Intel or AMD which would be best for me.

[Flibolito]

Hi guys tax return has come in and I'm ready for a new rig.
So basically I'm torn between the Intel setup I have been thinking about and the new Phenom II quads.

This is what I will be using regardless.
HAF 932
WD caviar black 640gb 32mb HD
EVGA 275GTX

So it comes down to chipset and processor.
Intel E8500 or Q9400 on a Gigabyte EP45-UD3R or
Phenom II 940 on a Gigabyte 790GX


Any ideas would be great I know both will be stout setups for what this system will be doing which is mostly gaming and folding. I basically would like to know the best place to spend my cash. I have been leaning towards the AMD rig because the unlocked multiplier make my mouth water. How do these chips stack up clock for clock.

 

[WhiteLotus]

Both are good choices, and will perform the tasks you want them to well. It depends if you want to overclock the hell out of them, and if you care about e-penises.

As for gaming - i doubt either trumps the other in any noticeable way during game play, and folding (folding@home i assume?) is best done with the graphics card.

 

[LittleLizard]

phenom II 940 on the gigabyte 790gx for the croosfire capability (or another card fir physx)

 

[BroBQ]

I would have to say go AMD ... better price/performance

For motherboard, go with gigabyte. Also, instead of getting one large drive, get a smaller HDD for OS/games/apps, etc... then a another larger drive for storge.

And, of course, shop at www.newegg.com

 

[Flibolito]

yeah Folding@home.
can crossfire do 2 nvidia cards? if it does work ill grab me a 9600GT or something for physics that would be sweet.

 

[Flibolito]

agreed im newegg for life the only i bought already is the case at microcenter because no shipping charge and i saw it and had to have it
haha

the reason i got that drive was because this computer will not have much storage needs and i have heard that 640 black HD is really fast because of its platter design

as for overclocking I'm looking to get into the 3.6GHz range

 

[BroBQ]

how serious are you about gaming?

 

[WhiteLotus]

yeah Folding@home.
can crossfire do 2 nvidia cards? if it does work ill grab me a 9600GT or something for physics that would be sweet.

nVidia do SLI, and ATI do Crossfire. Getting two cards to work at the same thing, same concept just done differently.

Also if you are folding and want to use two cards, you have to turn off SLI/Crossfire as those functions are not supported. For Folding i would recommend just one card, if you do not want to deal with the hassle of turning SLI/Crossfire off everytime you want to fire up a game.

 

[Flibolito]

pretty serious i would say i love crysis just for the sheer graphics/physics but I was looking for a rig that will play Diablo 3 and starcraft 2 @ 1920x1080 all out which i know it will since blizzard is good about optimizing but same goes for other games also. The system i have now plays crysis pretty well but i cant use AA. i would like to play with 4xAA on in crysis since it looks great that way and i think the GTX275 will be able to and stay over 20 fps at all times

 

[Flibolito]

most likely this system will be a single graphics card since i believe the 275 handles physics very well with the processors but the physics card in interesting.

 

[HeadlessChicken]

may want to consider the foxconn 790gx board as well, I have been hearing nothing but good things about it

 

[Flibolito]

I have never had foxconn anything is it really a reliable brand with decent support in case i need to RMA and such. Usually i go for gigabyte DFI or asus but im open to anything. do they do well on bios updates and chipset drivers?

 

[Flibolito]

As a sige note i was looking into a sigma PSU. I built 2 out of 4 computers with them this year and they have been solid, anyone had any problems with sigma?

 

[BroBQ]

I would buy a rosewill over sigma ...

 

[n-ster]

I wouold buy Seasonic or CFW made PSUs over anything... so PCP&C, Corsair, seasonic and xigmatek are great

get the 7200.12 seagate 500gb drive... it has only 1 platter! actually, get 2 and RAID 0 them...

I would suggest you go PII 720BE AM3 setup... better for the future...

Actually, good you give us a budget and what you want with it? we could make some interesting builds!

 

[iandh]

One thing I really like about the 790GX is that you always have a decent-ish backup GPU at hand so in case of upgrade/failure you can keep on trucking. Now that I am running 790FX I bought an el cheapo GPU to use as a backup.

IMO, cheap AMD boards are better than cheap intel boards, while expensive intel boards are better than expensive AMD boards. In your price range, I would probably lean towards AMD.

For a gamer rig I would also say 720BE is a great choice. I love mine. Super cool running, super easy to OC, and super cheap.

 

[HeadlessChicken]

I have never had foxconn anything is it really a reliable brand with decent support in case i need to RMA and such. Usually i go for gigabyte DFI or asus but im open to anything. do they do well on bios updates and chipset drivers?

yes foxconn is excelent, a good example, i had a bios flash go wrong, the chip was borked(couldnt hot flash it) they sent me a free replacement once i told them i knew full well how to pull/replace the chip(socket type chip)

most companys CHARGE for a replacement chip or make you RMA the board to get one :/

foxconns been around a VERY VERY long time, i have stuff from them dating back to the 90's (cables/connectors)

foxconn in my experiance with mobo support is better then asus, msi, gigabyte or asrock.

 

[n-ster]

Yea Foxconn is awesome don't worry

 

[BababooeyHTJ]

most likely this system will be a single graphics card since i believe the 275 handles physics very well with the processors but the physics card in interesting.

For what game? Physix is a gimmik and nothing more. The only time that I have ever used it is in Vantage. Oh because some cloth tears in some game that I have no urge to play.

Havok, ftw.

Right now I would go with AMD you can get a P2 and a nice board for a good price and unlike Intel you wont have to worry about your upgrade options in a year or two.

 

[1Kurgan1]

I would suggest you go PII 720BE AM3 setup... better for the future...

Actually, good you give us a budget and what you want with it? we could make some interesting builds!

I second the 720BE, the 940 will get you more power right now. But the 940 is already end life, was really made just to hold over the guys who wanted to be Quad PII instantly. In the future you will need to buy a new mobo (capable of DDR3) then DDR3, and a new proc capable of DDR3.

Where as if you go with the 720 BE right now later on down the road only have to sell your 720 and buy a new AM3 proc. It will just end up being more future proof. Plus the 720's clock just as crazy as 940's, I got mine at 3.8ghz 24/7.

 

[n-ster]

I second the 720BE, the 940 will get you more power right now. But the 940 is already end life, was really made just to hold over the guys who wanted to be Quad PII instantly. In the future you will need to buy a new mobo (capable of DDR3) then DDR3, and a new proc capable of DDR3.

Where as if you go with the 720 BE right now later on down the road only have to sell your 720 and buy a new AM3 proc. It will just end up being more future proof. Plus the 720's clock just as crazy as 940's, I got mine at 3.8ghz 24/7.

+infinity and beyond exactly my point... btw the 720BE runs UBER Cool

 

[HeadlessChicken]

I second the 720BE, the 940 will get you more power right now. But the 940 is already end life, was really made just to hold over the guys who wanted to be Quad PII instantly. In the future you will need to buy a new mobo (capable of DDR3) then DDR3, and a new proc capable of DDR3.

Where as if you go with the 720 BE right now later on down the road only have to sell your 720 and buy a new AM3 proc. It will just end up being more future proof. Plus the 720's clock just as crazy as 940's, I got mine at 3.8ghz 24/7.

why would i need ddr3? amd chips arent and never have been bandwidth limmited(k8 and up that is) , ddr3 shows ZERO bennifit currently for amd.

am3 chips work in am2/am2+ boards given a bios updates avalable, so i really dont see the need to move to ddr3, i think 8gb of good ddr2(cheap as hell) will likely hold you till am4 comes out.

 

[n-ster]

won't hold you till am4 for one, and you won't have to change mobos when AM3 chips that don't work in AM2+ mobos come out...and not 0 benefit... LOW benefit...

 

[HeadlessChicken]

duno why amd would remove am2+ support they said they had said that all am3 cpus would work in am2+ boards.....

 

[n-ster]

like say, AM3+