Risk of platform death- worth upgrading?

[TheyCallMeGunny]

So we all know bulldozer was a fail. It was a big hit to AMD, and due to it's letdown Intel has even been sandbagging their own new CPUs. Which means the lead Intel could have is less than it could be, since it really doesn't even have competition anymore.

 

I recently "finished" my build. But I'm planning on building my girlfriend a new computer, and may give her my CPU+Mobo and just buy a better set for myself.

 

I currently have an AMD build, and am a bit concerned for lack of future support for the brand. So I'm considering buying an Intel board and CPU, likely LGA1155.

 

This is planned between 6-12 months from now.

 

So now for the question, since my situation's been explained:

 

Does AMD have anything coming up in the near future that could save their brand? Because I'd rather just buy a new CPU and not have to give my $200 mobo away with it.

 

For me, price is the sole reason for not switching to Intel: If I can get a ~$150 CPU by sticking with AM3+ instead of a $150 CPU and a $200 mobo.. I'm not too concerned about 10% less bang for my buck. What worries me is that if I buy a new CPU, what happens if AMD doesn't pull out of this hole they've been digging deeper for years? I'd like to have an open upgrade path without having to switch out half my rig's internals.

 

-Edit: my motherboard supports AM3 and AM3+. I currently have a Phenom II X2 555 BE in it. Unlocked to triple core and overclocked. I'd really like to have more cores, since I'm often running a virtual mac OSX on my computer and I'd prefer to feed it more than just a single core. So, is there anything in my socket coming up that might be worth waiting for? Or should I just give up hope and plan on switching to intel when build time comes?

 

The girlfriend doesn't need a super high performance PC: She just needs a new one as hers is almost 10 years old now. Hence why giving her my hand-me-downs is so ideal: they're by no means old or slow while they're also not the best. So it'd be a perfect fit for her.

 

-Edit 2: We just took out a loan to buy a house, and it's by no means livable. I'm going to be living in filth for a few months guitting and remodeling it until her and the daughter can move in with me. So I really CAN'T spare a whole ton of money unless something truly outstanding is coming along for either brand.

I either want cheap but substantially better: Or the absolute best. I don't have the option to buy in the middle for at least a few years to come.

Edited May 18, 2012 by dragonsdontfly

[Tjj226_Angel]

So we all know bulldozer was a fail. It was a big hit to AMD, and due to it's letdown Intel has even been sandbagging their own new CPUs. Which means the lead Intel could have is less than it could be, since it really doesn't even have competition anymore.

 

I recently "finished" my build. But I'm planning on building my girlfriend a new computer, and may give her my CPU+Mobo and just buy a better set for myself.

 

I currently have an AMD build, and am a bit concerned for lack of future support for the brand. So I'm considering buying an Intel board and CPU, likely LGA1155.

 

This is planned between 6-12 months from now.

 

So now for the question, since my situation's been explained:

 

Does AMD have anything coming up in the near future that could save their brand? Because I'd rather just buy a new CPU and not have to give my $200 mobo away with it.

 

For me, price is the sole reason for not switching to Intel: If I can get a ~$150 CPU by sticking with AM3+ instead of a $150 CPU and a $200 mobo.. I'm not too concerned about 10% less bang for my buck. What worries me is that if I buy a new CPU, what happens if AMD doesn't pull out of this hole they've been digging deeper for years? I'd like to have an open upgrade path without having to switch out half my rig's internals.

 

-Edit: my motherboard supports AM3 and AM3+. I currently have a Phenom II X2 555 BE in it. Unlocked to triple core and overclocked. I'd really like to have more cores, since I'm often running a virtual mac OSX on my computer and I'd prefer to feed it more than just a single core. So, is there anything in my socket coming up that might be worth waiting for? Or should I just give up hope and plan on switching to intel when build time comes?

 

The girlfriend doesn't need a super high performance PC: She just needs a new one as hers is almost 10 years old now. Hence why giving her my hand-me-downs is so ideal: they're by no means old or slow while they're also not the best. So it'd be a perfect fit for her.

 

-Edit 2: We just took out a loan to buy a house, and it's by no means livable. I'm going to be living in filth for a few months guitting and remodeling it until her and the daughter can move in with me. So I really CAN'T spare a whole ton of money unless something truly outstanding is coming along for either brand.

I either want cheap but substantially better: Or the absolute best. I don't have the option to buy in the middle for at least a few years to come.

 

The reality is that AMD's "hole" as you put it is only going to get deeper. The next chip they have coming out is Pile Driver (aside from trinity which is obviously an APU). From what I can gather it is part of AMD's "F IT, LETS ADD MORE CORES" business strategy.The chip is basically BD except it has 10 cores and slightly better instructions per clock performance. Considering AMD has dropped 12 percent in stock prices in the past 2 weeks, SOMETHING is telling me they aren't going to be crawling out of any ditch any time soon with PD or any other secret chip in the works. .

 

But if your target time is THAT far out into the future, why don't you just wait a bit longer for haswell?

[Waco]

The reality is that AMD's "hole" as you put it is only going to get deeper. The next chip they have coming out is Pile Driver (aside from trinity which is obviously an APU). From what I can gather it is part of AMD's "F IT, LETS ADD MORE CORES" business strategy.The chip is basically BD except it has 10 cores and slightly better instructions per clock performance. Considering AMD has dropped 12 percent in stock prices in the past 2 weeks, SOMETHING is telling me they aren't going to be crawling out of any ditch any time soon with PD or any other secret chip in the works. .

 

But if your target time is THAT far out into the future, why don't you just wait a bit longer for haswell?

I'm going to call it now...Tjj is completely wrong about this.

 

Also - OP - if you really think you'll see a difference of 10-20% in performance when playing games or doing whatever on your computer...feel free to switch platforms and waste some money. You've got no reason to get rid of what you have now unless you really like to see synthetic benchmark scores. My 2600K at stock games exactly the same as it does at 5 GHz. When I had to run my "old" Phenom II it didn't make much difference to gaming at all really...so don't waste your money "upgrading" when your current machine is just fine.

 

 

EDIT: If you want "more cores" just wait till Piledriver is released. It'll be 8 or 10 cores (I don't think it's confirmed yet) with much higher IPC than Bulldozer. If it even comes close to Phenom II level IPC it'll be a winner as long as they keep power consumption in check.

[El_Capitan]

IMO, just stick with the best SB system and you'll be good to go for a good long time. You can find some new (MicroCenter) and good used i7 2600K's in the $180 - $220 range (which I've found and bought), while some i5-2500K's can be found for $150. It's a good time since so many people upgraded to Ivy Bridge for one reason or another.

 

AMD had a good run in the Phenom II days, but once SB came along, they no longer have the price/performance everyone loved about them. At this point, everything I need my computer to do just flies. I don't expect it needing to go faster anytime soon.

[Drdeath]

AMD announced months ago they gave up on competing for the performance king. Intel is not sandbagging. Ivybridge only brought 5% better performance over SandyBridge.

 

The stock from both AMD and Intel has dropped due to a bleak desktop market and it is common knowledge they both are aiming more toward the mobility market and graphics is a primary focus. AMD having Fusion technology has a edge here but for us enthusiasts, El Captain is correct. Get the 2600K. Z77 motherboards are pretty cheap along with DDR3 memory. The time is right to buy the platform.

 

That said, this is the final show for socket 1155. Haswell will use LGA 2011(more bandwidth with quad channel memory) and the motherboards are very expensive (Starting out at $300 and up to $500). Watch and see the price of Haswell also. AMD has nothing to compete with it so the entire platform will be pricey.

 

As for an everday noticable difference between Bulldozer and SandyBridge?. I have a AMD FX-8150/ 990FXA, a Sandy 2600K/Z77, Ivy 3770K/ Z77 and a Sandy E 3930K/X79 setups and there is very noticable differences between all Intel and Bulldozer rigs. Bulldozer is very sluggish in most apps compared to even my 2600K setup.

 

For the price, Sandybridge 2600K with a budget Z77 motherboard is actually cheaper than the FX-8150 eight core if ya hit up Microcenter like el_Captain suggested and the decision is a no brainer.

 

12 months from now, a different ballgame will be upon us. So speculating on a rig at this point is worthless IMO.......Sandy may be even less then but mmost likely on the list to be phased out. I hope AMD's Piledriver is better than Bulldozer. A competitive AMD makes a competative Intel......

Trinity CPU's will be in full force by then and if you do not have the cash, get the best bang for your buck when you are ready....... It is difficult to say what will shake out by then as far as pricing goes.....

 

.Hope this helps.

Edited May 18, 2012 by Drdeath

[tazwegion]

AMD had a good run in the Phenom II days, but once SB came along, they no longer have the price/performance everyone loved about them.

 

 

A sad bleak reality, however with people "switching" to the dark side now could be a good time to build those AMD "trailing edge" systems

[Black64]

I don't see any reason to upgrade my CPU/Mobo (AMD X6) anytime soon. It still pleanty fast for gaming. I do however upgrade my GPU at least twice a year, because that is where it counts.

[Drdeath]

A sad bleak reality, however with people "switching" to the dark side now could be a good time to build those AMD "trailing edge" systems

 

 

Phenoms never had performance but pricing, yes. AMD's performance has been the same for over 2 years. Not 1 bit of improvement.

[Transk53]

Phenoms never had performance but pricing, yes. AMD's performance has been the same for over 2 years. Not 1 bit of improvement.

 

Was going to argue against that. However, your sadly correct, nice call, when you go relative between the CPU's cycle for cycle. Nice collection of Rigs btw.

[Waco]

Was going to argue against that. However, your sadly correct, nice call, when you go relative between the CPU's cycle for cycle. Nice collection of Rigs btw.

Thuban came out about 2 years ago...and AMD has yet to release anything that performs better.

[Transk53]

Thuban came out about 2 years ago...and AMD has yet to release anything that performs better.

 

Yeah, I guess the FX Series is still . overall.

[Shredalicious42]

Got me an (old) phenom II X4 955 and its still going great, just gets a little hot sometimes in my NZXT H2 case, I have just created a topic about upgrading to FX, and some members suggested that I hold off until new stuff comes out, FX doesnt seem to be worth it from the Phenom II