System Builders Update (January 2010)

[Big.Wayne]

Hello General hardware,

I thought you guys & girls may like to see some fresh-of-the-press benchmarks using the latest Intel® & AMD® hardware courtesy of Anand Lal Shimpi

 

[arknor]

yea i'd take the i5 750 ^^

doesnt really cost to much more than a phenon 2 setup unless you go with a really cheap am3 mobo which kinda defeats the point.

obviously would take am3 if i were planning on crossfire in teh future

 

[game4it]

Nice benches but why no i7?
Would have been nice to see

 

[Maniacfest]

Nice find, useful stuffs.

 

[0neAnd0nly]

Looks like its out of i5 or AMD 955,

 

[Big.Wayne]

Hey All

From a Gaming Bang-For-Buck perspective the AMD® Athlon™ II X2 255 @ £55 is looking really, really good!

It's only Far Cry 2 that really tests the chips . . . I reckon a bit of overclocking there and you will be away!

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Hey All

From a Gaming Bang-For-Buck perspective the AMD® Athlon™ II X2 255 @ £55 is looking really, really good!

It's only Far Cry 2 that really tests the chips . . . I reckon a bit of overclocking there and you will be away!

Considering that the X3 435 can be had for under £60 I still think it is the better choice over the X2 255. Also it is very strange that the X3 440 is missing from the Far Cry 2 chart!!

The X3 435 could also be unlocked if you are lucky to a Athlon II X4 or Phenom II X4 quad core.

 

[arknor]

Hey All

From a Gaming Bang-For-Buck perspective the AMD® Athlon™ II X2 255 @ £55 is looking really, really good!

It's only Far Cry 2 that really tests the chips . . . I reckon a bit of overclocking there and you will be away!

most games will be aimed at quadcore cpus from now on though.

i wonder how it would do in gta4

 

[SMAndy]

Wow. Makes me want to replace my PII X3 720BE for the 955. If i get the same level of overclock, i'll have it at nearly 4ghz.


For those of you that are interested, the i7 will be in a very similar position to the i5.

Generally speaking, the i7 performs worse in games (possibly losing a frame or two) and performs better in professional applications. (It's the Hyperthreading that does it)

 

[Big.Wayne]

Considering that the X3 435 can be had for under Meeeoooww I still think it is the better choice over the X2 255.

Aye there are lots of nice choices, lets wait and see what price that new AIIX2 is . . . we could all be suprised!

How much do you think the Athlon II X2 255 should be Cat? . . . like Sell-Like-Hotcakes kinda price?

Also it is very strange that the X3 440 is missing from the Far Cry 2 chart!!

I think Anand was up all night testing, probably sleep deprived and missed it!

The X3 435 could also be unlocked if you are lucky to a Athlon II X4 or Phenom II X4 quad core.

I can't wait for someone to unlock a Rana into a full Deneb, or even a Propus, I've not seen it yet in our OcUK crew!

 

[Big.Wayne]

most games will be aimed at quadcore cpus from now on though.

Someone else told me similar the other day, when it comes to consumer level multi-core support on the PC it's the gaming industry that is leading the way . . .

i wonder how it would do in gta4

Is that a monster game to get running properly hardware wise? . . . or is it just not well coded?

 

[Vision]

Useful, ta.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

How much do you think the Athlon II X2 255 should be Cat? . . . like Sell-Like-Hotcakes kinda price?

I would say around £50 to £55 would be ideal. The X2 545 and 550BE are around £60 to £70 so it gives a good reduction in price over the Phenom II dual core processors.

If the X3 440 would be around £60 it would be great too!

Combine this with a cheap overclocking motherboard like the DDR2 and DDR3 versions of the MSI 770-C45 for around £50 to £55 and you have a very nice little setup for just over £100.

The MSI 770-C45 is a fantastic motherboard for the price:

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/motherboards/2009/09/17/msi-770-c45-motherboard-review/1

It has all solid capacitors and a decent array of overclocking options for a great price.

 

[Big.Wayne]

yea i'd take the i5 750 ^^

doesnt really cost too much more than a phenon 2 setup unless you go with a really cheap am3 mobo which kinda defeats the point.

arknor,

what do you mean it "kinda defeats the point"?


Asus M4A78LT-M LE

£57.99 inc


Asus M4A785TD-M Evo

£69.99 inc


Asus M4A785TD-V Evo

£72.99 inc


Asus M4A79XTD Evo

£85.99 inc

 

[Big.Wayne]

From a Gaming Bang-For-Buck perspective the AMD® Athlon™ II X2 255 @ £55 is looking really, really good!

Considering that the X3 435 can be had for under Meeeoooww I still think it is the better choice over the X2 255

How much do you think the Athlon II X2 255 should be Cat? . . . like Sell-Like-Hotcakes kinda price?

I would say around £50 to £55 would be ideal.

CAT, are you disagreeing or agreeing with what I said?

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

CAT, are you disagreeing or agreeing with what I said?

The CPUs have different strengths even if they were the same price. The Athlon II X2 has better single threaded performance but the X3 would have better multi-threaded performance.

Games tend to scale relatively well to three cores so I would prefer the X3 over the X2 if they had a similar price.

OTH,the X2 should have better power consumption and would be better suited for a non-gaming and non-encoding build.

 

[cainer]

would have been nice to see the i7 in this comparison as im just about to buy 1 :/

 

[arknor]

arknor,

what do you mean it "kinda defeats the point"?

the only reason to choose a higher end am3 over an i5 750 is for the better crossfire.

which acording to the product descriptions non of those cheap boards you linked do and if your going am3 because of the 6core upgrade path the cheaper boards wont be able to give enough power to the cpu socket for it anyway

 

[Big.Wayne]

Hi cainer,

I'm curious to know something, do you "want" an Intel® Core™ i7 or do you "need" an Intel® Core™ i7

Thanks in advance for sharing!

 

[bigjimmyauk]

Glad i picked the 955BE over the i5
thanks for the continued good reads big wayne keep up the work.

should also be up for that test on friday/saturday and see what the 955 can do on the FXTA board