Need some advice:Upgrade or switch

[perdomot]

A friend wants to buy my backup rig and my current cpu(X3 720BE) for $350 and I'm trying to decide what to do. I got two options:

1-Get a X6 1090 cpu which is a drop in upgrade and try to OC to around 3.8-4Ghz. This would be the easy option as I wouldn't have to reinstall everything. It would leave me over $100 to use for something else.

2-Get an i5-760/P55 mobo/4GB DDR3 and OC to around the same speeds. This would cost me around $60 more and I have to reinstall everything but I think it would be faster overall. There is also the possibility of SB coming out and being able to get that at around the same price point.

What do you guys think?

 

[Markfw]

Faster for what ? The X6 is a great CPU, only looses by a little in some apps to the 750, when both overclocked to ~4 ish.

 

[mv2devnull]

Reinstall? Is it not possible for Windows to cope with change of hardware?

(I've replaced CPU+mobo+ram and WinXP did survive, with some hammering.)

I would probably choose X6, but I don't claim sanity.

 

[perdomot]

Faster for what ? The X6 is a great CPU, only looses by a little in some apps to the 750, when both overclocked to ~4 ish.

Video encoding is the most intense thing I do so the X6 looks really good to me but its the sheer amount of tests that the 760 wins that gives me pause since the X6 is 400mhz faster. Add to that the info about SB being even faster and I really start wondering what is the best choice.

 

[perdomot]

Reinstall? Is it not possible for Windows to cope with change of hardware?

(I've replaced CPU+mobo+ram and WinXP did survive, with some hammering.)

I would probably choose X6, but I don't claim sanity.

Clean install always works best IMO.

 

[birthdaymonkey]

Video encoding is the most intense thing I do so the X6 looks really good to me but its the sheer amount of tests that the 760 wins that gives me pause since the X6 is 400mhz faster. Add to that the info about SB being even faster and I really start wondering what is the best choice.

I think your response contains the seed of the most logical course of action here: Since SB, with its "even faster" performance, is coming out in two to three months, it seems like a bad idea to upgrade to the 1156 platform now. I'd either:
1. keep what you've got and upgrade to SB when it comes out
2. if you need an upgrade now, get the X6 and see what the SB reviews look like in a few months
3. Wait till SB comes out and profit from reduced prices on AMD's flagship chips if the X6 seems like a better buy at the time
I think buying a 760 now is unwise if you're at all interested in SB.

 

[Schmide]

What about the get the 1055t for $170ish and use $160 for exotic cooling and strippers?

 

[perdomot]

I think your response contains the seed of the most logical course of action here: Since SB, with its "even faster" performance, is coming out in two to three months, it seems like a bad idea to upgrade to the 1156 platform now. I'd either:
1. keep what you've got and upgrade to SB when it comes out
2. if you need an upgrade now, get the X6 and see what the SB reviews look like in a few months
3. Wait till SB comes out and profit from reduced prices on AMD's flagship chips if the X6 seems like a better buy at the time
I think buying a 760 now is unwise if you're at all interested in SB.

When I found out how close the SB chips are, that really made the choice even harder. There has been some mention about how difficult the SB chips will be to OC due to Intel so I'm still unsure about those chips. The X6 is looking better.

 

[perdomot]

What about the get the 1055t for $170ish and use $160 for exotic cooling and strippers?

I prefer dealing with just the multiplier and the BE is quite a good OCer. BTW, exotic strippers require no cooling, best to keep them HOT! LOL

 

[Markfw]

I prefer dealing with just the multiplier and the BE is quite a good OCer. BTW, exotic strippers require no cooling, best to keep them HOT! LOL

Vote for best post of the day ! (maybe even the week)

 

[grimpr]

X6 > i5 for video encoding and good threaded apps, lots of horsepower specially when oced close to 4ghz, make sure to dump Winrar if you go 6core and AMD since its so pathetic it cant keep even 4 cores busy enough, try 7zip 64bit with lzma2 which puts the 6core to good use with lots of threads and provides superior compression.

 

[nyker96]

I'd take opention 2 and i5 personally, with a massive overclock it'll beat out any x6 and do it with less power too. it will also be unbeatable in games.

 

[Jdawg84]

Just get the X6. There's no point buying a P55 with Sandy Bridge right around the corner.

 

[Skiprudder]

This is the key from what I read, "Video encoding is the most intense thing I do." If you do video encoding I think you want the extra cores of an X6. That said, an unlocked BE from even the X4 series often does as well as a 760 when it comes to gaming.