8 Sep 2010 at 18:57

950 without doubt

For CS5 get a nvidia card to help things along with CUDA

xRowan · 8 Sep 2010 at 20:40

WOWA this has turned in to a war. cmndr_andi thank you for your help. cmndr_andi showed me EXACTLY what i needed to know, showing me benchmarks from the programs I will be using. The price isnt a huge difference also 1336 offers more upgrades than am3. This has now confused me and I was planning to order my parts on friday.

Troezar · 8 Sep 2010 at 22:07

While the i7 is faster the hex cores will not be affordable before the new platforms make more sense. You can quote me on that

crisbduck · 8 Sep 2010 at 22:57

easyrider said:
950 without doubt

For CS5 get a nvidia card to help things along with CUDA

I thought photoshop also used ati graphics cards similarly?

Big.Wayne · 8 Sep 2010 at 23:05

xRowan said:
i was taking a look at AMD and have come up with a build for much cheaper than the i7 one.

xRowan said:
The price isnt a huge difference

xRowan said:
This has now confused me

ATIorNvidia · 9 Sep 2010 at 06:20

Big.Wayne said:
but somehow you "speculate" that there will be no upgrade option beyond the X6 1055T/1090T?

It's already been confirmed that Bulldozer will not work in current AM3 Motherboards. :confused:

Mr Krugga · 9 Sep 2010 at 08:43

or

I'd personally go with Intel build. Granted, it's almost £100 more expensive in total but it will be significantly faster in core limited scenarios.

After all Intel setup will scale better with overclocks, especially in games. If you don't overclock, you may as well consider a cheaper AMD alternative, there's not much that could go wrong either way. On the other hand if you don't overclock and want the best that money can buy, the above setups upgraded to Core i7 950 and Phenom II 1090T accordingly will differ by £46 only.

Worth noting Bulldozer will kill the current socket as soon as it's released, meaning AM3 will die quicker than 1366. Hex cores from Intel are also superior although sold at crazy prices. They might drop down to become reasonable purchases in the near future (say 1-2 years).

scotlad · 9 Sep 2010 at 10:49

I7 = 'generally' better performance but at premium cost

AMD = much better value and not too far behind I7

comes down to budget/bang for buck.

Personally, I went AMD so i could use the cash saved for a 120GB SSD which will be far more ample than 64GB (I would find 64GB slightly too tight and would keep getting those bugging space warnings) the 120GB should last me for years to come as my main OS/Apps drive for my current and future builds.

Dicehunter · 9 Sep 2010 at 13:22

xRowan said:
Since I messed up my previous post I made a new one. I have a build planned out (in my sig) but i was taking a look at AMD and have come up with a build for much cheaper than the i7 one. I have never owned an AMD Cpu before and I think the i7 is amazing . I cant decide which build to get. I like the money saving aspect of AMD but will the 6 core out perform the i7 950? I will be using it for mainly Gaming and video editing. Thanks.

Just get AMD, you have a little less performance but a hell of a lower price tag so then you can spend that extra money for something else in your system