core i3 530 or AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black

[tweakboy]

You wont be able to see it, go with AMD on this one. Better best bang for your buc

 

[SolMiester]

I happen to have an unlocked x4 555 as well as an i5 530, and there is no way an i3 530 beats it in half of AT's benchmarks. Again, an unlocked x4 555 performs similarly to a Phenom II x4 965 and 955 (both ahead of i5 530 in many of AT's benchmarks) seeing that the only difference with the three are clock speeds, and the chart by Passmark that actually includes the unlocked x4 555 (B55 in this chart). What's to stop the OP from overclocking the 555 as well?

Yeah, I see where you are coming from...there isnt that much between the 2 at stock if unlocked,
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/88?vs=118
However the i3 will clock better than an unlocked x2, that's why the cores are locked in the 1st place, harvesting, and IMO the higher clock speed will be better than more cores....
Well, id keep the i3 anyway!

 

[mvbighead]

This thread is amusing. I can't, for the life of me, figure out why someone would consider taking the approach the OP suggested. For gaining a possible percent or two in performance, you want to buy a whole new rig?

I can understand everyone's quibble about sidegrade/downgrade/etc, and if the OP was looking to buy one or the other, I could an argument being made for either side... but if he is looking to move away from something just to get something that may not even be better... why bother?

OP, if you're thinking about upgrading... look at the I5-2500(k) or similar. Otherwise, you're really just wasting time and money.

And like someone else said, you'd be best served dropping in an SSD and sticking with what you have. That would be the best upgrade for minimal coinage.