AMD processor suggestions.

[996GT2]

$200 for just the CPU, and you want it now: buy an Intel 2500K and don't look back

$200 for CPU + mobo: Buy a Phenom II X4 or X6

$200 for just the CPU, you must have AMD, and you can wait: wait a few months for official benchmarks of Bulldozer to come out. Phenom II is an evolution of the Athlon 64 architecture that dates back to 2005.

 

[richierich1212]

OP Said he's an AMD Fan. 2500K is awesome but not AMD.

I'd wait another couple of months for Bulldozer. It's going to be released on 9/19.

 

[cebalrai]

Alright I am in the market to build a new computer and I want to start at the heart of the rig. Before anyone questions the title, I have been a fan of AMD since the beginning of my computer building life. LOL. I am just a die hard AMD fan and I am going to continue my computer building life with an AMD at the heart of my new rig. So lets move on to my question, I am looking for a new processor. I want something with the possibility of overclocking, quad-core atleast, price wise I am looking at spending no more than $200. I plan to start my system build overclocking on air cooling and moving into water cooling as time goes by. Please feel free to give me any and all advise on a new processor and a motherboard for my build. I would greatly appreciate them all. Thank you in advance for all help you can give me.

Buy an AM3+ board and put a cheap Athlon II X3 in it. Unlock it to an X4 if possible and overclock it as much as you can. They OC well.

Then when Bulldozer comes out, get one and sell your Athlon on ebay for $35.

 

[sm625]

I would buy a $75 Phenom II 720 and use that to tide me over till BD arrives. Then sell that chip for $55 in 6 months when BD is out with its 2nd retail stepping. 20 bucks is not bad for a holdover. And it might even unlock and OC to 3.6GHz, in which case you can take a load of screenshots and videos and use that to pimp out your ebay page when you go to sell it. Might get the full price you paid for it lol.

 

[guachi]

I'm a huge AMD fan, too (386DX-40 FTW!).

Like many have said, waiting is a great option. If you MUST get something and can't wait for BD, an AM3+ board and a cheap Athlon II X2 should work. Or you can get a 955/965 and it should last you for a bit.

 

[JimKiler]

I'm a huge AMD fan, too (386DX-40 FTW!).

Like many have said, waiting is a great option. If you MUST get something and can't wait for BD, an AM3+ board and a cheap Athlon II X2 should work. Or you can get a 955/965 and it should last you for a bit.

I would lean towards a 955/965 so you can wait for the market to stabilize and pay a little less for chips since when they come out there will be premium. And we are already hearing about new BD parts in Q1 2012.

 

[wuliheron]

I would lean towards a 955/965 so you can wait for the market to stabilize and pay a little less for chips since when they come out there will be premium. And we are already hearing about new BD parts in Q1 2012.

Bulldozer is also a radically new design. Major improvements could be made within the first year of its release or problems could crop up like the chipset issue with sandy bridge mobos.

 

[bgt]

Bulldozer is also a radically new design. Major improvements could be made within the first year of its release or problems could crop up like the chipset issue with sandy bridge mobos.

Llano setup? Nice and not expensive.

 

[wuliheron]

Llano setup? Nice and not expensive.

Llano is just another small step towards trinity when when all bets are off. Nice if you want a cheap disposable computer, but not something to build on.

 

[formulav8]

Right now the PhII 720 Tricore is one of the best bang cpu's out there. You can get it for $75 - $15 code (EMCKCHD82) = $60. And you just might be able to get a 4th core and it should oc very well.

 

[exar333]

Come back NEXT YEAR.

Corrected that for you...

 

[StrangerGuy]

I would lean towards a 955/965 so you can wait for the market to stabilize and pay a little less for chips since when they come out there will be premium. And we are already hearing about new BD parts in Q1 2012.

Unless you are really cash strapped even a 955 is baaaaaaaad value for money once you factor in the price of mobos.

955: $120 + $80 = $200
2500K: $210 + $100 = $310

Difference = $110 , Intel costs ~50% more but it is also more than 50% faster at stock and even more when OCed.

Add in more usual stuff on both sides:

8GB DDR3 = $50, aftermarket HSF = $40, video card = $200, HDD = $50, PSU = $50, Casing = $50

Intel: $750
AMD : $640

So here's the kicker, the 2500K rig is now only ~17% more expensive but its still 50% faster. You can of course put the $110 difference on a better video card for the AMD rig, but taking a such a huge hit on the CPU side is a bad idea IMO.

 

[badb0y]

Corrected that for you...

Nice one . But I am fairly confident AMD will deliver a "CPU" by September. Whether it beats anything it's priced against is not a guarantee D:.

 

[w0nker]

Unless you are really cash strapped even a 955 is baaaaaaaad value for money once you factor in the price of mobos.

955: $120 + $80 = $200
2500K: $210 + $100 = $310

Difference = $110 , Intel costs ~50% more but it is also more than 50% faster at stock and even more when OCed.

Add in more usual stuff on both sides:

8GB DDR3 = $50, aftermarket HSF = $40, video card = $200, HDD = $50, PSU = $50, Casing = $50

Intel: $750
AMD : $640

So here's the kicker, the 2500K rig is now only ~17% more expensive but its still 50% faster. You can of course put the $110 difference on a better video card for the AMD rig, but taking a such a huge hit on the CPU side is a bad idea IMO.

And when you factor in the cost of upgrading to bulldozer when it releases, the price pretty much evens out.

 

[nyker96]

the new bulldozer will be here in about 2 months, wait til then and get the next gen from AMD you'd be happy you have waited.

 

[exar333]

the new bulldozer will be here in about 2 months, wait til then and get the next gen from AMD you'd be happy you have waited.

Again, released <> available. Likely, BD builds will not be readily available until sometime in 4Q, at the earliest. Llano had a few months between release and availability.

Edit: Not trying to be 'gloom and doom', just setting expecations.

 

[wuliheron]

Unless you are really cash strapped even a 955 is baaaaaaaad value for money once you factor in the price of mobos.

I hear this same instant gratification crap from Intel fanboys all the time. They buy the best cpu they can afford and then complain a few years later that Intel processors are not backwards compatible and its too expensive to upgrade. Then they complain they can't afford a decent video card because they've spent all their money on a new cpu, mobo, and ram that gives them 5 extra fps. An overclocked 955 will do 3.7ghz which is plenty fast enough to play any game on the market and in a couple of years you can use the same mobo and cooler to upgrade to bulldozer after the price has come down. If you aren't thinking in terms of the best bang for your buck over the long haul you might as well buy a prebuilt. At least they come with a simple warranty.

 

[996GT2]

I hear this same instant gratification crap from Intel fanboys all the time. They buy the best cpu they can afford and then complain a few years later that Intel processors are not backwards compatible and its too expensive to upgrade. Then they complain they can't afford a decent video card because they've spent all their money on a new cpu, mobo, and ram that gives them 5 extra fps. An overclocked 955 will do 3.7ghz which is plenty fast enough to play any game on the market and in a couple of years you can use the same mobo and cooler to upgrade to bulldozer after the price has come down. If you aren't thinking in terms of the best bang for your buck over the long haul you might as well buy a prebuilt. At least they come with a simple warranty.

I hear this "upgrade path" crap from AMD fanboys all the time. Buy a cheaper CPU now, upgrade on a few years with the same mobo, intel mobs are expensive, blah blah.

Let me tell you from first hand experience that it doesn't often work. I built an AM2 system a few months before Core 2 came out thinking that Phenom would be good and that I could use the same board to upgrade to Phenom later.

Not only did Phenom massively suck, my board ad many of the other early AM2 boards did NOT support Phenom, contrary to AMD's claims of backwards compatibility.

Looking back on it, I could have built a Pentium D system that would have supported even the later generation Core 2 Quads. So you AMD fanboys need to drop that argument.

 

[wuliheron]

I hear this "upgrade path" crap from AMD fanboys all the time. Buy a cheaper CPU now, upgrade on a few years with the same mobo, intel mobs are expensive, blah blah.

Let me tell you from first hand experience that it doesn't often work. I built an AM2 system a few months before Core 2 came out thinking that Phenom would be good and that I could use the same board to upgrade to Phenom later.

Not only did Phenom massively suck, my board ad many of the other early AM2 boards did NOT support Phenom, contrary to AMD's claims of backwards compatibility.

Looking back on it, I could have built a Pentium D system that would have supported even the later generation Core 2 Quads. So you AMD fanboys need to drop that argument.

Sorry, don't know any fanboys. If you're looking for a date I suggest using another website.

AMD definitely dropped the ball with the original phenoms. Intel recently had to recall countless sandy bridge mobos too. Ancient Chinese saying: "Shit Happens". My advice is to get over it and move on.

 

[996GT2]

AMD definitely dropped the ball with the original phenoms. Intel recently had to recall countless sandy bridge mobos too. Ancient Chinese saying: "Shit Happens".

My advice is to get over it and move on.

Why do you think I built a Sandy Bridge rig? :biggrin:

 

[infoiltrator]

Just did some comparisons between the G620 and some of the Phenom IIs. You are talkin 955 to get a clear advantage (no 945 listing.) and I enjoy doing AMD Bargain Builds. This is not to say they won't get the job done.
And I do find some Intel decisions objectionable.
You can't live in the past, but your money your choice.
I can appreciate what AMD has done with what it has, I can not afford to supprt it just because.

 

[wuliheron]

Why do you think I built a Sandy Bridge rig? :biggrin:

Good for you! Now we'll just have to wait and see how it works for you in the long run. Me, I'm still using an old phenom II 940 and drr2 1066 and don't see any reason to upgrade for at least the next year. By then hopefully I'll have a better idea of how good bulldozer is and whether ivy bridge is worth the extra cash. As far as I'm concerned all this debate over cpu processors is rapidly becoming about as meaningful as what color case you have. The selection of decent processors is huge and they just don't make that much difference for gaming anymore.

Ideally you want something like a processor with at least 8 cpu cores, 300 streaming processors, and a gb of edram. That's the next big evolution I can imagine where raw bandwidth replaces cpu speed as the most important criteria and it should start to become an issue within the next several years. At that point processor architecture should become really interesting once again and trying to predict the longevity of a system will become impossible.

 

[StrangerGuy]

I hear this same instant gratification crap from Intel fanboys all the time. They buy the best cpu they can afford and then complain a few years later that Intel processors are not backwards compatible and its too expensive to upgrade. Then they complain they can't afford a decent video card because they've spent all their money on a new cpu, mobo, and ram that gives them 5 extra fps. An overclocked 955 will do 3.7ghz which is plenty fast enough to play any game on the market and in a couple of years you can use the same mobo and cooler to upgrade to bulldozer after the price has come down. If you aren't thinking in terms of the best bang for your buck over the long haul you might as well buy a prebuilt. At least they come with a simple warranty.

Let me get this straight...

You suggesting anyone buying a new rig to buy a 955 BE and AM3+ board so they can get stuck with an all around inferior chip...

Instead of spending just $100 more on a 2500K setup now that blows AMD away? Oh wait but-but-but the currently unreleased BULLDOZER for AM3+ will kill Intel! Now you are already calling imaginary future BD price cuts to justify a current AMD purchase. Oh wait again, AMD isn't giving BD for free; you still need to pay for it which makes you spend more on the "AMD upgrade path" than when you would gone Intel in the first place!

Fanboys are goddamn hilarious.

 

[wuliheron]

Let me get this straight...

You suggesting anyone buying a new rig to buy a 955 BE and AM3+ board so they can get stuck with an all around inferior chip...

Instead of spending just $100 more on a 2500K setup now that blows AMD away? Oh wait but-but-but the currently unreleased BULLDOZER for AM3+ will kill Intel! Now you are already calling imaginary future BD price cuts to justify a current AMD purchase. Oh wait again, AMD isn't giving BD for free; you still need to pay for it which makes you spend more on the "AMD upgrade path" than when you would gone Intel in the first place!

Fanboys are goddamn hilarious.

And you have a warped sense of humor to go with your warped mind. Bulldozer will come down in price as sure as gravity causes things to fall. Name a single chip that hasn't gone down in price and I'll call you a liar as well was warped.

 

[toyota]

why not spend a small amount more and get the 2500k? sure you can buy the slower AMD cpu and AM3+ board in hopes that Bulldozer will be good but why bother when you can have a good cpu NOW? at best AMD will match or barely beat the 2500k at the same price points. heck if anything knowing you can upgrade to Ivy Bridge while already having a superior chip now seems to make more sense anyway.