AMD competition for Core i3 (Gamers thread)

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

what specific applications will you be using your cpu choice for?

 

[cbn]

what specific applications will you be using your cpu choice for?

Gaming and I want to use a case like this--->http://www.silverstonetek.com/products/p_contents.php?pno=sg05 (It will actually fit a HD5850 as long as the power connectors are attached prior to installing the card)

Even though a 450 watt SFX PSU will be available from Silverstone I am hoping to ultilize the 300 watt one it comes with (that means HD5770)

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Gaming and I want to use a case like this--->http://www.silverstonetek.com/products/p_contents.php?pno=sg05 (It will actually fit a HD5850 as long as the power connectors are attached prior to installing the card)

Even though a 450 watt SFX PSU will be available from Silverstone I am hoping to ultilize the 300 watt one it comes with (that means HD5770)

which games?

 

[MrK6]

Two HD5770s got higher frame rates than a single HD5870.

HD5770 is basically HD5870 split in half right?

If that is not scaling then I don't know what is.

For a definition of scaling read this--->http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=334565

No, that's not how it works.

It appears to me that microarchitectural advances are outpacing core scaling. I want to know what AMD has planned to counter this?

Wouldn't the benchmarks that you just pointed out (that two 5770's got higher framerates than a single 5870) refute that point?

 

[cbn]

Wouldn't the benchmarks that you just pointed out (that two 5770's got higher framerates than a single 5870) refute that point?

I am talking about the CPU when I mention microarchitectural changes.

For example GPU makers routinely double stream processors or CUDA cores. But Intel and AMD haven't been doubling CPU cores. Instead they added L3 cache.

Notice how much space this L3 cache takes up on the die--->http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3663 Compare Phenom II to AThlon II.

 

[zsdersw]

Obviously Computer Bottleneck has no idea what he's talking about.

Anyone who isn't 100% wanker would realize that if you're building a new computer, regardless of budget, quad-core is the sweet spot. Hell, AMD has a $99 quad-core available.

I don't care what you do with the computer, even if it's just gaming. Why? Here's a newsflash; all of your games are running on a computer that has this new-fangled thing called an "operating system" that, if it's Vista or 7, can take good advantage of multi-core CPUs.

End of story. Case closed.

Get a quad-core CPU for a completely new build. If you don't, you're a fool.

 

[cbn]

Anyone who isn't 100% wanker would realize that if you're building a new computer, regardless of budget, quad-core is the sweet spot.

I already know this is true--->http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=28928206&postcount=75

But will it fit in the confines of the case I mentioned in post #127?

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Which games do you plan on playing?

 

[Markfw]

And if you trying running a quad and any decent video card today on even a good 450 watt PSU, you run a real good chance of frying the PSU, which can then take out the whole system.

 

[cbn]

Which games do you plan on playing?

Crysis (which I play now a little bit), Fallout 3, Stalker call of Pripyat, Empire Total war.

I might try Call of Duty Modern Warefare 2 (but I haven't even played the original modern warefare yet).

 

[toyota]

And if you trying running a quad and any decent video card today on even a good 450 watt PSU, you run a real good chance of frying the PSU, which can then take out the whole system.

a stock clocked i5 and 5770 system wouldnt even come close to taxing a high quality 450 watt unit. something like that would only pull about 225 watts at the wall during gaming.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Crysis (which I play now a little bit), Fallout 3, Stalker call of Pripyat, Empire Total war.

I might try Call of Duty Modern Warefare 2 (but I haven't even played the original modern warefare yet).

cool

 

[cbn]

And if you trying running a quad and any decent video card today on even a good 450 watt PSU, you run a real good chance of frying the PSU, which can then take out the whole system.

If AMD comes out with a 32nm quad that would help reduce power consumption quite a bit I am sure.

With Intel I would be going from a 32nm dual core a 45nm quad core. Increasing both process size and number of cores I am sure would eat more into this 300 watt budget (leaving me less wiggle room for the video card)

 

[Markfw]

a stock clocked i5 and 5770 system wouldnt even come close to taxing a high quality 450 watt unit. something like that would only pull about 225 watts at the wall during gaming.

With just dual 9800GTX+'s, I burned out a quality 600 watt OCZ PSU. Now mind you, each one is probably@150 watt, so thats 300 right there, and take 150 off 600, and you get 450, but I sure will never cut it that close ever again.

I also have a Q8200 which will only run with 1 F@H CPU unit, one optical, one stick of memory, and only up to 2.8 ghz with 2 8800 GT video cards and a 550 watt antec. Any more stress, and it reboots. If I leave the video cards off, I can up the CPU to 3.4 and have all the other hardware in, so I know it a matter of not enough power in the PSU.

Do what you want, and good luck. Anybody that wants to cheap out on their PSU needs to face the music if it burns up their system.

 

[cbn]

I also have a Q8200 which will only run with 1 F@H CPU unit, one optical, one stick of memory, and only up to 2.8 ghz with 2 8800 GT video cards and a 550 watt antec. Any more stress, and it reboots. If I leave the video cards off, I can up the CPU to 3.4 and have all the other hardware in, so I know it a matter of not enough power in the PSU.

Does that Antec 550 happen to be the Neo HE model?

 

[toyota]

With just dual 9800GTX+'s, I burned out a quality 600 watt OCZ PSU. Now mind you, each one is probably@150 watt, so thats 300 right there, and take 150 off 600, and you get 450, but I sure will never cut it that close ever again.

I also have a Q8200 which will only run with 1 F@H CPU unit, one optical, one stick of memory, and only up to 2.8 ghz with 2 8800 GT video cards and a 550 watt antec. Any more stress, and it reboots. If I leave the video cards off, I can up the CPU to 3.4 and have all the other hardware in, so I know it a matter of not enough power in the PSU.

Do what you want, and good luck. Anybody that wants to cheap out on their PSU needs to face the music if it burns up their system.

I am not suggesting to go cheap on the psu but what you stated was beyond exaggeration. its a fact that a high quality 450 watt unit can easily run a 5770 and stock i5 cpu and not even tax half of that 450 watt psu. heck my system with an older 65nm gtx260 only uses barely over 200 watts at the wall during gaming. an i5 would only use 30watts more max and a 5770 would use at least 50 watts less than my gtx260. in other words an i5 and 5770 would likely never even use 200 watts during typical gaming.

 

[Munky]

Many modern games utilize more than 2 cores, and that trend will only increase. I actually tested the cpu usage in some games when I had a PH2 x3, and surprisingly a number of them made use of the 3rd core.

 

[Munky]

With just dual 9800GTX+'s, I burned out a quality 600 watt OCZ PSU. Now mind you, each one is probably@150 watt, so thats 300 right there, and take 150 off 600, and you get 450, but I sure will never cut it that close ever again.

I also have a Q8200 which will only run with 1 F@H CPU unit, one optical, one stick of memory, and only up to 2.8 ghz with 2 8800 GT video cards and a 550 watt antec. Any more stress, and it reboots. If I leave the video cards off, I can up the CPU to 3.4 and have all the other hardware in, so I know it a matter of not enough power in the PSU.

Do what you want, and good luck. Anybody that wants to cheap out on their PSU needs to face the music if it burns up their system.

I burned out a "quality" 430W OCZ PSU with just a single core cpu and a single video card. My blame goes on the quality of said OCZ PSU. not because the rated wattage was insufficient.

 

[cbn]

I burned out a "quality" 430W OCZ PSU with just a single core cpu and a single video card. My blame goes on the quality of said OCZ PSU. not because the rated wattage was insufficient.

How old was the PSU?

Also another question I have is do PSUs degrade at a faster rate the more you push them towards maximum?

 

[Markfw]

How old was the PSU?

Also another question I have is do PSUs degrade at a faster rate the more you push them towards maximum?

It was about 2 years old. It is a very high quality PSU, and even has adjustable pots.

And the 550 is a neo HE. Why ? I don't question what your device is telling you about your system, but with my systems, I know what is enough, and what is not.

NOTE: All my systems are overclocked, and that makes a difference, and they all have large aftermarket HSF's and plenty of fans. They also all run 24/7/365@100%load for both CPU and GPU running F@H (worst case scenario), but that is what you should plan for if you want a dependable system.

 

[cbn]

It was about 2 years old. It is a very high quality PSU, and even has adjustable pots.

And the 550 is a neo HE. Why ? I don't question what your device is telling you about your system, but with my systems, I know what is enough, and what is not.

I was asking because that is what I have been using in my main rig for the last 3.5 years.

But I haven't pushed it as hard as you have..yet. I am wondering how many more years it will last me if I do more of a higher performance build the second time around.

 

[cubeless]

Obviously Computer Bottleneck has no idea what he's talking about.

Anyone who isn't 100% wanker would realize that if you're building a new computer, regardless of budget, quad-core is the sweet spot. Hell, AMD has a $99 quad-core available.

I don't care what you do with the computer, even if it's just gaming. Why? Here's a newsflash; all of your games are running on a computer that has this new-fangled thing called an "operating system" that, if it's Vista or 7, can take good advantage of multi-core CPUs.

End of story. Case closed.

Get a quad-core CPU for a completely new build. If you don't, you're a fool.

wow!!! this thread got so annoying that it pulled in a loch ness monster class lurker!!!

that's some talent bottlebaby!!!

 

[Fox5]

It was about 2 years old. It is a very high quality PSU, and even has adjustable pots.

And the 550 is a neo HE. Why ? I don't question what your device is telling you about your system, but with my systems, I know what is enough, and what is not.

NOTE: All my systems are overclocked, and that makes a difference, and they all have large aftermarket HSF's and plenty of fans. They also all run 24/7/365@100%load for both CPU and GPU running F@H (worst case scenario), but that is what you should plan for if you want a dependable system.

The NeoHE was a pretty crappy design, high failure rate.

BTW, the best power supplies only have an efficiency of about 80%, many crappier ones are as low as 50%.

 

[Markfw]

The NeoHE was a pretty crappy design, high failure rate.

BTW, the best power supplies only have an efficiency of about 80%, many crappier ones are as low as 50%.

Except for that Neo, all of mine are fortron and >85% efficiency. Most are 700 watt units. I have one 750 Corsair, and one more OCZ 600. Oh, and one 550 Antec on my dualie with no video cards (E8400@4.0)

 

[cbn]

wow!!! this thread got so annoying that it pulled in a loch ness monster class lurker!!!

that's some talent bottlebaby!!!

Yeah but that $99 quad core he is talking about is pretty weak compared to even core 2 duo.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3638&p=8

On a small low watt system with a high resolution monitor the relative deficiency of processing power could limit how far someone could dial up their video card.

I was hoping someone could pull in some better graphs or at least tell me about 32nm Athlon II quads that might scale better.