intel vs amd upgrade

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oliharan92

Member
Sep 9, 2010
62
0
61
hi,
so im looking to upgrade my current pc and cant decide on a cpu/motherboard.
heres my current pc:

os: windows 7 premium 64bit
motherboard: Asus M2N68-LA
cpu: Phenom-9650 (A) 2.3 GHz (95W)
ram: 4gb PC2-6400 MB/sec
graphics card: nvidia GTX 460 1gb factory oc
power supply: ocz 600w

I cant decide weather to go intel or amd. i want a matching motherboard with full sli support for future upgrades.
i use my pc mainly for gaming and im currently playing battlefield bad company 2 and mafia 2.

im currently looking at eaither an intel 760. or an amd 1055t. but suggestions are welcome.

another question is, will the amd processor work with my current motherboard until i can afford a new one?
thanks for the help
oli
 
BD231

BD231

Lifer
Feb 26, 2001
10,568
138
106
Grab an AM2+ board for cheap, throw in an X3 740 (overclocked to 3.6 to 3.7ghz) and you've got a big fat jump in performance to hold you over till???

If gaming is your deal X3 is the way to go, I wouldn't waste 200+ on any processor right now as there's to much just around the corner.
 
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ther00kie16

Golden Member
Mar 28, 2008
1,573
0
0
BD231 said:
Grab an AM2+ board for cheap, throw in an X3 740 (overclocked to 3.6 to 3.7ghz) and you've got a big fat jump in performance to hold you over till???

If gaming is your deal X3 is the way to go, I wouldn't waste 200+ on any processor right now as there's to much just around the corner.
Click to expand...

cheap still = $60+ for a halfway decent one. and those am2+ phenoms are oos everywhere. athlon x4 would be better anyway for games. if you live near a fry's or microcenter, look for their bundles. microcenter seems to bundle free mb with athlon x4.

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php shows that there's not much improvement going to a x3. upgrading to a phenom II isn't that great either. ideally, u'd go to 1156 and i7 860. ur idea of a i5 750 would be better than phenom as well but cost maybe $50 more.
 
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oliharan92

Member
Sep 9, 2010
62
0
61
I would like an upgrade but do you think I should wait? It's just a little annoying because I think my current CPU is holding back my graphics a bit, how long do you think it will be before a new range of CPUs will be available? Thanks
 
E

electroju

Member
Jun 16, 2010
182
0
0
There are plenty of cheap AM3 motherboards. For just gaming, an over clocked AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition is good for its price. This gives you some money for getting a better video card and a better hard drive. Going for a multi video card setup for graphics performance gets complicated because the power supply needs to be near 1000 watts and the software have to supported to make it perform well. A GeForce GT 480 can handle high quality at higher than 1080p and still provide at least 60 fps, so multi-graphics card to gain performance is a waste.

If you need a faster processor, at this time it is not a good time to buy. If you are just upgrading from a low end setup like an Athlon64 X2 6000+, it is good time to buy. Though it is still not good to buy because next year will introduce new architectures from AMD and Intel.

Your motherboard may support some AM3 socket processors, but I doubt it supporting the Phenom II X6 processors. Your motherboard is too old. I suggest buy a $100 AM3 motherboard and AMD Phenom II X2 555. Then over clock the 555 processor to about 3.8 GHz or higher. It will be faster than your processor and the upgrade will not be too expensive. Though the memory have to be upgraded to DDR3.

IMHO, Windows does not work well with more than two processors. You will need a processor that has good single thread performance per core. At this time Intel suits that well. AMD is good for multi-threaded applications, so it will work very, very well in Linux or BSD where it loads up a lot of tasks. Sure AMD processors can work well in Windows too, but programs have to be very multi-threaded to utilize all six processors. Most programs in Windows tops at two and the others can load four processors, but the four processors are barely loaded.

Sure AMD triple core processor are good too, but Windows will not utilize them well. The 6 megabyte of L3 cache from Phenom series evens out to 2 MB for L3 cache to each core. A triple core processor will work better than dual core in the Phenom series for general purpose tasks. A good triple core processor from AMD is Phehom II X3 740 Black Edition.

Like I said earlier, it is not good time to upgrade when you have a high performing setup. For you, upgrade the video card to the highest model and select a hard drive with the low latency and high throughput. You could also upgrade the memory to 8 GB, but that will not be cost effective since AM3+ and socket for Sandy Bridge uses DDR3. You move over your graphics and high performance storage to the new setup, but not your memory.
 
nenforcer

nenforcer

Golden Member
Aug 26, 2008
1,782
24
81
As a platform the Phenom ][ X6 will last longer since the Core i5 760 / Socket 1156 is set to be replaced by Sandy Bridge early next year.

You should get at least one year out the Phenom ][ X6.
 
R

Rifter

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
11,522
751
126
If you want SLI support you have to go intel, none of the AMD chipset mobo's support SLI and the Nvidia chipset boards are outdated. So if you really need SLI support you dont really have an option, you must buy intel.
 
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ther00kie16

Golden Member
Mar 28, 2008
1,573
0
0
am3 will be replaced as well after x6. and x6 isn't much better than say an i5 750 and definitely can't oc as much. so 1156 would be the best route, i'd say although it's basically at a dead end as well. i7 860 would be superior to the x6 but it also costs a bit more. Basically, if you want next gen, Intel's supposed to launch at CES and AMD will be Q2 so you'd have to wait at least 4-6 months for consumer availability is my guess.

Easiest upgrade may be a Phenom II 920 for $140ish off ebay and a AM2+ mb. It'd be about the same price as a phenom II 955 + am3 mb bundle but you can use your ddr2 ram. Cheapest would be to take a gamble and get a athlon am2+ 5000 from ebay and hope it unlocks to quad core. that'd save $70ish
 
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Rhoxed

Golden Member
Jun 23, 2007
1,051
3
81
Rifterut said:
If you want SLI support you have to go intel, none of the AMD chipset mobo's support SLI and the Nvidia chipset boards are outdated. So if you really need SLI support you dont really have an option, you must buy intel.
Click to expand...

This, but just to throw it out there, any Phenom II quad would stomp your current processor, i owned a 9550 and a 9850BE and they were pathetic compared to my 940BE or much less my 720BE unlocked. Compared to the 1090T they feel like a P4 compared to a 3800x2, really no comparison.
 
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ther00kie16

Golden Member
Mar 28, 2008
1,573
0
0
Rifterut said:
If you want SLI support you have to go intel, none of the AMD chipset mobo's support SLI and the Nvidia chipset boards are outdated. So if you really need SLI support you dont really have an option, you must buy intel.
Click to expand...

Untrue...

There are several ASRock mb with a SLI/xfire switch card that allows for both.
This is one of them: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157167

Edit: here are the other 2 (apparently not sold by newegg)
http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=M3A790GXH/128M
http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=M3A785GXH/128M
 
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ther00kie16

Golden Member
Mar 28, 2008
1,573
0
0
Rhoxed said:
This, but just to throw it out there, any Phenom II quad would stomp your current processor, i owned a 9550 and a 9850BE and they were pathetic compared to my 940BE or much less my 720BE unlocked. Compared to the 1090T they feel like a P4 compared to a 3800x2, really no comparison.
Click to expand...

Yes, there's no doubt a Phenom II is superior to Phenom, especially when paired with a board capable of oc'ing. Have you compared to Intel though?

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3674/amds-sixcore-phenom-ii-x6-1090t-1055t-reviewed/5
Check out the benchmarks and you'll see that even the i5 is better than the x6 in certain scenarios. i7 860 would be the best candidate for future-proofing with reasonable costs.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.493876 with a mATX board is $305 after rebate, which is only $5 more than the cheapest x6 1090 combo.

i7 860 is 2.8ghz while x6 1090T is 3.2ghz, uses much more power and doesn't oc any higher (Anand got 4ghz with i7 860 on stock cooler while 4ghz on the 1090T wasn't even stable).
 
R

Rifter

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
11,522
751
126
BD231

BD231

Lifer
Feb 26, 2001
10,568
138
106
ther00kie16 said:
cheap still = $60+ for a halfway decent one. and those am2+ phenoms are oos everywhere. athlon x4 would be better anyway for games. if you live near a fry's or microcenter, look for their bundles. microcenter seems to bundle free mb with athlon x4.

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php shows that there's not much improvement going to a x3. upgrading to a phenom II isn't that great either. ideally, u'd go to 1156 and i7 860. ur idea of a i5 750 would be better than phenom as well but cost maybe $50 more.
Click to expand...

The socket AM3 versions of Phenom II's are backwards compatible with Socket AM2"+" motherboards. The AM3 memory controller supports both DDR2 and DDR3 memory so no need to hunt for a specific CPU. His DDR2 is fine, all he needs is an updated CPU/mobo to feed that 460 and his absolute safest conservative route (no core unlocking non-sense and very predictable OC's) while still getting great gains would be the PII x3.

The x3 can max out that 460 EASY.

I'm confident going from 2.3ghz quad P I to a 3.6ghz triple core P II will blow his mind, so much so that he'll see no need for SLI. Short of two or more cores, clock speed is king. Also important to note the Phenom II has a much higher clock for clock IPC than the first gen phenom.

Personally I can't find a reason to ditch my X3 720 and I'm about as upgrade happy as they come. I don't mess with Intel though, their pricing has detracted me in the past and now we're at a point where performance is so affordable there's really no point in spending any more than you have to.
 
Last edited:
Termie

Termie

Diamond Member
Aug 17, 2005
7,949
48
91
www.techbuyersguru.com
oliharan92 said:
hi,
so im looking to upgrade my current pc and cant decide on a cpu/motherboard.
heres my current pc:

os: windows 7 premium 64bit
motherboard: Asus M2N68-LA
cpu: Phenom-9650 (A) 2.3 GHz (95W)
ram: 4gb PC2-6400 MB/sec
graphics card: nvidia GTX 460 1gb factory oc
power supply: ocz 600w

I cant decide weather to go intel or amd. i want a matching motherboard with full sli support for future upgrades.
i use my pc mainly for gaming and im currently playing battlefield bad company 2 and mafia 2.

im currently looking at eaither an intel 760. or an amd 1055t. but suggestions are welcome.

another question is, will the amd processor work with my current motherboard until i can afford a new one?
thanks for the help
oli
Click to expand...

Do you have a budget that you're working with? Seems like most people are suggesting AMD, but your really aren't going to be able to salvage anything more than if you went Intel (unless you do AM2+/PII940, which can take DDR2). If you're playing BC2, you want quad-core, and if you have the money, you absolutely want i5/i7 quad-core.
 
V

Vette73

Lifer
Jul 5, 2000
21,503
9
0
I lean toward AMD due to price and also has a little more life in the AM3 boards. But its life is still very short so don;t expect to much out of it. Maybe a little better then Intels 1156 btu not much.
But AMD does seem to offer the best bang for the buck. Intel still offers the most power if you can afford it.
 
taltamir

taltamir

Lifer
Mar 21, 2004
13,576
6
76
nenforcer said:
As a platform the Phenom ][ X6 will last longer since the Core i5 760 / Socket 1156 is set to be replaced by Sandy Bridge early next year.

You should get at least one year out the Phenom ][ X6.
Click to expand...

that is assume you decide to stick with everything you currently have and just do a drop in CPU replacement...

I find those to be rare... but if that is what you need...
 
F

Flipped Gazelle

Diamond Member
Sep 5, 2004
6,666
3
81
Termie said:
Do you have a budget that you're working with? Seems like most people are suggesting AMD, but your really aren't going to be able to salvage anything more than if you went Intel (unless you do AM2+/PII940, which can take DDR2). If you're playing BC2, you want quad-core, and if you have the money, you absolutely want i5/i7 quad-core.
Click to expand...

PhII X6 also takes DDR2.
 
F

Flipped Gazelle

Diamond Member
Sep 5, 2004
6,666
3
81
oliharan92 said:
hi,
so im looking to upgrade my current pc and cant decide on a cpu/motherboard.
heres my current pc:

os: windows 7 premium 64bit
motherboard: Asus M2N68-LA
cpu: Phenom-9650 (A) 2.3 GHz (95W)
ram: 4gb PC2-6400 MB/sec
graphics card: nvidia GTX 460 1gb factory oc
power supply: ocz 600w

I cant decide weather to go intel or amd. i want a matching motherboard with full sli support for future upgrades.
i use my pc mainly for gaming and im currently playing battlefield bad company 2 and mafia 2.

im currently looking at eaither an intel 760. or an amd 1055t. but suggestions are welcome.

another question is, will the amd processor work with my current motherboard until i can afford a new one?
thanks for the help
oli
Click to expand...

It's really not a great time for a wholesale upgrade if you are already thinking about future upgrades. We'll have new platforms in the 1H of next year. The future of AMD's AM3 is not going to be any more powerful than Intel's present. The primary benefit to AMD's current platform is that an AM3 CPU will work in AM3+ motherboard.

If I were building a new system today, I'd probably go Intel i5 7x0 as the CPU.

WRT to your current PC, I'd say there's a good chance that an Athlon II X4 would work well in it.
 
B

betasub

Platinum Member
Mar 22, 2006
2,677
0
0
electroju said:
If you need a faster processor, at this time it is not a good time to buy. If you are just upgrading from a low end setup like an Athlon64 X2 6000+, it is good time to buy. Though it is still not good to buy because next year will introduce new architectures from AMD and Intel.
Click to expand...

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
 
cusideabelincoln

cusideabelincoln

Diamond Member
Aug 3, 2008
3,275
46
91
The best cost effective upgrade is to get an AM2+ board and the Phenom II X3 740 or X4 955. They are the best gaming chips (in general) at their price points.

For the best performance you'll naturally have to spend more on an Intel Core i5 or i7.
 
richierich1212

richierich1212

Platinum Member
Jul 5, 2002
2,741
360
126
Yeah get an AM2+ board that supports a Phenom II 955BE or 1055T and you can use your current memory.
 
T

ther00kie16

Golden Member
Mar 28, 2008
1,573
0
0
Those ASRock boards mention a SLI/xfire card that allows for both. Newegg doesn't straight up mention SLI for boards unless it's nVidia board.

And aren't the X3s phased out along with the other AM2+ Phenoms? Best value would be an Athlon x4 anyway.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...lue=3879:31644 here are the boards using DDR2.

One interesting board is the $45 ASRock with an nVidia chipset that unlocks CPUs... weird things ASRock cooks up.
 
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