Phenom II 955 vs. Intels i7

[Binge]

God... not another one of these threads...

 

[_33]

Core i7 dominates everything and games at low res. Phenom II only comes out on top at high resolutions.

This story has been repeated in other benchmarks. I still wouldn't take a Phenom II over a Core i7 because even at high resolutions, the Core i7 still posts good framerates. Why lose all that performance in other applications just for a marginal gain in high res games?

To quote a Teladi: "You make no sense; you lose profit."

But it's funny, how would you explain why the AMD comes on top (if very marginally) in most games at high resolution and high game details? Would it be a better motherboard chipset than the X58 that manages the PCI-E better on AMD than on Intel's?... It's definately not the processor's fault so I blame the X58 chipset here.


EDIT: Here's a funny link about a GTX 280 running Fear 2: Project Origin, from an AMD 4000+ single processor, right up to an Intel QX9650
http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,...us-graphics-settings-compared/Reviews/?page=3
And here's AnandTech benches where you can select your bench and get tons of results on whatever:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Maybe QPI is higher latency than HTT. Or everything on QPI has to go through more hoops to reach the IMC than it does on HTT.

 

[Hayder_Master]

Another biased review:

http://img.techpowerup.org/090420/Capture027.png

:shadedshu

They're using a garbage asrock board and DDR2 memory, of course the i7 is gonna win! They should at least use the same memory and a descent board for both test setups.

honestly the good AMD system in this compare decrease the Distance i the tests and don't show the AMD is crab just like in this tests , but still PHENOM II look great with games but also still can't beat i7 in everst ans sandra , so im always say AMD need new platforms

The x58 board isnt a good one its an Intel stock one and there are not any really decent Intel made boards, this "smackover" would be at the lower end of x58's according to the reviews I have read..... the bottom line is that the 940 only supports DDR2 and the i7 only supports DDR3, thats the nature of it so you cant really say it's unfair, it's a limtation of the 940.

Next people are going to complain that it's not fair to compare the 955 against i7 as i7 has triple channel, AMD are more than welcome to design a triple channel capable CPU if they want

agree my brother , AMD need new platforms , phenom II is great but chipset still crab

 

[iandh]

Not to sound like a fan boy but the Phenom II can't even hold a candle to a Q9650 let alone an i7 . Just MHO .

Yes, Q9650 and i7 are much better at wallet-raping, Phenom II can't even come close to intel in $ spent per frame.

 

[e6600]

Yes, Q9650 and i7 are much better at wallet-raping, Phenom II can't even come close to intel in $ spent per frame.

neither can amd's gpus against nvidia

 

[InTeL-iNsIdE]

Yes, Q9650 and i7 are much better at wallet-raping, Phenom II can't even come close to intel in $ spent per frame.

just spent the last 30 mins reading through this thread, definately interesting reading if nothing else.

well my i7 920 cost me less than a phenom II 955 (uk prices £180 oem i7 920 and £200 pII955) althiough i got a good deal on it otherwise there priced the same

and for a fully featured top of the line board to go with the pII 955 your paying near x58 prices anyway ?

 

[n-ster]

Did you know that you could get an i7 mobo+CPU+RAM at less than 400$? of course this may be used slightly...

people should stop compared i7 to PII... not something to compare to, and most of the time, only garbage is said for both ways... I bet you less than half the things said in this thread is plain wrong... and isn't this a month old thread?

 

[iandh]

just spent the last 30 mins reading through this thread, definately interesting reading if nothing else.

well my i7 920 cost me less than a phenom II 955 (uk prices £180 oem i7 920 and £200 pII955) althiough i got a good deal on it otherwise there priced the same

and for a fully featured top of the line board to go with the pII 955 your paying near x58 prices anyway ?

I was just making an unfair jab back at his unfair jab. All I was getting to was that even at its current price, the Phenom II 955 is still a pretty good deal.

Also, you don't really need a top of the line board to go with the 955, you can get by just fine with one of the 790X AM3 boards for $120. With i7, you have no choice. You can even go super-cheap with the 955 and get something like a Biostar AM2+ 790GX board.

Here in the US the i7 is a bit more expensive than the 955 at normal prices but once in a while you can find pretty killer deals on i7.



Anyways, I really really like i7, but I don't do enough of the things it excels at to justify the cost for me.

 

[trickson]

Yes, Q9650 and i7 are much better at wallet-raping, Phenom II can't even come close to intel in $ spent per frame.

What ? ARE you for real? Come on now you can build a top end i7 set up for just as much ( If not LESS ) as a top end PII setup and get far better performance and not to mention that the Q9650 is far better and faster as well for even LESS than the PII so what is that ?

As I see it there is a lot AMD needs to do other than stack on the SPEED to make them a winning gaming or Power House CPU JMHO is all nothing more . If you think that AMD has the better CPU at the better price then good go for it .
But price / performance for ME hands down Intel is ridding high on the hill!

 

[n-ster]

people seem to not realize that RAM is priced the same (3gb ddr3 at less than 50$... 4gb DDR2 same price)

CPU is about the same (230+ tax (245$ for me) at Microcenter, if you can't get it from there, lots of deals on i7s at that lower price for used vs 245$ for 955)

only difference is the board... a GOOD board for i7 can cost you 150$ used (ex: ECS) while the same AM3 would be 100$

there isn't much of a difference in price vs the 955... yet the i7 yields better performance

 

[ShadowFold]

Some people fail to see that you can get a 720BE and a good board for 200-220$, that's less than what an i7 costs alone and you'll get near the same gaming performance at higher resolutions. I chose the X3 and a 790GX over the i7 and an X58(which I could've easily gotten) because I'm a gamer. I need graphics power over CPU power, the Phenom II lineup is the best price-performance CPU for a gamer, so I went with the obvious choice.

 

[trickson]

Some people fail to see that you can get a 720BE and a good board for 200-220$, that's less than what an i7 costs alone and you'll get near the same gaming performance at higher resolutions. I chose the X3 and a 790GX over the i7 and an X58(which I could've easily gotten) because I'm a gamer. I need graphics power over CPU power, the Phenom II lineup is the best price-performance CPU for a gamer, so I went with the obvious choice.

Sweet glad you you got a good set up .
But I have to disagree with you on the price/performance as well you have a try core not a quad core so when you think about it you lost a working core and nothing at all shows ( from what I have seen ) that any PII or try core is faster than a Quad core Intel in games or other apps . Maybe at supper high res some thing that most do not have or run the highest I run is 1680X1050 and I have yet to see an AMD CPU beat mine at that res . But it is more now to do with the video card any way and that is a different subject all together .

But I think this all comes down to this what is it you like ? Do you like raw power and perfomance at a great price ? Or do you just want what will get you by ? that is how I see it .

 

[Darren]

Not to sound like a fan boy but the Phenom II can't even hold a candle to a Q9650 let alone an i7 . Just MHO .

The i7 can bearly "hold a candle" to the Q9650 either.

you can build a top end i7 set up for just as much ( If not LESS ) as a top end PII setup and get far better performance


But price / performance for ME hands down Intel is ridding high on the hill!

Please refer to thread entitled "AMD Plans Massive 45 nm Transition, New CPUs Announced", post #91
click here! or alternatively read the quote below.

If we take ram out of the equation and we presume that both the i7 and Phenom II builds are using DDR3 compatible motherboards and memory the Phenom II should be a lot cheaper than your predicted prices.

Remember if we match up the two cheapest and the two most expensive CPUs in the opposing brands range we'll see the price gap.


Cheapest CPUs:
Intel Core i7 920 is £229.99
AMD Phenom II 810 is £146

Difference: £83


Most expensive CPUs:
Intel i7 940 is £505
Intel i7 965 Extreme Edition is £804
AMD Phenom II 955 is £200

Difference: £305 or £604

Prices from Novatech.co.uk

£305-604 is a huge difference in price, if one was to go the AMD route and select a AM2+ board/DDR2 memory the gap would be even larger for the overal build.

PS. The Q9650 is £273.13, however the Phenom II 955 is 73.13 cheaper. So I I'm very much dubious to your previous claims of Intel being better price wise whether in either the i7 or Q-series domain.

 

[trickson]

@Darren if you look at the performance you look at price's and you look at the threads OP I7 VS PII 955 then one can only state the facts the facts are that even the PII 955 has a hard time competing with the Q9650 let alone the i7 and as for price a Q9650 is just as cheap as a PII 955 with a better performance rating as well . But remember this is just my opinion on it it is not to say that the PII 955 can not perform or in some cases compete very well NO it does a great job but can not in now way out perform an i7 this of course is just my opinion on the matter .

 

[Assassin48]

we all know that i7 is better but costs a little more NEW
but if you buy used then its a diff story
i have a amd rig
955
msi gd70
2x 4870x2 <-- i like posting that lol
total for the 955/gd70 was almost $500 new

intel rig
920 D0
gigabyte Ud5
same video cards
total 920/gigabyte UD5 was $485 <-- Used 920 new gigabyte

you can probably go lower if you buy used 955/am3 board
but for this reference you can see both are good boards

 

[Binge]

God... not another one of these threads...

+1

I honestly can't believe people aren't sick of squacking over this subject. Where's the guy with the 955, i7 920, and an engineering degree putting up some interesting info? Who cares that the i7 940 and i7 965 are expensive? What does it matter that AMD's new processors are inferior for non-gaming computing but add an extra pubic hair's worth of performance behind game-play for a reasonable price? I can summerize this thread in two words: Civil War. The blues get on this side of the line and the reds get on the other and let's just have it out. Try not to lose focus when your net flicks download finishes because this is serious business. SOMEONE HAS TO BE RIGHT HERE. I WILL CONVERT ALL THE NON-BELIEVERS INTO A SIMPLE JELLY THAT CONFORMS TO MY PREFERENCE.

 

[trickson]

The shot heard around the world !

Intel VS AMD !!! KAAABOOOOOOOM !!!!

 

[Darren]

the facts are that even the PII 955 has a hard time competing with the Q9650 let alone the i7 and as for price a Q9650.

The facts are that the i7 also has "a hard time competing with the Q9650" as well!

in some cases compete very well NO it does a great job but can not in now way out perform an i7 this of course is just my opinion on the matter .

But knowone is arguing that it can "out perform the i7". We I was just merely saying that the Phenom II out prices the i7

as for price a Q9650 is just as cheap as a PII 955 with a better performance rating as well.

I thought that in my previous post I demonstrated that the Q9650 was atleast £73.13 more expensive than the Phenom II 955? - Novatech.co.uk prices

Once you factor in that socket AM2+ motherboards are cheaper than socket 775 motherboards the £73 difference will be increase to around a £100 difference whilst loosing your future upgrade path for upgradability on a dead 775 socket.

 

[trickson]

And the WAR continues!

i7 FTW.

 

[n-ster]

In the debate of i7 vs 955, i7 wins hands down for me (price difference way to minimal, hence better price/performance for i7 again depending on what you do, but later on, I am sure the extra power the i7 offers can be used even in gaming)... In the debate of best price/performance gaming CPU/mobo, 720BE wins hands down...

Why would you get an i7 though? if you use stuff that needs a quad-core that performs very well, it would be between 940, 955 and i7 right? i7 beats the other 2 hands down, so if you need maximum performance, i7 is the way to go... if not, IMO 955 is such a small difference in price with the i7 that it is not worth it... so the next option would be obviously the 940...

Why get an i7 if you don't do much of CPU intensive tasks that would require much power? Well, I am getting one, and I don't do much CPU intensive tasks... Why? First, is my love for the i7 I really want to overclock an i7... just because I have helped others too a bit, and because it passionates me... but why spend practically 200$ more for that (compared to 720BE)? that's like a 70% price increase well, first and foremost is that IMO, lga 1366 will offer better upgradeability than any PII... Another thing is, X58 mobos can Xfire or SLI... Another reason is that, IMO, when 720BE will be about obsolete in gaming, or at the least, would bottleneck gaming/GPU, well the i7 still won't, and it'll survive longer... I mean by the time it becomes like so, I am sure they can take advantage of the i7 by then... Yes it is a gamble, but IMO it may just be worth it... Again this is my OPINION, and why I would get the i7...

Also, a bigger e-penis not too big, but big enough to be satisfied

 

[eidairaman1]

ya know what, none of you are right or wrong, everyone has their own opinion on whats better, trying to force it upon each other does however make yall look like fanboys, im not going to name names as that would be unprofessional but this stuff with trying to say this is better or that is better doesnt help matters at these forums, ive seen forums get locked up or shut down for such, because many members took it too far.

 

[Kenshai]

In the debate of i7 vs 955, i7 wins hands down for me (price difference way to minimal, hence better price/performance for i7 again depending on what you do, but later on, I am sure the extra power the i7 offers can be used even in gaming)... In the debate of best price/performance gaming CPU/mobo, 720BE wins hands down...

Why would you get an i7 though? if you use stuff that needs a quad-core that performs very well, it would be between 940, 955 and i7 right? i7 beats the other 2 hands down, so if you need maximum performance, i7 is the way to go... if not, IMO 955 is such a small difference in price with the i7 that it is not worth it... so the next option would be obviously the 940...

Why get an i7 if you don't do much of CPU intensive tasks that would require much power? Well, I am getting one, and I don't do much CPU intensive tasks... Why? First, is my love for the i7 I really want to overclock an i7... just because I have helped others too a bit, and because it passionates me... but why spend practically 200$ more for that (compared to 720BE)? that's like a 70% price increase well, first and foremost is that IMO, lga 1366 will offer better upgradeability than any PII... Another thing is, X58 mobos can Xfire or SLI... Another reason is that, IMO, when 720BE will be about obsolete in gaming, or at the least, would bottleneck gaming/GPU, well the i7 still won't, and it'll survive longer... I mean by the time it becomes like so, I am sure they can take advantage of the i7 by then... Yes it is a gamble, but IMO it may just be worth it... Again this is my OPINION, and why I would get the i7...

Also, a bigger e-penis not too big, but big enough to be satisfied

Apparently, they are going to drop the low end i7's, so they don't put up competition for the i5's that will be coming out, so the whole LGA1366 will be more upgradeable point has become null and void.

Source

 

[n-ster]

Bah, I think we are civilized enough not to go too far...

I still think it is logical to go 720BE for gaming and for the debate PII 955 vs i7 920, I think it is logical to go i7...

By the way, I am in no way a fanboy EXCEPT maybe a TINY BIT for the i7

 

[Kenshai]

Bah, I think we are civilized enough not to go too far...

I still think it is logical to go 720BE for gaming and for the debate PII 955 vs i7 920, I think it is logical to go i7...

By the way, I am in no way a fanboy EXCEPT maybe a TINY BIT for the i7

For the money right now, yes an i7 920 seems a more logical solution. At least compared to the 955. But that's all this thread is about.



Way to edit