New Build: AMD or Intel (and other questions)

[PowerEngineer]

I built my last PC back when Windows XP was new, so it’s been a while! 🙄

I want to build a replacement that will gracefully handle whatever I throw at it for several years; that might well include some moderate gaming (I don’t know what games or resolution). I’m not a fanboy of any brand (although my brother works for ATI).



I’ve been leisurely gathering parts over the last several months…

• Memory: 2 – 4GB GSkill F3-10666
• Hard Drives: 1 - WD 1002FAEX (Caviar Black – SATA III) and 2 – Samsung 103SJ (for RAID 1)
• Opticals: 2 – Lite-On OEM DVD/CD Rewritable
• CPU Cooler: 1 – Corsair H50
• Power Supply: 1 - Corsair TX750W
• Case: 1 – Thermaltake Xaser VI (unbelievably HUGE 😱 )
• Operating System: 1 – Windows 7 Ultimate Retail

I want to complete the build in August, so it’s time to make decisions on the remaining key components. I’m looking for help in answering the following questions:

1. AMD or Intel?
   From what I can tell these two options are pretty equal:
   
   CPU: Phenom II X6 1055T $199.99
   Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD5 $179.99
   
   or:
   
   CPU: Core i5-760 Lynnfield $209.99
   Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4P $184.99
   
   AMD better for graphic applications and Intel better for gaming? How to chose?
   
   
2. ATI or Nvidia?
   
   Was pretty close to settling for a 5770 when the GTX 460 came out:
   
   Gigabyte GV-R577SO-1GD $169.99
   or :
   Gigabyte GV-N460OC-1GI $229.99
   
   Do you think the GTX460 is $60 better? The 5830’s are more comparable to the GTX 460 price wise, but people seem to be down on them. Is there a reason to stick with ATI if I go with AMD?
   
   
3. SSD?
   
   With prices approaching $2/Mb I’m tempted to add one. Some claim that 64 Mb is big enough for Windows, but I’ve noticed how quickly the OS partition seems to fill up with all kinds of garbage. Should I go bigger, or should I forget it for now?

I picked up the model numbers and prices as examples from Newegg; but am open to suggestions for other brands and models. Also feel free to suggest other things I should consider adding or changing.

Thanks for the help! 🙂

 

[MrCrispy]

Just a thought, if your brother gets any employee discounts you should use them 🙂

 

[mfenn]

1. Both of those motherboards are overkill since you didn't mention SLI or Crossfire. If you go with AMD, get the GA-870A-UD3. If you go with Intel, get the GA-P55A-UD3. I would save some money and go with a Phenom II X4 955.

2. Get the GTX 460. It is approximately equivalent to a 5850, so I would say that it is easily worth $230.

3. A 60GB SSD is plenty for an OS partition as long as you have some discipline. I would look at the OCZ Agility 2 60GB.

Oh, and if you do end up using the FAEX as your primary HDD on the Intel motherboard, DO NOT use the SATA 6Gb/s controller. While the FAEX is technically SATA 6Gb/s, it can never touch those speeds in reality. The Marvell controller performs much worse than the ICH10 when paired with a drive than cannot exceed SATA 3Gb/s speeds (like the FAEX). The AMD SATA 6Gb/s controller that is integrated into the 800 series chipsets is much better.

 

[RaistlinZ]

The i5-750 will outperform that XT 1055T on just about everything other than apps that make use of 6 cores. I would opt for the i5-750 and the GTX 460. Motherboard is a personal choice if you need certain things like USB 3.0 or SATA 6G and such.

 

[Rifter]

i5 if all you do is game, 1055t if you encode/transcode/anything that will use all 6 cores. Also as far as long term, as games get better coded for multicore the 1055t will get faster and the i5 will saty the same, And more and more apps will be coded for mulicore use going forward just something to think about.

 

[PowerEngineer]

Thanks for the feedback! 🙂

Since I'm not going Crossfire or SLI right now, I could get a motherboard with a single PCI-E slot; but it's worth a few more bucks to hold open that option for later.

Sounds like the GTX 460 is the right choice regardless of which way I go on the CPU.

I'm leaning toward AMD at the moment, in part because the 890FX chipset seems to have more going for it than the P55.

Sounds like I bought into the hype on SATA III with the FAEX. I gather you're reminding me that just because a device supports SATA III doesn't mean it is capable of taking full advantage of it. So the FAEX is essentially no better than any other SATA II HD? I am bummed out. :$

That does give me more reason to look at adding an SSD. Not sure how disciplined I can count on myself to be.

Oh... And no employee discounts through my brother. 🙁

 

[Skurge]

If you intend on using SSDs in the future, you should get a mobo with SATA III, there is gonna be either a performance jump or a price cuts before the end of the year with Intel's new drives.

If the is a performance jump, you don't want to be limited by your mobo.

 

[mfenn]

Sounds like I bought into the hype on SATA III with the FAEX. I gather you're reminding me that just because a device supports SATA III doesn't mean it is capable of taking full advantage of it. So the FAEX is essentially no better than any other SATA II HD? I am bummed out. :$

Yeah, just because a drive supports an interface does not mean that it can actually transfer at a rate that would make that interface worthwhile. I would get SATA 6Gb/s regardless because third generation SSDs are able to take advantage of the extra bandwidth offered by SATA 6Gb/s.