AMD 955 vs Intel i7 920

[Lionheart]

You should check out this review here.

Maybe by looking at the numbers you can decide if it's worth it or not. Personally I'm surprised by the difference and glad i went i7.

Smells like fakeness to me

 

[Lampmaster]

Smells like fakeness to me

How so? A Phenom 2 at 3.4 (P2 965) performs about the same as an i7 at 2.7 (i7 920), which seems about right to me. I guess it could also depend on whether the OP plans on overclocking or not since the i7 has more headroom.

 

[DrPepper]

i7 is faster and the 955 is fast anyway.

Put it this way I can stick my 920 at 1.6ghz and still run l4d2 and codmw2 at 100+fps.

 

[Kei]

i7 is faster and the 955 is fast anyway.

Put it this way I can stick my 920 at 1.6ghz and still run l4d2 and codmw2 at 100+fps.

I used to do crazy things like that just to see exactly how powerful the processors (and gpu's) really are these days. I remember running tests with codmw1, unreal tournament 3, and a few others running only at 1.8Ghz and it still playing beautifully.

If we're all honest we know that we have more power than is needed for pretty much anything...we're just greedy and see through very squinty eyes now. lol

Kei

 

[DrPepper]

I used to do crazy things like that just to see exactly how powerful the processors (and gpu's) really are these days. I remember running tests with codmw1, unreal tournament 3, and a few others running only at 1.8Ghz and it still playing beautifully.

If we're all honest we know that we have more power than is needed for pretty much anything...we're just greedy and see through very squinty eyes now. lol

Kei

That's true. Either one will do fine tbh. Personally I went i7 for the babes (still waiting) and because I could. I'd like to use a 1136 system which I would recommend because its a kind of middle ground between the 955 and 920.

 

[3dsage]

That's true. Either one will do fine tbh. Personally I went i7 for the babes (still waiting) and because I could. I'd like to use a 1136 system which I would recommend because its a kind of middle ground between the 955 and 920.

The girls are waiting for you man, not the other way around.

If your into benching, gaming or just plain old overclocking on Air ,920 get it hands down. Its the modern day Q6600 IMO. 2 years from now they will still hold their resale value, unlike PII"s.

The 965,955 are great cpu's though for the money. You probably wouldnt know the difference really in real world between the two, without CPU-Z.
At least in my experience from owning a 720B.E(X4)@ 3.8GHZ versus a 920 @ 3.8GHZ.

 

[phanbuey]

You should check out this review here.

Maybe by looking at the numbers you can decide if it's worth it or not. Personally I'm surprised by the difference and glad i went i7.

great review!

Im waiting for the 32nm i5s personally... but I would go i5 if i had to buy all new shwag - just seems like it would last a bit longer.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

Yea notice that unless its a dual gpu setup all platforms tend to be fairly equal and within a few % of each other. Socket 775 / AM3 / 1336 in multi gpu setups i7 tends to take the cake but its a mixed bag, reading that review i can see in some titles i7 tanks and loses to 775 / AM3 and when i7 loses it does so by a large margin, otherwise its as expected and is well out in front.

My point being that in terms of gaming and if DX11 with direct compute and opencl takes off the strain on the cpu should lessen. Thus any socket 775 / AM3 / 1156 /1336 setup will be viable for years yet. At the end of the day we are still mostly limited by the gpu. And as it stands most games like Dragon Age dont even utilize an Ati 4870 to its full potential.

Wrap up: i7 AM3 C2Q etc are all viable and in quadcore form will be plenty for years to come as we still havent gotten away from dualcores outrunning quads in gaming. I suspect we still have a few years till multi core game engines fully utilize are current cpus let alone future chips. Therefore i suggest getting a good quadcore no matter the platform grab some good ram and a nice gpu and just game on

 

[EarlZ]

If you need every ounce of performance ( especially when overclocked ) then by all means get the i7 there is really no contest!

If you want budget then go for the AMD line-up, you really cant go wrong with any choice, your pocket says where to go

 

[brandonwh64]

what do you think is causing the OC issues? just curious thats all.

Well i believe my overclocking issues are with my PSU. When i first got the system setup i couldnt get ANYTHING stable over stock speeds and volts, so i took out my Enermax liberty 500W PSU and changed it with a Ultra LSP 650 from my previous setup and then i got it up to 4GHZ stable for like 3 days, THEN while during heavy loads the Ultra PSU started making this electronic buzzing sounds like it was melting LOL and about 10 minutes later it BSOD so i immediatly restart it and once it loaded windows i did prime95 again and it BSOD so now i have it at stock settings and im not doing anything that requires alot of load til my new PSU gets here.

 

[Lionheart]

Well i believe my overclocking issues are with my PSU. When i first got the system setup i couldnt get ANYTHING stable over stock speeds and volts, so i took out my Enermax liberty 500W PSU and changed it with a Ultra LSP 650 from my previous setup and then i got it up to 4GHZ stable for like 3 days, THEN while during heavy loads the Ultra PSU started making this electronic buzzing sounds like it was melting LOL and about 10 minutes later it BSOD so i immediatly restart it and once it loaded windows i did prime95 again and it BSOD so now i have it at stock settings and im not doing anything that requires alot of load til my new PSU gets here.

Ok cool, sounds about right, good luck with lit

 

[_33]

I went i7 last march, and my rig is still part of the top performers, just my radeon's not keeping up

 

[patheticcockroach]

I went i7 last march, and my rig is still part of the top performers

If money's not an issue, there's no discussion about whether i7 is "better" than P2X4: of course the i7 975 is faster. The i7 920 too, but not that much.

 

[DaedalusHelios]

well a i7 may be over kill for a gaming rig today, but no one can argue with the fact that the i7 will keep up with future games alot better than any of the current Phenom II CPUs. Something to consider(longer useable lifespan with the i7).

Yeah, buying i7 is more than worth it if it fits in your budget. It won't depreciate like a vga card at the same price either. Phenom II Quads are on par with high end LGA775 Quads, its not exactly revolutionary for the times. I always feel weird buying new if its two sockets behind what a competitor has. The Phenom II is still a great value, its just not cutting edge. Think of Phenom II as midrange, nothing wrong with it though.

 

[_33]

If money's not an issue, there's no discussion about whether i7 is "better" than P2X4: of course the i7 975 is faster. The i7 920 too, but not that much.

Well I run a 920 @ 3.6ghz using a Big Typhoon VX as my cooling solution. It's not an obvious combo, but the big typhoon does the job keeping my 920 w/hyperthreading ON at 3.6ghz nice and cool.

 

[subhendu]

amd phenom II x4 955 is a gr8 choice friend

 

[Fourstaff]

Flip a coin: Heads 920 Tails 955. Both of them are extremely good, not easy to compare.

 

[dir_d]

Yea notice that unless its a dual gpu setup all platforms tend to be fairly equal and within a few % of each other. Socket 775 / AM3 / 1336 in multi gpu setups i7 tends to take the cake but its a mixed bag, reading that review i can see in some titles i7 tanks and loses to 775 / AM3 and when i7 loses it does so by a large margin, otherwise its as expected and is well out in front.

My point being that in terms of gaming and if DX11 with direct compute and opencl takes off the strain on the cpu should lessen. Thus any socket 775 / AM3 / 1156 /1336 setup will be viable for years yet. At the end of the day we are still mostly limited by the gpu. And as it stands most games like Dragon Age dont even utilize an Ati 4870 to its full potential.

Wrap up: i7 AM3 C2Q etc are all viable and in quadcore form will be plenty for years to come as we still havent gotten away from dualcores outrunning quads in gaming. I suspect we still have a few years till multi core game engines fully utilize are current cpus let alone future chips. Therefore i suggest getting a good quadcore no matter the platform grab some good ram and a nice gpu and just game on

I agree with this totally and that is why i went with my AM3 setup because at the time you couldnt get i7 920 at microcenter for $200. My machine is purely gaming and performs just as well or better than any machine with the same GPU, i wish more people would realize what you stated when it comes to upgrading their machines.

 

[patheticcockroach]

Flip a coin: Heads 920 Tails 955. Both of them are extremely good, not easy to compare.

Money would do the difference. I guess it depends on where you live, but here cheapest CPU+MOBO is around 230€ for P2X4 965 vs 330€ for i7 920.

 

[dir_d]

IF the OP is building a pure gaming machine right now the best chip to buy will be the 955 C3.

 

[Zebeon]

I am trying to decide between these 2 chips as well as an 1156 750.
Good read-

IS the 125W 965 out yet.. were to buy, the only ones I see is the 140W?

 

[patheticcockroach]

IS the 125W 965 out yet.. were to buy, the only ones I see is the 140W?

Where I live it's been out very soon after the official launch date, this was 1-2 weeks ago I think?

 

[Kei]

I am trying to decide between these 2 chips as well as an 1156 750.
Good read-

IS the 125W 965 out yet.. were to buy, the only ones I see is the 140W?

Yes, newegg has had them for quite some time now.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727

Kei

 

[MKmods]

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10011611

 

[Delta6326]

Newegg AMD 955-965 that's your best bet i don't know the difference form the 2 955's i think the 1 with no reviews is newer
EDIT: the955 is C3