Best Bang For the Buck? (for gaming PC)

[busydude]

How will a 3.6-4ghz o/ced Phenom II X2 555 compare to an i7 930 overclocked in desktop apps, video encoding, and games?

I can show you some bench marks, but since I own a 555, I cannot face the utter humiliation of pitting a 555 with an i7 in encoding.

It is good for games and normal usage which are not multi threaded. Its a big no no if you are into encoding and stuff like that. An i7 or an X6 is the way to go if encoding is your priority.

In short there is no comparison between a $100 Vs $300 CPU.

 

[DJFuji]

Unless, of course, we're talking about something called a Celeron 300A...

 

[DJFuji]

Core i7 930... $200? I thought that was a typo and you meant $300. Is this a misprint? Why so cheap? The closest price i could find online is $270 and thats for OEM.

If this is legit i'm driving my ass up there to buy one tomorrow.

 

[richierich1212]

Microcenter.

 

[Markfw]

How will a 3.6-4ghz o/ced Phenom II X2 555 compare to an i7 930 overclocked in desktop apps, video encoding, and games?

It will get annilialated. No comparison in all encoding, some games, and some desktop apps.

 

[DJFuji]

Haha thank you Mark. Now to call microcenter and see about that $200 i7-930.

 

[Kantastic]

Some Microcenters started to deny customers any sole CPU purchases because they're losing too much money. There was a thread on it either here or over at TechPowerUp about this.

 

[Sp12]

That's actually a big issue for microcenter, the CPU deals are meant to draw people in to spend money. Frankly, an i7 for 270 is a bad purchase, so if they stop due to bleedout I'll be disappointed.

So.... when you go buy your CPU at microcenter consider purchasing other components there. They'll price match newegg, I've often had them drop 5% off Newegg's price if it beats theirs.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

That's actually a big issue for microcenter, the CPU deals are meant to draw people in to spend money. Frankly, an i7 for 270 is a bad purchase, so if they stop due to bleedout I'll be disappointed.

So.... when you go buy your CPU at microcenter consider purchasing other components there. They'll price match newegg, I've often had them drop 5% off Newegg's price if it beats theirs.

I AGREE WITH THIS. GET YOUR MEMORY AND BOARDS THERE FOR PERFORMING THIS VALUABLE PUBLIC SERVICE. THEY EVEN HAVE $40 OFF ON ANY BOARD WHEN YOU BUY CERTAIN CHIPS SO THEY DO HAVE GOOD DEALS. I BOUGHT An oem DVD RW THERE LAST WEEK FOR 20 AND THEY EVEN GIVE YOU A FREE SATA CABLE AND POWER CORD. CHECK OUT THEIR ADS, THEY ARE HUGE AND ARE BOUND TO HAVE SOMETHING YOURE INTERESTED IN. I BOUGHT THIS without the window (http://www.microcenter.com/single_pr...uct_id=0334041) FOR $29 AND I DONT EVEN NEED IT

sorry about the caps!

 

[DrMrLordX]

How will a 3.6-4ghz o/ced Phenom II X2 555 compare to an i7 930 overclocked in desktop apps, video encoding, and games?

The thing you need to understand is that the 555 BE is as popular as it is due to its unlockability.

Unlock two extra cores and OC to 4 ghz, and it should do okay, though a 930 will walk all over it when encoding video in commonly-used encoding apps (there's one cherry-picked encoding app that the AMDZone guys like where Deneb can keep up, but . . .) In games, the 930 will have an edge, though it will not be so pronounced.

Desktop apps requiring nominal computing power will probably show little difference between the two.

If you do not unlock cores on the 555 BE, then it isn't going to be anywhere in the same ballpark as the 930, and certainly not worth the $90-$100 retail that one normally has to pay to get such a chip.

I don't know if Microcenter or Fry's has any deals on them yet, but in retail, the budget AMD chip to watch (in my opinion) is the Athlon II x4 445. It's a C3-stepping chip that is capable of unlocking to a 3.1 ghz Propus (quad core) OR 3.1 ghz Deneb (also quad core, plus L3 cache) depending on what you get. They retail for around $85.

At stock I would take one over the 555 BE since you lose L3 cache but gain an extra core for about $10-$15 less, making it about as good for games (depending on how heavily-threaded the game is) and considerably better for encoding. Still not in the same ballpark as the 930, but let's not kid ourselves: only Thuban can challenge the performance of Bloomfield, and even then, not in every app.

 

[DJFuji]

$200 for a 930 renders all of this AMD talk moot.

 

[Sp12]

$200 for a 930 renders all of this AMD talk moot.

Umm fry's had a combo for an athlon X4 and mobo for 60$. You're looking at around 400 for the best deals possible on both the CPU and mobo for an i7. AMD is a much better value at lower price points.

Now, for games, I'd rather have a 930 than 1055t if they're both 200$ chips.

i7 for 290? I'll take the 1055t@200, that's ~80/90% of the performance for 2/3rds the price. Though honestly an i5-750 comes close, and is probably a better pure-gaming chip.

150$? I'll take a 955BE.

 

[jihe]

How will a 3.6-4ghz o/ced Phenom II X2 555 compare to an i7 930 overclocked in desktop apps, video encoding, and games?

An i7 930 would crush a x2 555
...
...
...
in the same way two $100 bills would crush one $100 bill.

 

[DrMrLordX]

$200 for a 930 renders all of this AMD talk moot.

If you can get it for that price and have a board + RAM lined up for it, there you go. Hell, even if you don't have the board or RAM ready to go, I'm sure you can get them as a part of a combo deal or something. I've never been a huge fan of the platform costs associated with x58, but you can get around that somewhat.

 

[alrocky]

That's actually a big issue for microcenter, the CPU deals are meant to draw people in to spend money....

So.... when you go buy your CPU at microcenter consider purchasing other components there. They'll price match newegg, I've often had them drop 5% off Newegg's price if it beats theirs.

No grief at the Tustin CA B&M about CPU only. I still can't decide between the Giga and the Asus D-E boards. They did confirm they'd price match New Egg, but good to know they may drop it an extra 5%.

 

[Axon]

I own both the X2 555 (unlocked to an X4 B55 and stable at 3.7) and an i7 920 that I keep at 3.6, but which can touch 4.2 on air.

There's no comparison. The 920 is the superior chip and system. The B55 offers a comparable gaming experience with the same GPU installed, but there are just little ticks with it that make it feel less smooth. For me, stable, smooth performance is king. Synthetic benchmarks help but don't tell the whole story, you know?

If you've got the cash go with the 930.

 

[alrocky]

If I'm not mistaken NewEgg just recently dropped the price on the Asus P6X58D Premium from $300 to $270 with an additional 10% off ending today July 7. That puts it within spitting distance of the D-E: $243 vs $240.

Now if I hadn't already purchased the i7 930 at MC, I'd be tempted to jump on today's Fry's ad for an i7 930 (likely OEM) and Giga UD3R for $364. I also see Fry's offers Lord of the Rings trilogy for $40 and WD 1TB Black 64 mb buffer for $94.

 

[DJFuji]

Picked up the frys bundle yesterday for $364. Both retail packages. Sweet!

 

[DJFuji]

Quick question: Will I have to reinstall windows 7 once i swap out mobo, cpu, and ram?

 

[ShawnD1]

Quick question: Will I have to reinstall windows 7 once i swap out mobo, cpu, and ram?

Yes. Some people say no, and there's some kind of trick to this, but it's easier to just reinstall.

It's easiest if you do NOT format the drive.
It's easiest to get your system back to the way it was if you backup your C:/Users/ folder because this is where all of your Firefox bookmarks, save games, and Outlook settings are saved.

 

[bryanW1995]

that deal is just disgusting.

I agree that if micrcenter and/or frys will pricematch newegg on the other components then it makes sense to just get it all at the b&m store. First of all, they deserve some other business from their crazy ass sale price and if we encourage that behavior then they should continue it in the future. Secondly, you get everything right away so no waiting around to put your badass new rig together. Finally, as great as newegg service is, you still have to send everything in if you need to rma. With the b&m, if you have a problem just take it back in and exchange it on the spot.

 

[ShawnD1]

I agree that if micrcenter and/or frys will pricematch newegg on the other components then it makes sense to just get it all at the b&m store. First of all, they deserve some other business from their crazy ass sale price and if we encourage that behavior then they should continue it in the future. Secondly, you get everything right away so no waiting around to put your badass new rig together. Finally, as great as newegg service is, you still have to send everything in if you need to rma. With the b&m, if you have a problem just take it back in and exchange it on the spot.

This is why I buy shit from my local computer shop. I had this computer up and running within an hour of buying it. Shit takes about 5 days to get from newegg to my house

 

[evolucion8]

The i7 930 is the better processor overall, in games the margin between the Phenom II X4 955/965 and the i7 is too close for a call, unless if you build a Tri-SLI/QuadFire setup. The Phenom II X6 can be competitive with the likes of i7 860/870 in multi threading, don't know how the i7 930 stacks in, but at such price, the i7 930 is disgustingly cheap!!!

 

[ShawnD1]

The Phenom II X6 can be competitive with the likes of i7 860/870 in multi threading, don't know how the i7 930 stacks in, but at such price, the i7 930 is disgustingly cheap!!!

i7 930 is basically the same as i7 920. For games, it's quite a bit better than the Phenom II X6.

Performance per core shows itself in a few of Anand's tests in the Phenom II X6 review.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3674/amds-sixcore-phenom-ii-x6-1090t-1055t-reviewed/9
Dawn of War seems to be the most CPU restricted game, and even the slowest i7 beats the fastest Phenom II.
X6 1090T - 54.9
i7 920 - 62.2 fps (13% faster)

Factor in overclocking and there's just no comparison between the two. The i7 is far better for games. Other stuff is debatable, but games are a clear victory for Intel.

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

I've been out of the hardware stuff for a while now. I do have access to a microcenter and they have a bunch of those $200 i7s in stock. The description says that chip runs at 2.8. What's a reasonable OC with the stock cooler? Do I need to invest in really good ram or is it not too picky? Would it pair up well with one of the evga b-stock boards? I'm thinking about the x58 SLI.

Slightly off topic but they got some cool looking halo thumb drives for cheap. If you do a search for "halo flash". 8GB is $5, 4GB is $3, 2GB is $3 also. B&M only.