AMD Quad or Intel Core 2

[tjcinnamon]

Lets say OC'ing is not a factor in the equation:

Which would be better in your opinion for non-gaming (video editing and sound production):

Asus P5B MOBO and e6600 (not q6600)
or
Phenom 9500 and Asus M2N68-LA MOBO

Thanks,
JOe K.

 

[Twsmit]

If your video editing software is multithreaded the phenom might be the best choice.

This is the first link I googled, not sure what software you use since you did not specify but in some pretty hardcore video production the phenom obliterates the e6600.
http://www.tomshardware.com/20...ck_edition/page32.html

 

[tjcinnamon]

I checked that link. It seems the phenom has a pretty bad rap. Is that because of the lack of overclocking or do you think there are actual design flaws?

I'm looking to possibly get a pre-built phenom 9600 system. I already own the p5b with e6600. My dilemma is whether or not I should sell the e6600 system to get the phenom 9600 system.

 

[Markfw]

Just pop a Q6600 in your existing systm, no bios or even an hsf required (unless you have retail E6600, may not be enough) !!!!!

 

[v8envy]

A quad core AMD would be superior to a dual core Intel in the case of no overclocking and apps which can use all 4 cores. I agree with Markfw900, swap the CPU for a Q6600. No OS reinstall issues, same or better performance.

There are plenty of reports of Phenom instability at stock clocks. Think of the 9600 as already overclocked by AMD as high as it's likely to go (that's why most have little to no overclocking headroom) -- you may luck out and have 0 problems, or you may have to downclock at least one core to have it be stable. I'd be interested in seeing how many Phenoms are unable to run at their original clocks as they age.

Why play the lottery just to match the Q6600 on an app or two? Get a Q6600 and don't worry. If you're buying pre-built, the cost difference between an HPaq Q6600 and Phenom 9600 box with the same inards is less than the price of a big mac.

 

[tjcinnamon]

Already have a Q6600 with Gigabyte GA-P35 MOBO and 4GB of Dominator. Which is my main production machine (no internet connection).

for my second machine, which is internet/music/video capture/misc/possible network render machine

I'm looking at either keeping my Asus P5B with e-6600 and 3GB PC2-6400

or switching too a Phenom 9500 and Asus M2N68-LA MOBO with and 3GB PC2-6400.

I basically have the opportunity to do this for free.

 

[hnzw rui]

Yeah, just go Q6600. There's a price cut in April so you might want to wait for that.

Initial release Phenoms had a design flaw. I think AMD's already released Phenoms with new steppings. Heard a rumor somewhere those are being named 9X50.

 

[byronm]

I love my trusty Phenom 9600. Most of my issues were 790fx chipset issues that took a few bios revisions to iron out. Vista screams now and runs without those dreaded BSOD's that made it look like the 3rd core was stalling/crashing

 

[tjcinnamon]

I already have a q6600. I can't buy another q6600 because that will cost me money. Where as with this scenario it will be free. I'm wondering if it would be worth the hassle.

I have 2 options:

1) Either keeping my Asus P5B with e-6600 and 3GB PC2-6400

2) switching too a Phenom 9500 and Asus M2N68-LA MOBO with and 3GB PC2-6400

 

[Extelleron]

Between those two choices and with no overclocking, I'd go with Phenom 9500. It's going to be a bit slower in single-threaded apps but when you have an application that takes advantage of 4 cores, your performance will be much higher than the E6600.

If I were you though, I'd wait till April, not long at all, when AMD will cut Phenom prices and introduce Phenom CPUs based on the new B3 stepping at higher clockspeeds and without the TLB erratum.

 

[hnzw rui]

If you can get the Phenom system for free, then go for that. Should be significantly faster than the E6600 with programs which make use of all four cores.

 

[octopus41092]

Phenom if your gonna be rendering. Quad core will always be faster than dual in rendering.

 

[Lt 486]

If its B3 batch Phenom, then go with AMD, coz motherboard will be cheaper.

 

[bfdd]

Originally posted by: Lt 486
If its B3 batch Phenom, then go with AMD, coz motherboard will be cheaper.

Did you even read the thread? Also, there's no performance gain from the B3 over the B2 with the fix turned off. So it's a moot point what batch it is.

 

[heyheybooboo]

Here is a list of multi-threaded applications (with linkage!) put together buy a guy from 2CPU ...

I know Adobe Premiere & Vegas Pro will run parallel threads across 4 cores. Any software using the MainConcept encoder should run 4 cores.

I think some of the list is FUD. Photoshop is not multithreaded - but some Photoshop filters are multithreaded ...

 

[secretanchitman]

between those two, get the phenom. its definitely more geared towards what you do, aka 4 cores as opposed to 2.

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: heyheybooboo
Here is a list of multi-threaded applications (with linkage!) put together buy a guy from 2CPU ...

I know Adobe Premiere & Vegas Pro will run parallel threads across 4 cores. Any software using the MainConcept encoder should run 4 cores.

I think some of the list is FUD. Photoshop is not multithreaded - but some Photoshop filters are multithreaded ...

Kind of amazing isn't it that Photoshop (which has existed for how long? 20 years?) hasn't been multi-threaded across the board yet.

Adobe seems to be remarkably unmotivated to address this gap.

Even when dual-socket workstation systems started becoming mainstream 10 years ago folks were grousing that Photoshop was only multi-threaded for a handful of filters.

Zoom ahead a decade and Adobe management still says "meh...".

 

[v8envy]

As someone with a couple of projects consisting of wading into a 5-10 year old codebase and making it multithreaded (or at least threadsafe) I can see Adobe's point of view. Huge investment in man hours to do, huger investment in testing and support because there WILL be heisenbugs. And the increase in sales as a result? Not measurable.

This is not a project you can throw to a bunch of $10/hour monkeys in Lower Slobovia. It'll take some pretty expensive talent to do right. People experienced at doing this kind of stuff are 10x that price. And people who are just learning as they go will wind up being 20x by the time the dust settles. Assuming the underlying product architecture would even benefit from being multi threaded without a ground-up rewrite.

Now, once they have a viable competitor that may change. Not until then.

 

[Duvie]

Well since it is free.....plus you are comparing apples and oranges here...it is a no-brainer that a quad core (even AMDs slower clock for clock quad offering) will be faster then a dual core in most video editing/rendering. These apps and segment of apps have long been the most multithreaded.

The sad thing is if we were allowing ocing an E8400 oc'd to 4ghz could give that 2.3ghz quad a run for its money. Bottomline AMD cpus dont OC well, and haven't scaled up to the numbers they were originally stating would be out.

 

[fritzfield]

Originally posted by: v8envy

This is not a project you can throw to a bunch of $10/hour monkeys in India.

Yeow! Glad you're not on Barack or Hillary's campaign. Wonder how Anand would feel about this comment?

 

[v8envy]

Originally posted by: fritzfield

Originally posted by: v8envy

This is not a project you can throw to a bunch of $10/hour monkeys in India.

Yeow! Glad you're not on Barack or Hillary's campaign. Wonder how Anand would feel about this comment?

So am I, I can see how things taken out of context can turn out for the worst.

My meaning: there are plenty of companies (mostly in India, since that's what's been marketed as the LOWEST COST solution for development) which offer bodies for $10 hour. China and Vietnam dip down to as low as $3/hr. You can see how these are not high quality experienced developers at that rate no matter WHAT country they live in. I'd call them monkeys anywhere else too, since they're almost always lightly trained, non-degreed, and inexperienced. Monkey comes from the old theory that an infinite number of monkeys + infinite number of typewriters = Shakespeare. Untrained, inexperienced dev = random chance of success, hence monkey.

There are also companies who will offer you experienced, expensive developers anywhere else in the world. But since they're NOT monkeys and not $10/hour, those services are never used.

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: v8envy

Originally posted by: fritzfield

Originally posted by: v8envy

This is not a project you can throw to a bunch of $10/hour monkeys in India.

Yeow! Glad you're not on Barack or Hillary's campaign. Wonder how Anand would feel about this comment?

So am I, I can see how things taken out of context can turn out for the worst.

My meaning: there are plenty of companies (mostly in India, since that's what's been marketed as the LOWEST COST solution for development) which offer bodies for $10 hour. China and Vietnam dip down to as low as $3/hr. You can see how these are not high quality experienced developers at that rate no matter WHAT country they live in. I'd call them monkeys anywhere else too, since they're almost always lightly trained, non-degreed, and inexperienced. Monkey comes from the old theory that an infinite number of monkeys + infinite number of typewriters = Shakespeare. Untrained, inexperienced dev = random chance of success, hence monkey.

There are also companies who will offer you experienced, expensive developers anywhere else in the world. But since they're NOT monkeys and not $10/hour, those services are never used.

Do you not recognize the sensitive nature of referring to any person of any nationality or race as a monkey?

Just because you can find references for using such comments in non-inflammatory manner does not mean they won't be received as an offense. Nor does it absolve you of being responsible for ensuring sensitive wordage of your posts are non-inflammatory.

The downside risk of offending someone with the word in the context you are using it is simply not worth the potential upside it delivers to the communication of your message.

There's little to be gained by insulting a nation of software programmers. Your post had merits of its own had you left it at "it will cost a lot of money and time (or both, eventually) no matter who does the programming if it were outsourced".

 

[v8envy]

The intent was not to be offensive or inflamatory, and I appologize. It was a careless use of words combined with citing a specific country. I can see how it can be easily turned into a race issue.

I will edit my original post to change the example country to Lower Slobovia, but leave the discussion of my transgression up. Good lessons to be had there.

 

[Roy2001]

Why don't pickup a $199 Q6600?

 

[jdoggg12]

How would a E8400 compare to an X23800+ @ 2.6Ghz? Just a quick Q