Phenom II 955 vs. Intels i7

[ShadowFold]

you could probably still ask a TPU member to buy one and send it for you for 250$... nowadays, 220$ gets you the DFI DK... a great board... 80$ gets you 6gb of DDR3 1600mhz or those famous crucials (75$) that OC that far very easily

That makes what? 550$...

a PII 955 will be about 450$ right?

PII 940 is like 350$ right?

PII 720 BE is like 285$ (AM2+) 325$ (AM3) right?

still prefer i7 PII 940 or 720BE are still good choices... (now to think about it, 940 is a very good deal now )

PII 955 sucks IMO

Why would I spend that much on something that needs watercooling to overclock with? I don't have that much money. And then I would have to buy DDR3, an expensive board and the CPU itself.

My Phenom II upgrade was really cheap. Got the board for 100$, ram for 50$(and I've been using it since my E7200/P45) and I got the CPU for 100$. Not only that but I am playing all my games with the settings maxed out. Crysis, Left 4 Dead, Asscreed, STALKER, Everquest II, FarCry2 etc.. Why would I need to spend 290$ on a CPU that needs 300$+ in accessories for stuff that I already have?

AMD's platform is far better for budget gamers is the point I'm trying to make.. Intel's i7 stuff is really only good for benchmarkers, people who just want to upgrade everything and gamers with high budgets. i5 should hopefully compete with the PII's in terms of performance, I'm interested in building an i5 folding rig myself. Should be fun to play with for a few weeks then it would be off to 24/7 F@H crunching

EDIT: anyhow, how could a 720BE have an AM2+ version and a AM3 version? lol

What are you talking about? The AM3 CPU's have DDR2 and DDR3 controllers built in. They also work in any AM2 and AM3 board.

 

[n-ster]

I know... but I put (AM2+) and (AM3)... and i thought it obvious that I meant like am2+ mobo vs AM3 and ddr2vs ddr3

My point is that a PII 940 is better then PII 955 in price performance...

 

[ShadowFold]

Yes, and it's also only compatible with DDR2. At least the 955 will work with DDR2 and DDR3 boards. I still don't get why you're saying it sucks. It obviously doesn't since it can keep up with the i7 in games, which is all that matters to most.

 

[alucasa]

PhII 955 is priced at 358CAD in Canada. It's the same price as i7 920. If I had to choose between those two, I'd go for i7.
There is a 40CAD difference in a X58 motherboard and a 790FX DDR3 motherboard, but that isn't a big deal for me in the grand scheme of things.
Since I don't use DDR 2 anymore, DDR2's lower price is a moot point for me.

I was hoping to get my hands on PhII 955, but it looks like not for a while until either its price drops or I build another i7 rig.

 

[cdawall]

I meant CPU + mobo + RAM DUHHHHH

lol sry... I thought it was obvious since its 550$ for i7 + i7 mobo + ddr3

EDIT: anyhow, how could a 720BE have an AM2+ version and a AM3 version? lol

ok in that case i have a 5600+ 780A and DDR2 so the upgrade to a 955 cost me $230

i also have a P45 e2200 and DDR2 upgrade to i7 cost $550

You have to consider though, many members of sites like this are primarily gamers. From a gamer's point of view PII is superior to i7 in some situations... such as mine.

i7 does beat PII quite badly in systems with 3-4 GPU's, but there are several games in which PII beats i7 with 1-2 GPU's, such as Crysis. In most other games it is a draw so there is no argument to be made.

Also, PII offers identical gaming performance in midrange systems while drawing less power and OC'ing higher on less adequate cooling. Most folks that already have decent air coolers don't necessarily have 1366 mounts since their coolers were purchased before i7, and even if they bought mounts their coolers wouldn't be good enough to get a respectable OC. PII will hit 3.6 plus on almost any damned thing.


I do agree many folks wear blinders when discussing the chips, but beware of falling into that same category yourself when discussing those blinder-wearing folks.

phenom II beats i7 with multi GPU scaling regardless of the number of GPU's 1GPU=i7 2+GPU=p2

 

[Binge]

I want your proof CD. Give us a quality build with both procs and multi gpu setups

 

[ShadowFold]

I thought it was the other way around.. If you get some screens up showing multi GPU scaling better on PII I will probably grab another 4850X2 for quadfire.

 

[cdawall]

I want your proof CD. Give us a quality build with both procs and multi gpu setups

freaksaviors rig

i7 920@4.2ghz
DFI X58
3x2GB HCF8
500GB seagate 7200.12
2xGTX285
3870X2

phenom II 955
crosshair II formula
2x2GB D9JNL
320GB seagate 7200.10
2xGTX285
3870X2

 

[Binge]

I hope you'll add in some solid proof that ammounts to over the 1-3% margin of error.

 

[cdawall]

I hope you'll add in some solid proof that ammounts to over the 1-3% margin of error.

look on XS they had some but they were all pulls from hwbot but it shows phenom II to have some damn good scaling i blame the mobo's honestly

what clocks for the phenom II to match the i7? we were going to put both on DICE phenom II should do around 4.7ghz 3D stable and i7 4.5ghz

 

[Binge]

the test is 4.0GHz HT off.

 

[n-ster]

fine i7 is not at all in the price range of PIIs... but still, PII 955 upgrade will cost you 250$... PII 940 will cost you 190$... What would you go for huh?

 

[MKmods]

You have to consider though, many members of sites like this are primarily gamers. From a gamer's point of view PII is superior to i7 in some situations... such as mine.

i7 does beat PII quite badly in systems with 3-4 GPU's, but there are several games in which PII beats i7 with 1-2 GPU's, such as Crysis. In most other games it is a draw so there is no argument to be made.

Also, PII offers identical gaming performance in midrange systems while drawing less power and OC'ing higher on less adequate cooling. Most folks that already have decent air coolers don't necessarily have 1366 mounts since their coolers were purchased before i7, and even if they bought mounts their coolers wouldn't be good enough to get a respectable OC. PII will hit 3.6 plus on almost any damned thing.


I do agree many folks wear blinders when discussing the chips, but beware of falling into that same category yourself when discussing those blinder-wearing folks.

well said

All I know is since the 940 went to $169 I am now a proud owner of the 940.

 

[n-ster]

isnt 940 190$? where is it at 170$? now that is a bargain... that is my point though... 940 is incredibly cheaper for 98% of the performance

 

[captainskyhawk]

i7's a damn good chip -- if you have the money for it, buy it

but i'd rather just get a decent AMD mainboard and PII 940BE for 100 dollars less and then spend that extra money on a much better video card

What's better, core i7 920 with a GTX 260 or PII 940BE with a GTX 285

 

[MKmods]

isnt 940 190$? where is it at 170$? now that is a bargain... that is my point though... 940 is incredibly cheaper for 98% of the performance

thanks to kenkickr and 2wicked I was in the right place at the right time for a change..
http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=91492

and till I see that DDR3 memory makes a big diff DDR2 is just fine for me too n-ster.

 

[trt740]

The PII 955 is very fast and is very competitive in several applications with the I7 and when you consider motherboard, ram and cpu it is cheaper .Since Ive now owned at DDR2 PII 940, 945 and a 920 I7 in the real world your going to see almost no difference from a 955 to a I7 920 , zero, zip, none and anyone who says different is full of it. The I7 at 3.8ghz , (which on air is the true average overclock )and the 940, 945 and 955 at 3.8ghz on air (also the average overclock)are going to perform in every day application almost the same, with the I7 being faster in most things but unless you are running a bench mark your not going to notice. There is no reason to have the "this ones better argument ",it's stupid and counter productive, because of AMD prices across the board keep getting lower. The truth being told, on a limited budget, would be to buy a AMD system, overclock it to hell and back , then take the extra money and buy a top of the line GPU. These AMD chips are very good and fast as hell. Go AMD bring on the faster chips and push these prices down!!!!!

 

[SeanG]

Im a gamer and it cost me less than $600 to upgrade my computer to what I have now and ill kick your asses with your $3000 intel computers in cod4 and codwow.

 

[n-ster]

The PII 955 is very fast and is very competitive in several applications with the I7 and when you consider motherboard, ram and cpu it is cheaper .Since Ive now owned at DDR2 PII 940, 945 and a 920 I7 in the real world your going to see almost no difference from a 955 to a I7 920 , zero, zip, none and anyone who says different is full of it. The I7 at 3.8ghz , (which on air is the true average overclock )and the 940, 945 and 955 at 3.8ghz on air (also the average overclock)are going to perform in every day application almost the same, with the I7 being faster in most things but unless you are running a bench mark your not going to notice. There is no reason to have the "this ones better argument ",it's stupid and counter productive, because of AMD prices across the board keep getting lower. The truth being told, on a limited budget, would be to buy a AMD system, overclock it to hell and back , then take the extra money and buy a top of the line GPU. These AMD chips are very good and fast as hell. Go AMD bring on the faster chips and push these prices down!!!!!

Yea you know, after this thread, I relized i7 isn't so great if it's for gaming... but I still stand by my point that 955 sucks compared to 940

I prefer going i7 though than PII 955 ANYDAY (unless we're talking upgrade, than I'll take 940BE)... I mean, 100$ more for an i7, I'll get the i7

 

[wiak]

Phenom II AM2+/AM3 is exellent for people with AM2+ motherboards dating back to 2007!
my GA-MA790FX-DS5 supports latest Phenom II 955 fully after a simple bios update

 

[Wile E]

The PII 955 is very fast and is very competitive in several applications with the I7 and when you consider motherboard, ram and cpu it is cheaper .Since Ive now owned at DDR2 PII 940, 945 and a 920 I7 in the real world your going to see almost no difference from a 955 to a I7 920 , zero, zip, none and anyone who says different is full of it. The I7 at 3.8ghz , (which on air is the true average overclock )and the 940, 945 and 955 at 3.8ghz on air (also the average overclock)are going to perform in every day application almost the same, with the I7 being faster in most things but unless you are running a bench mark your not going to notice. There is no reason to have the "this ones better argument ",it's stupid and counter productive, because of AMD prices across the board keep getting lower. The truth being told, on a limited budget, would be to buy a AMD system, overclock it to hell and back , then take the extra money and buy a top of the line GPU. These AMD chips are very good and fast as hell. Go AMD bring on the faster chips and push these prices down!!!!!

I would notice the difference easily. Most people on this site seem to assume that a computer's main use is gaming (Understandably, as that's the target audience), but that's not all a computer is good for. For instance, I do a shitload of encoding. i7 embarrasses PII in encoding, no ifs, ands or buts. That IS quite noticeable, and worth the extra money if you can afford it.

 

[Tatty_Two]

You have to consider though, many members of sites like this are primarily gamers. From a gamer's point of view PII is superior to i7 in some situations... such as mine.

i7 does beat PII quite badly in systems with 3-4 GPU's, but there are several games in which PII beats i7 with 1-2 GPU's, such as Crysis. In most other games it is a draw so there is no argument to be made.

Also, PII offers identical gaming performance in midrange systems while drawing less power and OC'ing higher on less adequate cooling. Most folks that already have decent air coolers don't necessarily have 1366 mounts since their coolers were purchased before i7, and even if they bought mounts their coolers wouldn't be good enough to get a respectable OC. PII will hit 3.6 plus on almost any damned thing.


I do agree many folks wear blinders when discussing the chips, but beware of falling into that same category yourself when discussing those blinder-wearing folks.

Agreed but in gaming situations, especially at a decent resolution, the Gfx card is the most important item, most members will probably have sufficient CPU's for gaming, if gaming was what the majority of member wanted to do most of the time, why would they even bother upgrading at this time to i7 or PII, their Core2/Quad or Phenom 1 setups would be more than adequate, and if they got that upgrade "itch" just buy a better gfx card.

IMO a lot less people upgrade a CPU to support better gameplay than they do to improve the "overall" speed of their system..... I might be wrong though.

 

[Tatty_Two]

Why would I spend that much on something that needs watercooling to overclock with? I don't have that much money. And then I would have to buy DDR3, an expensive board and the CPU itself.

My Phenom II upgrade was really cheap. Got the board for 100$, ram for 50$(and I've been using it since my E7200/P45) and I got the CPU for 100$. Not only that but I am playing all my games with the settings maxed out. Crysis, Left 4 Dead, Asscreed, STALKER, Everquest II, FarCry2 etc.. Why would I need to spend 290$ on a CPU that needs 300$+ in accessories for stuff that I already have?

AMD's platform is far better for budget gamers is the point I'm trying to make.. Intel's i7 stuff is really only good for benchmarkers, people who just want to upgrade everything and gamers with high budgets. i5 should hopefully compete with the PII's in terms of performance, I'm interested in building an i5 folding rig myself. Should be fun to play with for a few weeks then it would be off to 24/7 F@H crunching



What are you talking about? The AM3 CPU's have DDR2 and DDR3 controllers built in. They also work in any AM2 and AM3 board.

I can run 4.1gig and bench every app on air (just as thats the absolute limit temps wise to get thru all benches), but to be fair I have been very lucky with my chip, I can do that on 1.30V, watercooling gets the most out of a good chip without a doubt, but on air it still flies!

But of course there is no doubt the PII IS the most cost effective solution, especially if you are already an AM2/+ owner.

 

[eidairaman1]

I would notice the difference easily. Most people on this site seem to assume that a computer's main use is gaming (Understandably, as that's the target audience), but that's not all a computer is good for. For instance, I do a shitload of encoding. i7 embarrasses PII in encoding, no ifs, ands or buts. That IS quite noticeable, and worth the extra money if you can afford it.

fact of it being a longer multi stage pipe than a shorter stage pipe, thats how the P4 was.

 

[vbx]

I would notice the difference easily. Most people on this site seem to assume that a computer's main use is gaming (Understandably, as that's the target audience), but that's not all a computer is good for. For instance, I do a shitload of encoding. i7 embarrasses PII in encoding, no ifs, ands or buts. That IS quite noticeable, and worth the extra money if you can afford it.

So how long would it take for your i7 desktop to convert a dvd movie into an avi file? My P4 3.4HT takes forever. About 40-55 minutes.

Those benchmarks scores is foreign to me. Just give me a rough estimate in minutes.