POLL: X4 955 vs. Q9*50

[ShawnD1]

Originally posted by: Fox5
Depends on how much more you're paying on a system. If >$1000, then penny pinching doesn't make much sense, otherwise that $100 to $150 more is a significant cost of the system. (and for entry level, it's way more than that, since you can just overclock both platforms to get near their max performance anyway, it's like $100+ difference on the cpu, $100+ difference on the motherboard, and $40+ difference on the memory if going ddr2 to ddr3, so you're looking at more like $250-$300 more)

I don't know about you but I think this problem is easier if you normalize some of the costs.

The cheapest LGA1366 on newegg is $180. It's a pretty good board. Gigabit network, 2 video card slots, 12gb ram supported.
A somewhat comparable AM3 board is $90. Gigabit network, 3 video cards, 16gb ram.

Alright so the Intel board is $90 more. If you normalize the motherboard and ram costs (they use the same ram), CPU costs then look like this:
Phenom II 955: $245
i7 920: $280 + $90 motherboard tax = $370

So there's the question. If both platforms could use the same motherboard, would you pay $245 for the Phenom II or $370 for the i7?

edit;
They both seem a bit unreasonable, IMO. Is the X4 955 really $100 better than the X3 720? Is the i7 worth another $125 on top of that? I would probably just get the X3 720. That more than $200 difference between X3 and i7 would be better spent on either a second video card, or maybe just save it for later upgrades.

 

[deputc26]

I voted no difference, going to buy the PhII (Please stop with the PII, that's a pentium II... pet peeve) though. These posts also align very well with my thoughts to echo soulkeeper. 🙂

 

[soonerproud]

Originally posted by: richierich1212
955 125W + GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P 790X $324.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?ItemList=Combo.190735

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) $54.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820231166

Total: $379.98 for DDR2 System

Or DDR3 System:

955 125W $245
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819103674

GIGABYTE GA-MA790XT-UD4P AM3 DDR3 $139.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128378

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) $59.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820231189

Total $444.98

Here is what I actually paid for my system. Also to note, there are even cheaper AM3 boards than mine but have less features for the price.

PHII X4 955 BE $245

ECS Black Series AM3 Board $109

Gskill DDR3 1333 RAM $59.99

Total=$413.99

Cheapest board listed is $84.99

Cheapest RAM listed is $55.99

Total=$385.98

Even cheaper upgrade for gamer on tight budget and you want most of the performance of a X4 955 but don't need all 4 cores and are willing to OC.

PHII 720 $139

Total=$279.98

So AM3 systems are in price parity with AM2+ systems for the AM3 processors and are a good value all around. Add on to that all AMD CPU's support VT tech and Intel processors (LGA 775) are hit and miss depending on the processor and in some cases the stepping.

 

[Gikaseixas]

Originally posted by: Rifterut
as much as people rag on the 600 i have seen some pretty impressive OC with it, like yours for example.

I guess i'm part of a lucky few. While building a rig for a friend i tried my cpu on his SB750 board and i could do 4.0 under 64 bit and 4.3 under 32. That alone convinced me to get a SB750, plus i still have a 9850 lying around so i could use it with my SB600 board.

 

[wolfman11]

Originally posted by: soonerproud
Here is what I actually paid for my system. Also to note, there are even cheaper AM3 boards than mine but have less features for the price.

PHII X4 955 BE $245

ECS Black Series AM3 Board $109

Gskill DDR3 1333 RAM $59.99

Total=$413.99

Cheapest board listed is $84.99

I just assembled a new system yesterday with the same components as you except I went with the Gigabyte MA770T-UD3P board you referenced above as the cheapest. I don't game so I don't need crossfire. Other than that, I've been very impressed with the board - on benchmarks from the review at cpu3d that cheap board goes toe to toe with performance of the 790 chipset.

Great value board.

 

[Dravic]

Originally posted by: ShawnD1

Originally posted by: DanK414
If you're building from scratch I say PII FTW. You'll see more performance boost from DDR3 and DDR3 is cheap now. I just bought a 6gb of DDR3 1800 $80. Plus with the dragon platform, supposedly you're getting more performance increase. So why stick w/ the old guns, unless you have a 755 board?

The whole "platform" idea sounds mostly retarded. As far as I can tell, the main advantage of having such a system is that AMD's overclocking tool is a simple way to manage everything. Don't need to reboot the computer to change overclock settings, don't need a separate overclock programs for GPU, don't need separate stability testing programs (AMD claims their OC utility uses the same stability testing they do when developing new processors).

I think the software side is a real advantage. AMD demonstrating how Overdrive works

This was one of the things that swayed me. I'm looking forward doing all my testing an adjusting on the fly, and then eventually putting them in the bios, but not having to reboot for each change will be nice. That and the MSI GD70's overclock dial should make finding max frequencies a breeze.

 

[soonerproud]

Originally posted by: wolfman11

I just assembled a new system yesterday with the same components as you except I went with the Gigabyte MA770T-UD3P board you referenced above as the cheapest. I don't game so I don't need crossfire. Other than that, I've been very impressed with the board - on benchmarks from the review at cpu3d that cheap board goes toe to toe with performance of the 790 chipset.

Great value board.

Yup, but it was still more expensive than mine almost a month ago so I bought the ECS and it has been running great with few problems. (I had sleep issues that had me jumping through a few hoops to get proper drivers to resolve. I believe this might have happened on any board with Realtek Audio, networking and a jmicron controller.) If that board had been that price then, I would have purchased it because I have never had a bad Gigabyte board ever.

I noticed too that people were posting the absolute lowest LGA775 and X58 boards but were posting more expensive AM3 boards. It was a obvious attempt to make the AM3 system look more expensive than it really was.

 

[wolfman11]

Yes, I agree. I had been considering an Intel Core i7 setup, but with a descent board (I was looking at the ASUS P6T SE), triple channel ram + the CPU it was $580 or so plus any shipping charges. As it was, the parts I did buy were $398 total. I was unwilling to pay the additional 45% difference - which was largely in platform costs.

I did just order an additional 4 gig of RAM this morning as I wanted to make sure the box was stable before adding in the third and fourth sticks.

 

[soonerproud]

I looked at the i7 seriously too and the cost, even with the cheapest components was over $150 more and the i7 was not much better in performance in the areas I cared about and in a few cases was lower performing. I could not justify the extra cost on my tight budget for little to no performance gain in the areas I care about.

I still wanted the i7 baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad! My geek side was screaming i7, i7, i7, i7! My practical side won the day once I started to look at benchies closely and was looking at my account balance at the bank. I decided I need to eat decent food more than I needed a i7. Beans and fried potatoes for a month would not be good for my health, especially with my condition.

 

[wolfman11]

LOL I hear you. I was very tempted to buy a Lenovo ThinkStation S10 workstation (I have a friends and family IBM account) - with the XEON W3520 (basically the i7 920) with 12 gn of RAM. Was seriously tempted to buy a real, honest to goodness workstation instead of building one... but at the end of the day, I can do the work myself, use some parts from the opteron 185 rig I retired and save a lot of cash... so... no ThinkStation S10... or Core i7 for that matter... but no buyers remorse either, so that's the good part.

 

[Leyawiin]

Thinking of trading in my AM2 board with an X2 6400+ soon for an AM3/X4 955. Hopefully I'm not getting painted into a low performance corner as time goes by (like with my current mobo). Kicked myself several times since late 2006 for doing so.

 

[Nemesis 1]

I voted PHII if your building from scratch. But in real world I would spend $100 more for X58.

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Originally posted by: Leyawiin
Thinking of trading in my AM2 board with an X2 6400+ soon for an AM3/X4 955. Hopefully I'm not getting painted into a low performance corner as time goes by (like with my current mobo). Kicked myself several times since late 2006 for doing so.

Well... I don't think that AM3 will ever compete with a high-clocked Core i7. That would fit some folks' definition of "painted into a low performance corner".

I wouldn't mind being wrong about this.

 

[aigomorla]

guys take off the i7.

coming September, the 920 wont be available anymore.

 

[Nemesis 1]

Ya Ya Ya , SO speak up. Intel quit gave up sold out. No seriously were 920 going like its only I7 made. Intel found its to good for price or what?

 

[error8]

Originally posted by: aigomorla

coming September, the 920 wont be available anymore.

Yeah, the old Intel strategy: when a cpu becomes affordable for the masses, phase it out and replace it with a bit faster chip, that is a bit more expensive and so, it becomes once again, not affordable. It's a sad strategy. 🙁

 

[lopri]

Originally posted by: soonerproud
I looked at the i7 seriously too and the cost, even with the cheapest components was over $150 more and the i7 was not much better in performance in the areas I cared about

I think this is the key to understand current market. i7 is without a doubt performance king but there is a point where people think 'this is enough'. Even if you can gain 50% performance by spending 30% more, if you don't need that extra performance - the 30% more expense becomes a waste.

There are other things to consider, such as platform maturity and heat, etc. But if what matters to you is pure performance (e.g. you make living by rendering 3D animation) then i7 is worth its price tag. In such a circumstance, it'd be foolish to save $200 and not getting the best performance.

 

[aigomorla]

i need my i7 so i can hack my friends C2Q's and AMD's and cheat in hearts. 😛

 

[Dadofamunky]

The Q9650s and 9550s look overpriced to me. Building from scratch, I think I'd have to look at the 955BE. But if I do another upgrade anytime this year, it's gonna have to be a Yorkie.

 

[Nemesis 1]

Originally posted by: aigomorla
i need my i7 so i can hack my friends C2Q's and AMD's and cheat in hearts. 😛

I can't believe people are actually hacking those games . It is indeed a sad state of morality were in.