About to buy - X6 1090T vs i7 870 - Pls help

[SteveBlack]

Hi

I am about to pull trigger the trigger on either of this for a primarily video editing system. Gaming is not very important. Of course I am not going to do 24/7 video editing, these are mainly hobbyist family stuff involving Adobe CS5, and a Palit GTX 460 1 Gb RAM Sonic Overclocked.

Toying between:

Intel i7 870
Gigabyte P55A UD3P

or

Phenome II X6 1090T
Gigabyte 890XA-UD3

Both will be a overclocked with a Cooler Master V6GT. The AMD is setup is slightly more costlier.

On Anandtech benchmarks, AMD enjoys about 1-9% (may be an average of 5%) performance benefit in video encoding etc., other than that Intel wins everything.

Everyone is recommending me the Intel. I am lured by the 6 cores of AMD. On the other hand AMD is is update of older platform and is showing its age. So should I sacrifice the 5% gain and go for the reliability of Intel.

Also which will OC more?

 

[SteveBlack]

These were the tests that Phenom won. Rest were all Intel's.

x264 HD Encoding 1st pass 8.38%
x264 HD Encoding 2nd pass 1.79%
Cinebench R10 Multi thread 7.43%
POV Ray 3.7 - SMP Benchmark 4.33%
x264 HD Benchmark - 2nd pass 1.00%

 

[bkzed]

If you plan to overclock I would say go for intel, I have 2 no of i7 870 and one x4 965, I overclocked both i7's to 3.7ghz from 2.9ghz with very desent tempretures, tried with 965BE it dosnt go beyond 3.7 stable from 3.4 stock speed.

performance wise i7 870 will beat 1090T if both overclocked the Nehelam architecture is way superior than the Thuban.

 

[SteveBlack]

Thanks. Yes, OC is certainly on the card. Leaning the intel way now.

 

[jacktesterson]

The 1090t overclocks way better than the 965. I got mine at 3.8 with a low vcore, stable as can be.

Not trying to be a homer here but I'd go 1090t for your usage.

We will see more advantages for 6 physical cores as software gets updated.

 

[jacktesterson]

And the 1156 socket is a dead end road too, more so than am3 as bulldozer will potentially work with am3.

 

[nenforcer]

Socket 1156 is about to be obsoleted early next year by Intel's Sandy Bridge CPU's.

This late into the fall I would purchase the AMD system with its support for Sata 6Gbps it will still be current for at least one more year before Bulldozer hits late 2011.

Yes, most systems are tested against Intel CPU's but you should be alright with Adobe CS5 and Adobe Premier which I assume you will be using.

 

[SteveBlack]

As far I remember, Bulldozer processor will not work on AM3 board, but AM3 processor will work on Bulldozer boards. That's one way future proofing, at least.

Yes I know 1156 is a dead end, but isn't it the same with 1336 because Sandy Bridge will require 1155 socket? Correct me.

Since I cannot wait, I guess I will have to buy into dead/half dead products, anyway.

 

[SteveBlack]

Just wondering, so if equally clocked, the i7 870 will match the X6 cores of 1090T on Adobe Premier pro? That would then settle it in favour of the Intel.

 

[Markfw]

http://forums.anandtech.com/%3Ca href=http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/chart...ideo-Editing-Adobe-Premiere-Pro-CS5,2428.html

Video Editing: Adobe Premiere Pro CS5
Encoding Video to H.264 Blu-ray 720p
(Video runtime 2min 21s)
Score in Time [mm:ss]

AMD Phenom II X6 1055T (Thuban 6c) 344.00

Intel Core i7-860 (Lynnfield 4c/8t) 296.00

At the same clockspeed i7 is 16.2% quicker.

Where did you get those prices ? Newegg has the 870 for $280, but the 1055t is $200 !!

If you do anything that uses encoding, get the X6, its faster. (when both are overclocked)

 

[one30eight]

I would buy whatever is cheaper. Real world, clock for clock, you will not really notice a difference. My 1055t is at 4Ghz and I never notice a difference using this one and a friends i7.

 

[Exeodus]

I have a Phenom II, i7 1156, and i7 1366, all clocked at 4Ghz. All of them are fast but the AMD feels snappier to me. All of these are fast, even though the i7 is faster. For what you want to use it for, you would never see the difference between the two. It's like choosing between two cars, one can go 150MPH, the other only 130MPH, but you won't be driving past 70MPH anyway.

 

[Gigantopithecus]

Note the 1090T is $228 shipped at Buy.com. That's $50 less than the i7-870's $280 price tag at Newegg. With that price disparity, I think it's a no-brainer.

 

[brownstone]

AMD Phenom II X6 1055T (Thuban 6c) 344.00

Intel Core i7-860 (Lynnfield 4c/8t) 296.00

At the same clockspeed i7 is 16.2% quicker.

I was under the impression that the 1090T was what we were comparing...

With that in mind, you can get the 1090T for under $230 here.

...Gigantopithecus beat me to the punch...

 

[Riek]

Hey Steve,

Since everything needs to be fast, and all of the possibilities are dead paths, did you consider the AMD server platform? For example the C32 platform? in future bulldozer will be pluginable (if bios is updated) and currently would allow 8core cpu's at an ok clockspeed. not sure about overclocking though, which might be to limited in voltage adjustments... but considering the future-proofness this might be a choice you can investigate?

 

[busydude]

Where did you get those prices ? Newegg has the 870 for $280, but the 1055t is $200 !!

I think you got the wrong idea. Those are not prices, they are times.

 

[Hogan773]

As far I remember, Bulldozer processor will not work on AM3 board, but AM3 processor will work on Bulldozer boards. That's one way future proofing, at least.

Yes I know 1156 is a dead end, but isn't it the same with 1336 because Sandy Bridge will require 1155 socket? Correct me.

Since I cannot wait, I guess I will have to buy into dead/half dead products, anyway.

This may be true re: AM3 but why does this matter.....you're gonna spend money to buy a new motherboard but use the same old processor? Prob not that likely. Too bad you can't wait 2 months till Sandy Bridge comes out - from the initial tests it looks like it will offer quite a bit more performance at the same price point.

I've been doing the same struggle as you......first it was 1090T, then leaning to i7 950, then looking harder at the i7 870, then trying to compare to Sandy Bridge.

In the end, I know that one can always "wait" and something better is coming, but in my case I don't NEED a system today so I want to wait till January and see how SB pans out. Worst case if they price it too high or its performance isn't as big a step as predicted, I can very likely jump to a 1090T or i7 for the same, or maybe better, price as today.

 

[Markfw]

I think you got the wrong idea. Those are not prices, they are times.

oops, sorry.

 

[betasub]

LOL, both times end with .00 - given to one-hundreth of a second?!

 

[SteveBlack]

Thanks for all the comments and help.

Epsilon is right in that I am not in US and where I live the 1090T sells for more because AMD is not hot cake anymore. That makes a clock for clock comparison more relevant. Sorry for not saying this explicitly.

Anyway, I am decided on the i7 870. Rationale goes like this.

Price - AMD lose (not their fault, but here retailers are charging more for X6) At 50 dollar less 1090T will become a very strong contender.

Currently AMD has a max lead of 9pct in multithread apps. Rest all are all i7 territory. If i7 can overclock 10 pct more, then i7 becomes the winner for me. Intel look like it will OC more than AMD. That Adobe CS5 bench from Tom's is what I wanted to see. If OCed i7 match OC speed of 1090T, then that would seal the matter.

Warranty Service etc. Intel wins here (where I am).

Future proof - may be AMD has an edge here.

@Hogan - when I said future proof, I also meant replacement options also. If processor or MB goes bust, it will help newer offerings are backward compatible.

@Imported reik - thanks for the suggestion on server platforms. Unfortunately in small market like mine they are not value for money.

Thanks once again for all the creative suggestions. It is greatly appreciated.

 

[Markfw]

I think some of you guys should read through the whole thread first. I was not doing a direct price to price comparison, rather I was doing a clock for clock analysis between the i7 and X6 because the OP said...



Therefore I compared the i7 860 and X6 1055T as both are clocked @ 2.8GHz, all the other models have a clockspeed disparity.

As I said earlier, it's just as easy to overclock i7 chips to 4GHz as it is an X6 1090T, so a clock for clock comparison is the best way for the OP to determine which chip is better for him since he will be overclocking.



How do you figure that?

Clock for clock i7 is equal to, if not faster than an X6 in video encoding.

http://www.techreaction.net/2010/05/06/amd-phenom-ii-six-core-1090t1095t-thuban-review/

I'm amazed at the 'love' for the X6s in this thread. It's almost like actual performance doesn't even matter, everyone will just blindly say 'yep, 6 is better than 4, get the X6'. In every metric that matters it loses out to the i7. For what the OP does, its 16% slower per clock, and it has less overclocking headroom than the i7.

OK, I stand corrected, at least from tomshardware, but you have to use the 1075T and the 860 (or something similar) as they both have the same turbo speed, and under full load, I am sure they are both running at that. Then its close, 310 fro the 1075 and 296 for the 860.

BUT... The 1075T is $240 and the 860 is $280, and I think the I7 motherboard is a little more also.

 

[Dadofamunky]

Boy, religious wars over benchmarks are sure a waste of time... Let's see, in that Main Concept benchmark, the x6 BEATS the i7 in stock clocks (probably a function of faster default speed) but LOSES to the i7 when both are clocked at 4 GHz. By less than 10%. (And the other tests cited are not all that different.)

It is an imperceptible difference. And since OCing is a pure crap shoot, your results will almost certainly not reach those results.

Yep. That AMD chip is a real loser, isn't it?

I think everybody should just buy what makes them happy and stop assuming a personal identification on the type of CPU they buy. I have a fantastic Nehalem-based Dell Xeon box at work running Adobe CS5, at default speeds, and I couldn't be happier. Except that now I have the itch to upgrade at home. But really, the x6 is a marvel in its own right. Geesh. So many religious issues on the boards! It's just a CHIP.

 

[sandorski]

Some places, so i've heard, are selling the 1090T for as little as $235, so look around(IIRC Amazon was selling at that price).

 

[SteveBlack]

Firstly let me thank all of you who have made an effort to throw light on the various aspect of this purchase decision. I do not think any fan boy approach is made here. I was trying to find an objective decision and I have no affinity for either Intel or AMD.

On desktop processors at least, Intel has been competing on performance and AMD on price lately. For a primarily video editing rig, if AMD 1090T is 50 dollar cheaper than i7 870, then that is about 5-10% performance advantage on video encoding on stock clock speed at about 18% less price. AMD wins here.

If OCed, and if i7 870 match the 1090T on video work, still AMD is 18% cheaper. However Intel do win a lot of other parameters, more so if OCed.

So it all boils down to what you do and what price you pay. I was keen on the 1050T which represented a fantastic value. Unfortunately they were not in stock where I live. Since the 1090T is priced higher than 870 for me, AMD lose the advantage.

The Adobe CS5 test cannot be called a just benchmark. It is a representation of the work I intend to do. The Intel competing favorably help seal the matter. of course the margin of 'victory' may not be big to be felt, but the Intel overall had more to offer, when AMD is priced high.

If I were in USA, I would buy the AMD.

Thank you all for the healthy discussion and contributions.

 

[RaistlinZ]

You'll be happy with your Intel chip, especially when overclocked. They're wicked fast on just about everything.