Intel Core i3 540 vs AMD Athlon II X4 640

[SickBeast]

I'm wondering which CPU would give me the best performance overall. I want to take overclocking into account. Hypothetically I would like to compare the i3 540 at 4.6ghz vs the Athlon II 640 at 3.6ghz.

I'm a light gamer and typically use the computer mostly for web browsing and office applications. Sometimes I'll use video encoding software.

It seems that the AMD CPU will give me more overall computing power, but the Intel CPU will give me more CPU power than I can actually use, notice, and benefit from.

I'm currently running an Opteron 165 at 2.6ghz, and the thought of doubling my clockspeed is enticing. That said, having 4 cores also sounds great.

I do prefer AMD, but overclocking the i3 sounds like too much fun to pass up on.

What do you guys think?

TIA

 

[Xpl1c1t]

here ya go
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/143?vs=188

 

[SickBeast]

here ya go
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/143?vs=188

Interesting. It's not at the clockspeeds I'm interested in, but I can extrapolate most of what I need from it. Thanks!

It looks as though the two processors are pretty much tied at equivalent clockspeeds. It appears that overclocked, the i3 will beat the Athlon II in most circumstances.

It's interesting that I'm going to have to choose between gaming performance and video encoding performance. I think I would choose "gaming", however I have a feeling that in the future when more games are multithreaded, the Athlon II will prove to be faster.

It would be interesting to see some GTA4 benchmarks as I know that game likes a lot of cores.

 

[Xpl1c1t]

you can also think about picking up an i7 750 or x3430 (these both lack hyperthreading) for a short few more than $100 on the forums/ebay. quad lga1156 is a nice platform!

edit:
ebay seller "aventis_systems" pawns x3430 on ebay regularly for $125 free shipping.
and another good comparison: Tom's

 

[Arkadrel]

I dont think you ll get the i540 over 4.0 ghz... but good luck getting 4.6
On the other hand, that 640 will probably max out around 3.8-3.9ghz, so you ll have 100-200 mhz more with the intel cpu.

in stuff where 2 threads is enough the i540 will beat the athlon by a good bit, in stuff where 4 threads are used the althon should have a advantage.

2cores + hyperthreading < 4 actual cores. (even if the intel core vs core is faster).

Probably wont notice huge differnce... but with how much things support 2-4 cores, and how many more cores things will probably support in the times to come, I think the althlon is the better buy (if you plan to keep it for along periode).

 

[cbn]

I
It's interesting that I'm going to have to choose between gaming performance and video encoding performance. I think I would choose "gaming", however I have a feeling that in the future when more games are multithreaded, the Athlon II will prove to be faster.

It would be interesting to see some GTA4 benchmarks as I know that game likes a lot of cores.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2901/13

Here are the Anandtech Windows 7 gaming results. Keep in mind Dragon Age Origins scales 75&#37; faster with quad core over dual core.....but notice even at stock speeds the Intel dual core is still beating the Athlon II quad. (I was extremely surprised by this).

 

[cbn]

I dont think you ll get the i540 over 4.0 ghz... but good luck getting 4.6

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2901/14

Anandtech got 3.8 Ghz with stock voltage, 4.2 Ghz with increased voltage and the stock cooler and 4.8+ Ghz with Watercooling.

With a Good Tower cooler and reasonable voltages 4.6 shouldn't be much of a problem. (With that said I am not sure how "Apples to Apples" a 4.6 Ghz Clarkdale vs. Althlon II x4 comparison really is? One processor has an expensive cooler on it and the other one doesn't it?)

 

[cbn]

This is what the i3 vs X4 comparison looks like at the clockspeed difference (~27&#37 that Sickbeast is looking at:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/111?vs=118

I like how you adjusted those benches to allow for the clock speed discrepancy, but we still need to keep in mind that Core i3 IPC decreases with increased frequency.

 

[cbn]

Do you have any sources to back this up? Not that I don't trust you, just never seen it mentioned that Core i3 IPC is hurt with overclocking. Is it just Core i3? What about i5/i7 which are based on the same uArch?

When you say i5/i7 you mean Lynnfield right? That has a different memory controller than Clarkdale.

P.S. With regards to Clardale IPC decreasing more than Lynfield IPC at higher clocks let me see if I can find more information on this. It has been a while since I have read those articles.

 

[soccerballtux]

Do you have any sources to back this up? Not that I don't trust you, just never seen it mentioned that Core i3 IPC is hurt with overclocking. Is it just Core i3? What about i5/i7 which are based on the same uArch?

When you say i5/i7 you mean Lynnfield right? That has a different memory controller than Clarkdale.

P.S. With regards to Clardale IPC decreasing more than Lynfield IPC at higher clocks let me see if I can find more information on this. It has been a while since I have read those articles.

IIRC it had to do with the cache latency or something yes? Basically really high, and fixed. Or something.

 

[SickBeast]

So are the motherboards cheaper for Intel or AMD? What about the memory?

I'm tempted to wait a little bit longer as I have a feeling it won't be too long until AMD comes out with a 6 core CPU for $100.

 

[busydude]

So are the motherboards cheaper for Intel or AMD? What about the memory?

AMD has a lot more chipsets than Intel, you can choose boards based on the features they offer, Number of PCIe slots, form factor, USB 3 and Sata 6Gbps, etc. , there is a lot of flexibility when it comes to AMD's chipsets.



Core i3 and Athlon II X4 both support dual channel memory,

 

[RussianSensation]

I'm tempted to wait a little bit longer as I have a feeling it won't be too long until AMD comes out with a 6 core CPU for $100.

You are probably better off waiting 1 more month to see at what prices and performance SB will land. I don't think it's a good idea to buy dead end 1156 or AM3 motherboards when a brand new 1156 platform is launching 1st week of January!

If you waited you this long to upgrade, might as well wait 1 more month. Considering SB will come on 32nm, overclocking it to 4.5ghz+ will be a breeze. Add another 15&#37;+ performance per clock on top of 1st gen i7s. I have a feeling the X4 is going to become irrelevant once low end SBs launch and overclocking is considered. At the very least, AMD will have to lower prices, bringing Phenom II X4 955 a lot closer to the $120 mark. Also, since you seem to keep your system for a very long time, there is no point at all in getting these $110 processors. If you are going to keep your next CPU for another 5 years like you did with the current platform, grab a SB quad core at minimum.

 

[Rifter]

I dont think you are going to get a i3 to 4.6Ghz. keep dreaming.

That said i think from a strictly gaming perspective the i3 will be better.The AMD should pull ahead in any heavily multi threaded apps such as video encoding though.

 

[cbn]

I dont think you are going to get a i3 to 4.6Ghz. keep dreaming.

Apparently it is not that tough.

Here is one example:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2040648&highlight=hey+zeus

 

[SickBeast]

You are probably better off waiting 1 more month to see at what prices and performance SB will land. I don't think it's a good idea to buy dead end 1156 or AM3 motherboards when a brand new 1156 platform is launching 1st week of January!

If you waited you this long to upgrade, might as well wait 1 more month. Considering SB will come on 32nm, overclocking it to 4.5ghz+ will be a breeze. Add another 15%+ performance per clock on top of 1st gen i7s. I have a feeling the X4 is going to become irrelevant once low end SBs launch and overclocking is considered. At the very least, AMD will have to lower prices, bringing Phenom II X4 955 a lot closer to the $120 mark. Also, since you seem to keep your system for a very long time, there is no point at all in getting these $110 processors. If you are going to keep your next CPU for another 5 years like you did with the current platform, grab a SB quad core at minimum.

Thanks very much for the advice.

I think I might even wait it out until Bulldozer comes out, although that CPU was supposed to come out in 2009!

TBH I don't even really need to upgrade. My system is starting to act a bit flakey is all. It's not 100% stable any more, even at stock settings. The latest problem has been that it won't reliably "sleep" and wake up under Linux (which is really annoying).

 

[RussianSensation]

TBH I don't even really need to upgrade.

Well in that case, just wait longer. Hardware only gets faster and cheaper with time. :thumbsup: I remember I had a P4 2.6 "C" @ 3.2ghz, while a lot of members on here were rocking overclocked FXs and A64s. I patiently waited until C2D arrived. Then my E6400 @ 3.4ghz became faster than every A64 processor overnight :wub:

 

[kmmatney]

Also depends if your can recycle some of your old parts. If you have DDR2 memory, then you can re-use it with the Athlon II. I got the $99 motherboard and Athlon X4 640 deal at Microcenter, reusing my old DDR2.

 

[gammaray]

i would wait for Q1 of 2011 and grab a phenom II X2 570 @ 3.5Ghz. This cpu should be the best in video games in his price range.

 

[auhzckahr]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2901/14

Anandtech got 3.8 Ghz with stock voltage, 4.2 Ghz with increased voltage and the stock cooler and 4.8+ Ghz with Watercooling.

With a Good Tower cooler and reasonable voltages 4.6 shouldn't be much of a problem. (With that said I am not sure how "Apples to Apples" a 4.6 Ghz Clarkdale vs. Althlon II x4 comparison really is? One processor has an expensive cooler on it and the other one doesn't it?)

Hi im kinda new to this overclocking stuff but i just recently got an i3 540 at 3.06 Ghz stock thing is learning to oc a pocessor is way over my head.

I got it to 4.62 Ghz and temp was at 72 degrees celcius max when im gaming so i went and bought CM 212 and put double fan on it now its running 34 degree max gaming for 2 days now is it good or still bad?

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

The Core i3 will be faster, but why would you buy a CPU for a dead platform? If you get an Athlon II X4, at least you can buy a Bulldozer compatible motherboard.

The Core i3 2100 at stock shouldn't be far off from the 540 at 4.6GHz by more than a few percent since it has 15&#37; higher IPC. With the Core i3 2100, you can buy an Ivy Bridge compatible motherboard.

Just don't get the Clarkdale Core i3. It's dead. Let it rest in peace.

 

[Ken g6]

It's dead. Let it rest in peace.

True of the processor and this thread! :sneaky:

Edit: Since I made a new page , here's the current topic post:

Hi im kinda new to this overclocking stuff but i just recently got an i3 540 at 3.06 Ghz stock thing is learning to oc a pocessor is way over my head.

I got it to 4.62 Ghz and temp was at 72 degrees celcius max when im gaming so i went and bought CM 212 and put double fan on it now its running 34 degree max gaming for 2 days now is it good or still bad?

 

[notty22]

I'm pretty sure that is about the safe limit with Clarksdales, the cpu has on package gpu-where the memory controller is. Something about this design has shown to be a little fragile at higher voltages.
Basically its possible to kill them, the last time I did some reading on them.

 

[dali71]

Hi im kinda new to this overclocking stuff but i just recently got an i3 540 at 3.06 Ghz stock thing is learning to oc a pocessor is way over my head.

I got it to 4.62 Ghz and temp was at 72 degrees celcius max when im gaming so i went and bought CM 212 and put double fan on it now its running 34 degree max gaming for 2 days now is it good or still bad?

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

Hi im kinda new to this overclocking stuff but i just recently got an i3 540 at 3.06 Ghz stock thing is learning to oc a pocessor is way over my head.

I got it to 4.62 Ghz and temp was at 72 degrees celcius max when im gaming so i went and bought CM 212 and put double fan on it now its running 34 degree max gaming for 2 days now is it good or still bad?

WTH? Now I just noticed. Necro!

D: