AMD Equivalent for i5 750/760?

[Skott]

Ok, short story is I need to build a rig around the i5 750 or possibly the i5 760. I want to also consider AMD to see if any money can be saved. After looking about it seems the Phenom II x4 965 is about on par with the 750 in stock form. Not sure whats equal to the 760 in stock performance. The build will *not* have any overclocking involved. This is for my daughter who plays WoW and loves to download music and rip. Thinking the 5770 for GPU if that matters any.

So when it comes to an AMD equivalent for the i5 750/760 at stock clocks what should I be looking at for comparison?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Accord99]

The closest are probably either the 1055T or 970BE:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/147?vs=191
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/186?vs=191

The 1055T is better in high thread applications like video encoding and 3D rendering but is noticeably behind in most desktop apps and games. The 970BE is marginally slower across the board.

The i5-760 is also the fastest in WoW and uses the least amount of power.

 

[busydude]

The i5-760 is also the fastest in WoW and uses the least amount of power.

Yeah, and since you are not overclocking, Intel is the best way to go as it is significantly faster than any AMD processor for WoW. Both setups cost about the same too.

 

[Skott]

Yeah, and since you are not overclocking, Intel is the best way to go as it is significantly faster than any AMD processor for WoW. Both setups cost about the same too.

I kinda figured Intel is the better choice but I had to check and see what AMD had to offer performance and price wise.

Thanks for the info, guys.

 

[MustangSVT]

Yeah, and since you are not overclocking, Intel is the best way to go as it is significantly faster than any AMD processor for WoW. Both setups cost about the same too.

if you ARE ocing, AMD is better? @_@

 

[OCGuy]

if you ARE ocing, AMD is better? @_@

Huh?

Yea I think who you quoted must be saying something we don't understand.

 

[khon]

The equivalents would be 965/970 BE. They're a bit cheaper, and a bit slower.

In all honesty the differences are small enough that it doesn't really matter which one you pick.

Personally I'd probably save a few bucks on the CPU/motherboard and go with the 965BE, since gaming performance depends mostly on the graphics anyway.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Huh?

Yea I think who you quoted must be saying something we don't understand.

Or you guys just like presume things to make fallacies. Maybe you do it on purpose too! Which is quite pointless and I would personally hate you for it.

In any case, busydude's statement is valid and easy enough to understand. Intel's chips have Turbo mode, which will ramp up the frequency and take it past the AMD chips, all in their stock form, in regards to performance. Even without Turbo, Intel's chips are faster for single-threaded applications, which will come in handy for a lot of games that rely in fast single-threaded performance (even if they also benefit from multi-threaded performance too). I believe WoW is one of these games that does love single-threaded performance, so the Intel chip would be a wise choice.

 

[electroju]

If I were building a gaming machine on a tight budget, I would get an AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition and set its clock to around 3.8 GHz. Since it is a black edition, setting the clock at around 3.8 GHz will not be technically over clocked because its multiplier is not fixed. The 6 megabyte of L3 cache will help in games more than in general applications by giving each core about 3 megabytes of L3 cache. The graphics card I would get is a nVidia GeForce GTS 450 or GeForce GTX 460, so the crashes will not be the graphics. AMD graphics or ATI graphics sucks at writing drivers and software.

AMD does not have any processors for the mid-end. Intel has that area at this time. AMD is more cost effective for low and high end. Next year this will change. The AMD's Bulldozer core looks good after seeing the Bobcat numbers comparing to an i5. Wait for next year to build a computer. Does your daughter really need one or can she just stick with the present setup.

 

[Vic Vega]

The equivalents would be 965/970 BE. They're a bit cheaper, and a bit slower.

In all honesty the differences are small enough that it doesn't really matter which one you pick.

Personally I'd probably save a few bucks on the CPU/motherboard and go with the 965BE, since gaming performance depends mostly on the graphics anyway.

This was my reasoning when choosing the X4 965. I'm sitting at 4.0GHz on the stock cooler. Whatever performance advantage the i5/i7 may have, I'm not missing it. This system is fast, no doubt about it.

 

[Skott]

If I were building a gaming machine on a tight budget, I would get an AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition and set its clock to around 3.8 GHz. Since it is a black edition, setting the clock at around 3.8 GHz will not be technically over clocked because its multiplier is not fixed. The 6 megabyte of L3 cache will help in games more than in general applications by giving each core about 3 megabytes of L3 cache. The graphics card I would get is a nVidia GeForce GTS 450 or GeForce GTX 460, so the crashes will not be the graphics. AMD graphics or ATI graphics sucks at writing drivers and software.

AMD does not have any processors for the mid-end. Intel has that area at this time. AMD is more cost effective for low and high end. Next year this will change. The AMD's Bulldozer core looks good after seeing the Bobcat numbers comparing to an i5. Wait for next year to build a computer. Does your daughter really need one or can she just stick with the present setup.

She's currently using a laptop. Not sure what kind exactly but I doubt its a high end one. A Dell Studio 17 I think. She was telling me she misses her old desktop that had a E6300 in it that I had built for her years ago. Its broken and not working and just sitting in her closet she tells me. She was telling me she may be coming home in December and wanted something new to where she didn't have to use her laptop.

So anyway I figured something affordable in the mid range would be her best bet and last her at least two years. I came up with the i5 750 as a good mid range option because I have one and I like how well it does and figured that would be a good option for her too. So I figured I'd start researching now to get a base line. I figure offer her the Intel version and the AMD version and then let her decide. Thing is she doesn't know squat about inner workings of PCs. She only understands price. She trusts me to get the best quality for a reasonable price. I hear AMD builds can save as much as $100 due to cheaper CPU and mobo prices so naturally I want to explore this option and see if its viable.

If something new comes out in the next month or two naturally I'll have to consider it. I'm thinking she may want to hold off if there is new stuff coming as soon as January. I see USB 3.0 is starting to show up in mobos so thats something I'm thinking she could use so I'm taking that into consideration too. But thats mobo stuff. I figure lock down a cpu choice first and then find a mobo that'll run it.

Hope I didn't bore you with all that.

And thanks for the feedback.

Edit: Also I don't know if she's coming back for just a short time or for good. She doesn't even know yet. Her husband is in the Army and they don't tell him everything either. So if its just a short visit I'll need it ready for her when she gets here.

 

[jaydee]

Based on described usage, I'd go with AMD Phenom II X2 560BE. There is nothing heavily threaded she's going to do with it, so there's no advantage for you to go with a more expensive quad-core cpu.

 

[busydude]

I hear AMD builds can save as much as $100 due to cheaper CPU and mobo prices so naturally I want to explore this option and see if its viable.

You can save a lot of money if you go take the AMD route. The earlier post I made was based on the title of this thread and the applications it is going to be used for.

If price is more of a priority than the performance, you will be happy with AMD.

Also, AMD's chipsets offer more features(USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gbps) than Intel's counter parts.

This would be my AMD and Intel builds:

CPU: AMD Phenom II 965 -----$160 ------------------------------------------- Intel i5 750 $195
Mobo: Gigabyte 870A(USB 3.0) $93-------------------------------------------- Asus P7P55 $109
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------
-----------------------------$253--------------------------------------------------------$304

 

[Skott]

You can save a lot of money if you go take the AMD route. The earlier post I made was based on the title of this thread and the applications it is going to be used for.

If price is more of a priority than the performance, you will be happy with AMD.

Also, AMD's chipsets offer more features(USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gbps) than Intel's counter parts.

This would be my AMD and Intel builds:

CPU: AMD Phenom II 965 -----$160 ------------------------------------------- Intel i5 750 $195
Mobo: Gigabyte 870A(USB 3.0) $93-------------------------------------------- Asus P7P55 $109
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------
-----------------------------$253--------------------------------------------------------$304

Yeah, thats the same thing I was looking at too. Save $50ish dollars if I go the AMD route.

 

[Skott]

Based on described usage, I'd go with AMD Phenom II X2 560BE. There is nothing heavily threaded she's going to do with it, so there's no advantage for you to go with a more expensive quad-core cpu.

Thanks for that info, Jaydee. I'll explore the 560 as a consideration. I even read that the X3 is a popular build with WoW users because Wow supposedly utilizes three cores but not four. Two things sort of turned me off though. One, the X3 needed to be unlocked or something like that. Didn't dig too deep into it and 2, there is a huge debate whether the new expansion utilizes four cores or not. Which is when I thought I'd just go and jump up to a quad and have done with it.

 

[busydude]

Thanks for that info, Jaydee. I'll explore the 560 as a consideration. I even read that the X3 is a popular build with WoW users because Wow supposedly utilizes three cores but not four. Two things sort of turned me off though. One, the X3 needed to be unlocked or something like that. Didn't dig too deep into it and 2, there is a huge debate whether the new expansion utilizes four cores or not. Which is when I thought I'd just go and jump up to a quad and have done with it.
[/quote ]

Unlocking is a hit or miss, the problem with X3 is its low stock clock speeds. It is only good when overclocked. Also, now Newegg is offering a 10% discount on select AMD processors this week only, you can get a Phenom II X4 970 for $163.

 

[jihe]

If I were building a gaming machine on a tight budget, I would get an AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition and set its clock to around 3.8 GHz. Since it is a black edition, setting the clock at around 3.8 GHz will not be technically over clocked because its multiplier is not fixed. The 6 megabyte of L3 cache will help in games more than in general applications by giving each core about 3 megabytes of L3 cache. The graphics card I would get is a nVidia GeForce GTS 450 or GeForce GTX 460, so the crashes will not be the graphics. AMD graphics or ATI graphics sucks at writing drivers and software.

AMD does not have any processors for the mid-end. Intel has that area at this time. AMD is more cost effective for low and high end. Next year this will change. The AMD's Bulldozer core looks good after seeing the Bobcat numbers comparing to an i5. Wait for next year to build a computer. Does your daughter really need one or can she just stick with the present setup.

more like amd has no high end

 

[OCGuy]

Unlocking is a hit or miss, the problem with X3 is its low stock clock speeds. It is only good when overclocked. Also, now Newegg is offering a 10% discount on select AMD processors this week only, you can get a Phenom II X4 970 for $163.

I can get a i7 930 from Microcenter, which is even better than the X6 AMD....for only $36 more than that. I would never ever consider paying that much for a X4.

 

[jihe]

I can get a i7 930 from Microcenter, which is even better than the X6 AMD....for only $36 more than that. I would never ever consider paying that much for a X4.

fry;s had x6 1055t for $150

 

[electroju]

more like amd has no high end

AMD does have high end, but nothing compared to Intel processors right now. AMD does have an advantage over Intel for multi-threaded applications or for intense multi-taskers. If using Linux, AMD processors just looks a lot better because Linux is just a multi-task beast.

She's currently using a laptop. Not sure what kind exactly but I doubt its a high end one. A Dell Studio 17 I think. She was telling me she misses her old desktop that had a E6300 in it that I had built for her years ago. Its broken and not working and just sitting in her closet she tells me. She was telling me she may be coming home in December and wanted something new to where she didn't have to use her laptop.

So anyway I figured something affordable in the mid range would be her best bet and last her at least two years. I came up with the i5 750 as a good mid range option because I have one and I like how well it does and figured that would be a good option for her too. So I figured I'd start researching now to get a base line. I figure offer her the Intel version and the AMD version and then let her decide. Thing is she doesn't know squat about inner workings of PCs. She only understands price. She trusts me to get the best quality for a reasonable price. I hear AMD builds can save as much as $100 due to cheaper CPU and mobo prices so naturally I want to explore this option and see if its viable.

If something new comes out in the next month or two naturally I'll have to consider it. I'm thinking she may want to hold off if there is new stuff coming as soon as January. I see USB 3.0 is starting to show up in mobos so thats something I'm thinking she could use so I'm taking that into consideration too. But thats mobo stuff. I figure lock down a cpu choice first and then find a mobo that'll run it.

Hope I didn't bore you with all that.

And thanks for the feedback.

Edit: Also I don't know if she's coming back for just a short time or for good. She doesn't even know yet. Her husband is in the Army and they don't tell him everything either. So if its just a short visit I'll need it ready for her when she gets here.

Motherboards with USB 3.0 makes the motherboard too expensive. USB 3.0 is not required and they are mainly an add-on, so they are literally not built-in. Intel's next set of chipsets do not include USB 3.0, so selecting a motherboard that feature USB 3.0 is just irrelevant to your build. Light Peak or something similar to it will instantly replace USB. You can still add USB 3.0 to the computer if you need it.

Just buy a Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition and set its multiplier to have it be clocked at around 3.8 GHz. Your daughter will not know the difference. It will be faster than the i5-750. If your daughter only plays World of Warcraft, find what components that it uses the most. If the computer becomes sluggish when there is a lot of characters in one area, then that is the video card problem, so a GeForce GTX 480 will be better than buying a whole new computer. If it stutters during playing the game, that is the hard drive. If it can not locate the data fast enough and its pipe is not big enough load the game data then you should upgrade the hard drive or use a striping level of RAID. If using wireless and using encryption, the performance for any game will suffer.

Things have changed since World of Warcraft came out, so memory requirements and processor requirements are higher when running Windows Vista or Windows 7 compared to Windows XP. Windows Vista and Windows 7 is just a system hog.

Thanks for that info, Jaydee. I'll explore the 560 as a consideration. I even read that the X3 is a popular build with WoW users because Wow supposedly utilizes three cores but not four. Two things sort of turned me off though. One, the X3 needed to be unlocked or something like that. Didn't dig too deep into it and 2, there is a huge debate whether the new expansion utilizes four cores or not. Which is when I thought I'd just go and jump up to a quad and have done with it.

Sure you can get an X2 or X3 of AMD processors, but do not expect the disabled cores to work reliable and stable. Depending on the chip, you may not be able to enable all of them or not even one. Though the cores are disabled for a reason and this reason is it failed tests at the factory. Sure some people have disabled all cores, but I have not read anything beside that. This does not mean it works because the other reason it could be people tried testing it and it crashed here and there. Some people just left all cores enabled and they did not have any noticeable problems.

 

[SniperWulf]

I don't think you can go wrong with either setup. For the $, I'd go with either an i5-750 or a Phenom II X4 955. Get a reasonable MB, 4GB of ram and a GTX 460 1GB or a Radeon 5770/5850 and call it a day

 

[soccerballtux]

more like amd has no high end

I don't feel like like this is a problem though. Any quad core at > 3ghz with L3 cache is going to be plenty for anyone for the next 5 years.

 

[mindwreck]

amd is the way to go if you want to save a few. I bought my i5 750 dec 2009 for 200 and i can't believe its only dropped 5 dollars since then. this should finally go down after SB is released.

 

[gammaray]

i'll give you my 2 cents:

It's totally ridiculous to buy 150$ + processors to play WoW. Any, and i mean ANY Phenom II x2 or Athlon II X2 with 3.0GHZ and more will run that game 10 times the minimum requirements for the game. So there you go, 100$ for your processor, pick the one you want.

As for the video card, any amd 4800 serie will run that game easily with no lag whatsoever.

 

[gammaray]

Faster (or overclocked) CPUs are beneficial for WoW:

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,...nchmarks-with-Phenom-II-and-Core-i5/Practice/

sure they are ??

a corvette is beneficial too if you wanna go 180 mph on the highway

If Skott has 1000$ to spend for the best core i7 and another 1000$ for the best video card, his daughter will probably get 180 fps playing WoW..........