Phenom II X4 965 or Core i5 750?

[omber]

From benchmarks I've seen these are more or less on par with each other so I'm leaning towards Phenom as it's marginally cheaper. Opinions?

 

[MrK6]

If you lock the i5 750 at 2.66GHz, the 965 is probably faster (which is what many reviews do). However, with turbo mode enabled (which is on by default), the 750 will be faster in most applications. Also note that the 750 is much more power efficient than the 965. If you throw overclocking into the mix, the 750 will stomp all over the 965.

 

[E6700]

core i5 all the way.

 

[jvroig]

Even as an AMD-leaning person, if it's i7 or even just i5 versus Phenom II, Phenom II won't be worth it unless you save enough money.

Even if you don't overclock the i5, the i5's turbo mode makes sure you will get far better performance.

 

[GaiaHunter]

Must to agree with other posters.

If it fits your budget i5 750.

 

[omber]

Hmm so just as I thought. This will be used primarily for gaming with GTX 295 as video card (possibly X2 Radeon next year when they release it).

MSI P55-GD65 is what I am looking at for motherboard.

EDIT: Current system: Core2Q9550 3.2 GHz, 4GB Mushkin DDR2-800, MSI P7N SLI Platinum

Getting: Core i5 750, 8GB Patriot Viper II (4x 2GB, two kits of 4GB), MSI P55-GD65

Video card is EVGA GTX 295.

I'm confused also. I looked and half the "internet" says you cannot use 775 coolers with 1156. Then I saw video on youtube of 775 cooler being attached to 1156 motherboard with screws.

 

[GaiaHunter]

gaming with GTX 295 as video card (possibly X2 Radeon next year when they release it).

The 5970 (they changed the name from 5870x2) is the X2 card of the 5xxx series - two 5870 cores at a bit lower speeds, so it is released already, although probably not easy to find.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3679

 

[omber]

The 5970 (they changed the name from 5870x2) is the X2 card of the 5xxx series - two 5870 cores at a bit lower speeds, so it is released already, although probably not easy to find.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3679

Isnt AMD also planning to release 59xx based X2 next year? If I recall that was the roadmap.

 

[GaiaHunter]

Isnt AMD also planning to release 59xx based X2 next year? If I recall that was the roadmap.

I'm afraid there wasn't such a product planned to begin with.

Again, don't be confused by the name - 5970 is 5870x2. A 5970x2 would be 5870x4. Since a 5970 already has to be down clocked to not exceed 300W peak imposed by the ATX standards, I won't see that happening.

A single 5870 is almost the speed of the GTX295. A 5970 is quite a bit faster.

 

[Chiropteran]

Isnt AMD also planning to release 59xx based X2 next year? If I recall that was the roadmap.

The 5970 is already an X2 card.

 

[omber]

The 5970 is already an X2 card.

Ah thanks for clearing that up for me.

Any comments regarding the components I want to pair this up with?

Im going to grab copy of Windows 7 Pro x64 with it.

 

[Ualdayan]

Honestly if gaming is all you plan to do a Phenom II and an i5 will do equally as well. Yes, the i5 is a faster processor (when overclocked) but either processor hits the videocard wall at any seminormal resolution and quality settings nowadays for most games. There are some games that are CPU limited, but they're fairly rare.

 

[GaiaHunter]

Honestly if gaming is all you plan to do a Phenom II and an i5 will do equally as well. Yes, the i5 is a faster processor (when overclocked) but either processor hits the videocard wall at any seminormal resolution and quality settings nowadays for most games. There are some games that are CPU limited, but they're fairly rare.

+1.

Get a good PSU though.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

The Phenom 955 would probably work just as well, too. Heck, even the 925 or 945.

 

[omber]

I have Antec TruPower Quattro 850W - good enough?

Since I'm here I am also browsing newegg looking at i7 setups - how about going i7 920?

 

[Enigmatic]

Man, haven't been to these forums in a while. But just building a new rig and faced a similar dilemma (the ol' Pentium D and 7800 GTX is in dire need of an update).

Decided to go with X4 965 myself (I was able to get 25% discount mind you, so at ~$150 CDN, it was a serious steal). Platform costs will undoubtedly be cheaper with the AMD platform (but I did have many headaches trying to find an appropriate motherboard. Trying to find a 790FX motherboard that supports the C3 965 out of the box was a huge pain so I just went with the vanilla 965 for compatibility's sake).

Nevertheless, if we're just comparing CPUs, then at the same price the i5 is better. Turbo boost pretty much guarantees that, it also OCs better if that's important to you. I'm assuming platform costs aren't important since you appear to be considering an i7, personally I think you're better off just saving the cash and just going with an i5.

 

[Enigmatic]

Man, haven't been to these forums in a while. But just building a new rig and faced a similar dilemma (the ol' Pentium D and 7800 GTX is in dire need of an update).

Decided to go with X4 965 myself (I was able to get 25% discount mind you, so at ~$150 CDN, it was a serious steal). Platform costs will undoubtedly be cheaper with the AMD platform (but I did have many headaches trying to find an appropriate motherboard. Trying to find a 790FX motherboard that supports the C3 965 out of the box was a huge pain so I just went with the vanilla 965 for compatibility's sake).

Nevertheless, if we're just comparing CPUs, then at the same price the i5 is better. Turbo boost pretty much guarantees that, it also OCs better if that's important to you. I'm assuming platform costs aren't important since you appear to be considering an i7, personally I think you're better off just saving the cash and just going with an i5.

 

[GaiaHunter]

I have Antec TruPower Quattro 850W - good enough?

Since I'm here I am also browsing newegg looking at i7 setups - how about going i7 920?

Yes that PSU is enough.

Well i7 has some advantages, but for gaming, an i5 is as good and cheaper.

I believe the i7 920 is a superior platform, although if you don't want to mess with OC i5 750 is probably better, but you'll probably be paying a premium for stuff that you won't make use of/notice. It is your money - you can't really go wrong with an i5 750 or an i7 920.

 

[lopri]

i5-750 is a better CPU than 965 BE for many reasons. Not saying 965 BE is a bad CPU - actually it's a fantastic CPU and I doubt anyone would regret the purchase. However, when it comes to performance per $$$, i5-750 is a hands-down winner, especially when overclocked. $20~$30 difference in motherboard prices is, IMO, insignificant. Actually what bothers me more is potential cost of new HSF. 965 BE's stock HSF is semi-usable, but I wouldn't use i7-750's stock HSF. It looks like Socket 1156 adapters for older heatsinks are trickling out finally, though. (I'm waiting for Scythe's adapters)

 

[Aenslead]

Core i5 all the way.

I'm guessing it will be for gaming, so... place largest part of your budget into videocard. IF (notice IF) you can wait a month more, you'll be able to get Fermi NVIDIA GPU.

 

[Enigmatic]

Waiting for Fermi is pointless. Waiting may be reasonable if you're waiting for 5800-stock to replenish and prices to settle to their original targets. That's a tangible request, waiting for Fermi leaves too much up to speculation.

 

[grimpr]

Legion Hardware
CPU Scaling With The Radeon HD5970.

http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=869&p=23

 

[omber]

I should have mentioned that I already have eVGA GTX 295 and that the main reason for upgrade was that I found my CPU to be lacking and holding the card back.

I ended up picking up Core i5 750 with Gigabyte GA-P55-UD3R and 4GB of Patriot Viper II ram. Sadly it does not seem to POST so I will take a look at it when I get home today. I had the store I buy from test it with stock cooler and it came up fine so I'm thinking I screwed up somewhere mounting it in the case. I put my Zalman CNPS9700 cooler on it. Everything seems to spin up but the HDD led stays lit and the display does not turn on.

This Gigabyte board is CrossFireX equipped so I might be interested in dual Radeons in the future.

 

[MrK6]

Did you actually see them boot it? Sometimes their word is not enough . Are you getting any troubleshooting beeps? My first guess would be RAM - the Viper II series is pretty beefy as far as voltage requirements go, and if the JEDEC standards are not being properly detected, it might not be getting enough voltage. Try booting with one stick only in and if it works, get into the BIOS and properly configure the RAM's settings. If that works, also make sure you flash the BIOS to the latest version.

 

[omber]

Hmm fair point but I never had issues with this store before. I will try what you have suggested. Besides its on a 2 year instant exchange warranty from the store.