AMD Phenom II x6 vs I7 930

[osnwa]

I am planning to upgrade just about everything and have set aside roughly $300 for the processor. Unfortunately I cant decide which to go with. I am not a really serious gamer, but I do like to play games from time to time so I would like to know with confidence that if I load a game, I wont have problems with it. Mostly I use my computer for video/photo editing. I dont have plans on doing any overclocking (mainly because I dont know how )

If I go with the I7 930, I plan on getting the ASUS P6X58D Premium LGA 1366 DDR3 USB 3.0 SATA 6 GB/s ATX motherboard (originally wanted the Intel DX58SO Extreme Series, but I have been reading some bad things about it lately)

I dont know which board I will order if I decide to go with the Phenom II

Please, any help making this decision between these 2 processors would be greatly appreciated.

 

[khon]

Is there any particular reason you need a $300 motherboard if you're not overclocking, and presumably not even using a SLI setup since you're not much of a gamer ?

Just asking because it seems like you could save yourself a lot of money by going for the the i7-870 (P55) instead of the i7-930 (X58).

Also this might be usefull if you're look to compare the speed of the two processors: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/107?vs=146

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Both a good performers, most likely you wouldn't notice a difference between the two.

The i7 930 would probably be best for you. You'll get 2 more DIMM slots to add more RAM than you can with an AMD or socket 1156 setup.

 

[osnwa]

Is there any particular reason you need a $300 motherboard if you're not overclocking, and presumably not even using a SLI setup since you're not much of a gamer ?

Just asking because it seems like you could save yourself a lot of money by going for the the i7-870 (P55) instead of the i7-930 (X58).

Also this might be usefull if you're look to compare the speed of the two processors: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/107?vs=146

Fair question - I've always been the type of person that "over does it just in case". My tastes change regularly - I've gone through phases where I'll do nothing with my computer but play games like Crysis or City of Heroes and even Flight Sim X. Like I said, I just want to know that if I decide to try (or play) a game, I wont have to upgrade again.

Oh - and I dont overclock mainly because I dont understand it. Eventually I may try to learn more about it and hopefully try it.

 

[netxzero64]

both are good systems however, i suggest you going for the i7 P55 setup... it would really save you money.. rather than spending too much on a board without using its true power...

 

[osnwa]

Thanks for the advice.
I just looked at the I7 870 - and that may be a better buy for me....and of course the boards are cheaper.
Out of curiousity - by going with the 1156 socket instead of the 1366, what would someone potentially be giving up ?

 

[khon]

Thanks for the advice.
I just looked at the I7 870 - and that may be a better buy for me....and of course the boards are cheaper.
Out of curiousity - by going with the 1156 socket instead of the 1366, what would someone potentially be giving up ?

You'd be giving up the triple channel memory, the additional PCI-E lanes and the better overclocking potential.

In return you'd save some money, get a bit more speed, and lower the power consumption.

 

[aphorism]

you have no upgrade path if you go with 1156.

 

[heyheybooboo]

Phenom 1055T / Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3

You can snag the Phenom 1090T combo but with a video rig your cash can be better spent on your hard disks, extra monitor, etc.

I think the Radeon HD 5770s are in the $130-$140 range --- don't think you will need more than that for part-time gaming.




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[3DVagabond]

Phenom 1055T / Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3

You can snag the Phenom 1090T combo but with a video rig your cash can be better spent on your hard disks, extra monitor, etc.

I think the Radeon HD 5770s are in the $130-$140 range --- don't think you will need more than that for part-time gaming.




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I agree with everything you've said. I'd make one change. I'd go with an 890FX mobo. Native SATA3 and USB3 with enough bandwidth to properly support it.

 

[osnwa]

I wont have to spend any money on HD - I currently have 600gig that I will be transferring over to the new machine.

The only things I planned on buying were a new case, motherboard, processor and video card. Ive already bought Corsair Dominator GT DDR3 memory - I am just trying to decide on the processor/motherboard

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Socket 1366 will give you 6 RAM slots and triple channel memory. The memory size advantage might be pretty useful for your photo and video editing, as socket 1156 and AM3 only come with 4 RAM slots. But if you don't think this will be a problem, then get whatever. This feature seems like the one to consider the most. Even if you do decide to overclock, 1156 and AM3 are no slouches in this department.

 

[Gikaseixas]

i7 870 is the way IMO

 

[biostud]

you have no upgrade path if you go with 1156.

and neither with 1366, the only reason to get a 1366 is CF/SLI or if you need the power of hex-core or run programs with huge amount of memory needs.

 

[Gikaseixas]

and neither with 1366, the only reason to get a 1366 is CF/SLI or if you need the power of hex-core or run programs with huge amount of memory needs.

agree

 

[heyheybooboo]

I wont have to spend any money on HD - I currently have 600gig that I will be transferring over to the new machine.

The only things I planned on buying were a new case, motherboard, processor and video card. Ive already bought Corsair Dominator GT DDR3 memory - I am just trying to decide on the processor/motherboard

With a video/graphic rig a single HDD is a major bottleneck and will hold your system back considerably. At a minimum you would ideally have 3 drives:

HDD1: OS/Apps
HDD2: Capture/Scratch
HDD3: Output/Storage

Some software (Premiere, as one example) lets you further segregate your work files by breaking out video/audio onto single drives.

So ... you should seriously consider adding a couple of these Spinpoint F3 HD502HJs




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[osnwa]

With a video/graphic rig a single HDD is a major bottleneck and will hold your system back considerably. At a minimum you would ideally have 3 drives:

HDD1: OS/Apps
HDD2: Capture/Scratch
HDD3: Output/Storage

Some software (Premiere, as one example) lets you further segregate your work files by breaking out video/audio onto single drives.

So ... you should seriously consider adding a couple of these Spinpoint F3 HD502HJs




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I have 3 HD that are partitioned as follows..
30gb for OS
70gb for apps

The other 500gb are separated into 100gb increments, so I show to have 7 drives.

 

[Markfw]

For what they are recommending to work, you need separate physical hard drives, not partitions of one hard drive. Then you multiple heads working for you, like a raid array.

 

[ShawnD1]

The other 500gb are separated into 100gb increments, so I show to have 7 drives.

This would actually make the drive a lot slower. If everything was on the same partition, the data being accessed might physically be close on the drive. When separated by multiple partitions, the head needs to swing half way across the drive to access other pieces of data.

A simple analogy would be like picking up kids from school. If they're all at the same school (close on the same partition), you can pick all of them up at one time. If they are spread across 5 different schools, you're driving all over the place and the latency (travel time) goes waaaaay up.

 

[Arkaign]

Ima vote X6 on this one. Easy to oc the BE, you obviously don't need a CF/SLI crazy mobo, and you can put the savings into a couple decent hdds. They've gotten a LOT faster over the years. A decent 2TB drive with only 7200rpm runs circles around Raptors in everything but seek time, and blows the doors off of older 500gb drives due to areal density.

HDD performance is pretty noticeable.

 

[Arkaign]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131651

 

[osnwa]

This would actually make the drive a lot slower. If everything was on the same partition, the data being accessed might physically be close on the drive. When separated by multiple partitions, the head needs to swing half way across the drive to access other pieces of data.

A simple analogy would be like picking up kids from school. If they're all at the same school (close on the same partition), you can pick all of them up at one time. If they are spread across 5 different schools, you're driving all over the place and the latency (travel time) goes waaaaay up.

ahhh - got ya.

So Im guessing it would be better to unpartition the drive with my OS and Apps on it, but still leave my other 2 HD's partitioned because they only contain work (videos/downloads)

 

[FishAk]

I wont have to spend any money on HD - I currently have 600gig that I will be transferring over to the new machine.

The only things I planned on buying were a new case, motherboard, processor and video card. Ive already bought Corsair Dominator GT DDR3 memory - I am just trying to decide on the processor/motherboard

I have 3 HD that are partitioned as follows..
30gb for OS
70gb for apps

The other 500gb are separated into 100gb increments, so I show to have 7 drives.

I think you may be confusing drives with partitions.

First and foremost, before considering additional drives for video/photo editing, you need a separate physical drive for backup. One that will hold all your stuff in at least one compete set.

Not having a proper backup will most definitely bite you in the butt, and it will be the most disappointing part of your computing experience... ever.