What Build? AMD or Intel?

sastusbulbas

sastusbulbas

sastusbulbas

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26 May 2008
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Just curious guys, new bike parts or a few PC bits is what I am thinking before the partner decides on "sensible" things.

I had thought of a new Q9550 for my system, which is currently a Gigabyte P45 mobo with an E6300 sometimes at 4Ghz with 8gb of memory, but after the advice being not to waste money I am considering a new build.

The below components are what I am thinking, will re-use some of my old components such as the OS, drives, 650w PSU, 4870 GPU. (Would prefer to upgrade the Graphics and Case later)

Asus Rampage III Gene Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 microATX Motherboard
Intel Core i7 930 2.80GHz
Corsair Dominator GT, 6GB DDR3 PC3-12800(1600), CAS 7-7-7-20

Or ?

Asus Crosshair IV Formula AMD 890FX
AMD Phenom II X6 Six Core 1090T Black Edition 3.20GHz
Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz Dominator GT DHX Memory Kit CL7(7-7-7-20) 1.65V

Gaming, photo's, Music, HD movies, etc etc, just about anything and everything is what I would like the thing to be capable of, will be the main home PC with games usually at a prefered 1920+1080 no less than 1680+1050, and BluRay movies streamed from HDD or played direct, with stereo digital out up to 24/192.

I have three kids and not much time these days, so like to do as much as I can in a short time, email, internet, pdf's, downloads, ripping movies while doing anti virus scans or such etc etc at the same time is not uncommon as I try to get everything done as quickly as possible. I don't like to have to limit background tasks for game playing etc.

It will be OC'd of course, sometimes I will run stock and try to keep things quiet and cool too. Had thought of i5 but the above seem more bling for buck.

Am I correct in guessing that there is less in gaming performance at higher resolutions such as I am using? I seem to remember earlier benchmarks showing narrower gaps between AMD and Intel as resolutions in games increased?

Is Hex core going to be a replay of Quad Core? I still remember everyone going for E8500's and such over Quads for Gaming and that seems to have changed, so can we expect to see Hex Cores utilised more in games and apps over the next couple of years, leaving Quads sitting like the old Dual Core's?

Cheers,
Steve
 
Several schools of thoughts, but here's mine.

AMD Hex cores are kind of a novelty item for home computing. They are good, if you have a use for those cores. Performance per core is inferior to Intels, so single-core applications will not be as good as on Intel quad cores.

Gaming performance is kinda irrelevant to an extent. Games are GPU bound, not CPU (why the gap narrows at higher resolutions). Any will handle games easy.

For a roughly similar price, I'd go with Intel. AMD's shine when competing in a lower price bracket. Intel, with Hyperthreading, tri-channel, and raw power are faster, AMDs run cooler, and you can build a cheaper system, where the performance difference will be marginal, especially for home computing / gaming. For encoding and multitask-heavy applications, the 6 cores will give the Intel i7 a run for their money (or even beat them).

Also, there is talk that the next AMD generation will be compatible with the AM3 socket. But I wouldn't put too much weight on that claim.

Personally, I think you'll be better off with a Core2 Quad on the cheap, and maybe a small SSD for boosting your OS multitasking. Then a proper upgrade at the next iteration (Bulldozer / SandyBridge). The SSD will always be handy in any case. But then, aren't they suppose to come down in price? Maybe better to invest later as well :)
 
I don't think the Q9550 will be a waste of money, if you buy one now to keep your system happy until the next gen has arrived, the value of them probably won't change that much in 12 months or so. That means ofc that if you decide to resell it you'll get the money back for the upgrade you had for that time.

I remember seeing an article comparing the i7 at 4GHz to the Q9650 at 4GHz and in most games with a GTX 295 the difference wasn't that massive.
 
I guess there are no AMD AM3 Micro ATX without on board graphics which compairs to the Rampage III Gene ?

Still pondering, not seen any cheap Q9650 or Q9550 chips so far, prices seem pretty close to AMD Hex 1090 or i7-930 prices even second hand?
 
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