Give me a reason to get a Phenom 9600...

[batmang]

btw, is there ANYONE on here with a beastly phenom setup? ANYONE?!

 

[richwenzel]

ill tell you where it makes sense for me to get an AMD (please note I just bought an e8400 and am building a new system from scratch)....

my mother needs a new pc, hers is fairly old and since she is also fairly old refuses to give up AOL and all her bloatware. her pc would be much better if she would just let me remove services. however, she is my mother, and mom said no, so that's that.

so, my mother uses photoshop, plays some games, watches some videos, has a small business etc and tends to keep everything open on her pc all the time....

she will not change her habits...

buying her a phenom over a q6600/e8400 makes sense for the following reason, i won't OC this pc because if anything happens she can't fix it and i may need over a week to get back to her place, which would bother her...im not an expert OCer so i am not going to take the chance...

since she runs a lot of things at once, a quad may be more beneficial than an e8400, and she needs at least 3 gigs of ram cause of everything she has up...

so i might as well save the money on the phenom versus the quad and put it into ram...

btw, AOL is really the devil...that crap eats up more ram than anything i have seen....not even WoW eats up that much ram....at one point it was like 800 megs

 

[batmang]

Word, I say build your mom a Phenom! I'm not sure how to explain this, but I actually have this desire to build up a all AMD/ATi machine. I have NO CLUE WHY.... I think I feel like I have to for some reason. AMD has given me so much bang for the buck over the years that I feel like giving them my hard earned money. Its dumb, but thats how I feel for some dumbass reason.

 

[Tempered81]

Originally posted by: batmang
Word, I say build your mom a Phenom! I'm not sure how to explain this, but I actually have this desire to build up a all AMD/ATi machine. I have NO CLUE WHY.... I think I feel like I have to for some reason. AMD has given me so much bang for the buck over the years that I feel like giving them my hard earned money. Its dumb, but thats how I feel for some dumbass reason.

Do it for your dumbass reasons! JK JK KJK hahahaha you will get good results with a phenom 9600 + 3870x2 quad fire combination... It just might crash often and stuffs but you will still have ridiculous framerates

 

[batmang]

3870x2? Hah, I wish! I was referring to its baby brother, the 3870. BTW, have any RECENT benchmarks come out since the latest catalyst release?

 

[Tempered81]

well i know improvements were in the driver release for the x2 that came out right after nda, i don't know if they improved the single 3870's or not. either way the 3870 is a solid card, almost on par with the 8800gt 512

 

[Extelleron]

Originally posted by: jaredpace

Originally posted by: batmang
Word, I say build your mom a Phenom! I'm not sure how to explain this, but I actually have this desire to build up a all AMD/ATi machine. I have NO CLUE WHY.... I think I feel like I have to for some reason. AMD has given me so much bang for the buck over the years that I feel like giving them my hard earned money. Its dumb, but thats how I feel for some dumbass reason.

Do it for your dumbass reasons! JK JK KJK hahahaha you will get good results with a phenom 9600 + 3870x2 quad fire combination... It just might crash often and stuffs but you will still have ridiculous framerates

What makes you think Phenom is any more unstable than a Core 2 Duo? If you are so worried about stability, then why do you have a highly overclocked + overvolted CPU in your setup?

 

[Tempered81]

I just heard some rumor about phenom having a bug that causes instability. That's all. The c2d's are stable until you start to overclock them. the average stable speed (by AT forum standards which includes p95 orthos stress testing and mem/cpu stability) is about 3.6 on the conroes and 4.2 on the wolfdales (maximums)

I have no idea about phenom overclocking.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: nanaki333
i just put together a phenom system and it's running solid. then again, i have no OS on it and i'm going to be putting vmware esx on it. so i guess i'll be seeing just how much of an issue the TLB is.

i guess they're great chips if they don't have to actually run anything

What? I can understand getting a Phenom when the one thing that suffers TLB errata WONT be installed on my system. But I can't understand getting a Phenom when the one thing that causes the problem is the FIRST thing your going to install.

Yes, they walk amoung us.................... I'm kidding. So why did you?

 

[batmang]

Heh, vmware FTL. I know of the flaws to Phenom, forunately none of them effect me.

 

[batmang]

Originally posted by: batmang
btw, is there ANYONE on here with a beastly phenom setup? ANYONE?!

Someone on these forums has a awesome Phenom rig and I want to hear their opinion dammit! I keep reading up on the Spider platform and I'm becoming very interested. I'm not HUGE into overclocking but I am definitely not a fan of upgrading my entire system every 6 months. Spider platform sounds like a good option for me. If I do go with a Phenom rig, I hope AMD brings back the fire they once had.

 

[exar333]

Originally posted by: shabby
Native quad-core...

Thats completely ridiculous. At the end of the day, performance, not marketing dictates what is better.

 

[exar333]

Originally posted by: PolymerTim

Originally posted by: batmang
Thanks for the responses guys. I have a soft spot in my heart for AMD. They were THE company to go to when you had a low amount of resources. The first machine I saved up for and built on my own was a AMD K6II 400 setup. It wasn't as good as the PII's but it was a much cheaper and performed well. I want to go all out and build up another AMD machine, but I don't think it will be too much cheaper now that the E8400's are around. I'm not in the market for a quad core setup because all I will be doing is casual gaming. The E8400 is just a really nice CPU for the money. AMD has the quad core category budget wise but the real gaming budget setup would be the E8400 for sure.

Hehe, I was just dusting out a KII-400 system I made for my gf (now wife) back around 1997 that is now owned by her parents. Still going strong with Win98! I remember at the time, I was still pretty new at builds and we were really happy we put one together using the cheapest parts we could find for less than $1,000 total (a great deal back then in the first age of emachine junk). Can you believe the thing is still running?

Anyways, I have a soft spot for AMD as well, but I think I'm still gonna go with the E8400. But since I'm not a hard-core gamer, I figure I can soften the blow going with a Radeon 3850 to pump a little money into AMD/ATI. They are much closer in price/performance in video cards than i processors right now.

Those KII/KIII and P3 systems will probably last longer than we do..they are true beats. I have a P3 450 that is still running solid with XP for almost 10 years. Durable stuff...

 

[batmang]

Well, I'm set and I'm going ahead with supporting AMD and ATi. After comparing price, longevity, value, my needs, etc., I'm going with a Phenom rig. Here is my list of parts:

AMD Phenom 9600 Black Edition - 2.3GHz (link)
MSI K9A2 Platinum 790FX Motherboard (link)
HEC Black case with 585w PSU (link)
VisionTek Radeon HD 3850 512MB (link)
(I will eventually get a second one for CrossFire. 8800GTX performance for $380 ($190 a card) a card. (Proof) / (Proof 2))
Samsung SATA Black DVD Burner (link)
G.Skill DDRII 800MHz RAM - Four 1GB sticks (link)
20" Acer AL2016WCbd LCD, free shipping FTW (link)
Seagate 320GB 3.0GB SATA HD - Already have this sitting in my closet. (link)
OS will be Vista 64

Minus the hard drive, the total cost including shipping is $967.91. That is a damn good deal IMO. I plan to get the second card in a coulpe months unless I find one used cheap. I'm hoping to get the same exact make/model to keep things looking uniform. I really think this is a good setup for my needs. I will finally have a quad core setup that should last me a long while....AMD better not go belly up or I will laugh and cry at the same exact time.

EDIT: I don't plan on OC'ing more than 200MHz. Overclocking is not something I really want to do. I'll mess around with it, but I don't think I'll do more than 100-200MHz.

 

[Nathelion]

Originally posted by: batmang
Well, I'm set and I'm going ahead with supporting AMD and ATi. After comparing price, longevity, value, my needs, etc., I'm going with a Phenom rig. Here is my list of parts:

AMD Phenom 9600 Black Edition - 2.3GHz (link)
MSI K9A2 Platinum 790FX Motherboard (link)
HEC Black case with 585w PSU (link)
VisionTek Radeon HD 3850 512MB (link)
(I will eventually get a second one for CrossFire. 8800GTX performance for $380 ($190 a card) a card. (Proof))
Samsung SATA Black DVD Burner (link)
G.Skill DDRII 800MHz RAM - Four 1GB sticks (link)
20" Acer AL2016WCbd LCD, free shipping FTW (link)
Seagate 320GB 3.0GB SATA HD - Already have this sitting in my closet. (link)
OS will be Vista 64

Minus the hard drive, the total cost including shipping is $967.91. That is a damn good deal IMO. I plan to get the second card in a coulpe months unless I find one used cheap. I'm hoping to get the same exact make/model to keep things looking uniform. I really think this is a good setup for my needs. I will finally have a quad core setup that should last me a long while....AMD better not go belly up or I will laugh and cry at the same exact time.

Good deal by what standards? If you're not OCing, sure. But don't tell me you're actually not going to OC that thing?
If you are OCing, an Intel rig would be a better bet.

 

[batmang]

Originally posted by: Nathelion
Good deal by what standards? If you're not OCing, sure. But don't tell me you're actually not going to OC that thing?
If you are OCing, an Intel rig would be a better bet.

I don't plan to overclock at all really. Maybe a 200MHz max.

 

[RaulF]

Originally posted by: harpoon84

Originally posted by: RaulF
A good probability that the new mobo and socket will support a newer AMD CPU without needing a new mobo inlike Intel?

You mean like how existing AM2 mobos have a 'good probability' of running Phenoms?

I bought my Asus P5B Deluxe back in 2006. It has BIOS updates that allows it to run 45nm Wolfdales and Penryns. Sure, Nehalem will need a new chipset, but by then I would have got a good 2 years out of my 'outdated' mobo without needing to upgrade to run a faster Intel CPU.

Yup that's it.

 

[bharatwaja]

Originally posted by: batmang
Word, I say build your mom a Phenom! I'm not sure how to explain this, but I actually have this desire to build up a all AMD/ATi machine. I have NO CLUE WHY.... I think I feel like I have to for some reason. AMD has given me so much bang for the buck over the years that I feel like giving them my hard earned money. Its dumb, but thats how I feel for some dumbass reason.

Sadly thats how I feel too... So I am building and phenom/HD3870X2 set up for my noob friend who jus wants to have quad core....

personally, I use intel... ftw...

 

[batmang]

I must admit that Im very surprised no one on these forums is running a full Spider setup (790x/fx / HD 3800+ / Phenom, etc). I was hoping to see some AMD fan's chime in but NO ONE has one? Thats just weird. I know Intel is killing it right now, but NO Spider enthusiasts on AnandTech forums!? Someone's gotta do it!

 

[Nessism]

Using a budget Phenom system as a video editing machine. Very happy so far. Paid $220 for 9500/ECS motherboard from Fry's (since lowered to $200). No doubt an Intel rig would be faster but not faster per $$ spent.

My opinion is that one could do worse than going AM2+ right now. AMD is under pressure and will get their quad up to speed later this year; chip prices will stay low to keep competitive and the faster chips will provide reasonable upgrade path for the next year or so.

 

[Zstream]

Originally posted by: nanaki333
scratch that. i guess i spoke too soon. it was just sitting at the "select a driver to load" screen and i left it there for like 3 or 4 hours. i came back as i was leaving the office, right after i posted here, and there was some debug crap on the screen. said cpu1 error blah blah blah and had all sorts of address shit. so i powered it off, powered it back on, NO POST! turned it off for 10 minutes, tried again, NO POST! now i get to find out what the problem is. i have my money on the cpu. i guess the idle load was too much for it.

Umm post has nothing to due with the bug, so quit posting poo poo.

 

[batmang]

Where you at Phenom lovers!?

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: batmang
Where you at Phenom lovers!?

We all got tired of waiting, and bought a Q6600. I actually waited until I read the first Barcelona reviews, then hit the buy button on my Q6600.

 

[heyheybooboo]

Originally posted by: batmang
I must admit that Im very surprised no one on these forums is running a full Spider setup (790x/fx / HD 3800+ / Phenom, etc). I was hoping to see some AMD fan's chime in but NO ONE has one? Thats just weird. I know Intel is killing it right now, but NO Spider enthusiasts on AnandTech forums!? Someone's gotta do it!

I've had an MSI K9A2 Platinum 790fx for a week.

For $630 I got the mobo, 5400+ 2.8GHz Brisbane 65nm 65w, 2 x HD 2900pro 512mb 256-bit, 2Gb DDR2 800 - and a tube of AS

I used a stock Opty copper heatpipe cooler I had laying around (which looks pretty cool with the mobo), a black Enlight case, a Silencer 650w EPS PS, 80gb IDE, 2 80mm & 1 120mm case fans and an OEM copy of XP.

So far I'm a really happy camper

A wee bit more 'burn-in' and I'll start to tweak. At (stock) idle, cpu is 27c. I'll OC as high as I can at stock volts and leave it at that ... a guy at hardforums claimed 3.5GHz on air at stock volts but I'm not counting on that ...

I do plan to crank up the HD 2900's but need 8-pin connectors. The rumahs on the internets seem to favor 25% - and maybe 15-20% on the memory.

Counting all the 'stuff' I've added I'm in for less than $1k. When AMD gets the L3 cache up to speed Phenom/Kuma may be on the road map ...

 

[batmang]

I'll be ordering my k9a2 plat 790fx and phenom 9600 BE today. I'm anxious to see my crossfire results.

http://www.techspot.com/review...erformance/page10.html