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48 Comments
- JoeHague, on 11/07/2009, -2/+40Without getting too technical-
AMD Phenom II 965 x4 140w 3.4GHz - $195
Intel Core i7 950 Bloomfield x4 130w 3.02 GHz- $570
No one is going to argue that a Phenom II is superior to a Core i7-
But if you're on any kind of budget, you may wind up with a better overall system if you start with an AMD cpu. - funklor, on 11/07/2009, -0/+38I don't think anyone in their right mind would claim AMD has the performance crown. Still, when my cash was running low I picked up a Phenom II. I saved on the CPU, and motherboard especially.
- makotech222, on 11/07/2009, -6/+33Needs new architectures, not rehashes, to face against intel.
- CptBuck, on 11/07/2009, -1/+24Intel could definitely use some good competition. AMD has always been fantastic performance for money.
- Lordy1952, on 11/07/2009, -0/+19I really hope AMD make a comeback.
running AMD Athlon 64 4000+ San Diego Core. - phpld, on 11/07/2009, -2/+16Intel certainly gets more negative press, such as losing a recent settlement in New York pressuring vendors to use their products. By purchasing AMD you can send a message to Intel that monopolistic practices are not acceptable.
Going further back we have this one too
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/PCWorld/story?id= ... - JoeHague, on 11/08/2009, -0/+12@tonytheterrible
"i7 does everything in half the time of the Phenom II 965"
Half the time vs 3x the price is no contest for me.
Plus if you use the money you saved on the processor and motherboard, to buy twice as much memory and a SSD hard drive, your system will probably be faster when it comes to everyday tasks.
No doubt, if you're routinely compressing video or creating large vector images or any other cpu intensive project you'd probably be better off with an i7.
If you're doing school projects, surfing the web, checking e-mail, watching streaming video, playing games, listening to music or watching dvds you really can't go wrong with the MUCH cheaper Phenom II/ - KibibyteBrain, on 11/07/2009, -1/+13Unfortunately, that is a statement quite parallel to "We need a cure for cancer, not treatments for the symptoms". Obvious, but easier said than done. AMD will literally have to double leapfrog Intel as Intel already has a great new architecture and you can bet they are working on an even better one to follow it.
- futurepastnow, on 11/07/2009, -0/+10My Phenom II 940 was $170 in April. It was a great deal then and I'm very happy with it. My budget was too tight for an i7 system.
- AngelBunny, on 11/07/2009, -0/+9my headless box is running an old athlon 64 3200+. It still runs like it is brand new. :)
- ericcc, on 11/07/2009, -0/+8Relax, he's in middle school, that's more than enough for him. He's playing the original Far Cry and having the time of his life. It's a good chip don't knock it until you've tried it, I'd love to replace my secondary computer running an original t2050 Core Duo w/ one of these but I can't bring myself to do it since it is still performing admirably.
Also, when did I use the word "new"? - JoeHague, on 11/07/2009, -1/+9I'd venture to guess that about 75% of PC users would not be able to tell the difference between an i7 system and a Phenom 2 system. For them the only difference is price.
- ericcc, on 11/07/2009, -0/+7/facepalm
- ericcc, on 11/07/2009, -1/+8I recently purchased a computer for a nephew and had the choice between 2 similarly priced machines with either a Athlon x2 7750 or an Intel e5200. Each chip does certain things better than the other but the overall performance numbers were pretty even and will suffice for just about any non-profession purpose. The AMD machine was $30 (a lot when you consider it was a ~$300 computer) and had more 1GB more memory. I'm very much a value oriented tech shopper and AMD still wins on the front if you know what to look for.
- crablabs, on 11/07/2009, -1/+8Since when does AMD make i7 processors? I'm just gonna go ahead and assume you eat a lot of paint chips...
- Mangeof, on 11/07/2009, -2/+8I can't believe there is fanboyism for hardware manufacturers. How brainwashed in consumer culture can you get?
- hughesw2, on 11/08/2009, -0/+5I got a Phenom x2 also which ended up being a pretty good deal. I'm more interested in price/performance than getting the best and I'm too much of an AMD guy to bail on them.
- Countess666, on 11/08/2009, -0/+5"unless if youre trying to convert video,"
a 70 dollar vid card can do that in a 10th the time the i7 does it.
and how often do you use your pc to unrar large amounts of stuff (and not have the hdd be a bottleneck) or calculate in excel. its very rare to have to wait that last one. - ericcc, on 11/07/2009, -0/+5...Don't forget that, per the article, the new redesign knocks power consumption down to 125w and that Tom's Hardware got theirs up to a "4.12GHz rock solid stable overclock".
- TheTruthHurts, on 11/07/2009, -1/+6and the AMD stock is nice too.. :]
- Countess666, on 11/08/2009, -1/+6i5 != bang for buck.
a 100 dollar quadcore = bang for buck. - NeoNevermore, on 11/08/2009, -0/+3Not quite. AMD just needs to be cheaper than Intel. They always rehash. That's always been the AMD way.
- ericcc, on 11/07/2009, -1/+4I have a computer running an x2 3800 that tears through anything at throw at it. It really makes me wonder what people who by quad core Core i7 machines are doing with them.
- Genma, on 11/08/2009, -0/+3at this point it's basically about survival. got to keep rehashing as long as current build is not eol. they're doing good with nvidia at least, those evergreen 5x series cards are about to make them a ***** of money.
- Abatrour, on 11/08/2009, -0/+3Just wait for AMD Fusion.
- Ricochetbiscuit, on 11/07/2009, -0/+3true, very true
- carlosos, on 11/08/2009, -0/+2@Macintoshreader
If I normally pay $150 for a CPU than paying $250 is a LOT more. That is like instead buying a Chevy Cobalt (a nice card btw) to a BMW 3 series car. Yes, the BMW is nice but I prefer buying the cheaper car even if I could afford the BMW. - Countess666, on 11/08/2009, -0/+2"And let's not forget the fact that the Athlon II X4 620 is complete crap when it comes to gaming and single-threaded applications."
crap when it comes to gaming? and not just crap but 'complete crap'?
you haven't actually looked closely at any real benchmarks have you?
unless you play at 640x480 and want 200+ FPS of have 2 or more high-end GPU's in your system the performance difference is small and not even remotely worth the the money.
the only thing where the i7 really shines that normal uses might do on a semi-regular basis is video-encoding. too bad for Intel a 70 dollar GPU can do it 10 times faster.
and single threaded application? like what? name something thats single threaded and makes you wait long enough that you'd want to spend money on making that waiting time shorter. - mabsark, on 11/08/2009, -0/+2@Macintoshreader
If I was building a budget gaming rig, I'd go with the AMD 250 over the AMD 620 and put the money saved towards an ATI 5750. Intel simply cannot match that performance at the same price.
250 + 5750 = :) - ericcc, on 11/07/2009, -0/+2And still is, read my anecdotal evidence above.
- fuzzynyanko, on 11/07/2009, -0/+1Very nice, but yeah, AMD needs to work on their SIMD units
- Macintoshreader, on 11/07/2009, -10/+11Still no competition to the Core i5 750. They cost the same, but the Core i5 is more efficient (consumes less power), is more over-clockable (2.66 to 3.8GHz easily), is faster at stock, and downright owns it clock-for-clock (e.g. both at 3.8GHz).
AMD needs a new architecture. They have lost the performance crown to Intel for some years and now Intel is even winning in terms of bang-for-buck. - AngelBunny, on 11/08/2009, -1/+2They use it for video games, multimedia, and a couple of other things. For normal every day desktop use a dual core machine is often more than enough imho.
- Countess666, on 11/08/2009, -0/+1actually those are fine, its the integer that might lag a bit against a i7.
- PinkyTheWinky, on 11/09/2009, -0/+1Me too... I am a long time AMD fan... running a x2 4200 and loving it(even though it's starting to show it's age now)
- TonyTheTerrible, on 11/07/2009, -5/+5because 8 cores are where its at right?
- ericcc, on 11/08/2009, -1/+1Well I can't say that I'll play MW2 on that machine (although it does play a lot of newer games very well) and I use my computer computer for "multimedia" (is it 1996?). I can't think of anything that more than 2% of computer users might do that would need a Core i7 or a Phenom x4. Hell, all my computer needs to exceed MW2 recommended (not minimum) system requirements is a $55 upgrade to a Athlon x2 6000, or x2 240 and I could probably get about $25 for the old processor on ebay.
- dayal911, on 11/07/2009, -5/+2it's more close to "where it's at" than 4 cores is.
- TonyTheTerrible, on 11/07/2009, -6/+2unless if youre trying to convert video, compress with winrar, calculate in excel. thats when the i7 does everything in half the time of the Phenom II 965.
- canthraxp, on 11/07/2009, -7/+3Me too, after the purchase of Ati, it all went downhill, and Intel needs some serious competition.
(Also using an old San Diego, but 3700+). - Macintoshreader, on 11/08/2009, -7/+2Wrong. The performance increase and the over-clocking potential of the Core i5 make it well worth the extra $100.
And seriously, are you arguing over $100 extra? Anyone with a decent job can afford that.
And let's not forget the fact that the Athlon II X4 620 is complete crap when it comes to gaming and single-threaded applications.
It may be more bang-for-buck for a mainstream user, but not for any performance or enthusiast user. - srirock303, on 11/08/2009, -6/+1turd is still a turd even when it smells a little less.....
- dayal911, on 11/07/2009, -9/+1Needs hyper-threading, then I'll buy it.
- TonyTheTerrible, on 11/07/2009, -12/+1>"new"
>"athlon x2"
stopped reading. - viv4l4b4m03, on 11/07/2009, -17/+5intel>AMD
- KB925902, on 11/07/2009, -23/+3Give us 6-8 core processors with hyper-threading (16 threads of WTF) and 12mb~24mb l3 cache, and a QPI link, and a tripple-channel memory controller, and all in the next few months...
'cuz that's what intel is doing.
Unless you want to beat the previous generation's dead horse until you go out of business...
NVIDIA seems to be winning the graphics war, too. 5800 series doesn't seem to compete with the upcoming GT300 series... - stopbrorape, on 11/07/2009, -23/+2Currently running the i7...
Also the web page is ***** up with the digg bar enabled. - doshindude, on 11/07/2009, -33/+1Quad Core? Not an i7?
Lame.
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