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Which CPU to choose?

G

gibbs007

Member
I need help deciding which CPU to choose. I'm most interested in i5 750, which is supposed to oveclock like crazy, but 1156 motherboards are rare and expensive. Here's the list:
AMD PHENOM II X4 960T - 120€ (new)
AMD PHENOM II X4 955BE - 100€ (used)
Intel i5 750 - 120€ (used)
Intel i5 2300 - 130€ (slightly used)
Would an overclocked X4 (to 4GHz) beat stock i5 2300?
Thanks
 
Since cost seems like a concern Id say go with the 955BE. Even if you only get 3.6-3.8GHz it will give you good performance for your money. I think the MOBO will be cheaper for AMD as well.
 
I guess I could mention that the 960T has a chance of "unlocking" extra cores with the right MOBO...you could possibly end up with a six core CPU. Not sure it worth the extra money or hassle though.
 
I know about the 960T. It's just if the extra cores do not work, it's not worth the extra money. I forgot to mention what the main use will be: mostly games (BF3) and some occasional rendering (Blender).
 
Its tough to say, I think a stock i5-2300 would lose to a 4GHz X4, but you can actually OC the i5-2300 a tad (on a P67/Z68 3.3-3.5GHz) and theres no gurantee that youd get 4GHz out of the AMD. The main thing I see is that it costs 30% more for the i5, and I know its not 30% faster.
 
Id be looking at MOBO cost as well, I think youll find the AMD MOBOs cheaper, along with the lower CPU cost would give you more money for other items. If your gaming that extra money could be spent on the GPU which would give you more of a performance boost than the difference between the X4 and i5.
 
You should wait for ivy bridge, there's people in the UK ditching their 2600k's now for cheap in anticipation, prices will only drop as time goes on.

You could maybe snag a 2500k for cheap after ivy bridge is released because it wont be the latest thing anymore.

Out of the choices you gave though.... i would go with the i5 or the 960T to potentially unlock to a 6 core chip.
 
gibbs007 said:
I know it's a huge upgrade from my old Athlon 64 x2 6000+, but how long would an X4 last?
Click to expand...

If your talking about future upgrades, I don't think theres as much in the AMD platform as the Intel one. As someone mentioned, Ivy Bridge is just coming out so if you got a MOBO that supports it then in a year or two you could upgrade from your i5-2300 to a higher up IVB (possibly a "K" that allows much more overclocking). With AMD theres really not much of an upgrade option...Bulldozer is the newest for AMD but doesnt really boost performance it just adds cores (and half cores). I don't know what else if anything they will release for their current platform.
 
Intel i5 2300 has the longest legs at that price range, however I'd get a board that allows you to oc so u can throw in a used 2500k down line.
 
Another benchmark showing the power of SB: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-fx-pentium-apu-benchmark,3120-6.html

BF3 is extremely CPU-intensive, but most benchmarks only look at single-player, which barely uses any CPU. If that's your game, though, I'm betting the stock 2300 will beat a heavily OC'd 955, and will do so with much less heat/power.

And since you mentioned it, here's the whole list of Blender benchmarks - clearly Intel has a big advantage: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU/42
 
If you got the coin get the i5 2300

The only time the AMD's make sense is if you have a board already or can get one really cheap.
 
Thanks for the answers. It has come down to i5 750 or 2300 for the same price. Looking at stock speeds, 2300 beats 750, but what about when 750 is at 4Ghz? Which one would you recommend?
 
gibbs007 said:
Thanks for the answers. It has come down to i5 750 or 2300 for the same price. Looking at stock speeds, 2300 beats 750, but what about when 750 is at 4Ghz? Which one would you recommend?
Click to expand...

The 750 would be slightly faster at 4.0 (I'd estimate roughly 20%), but that's a huge overclock for that processor. You'd really have to want to give it lots of volts and have high power consumption/heat.

I'd get the 2300. Upgradeable down the line to Ivy Bridge if you want it. Plus you can actually overclock it just enough (4 bins plus a little push to the BCLK) to match the 750@4.0.
 
Well, me again. I didn't get the i5 2300, because somebody bought it first. Which would be best for BF3 (multiplayer) and future games:
i3 2100
i5 750
X4 955BE
X4 960T
X6 1100T
 
If I were buying for myself and stuck in that price range I'd go 2100. The added cores on the AMD chips do help, but the 2100 is pretty much an AMD x4's equal when it comes to gaming. Video encoding is a different story, but if you want more performance down the line at least you'll have a viable upgrade path instead of getting stuck with no upgrade options on the AMD front.
 
YES.

Even the people that voted for the i5-2300 should agree thats a great deal.

Edit: New that'd cost you over 300€.
 
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