(Gaming) Phenom II x4 955 vs i7 / Waste of money

[JBags]

.. i also forgot to add in my last post that citing x16/x16 CF with AMD against x8/x8 CF Intel 1156 really doesn't matter that much as no video card today is really bottlenecked at all by the bandwidth allowed by pci-e 2.0 x8. so there won't be that much of a performance difference between x16/x16 and x8/x8.

 

also worth noting is i believe that the pci-e controller is on the i5 chip iteself, so that can limit the amount of lanes it can have, however reducing delay/latency.. so there is some worthy tradeoff... cf performance might even be slightly raised on i5s given the reduced delay due to it being onchip een though it's x8/x8..

 

just sayin.

[magekyou]

I really don't want to refind all those benchmarks, but no i5 doesnt get any performance improvement over Phenom II 955.

In fact, it's the same as a i7, sometimes lower, thus making phenom II 955 better in most cases...

But yeah an i5 build with a "good enough" mobo would cost 50 $ less...but I rather get future proof instead.

 

Also, I don't think Phenom II 955 will bottleneck any card, at least not now.

First of all, there is no actual benchmarks to prove this, so claiming it on air doesnt really matter..

Also check this:

http://www.modreactor.com/english/Reviews/...is-Warhead.html

http://www.modreactor.com/english/Reviews/...-Clear-Sky.html

http://www.modreactor.com/english/Reviews/...-May-Cry-4.html

 

With a all ready very powerfull HD4890 crossfire, we don't see the Phenom II 955 flinching, not even one bit, while the i7 gives us less better experience, ESPECIALLY with AA cranked up.

Even the HD5870 won't bottleneck Phenom II 955, or at least, the weird (shouldnt be CPU related. Heard about intel cpu being less "consistent" in Gaming tho..) advantage this CPU has over i7 with AA cranked up will surely cover up the MAYBE (I stress it, MAYBE. There is no actual proof, please don't claim something on your own..) little bottleneck Phenom II 955 wil cause to HD5870 crossfire witouth AA. And I can claim this, because I showed benchmarks proving that i7 drops drastically once you activate AA, while Phenom II 955 drops...4 fps.

[JBags]

don't get me wrong. i'm not arguing with you, I'm a very budget minded person myself and I agree with your points from a price/performance perspective. and forgive me, I mistakenly said i5 when i ment 1156 cpus.

 

I also did say might, i dont have any proof, in my head it made perfect sense that there MIGHT be some performance gains from the intergrated pci-e controller. I never, in fact, said 1156 graphics > Phenom II graphics, though it could be interpreted that way. i was just stating my observation and putting forth my opinion/hypothesis, I never claimed anything as truth.

[rourkchris]

Just saw this at Tom's Hardware and thought it was interesting: AMD Or Intel: Which $100 Gaming CPU Should You Buy? http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-g...g-cpu,2439.html

[Bosco]

I am a huge gamer but AMD isn't all around enough for me to use for other stuff I do so I personally choose to run Intel and I won't be switching for quite a while.

 

But I could see the benefit for others running AMD though

[magekyou]

SORRY! ><

It's just that im used to go on defensive...

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/272065-3...mers-only-worth

I dont understand, I was NOWHERE wrong, and still I got flammed this badly.

 

As for i5, I tought the same when it first was released. For me, AMD was over.

But no, as you see, I took the time to check everything, check every benchmark, and realized that phenom II 955 was WAY over i5, and suprisngly, same as i7.

 

Also, not only some people here only speculate that PII955 wil bottleneck HD5870CF, but I also find it quite...weird, that a CPU realesed in april can bottleneck more then a CPU released 1 year before, in october. AMD was probably not made with video encoding and zipping in made, but that doesnt make it a less good CPU. So as far as these speculations go, they harldy make any sense from many levels...

 

Yes AMD failed with the phenom, and vs the C2D and C2Q. But give the company a chance, let them prove that they are worth it. And THEY ARE. I showed EVERY SINGLE benchmark to prove my point, while I only get answered by some speculations, or some budget talking.

 

Anyway, I think that a GAMER usually don't have such a high budget. Gamers computer are often under 1000$ so the whoole HD5870x2 is ALREADY out of the question for a gamer...By the time he will be able to afford it, 6 cores from AMD would probably be out, thus making this non proved "bottleneck" quite a stupid reason not to go Phenom II instead of i7. With a 800~$ budget (USUALLY the budget of a gamer, sometimes less.) I think a gamer can either make a i7/GTX260 or 275. Or he can chose to go PhenomII955/HD5870 with that extra 250~300$ he will save, and this build would resist for the next year, even 2 years later because DX11 is said to make hardware work even better. Then, if you ever feel bottleneck, You can upgrade to 6 core, and Im sure they will be WAY more affordable then i9's.

[GabrielT]

SORRY! ><

It's just that im used to go on defensive...

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/272065-3...mers-only-worth

I dont understand, I was NOWHERE wrong, and still I got flammed this badly.

I didn't think you got flamed much you just didn't listen to a few people, I thought most of it was pretty positive.

I liked the write up myself but will still be going for an LGA1156 set up.

[magekyou]

I am a huge gamer but AMD isn't all around enough for me to use for other stuff I do so I personally choose to run Intel and I won't be switching for quite a while.

 

But I could see the benefit for others running AMD though

 

 

Main Rig

Intel I7 920

MSI X58 Platinum

12 gigs of Mushkin Tri Channel

2 X Nvidia GTX 295 Quad SLI

2 X 1.5 Terabyte Seagate

Thermaltake Armour Case

1000 Thermaltake PSU

Samsung 30" LCD

 

I can understand XD!! Your not budget limited like many of us...

But yeah even the all around for other stuff is just like a 1min advantage in video encoding or a 30 seconds gain in Zipping...and that's 300 $ more.

 

As a fact, the actual use of your computer won't feel any faster. My dad has a Q9450 and a i7 (he works in governments security, database administrator thats why he has 2 Computers) and I don't feel ANY difference going from one computer to the other.

[magekyou]

I didn't think you got flamed much you just didn't listen to a few people, I thought most of it was pretty positive.

I liked the write up myself but will still be going for an LGA1156 set up.

 

LGA1156 will be interesting for me only if the Lucid Hydra 200 motherboard is a real performance. We will know in 14 days:

http://event.msi.com/mb/bigbang/

 

Even if this mobo is THE next thing in dual CPU setups, they will make one for a dual x8 socket wich is quite weird...maybe it will actually make the dualx8 worth the money... Well if the lucid Hydra thingy is real, they will make one for AM3 also so... but not before xmas..

Even tho, I would still prefer to be future proofed. LGA 1156's next CPU is a i5-670 with less cache, and will cost more... I wonder wats up with that..

LGA 1156 won't get any 6 or 8 cores, it's a 4 cores Socket I think, But I really dunno..At least, it won't get it before 2011 and AM3 will already have 8 cores by then..

 

But yeah LGA1156 is still a very good build for the budget builder.

Any build that will save you 300$ for the same performance is good.

[Bosco]

Main Rig

Intel I7 920

MSI X58 Platinum

12 gigs of Mushkin Tri Channel

2 X Nvidia GTX 295 Quad SLI

2 X 1.5 Terabyte Seagate

Thermaltake Armour Case

1000 Thermaltake PSU

Samsung 30" LCD

 

I can understand XD!! Your not budget limited like many of us...

But yeah even the all around for other stuff is just like a 1min advantage in video encoding or a 30 seconds gain in Zipping...and that's 300 $ more.

 

As a fact, the actual use of your computer won't feel any faster. My dad has a Q9450 and a i7 (he works in governments security, database administrator thats why he has 2 Computers) and I don't feel ANY difference going from one computer to the other.

 

When we went from our 9450 to I7 on our test rigs the increase in speed was huge. Second 1 min 30 seconds I beg to differ. My AMD rigs do not rip anywhere near the sametimes that I get off my intel we are talking more like 10mins 20mins etc not sure where you come up with a min or 30 seconds. My file transfer rates are way faster. I can do more things at once due to have more memory without spending an arm and a leg to get as much on AMD. Next thing the I7 was out before the AMD finally started coming around I would rather have the new stuff then sitting around waiting for the other guys to come out with their stuff.

[magekyou]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cyberp...gon,2337-6.html

here and

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cyberp...gon,2337-5.html

 

But yeah of course If you do lots of file transfer and things like that your FAR better going with the i7.

Iwas more talking about the people that only games, and shouldnt care one bit that the i7 zip faster or encode faster.

[Bosco]

I see what you were talking about. Now if you make those files into 4,8,12,16gigs or bigger you will see what I was talking about 10, 15 20,mins etc.