The point that seems to have escaped many of you is that while the I7 is a very fine processor, it is made by Intel whose business practices can even make Microsoft look good.

My general thought is to always buy from Intel's competitors to keep competition alive.  If AMD goes under, you can expect Intel to price gouge the industry.

Originally posted by Ozmodan

The point that seems to have escaped many of you is that while the I7 is a very fine processor, it is made by Intel whose business practices can even make Microsoft look good.

My general thought is to always buy from Intel's competitors to keep competition alive.  If AMD goes under, you can expect Intel to price gouge the industry.

I agree with this, normally I buy AMD as well, however my last system I got a Q6700 for free so I used that instead. But I like this build this fine poster put up, I may just use it for my 2nd machine.

Originally posted by Ozmodan

The point that seems to have escaped many of you is that while the I7 is a very fine processor, it is made by Intel whose business practices can even make Microsoft look good.

My general thought is to always buy from Intel's competitors to keep competition alive.  If AMD goes under, you can expect Intel to price gouge the industry.

So just because it's made by Intel, I should not purchase one of the best CPUs on the market right now?

Besides, do you honestly believe that if Intel closed it's doors, AMD would not do the same thing?

Originally posted by heartless

Originally posted by Ozmodan

The point that seems to have escaped many of you is that while the I7 is a very fine processor, it is made by Intel whose business practices can even make Microsoft look good.

My general thought is to always buy from Intel's competitors to keep competition alive.  If AMD goes under, you can expect Intel to price gouge the industry.

 

So just because it's made by Intel, I should not purchase one of the best CPUs on the market right now?

Besides, do you honestly believe that if Intel closed it's doors, AMD would not do the same thing?

He simply said "My general thought is to always buy from Intel's competitors to keep competition alive. If AMD goes under, you can expect Intel to price gouge the industry." meaning that if AMD shut down intel would raise it's prices. So he likes to support the competition, nothing wrong with that, and nothing wrong with you wanting the best product as well.

Originally posted by NeokiNaomi

Originally posted by heartless

Originally posted by Ozmodan

The point that seems to have escaped many of you is that while the I7 is a very fine processor, it is made by Intel whose business practices can even make Microsoft look good.

My general thought is to always buy from Intel's competitors to keep competition alive.  If AMD goes under, you can expect Intel to price gouge the industry.

 

So just because it's made by Intel, I should not purchase one of the best CPUs on the market right now?

Besides, do you honestly believe that if Intel closed it's doors, AMD would not do the same thing?

 

He simply said "My general thought is to always buy from Intel's competitors to keep competition alive. If AMD goes under, you can expect Intel to price gouge the industry." meaning that if AMD shut down intel would raise it's prices. So he likes to support the competition, nothing wrong with that, and nothing wrong with you wanting the best product as well.

 His first paragraph is what I was replying to. It reads like he's attempting to talk people into not buying an i7 because it's made by Intel.

On the other hand, I have absolutely no problems with him wanting to purchase from AMD to keep competition healthy. I actually buy both AMD and Intel.

My last 3 PCs have been AMDs and have always been extremely solid, and fast. I am on the verge right now of getting a new PC and I think right now is one of the largest gaps between AMD and Intel that have existed in many years. However this is compensated by just how overpriced the i 7 chips are.

You can put together an AMD machine that can run any game that exists/will exist in the near future, for significantly less then an intel machine. However if you do other things on top of gaming that requires high performance the cost increase might be worth it (render 3D movies. do extremely hi res 3D art). The truth is very few people ever need that extra push, and with the money you will save on your AMD machine you can upgrade it in a year or two to be very high end again and still be saving money.

To the OP... Your linked article and your whole thread here is VERY misleading to say the least. You are comparing a super overclocked AMD to a stock Intel for starters. Then you also are talking about TWO games. TWO games that under the right circumstances suit the AMD cpu better. In almost every other application and game, the Intel i7 will blow away this AMD cpu, especially if you overclock the Intel to the same degree that the AMD is OC'd here.

I am not saying that you haven't found a system that would give you a great bang for your dollar.. you would be getting a great bang for your gaming dollar with your proposed set up.

However, almost every test, article, and rating chart I have seen prove that the Intel i7 cpu is easily one of the most powerful processors on the market right now. Not the best best value for your dollar, no. But overall, the i7 does not shy away from the AMD 940, and nor does it fall short power wise over fair testing.

You can also find support that shows us all that under the right circumstances - that a square peg fits through a round hole better then the round peg does.. but you are looking at the exception to the rule when you look at it it this way.

- Zaxx

Originally posted by luckypotato

Here you go, this is all under 600$ and is the best bang for your buck you can buy, all parts are quality and you wont have to worry about anything

(not included is thermal paste, optical drives, monitor, speakers, keyboard, mouse, external graphics card, OS, and case as ill leave this up to you)

Mobo and CPU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.209473

Psu- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171037

HD- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152173

CPU cooler - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233029

RAM - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231166

Stats for above:

Amd quad core phenom II at 3 ghz black edition

700W psu (lots of headroom, very quiet psu)

1TB Hard Drive

4G Ram @ 1066 stock (remember you basicially have 8M cache)

Amd 970gx chipset with 3300 HD graphics

_________

Notes: Due to large cache, and amd 970gx graphics chipset, this rig will preform better than An i7 rig in games (More FPS). 970gx graphics chipset makes it very easy to OC and also creates the ability to OC 30% more than with BIOS.

_________
Cost: $499 without rebates

Oh and for you non believers, here are benchmarks

www.guru3d.com/article/amd-phenom-ii-x4-920-and-940-review-test/17

Re-formatted so this thread is useful..  *sigh*

Here you go, this is all under 600$ and is the best bang for your buck you can buy, all parts are quality and you wont have to worry about anything

(not included is thermal paste, optical drives, monitor, speakers, keyboard, mouse, external graphics card, OS, and case as ill leave this up to you)
 

• Mother Board & CPU : Newegg
• Power Supply: Newegg
• Memory: Newegg
• CPU cooler: Newegg
• Hard Drive: Newegg

  Cost: $500 bucks!

Stats for above:

• Amd quad core phenom II at 3 ghz black edition
• 700W psu (lots of headroom, very quiet psu)
• 1TB Hard Drive
• 4G Ram @ 1066 stock (remember you basicially have 8M cache)
• Amd 970gx chipset with 3300 HD graphics

Notes: Due to large cache, and amd 970gx graphics chipset, this rig will preform better than An i7 rig in games (More FPS). 970gx graphics chipset makes it very easy to OC and also creates the ability to OC 30% more than with BIOS.

_________
Cost: $499 without rebates

Oh and for you non believers, here are benchmarks: LINK

Originally posted by Phelcher

Originally posted by luckypotato

Here you go, this is all under 600$ and is the best bang for your buck you can buy, all parts are quality and you wont have to worry about anything

(not included is thermal paste, optical drives, monitor, speakers, keyboard, mouse, external graphics card, OS, and case as ill leave this up to you)

Mobo and CPU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.209473

Psu- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171037

HD- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152173

CPU cooler - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233029

RAM - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231166

Stats for above:

Amd quad core phenom II at 3 ghz black edition

700W psu (lots of headroom, very quiet psu)

1TB Hard Drive

4G Ram @ 1066 stock (remember you basicially have 8M cache)

Amd 970gx chipset with 3300 HD graphics

_________

Notes: Due to large cache, and amd 970gx graphics chipset, this rig will preform better than An i7 rig in games (More FPS). 970gx graphics chipset makes it very easy to OC and also creates the ability to OC 30% more than with BIOS.

_________
Cost: $499 without rebates

Oh and for you non believers, here are benchmarks

www.guru3d.com/article/amd-phenom-ii-x4-920-and-940-review-test/17

 

Re-formatted so this thread is useful..  *sigh*

 

 

Here you go, this is all under 600$ and is the best bang for your buck you can buy, all parts are quality and you wont have to worry about anything

(not included is thermal paste, optical drives, monitor, speakers, keyboard, mouse, external graphics card, OS, and case as ill leave this up to you)
 

• Mother Board & CPU : Newegg
• Power Supply: Newegg
• Memory: Newegg
• CPU cooler: Newegg
• Hard Drive: Newegg

  Cost: $500 bucks!

 

 

Stats for above:

• Amd quad core phenom II at 3 ghz black edition
• 700W psu (lots of headroom, very quiet psu)
• 1TB Hard Drive
• 4G Ram @ 1066 stock (remember you basicially have 8M cache)
• Amd 970gx chipset with 3300 HD graphics

 

 

 

Notes: Due to large cache, and amd 970gx graphics chipset, this rig will preform better than An i7 rig in games (More FPS). 970gx graphics chipset makes it very easy to OC and also creates the ability to OC 30% more than with BIOS.

_________
Cost: $499 without rebates

 

 

Oh and for you non believers, here are benchmarks: LINK

 

 

 

Used it :] thanks, also added special thanks

How about these benchmarks?

Originally posted by bobbler

I just built a new rig with the a Phenom II. It was my first AMD cpu and I have to say I am amazed. I got the 955 BE and can OC it to 4.0 w/o changing anything other than the FSB ( and its stable). I have to say AMD isn't as bad as I thought it was. I would recommend trying one out if you need a cheaper rig.

 

The only thing I made a mistake on was I got a mobo that only support up to DDR2 and with 2 DIMMs it like...doesn't run at full speed or something ( I got the M4a79 D when the one I wanted has a -T after it -_-) just be sure to watch out for that.

   DDR3 is pretty fucking pointless in an AMD system atm. Two sticks of 2 gig 1066 is fine. Hell, two sticks of 2 gig 800 performs almost the exact same as 1066. Just remember to run em unganged and in the right colored slots. I believe asus runs dual channel in similar color slots while companies like msi run dual channel in opposite colored slots. I hate that shit.

   Also, for those of you building an AM2 machine, DO  NOT try to run 4 gig or more at 1066, in more than 2 slots of ram. If you try and run 4 gig at 1066 using 4 slots, it will not work...

phenom 2s can be overclocked way past what an i7 can do, if youve got liquid cooling, or at least thats what ive read. phenom 2s  can hit 6ghz-6.4ghz with liquid cooling, and there WAY cheaper. ATI graphics cards are pretty good too, a 4650 HD 1 GB is only $100 at microcenter, and i think a Nvidia that good was about $130-$150

Originally posted by zaxtor99

To the OP... Your linked article and your whole thread here is VERY misleading to say the least. You are comparing a super overclocked AMD to a stock Intel for starters. Then you also are talking about TWO games. TWO games that under the right circumstances suit the AMD cpu better. In almost every other application and game, the Intel i7 will blow away this AMD cpu, especially if you overclock the Intel to the same degree that the AMD is OC'd here.

I am not saying that you haven't found a system that would give you a great bang for your dollar.. you would be getting a great bang for your gaming dollar with your proposed set up.

However, almost every test, article, and rating chart I have seen prove that the Intel i7 cpu is easily one of the most powerful processors on the market right now. Not the best best value for your dollar, no. But overall, the i7 does not shy away from the AMD 940, and nor does it fall short power wise over fair testing.

You can also find support that shows us all that under the right circumstances - that a square peg fits through a round hole better then the round peg does.. but you are looking at the exception to the rule when you look at it it this way.

- Zaxx

3.8 ghz isnt superoverclocked for a phenom 2, they can hit 6 without blowing up...

Originally posted by ZSlaya

phenom 2s can be overclocked way past what an i7 can do, if youve got liquid cooling, or at least thats what ive read. phenom 2s  can hit 6ghz-6.4ghz with liquid cooling, and there WAY cheaper. ATI graphics cards are pretty good too, a 4650 HD 1 GB is only $100 at microcenter, and i think a Nvidia that good was about $130-$150

Yes, if by "liquid cooling" you mean liquid nitrogen or liquid helium. I highly doubt that your average PC enthusiast has access to that sort of cooling. Not to mention that it's sort of dangerous.

Would be nice if you could provide any tangible evidence to support your claims though.

Word I'm running a quad core phenom 9950 with 4 SLI Nvidia 280 GTX cards with 16 gigs of 1066 ddr3 corsair technology memory if you add the graphics card memory that's 24 gigs total. and a 1t seagate baracuda SATA hard drive with 7.1 dolby digital surround sound  with a zalman cooler with vista x64.

She is a BEAST. lol

Originally posted by OldAgeJunkie

Word I'm running a quad core phenom 9950 with 4 SLI Nvidia 280 GTX cards with 16 gigs of 1066 ddr3 corsair technology memory if you add the graphics card memory that's 24 gigs total. and a 1t seagate baracuda SATA hard drive with 7.1 dolby digital surround sound  with a zalman cooler with vista x64.

She is a BEAST. lol

DAMN that is a beast!

Originally posted by heartless

From my personal experience, and I may be wrong, AMDs are generally good for gaming and Intels are good for applications which rely heavily on the CPU. That is not to say that Intel's i7 is bad for gaming, it's the best CPU family on the market right now and even the 920 will outperform most AMD and Intel CPUs. Plus it is extremely easy to overclock as well.

They are both good CPU manufacturers though, and the Intel's i7 and AMD's Phenom II X4 are both very good processors. AMDs are also generally cheaper and buying an i7 brings with it additional costs of compatible motherboards and DDR3 ram, which are generally a bit pricey.

That being said, I am extremely happy with my i7 system. It brings most games to their knees and allows me to play everything on max settings.

While I try staying on subject, i did purchase a gaming laptop from gateway with a 2.26 Core 2 Duo (The Gateway FX P-7811). While i play games exceptionally well (For a damn laptop) I am looking to upgrade the Processors and GFX Card (To a 1g+ GPU instead of the nasty 512MB) so i can get a better framerate from games like AoC. My question to you is when limited to 2 processors (instead of teh AMD 4 cores) is it better for me to get the Core 2 i7's when they become mainstream or go with a Core 2 AMD (monet is not a problem, my pc to me is a worthy investment seeing as I play on it ALOT, mmos mostly)? Now im not PC savvy but the i7 seems like its more packed in a smaller package (believe i read somewhere that i7 has multiple something per core or was it more units per core? dont remember.)

So when limited for gaming performance and only 2 cores which will give me a bigger bang? All in all unless someone draws me a picture, i prolly wont know how the feck to even overclock my amd's while Its "so easy a moron can do it apparently for intel 7's" which may be why i get a intel regardless.

One more random thought, to get Graphic card drivers I have to go on the gateway website, so what would happen if i swapped for a different GFX card? I am pretty damn sure it isnt intergrated, but what would happen if i got a new one when i had to update drivers?

Originally posted by heartless

Originally posted by ZSlaya

phenom 2s can be overclocked way past what an i7 can do, if youve got liquid cooling, or at least thats what ive read. phenom 2s  can hit 6ghz-6.4ghz with liquid cooling, and there WAY cheaper. ATI graphics cards are pretty good too, a 4650 HD 1 GB is only $100 at microcenter, and i think a Nvidia that good was about $130-$150

 

Yes, if by "liquid cooling" you mean liquid nitrogen or liquid helium. I highly doubt that your average PC enthusiast has access to that sort of cooling. Not to mention that it's sort of dangerous.

Would be nice if you could provide any tangible evidence to support your claims though.

Also another thing I wanted to ask was what gives more for less heat? Now that you guys mention it seeing as i have laptop I cant get the thing to hot.

Originally posted by heartless

Originally posted by ZSlaya

phenom 2s can be overclocked way past what an i7 can do, if youve got liquid cooling, or at least thats what ive read. phenom 2s  can hit 6ghz-6.4ghz with liquid cooling, and there WAY cheaper. ATI graphics cards are pretty good too, a 4650 HD 1 GB is only $100 at microcenter, and i think a Nvidia that good was about $130-$150

 

Yes, if by "liquid cooling" you mean liquid nitrogen or liquid helium. I highly doubt that your average PC enthusiast has access to that sort of cooling. Not to mention that it's sort of dangerous.

Would be nice if you could provide any tangible evidence to support your claims though.

You might want to search up on what liquid cooling is first buddy.

Originally posted by Darkfalz89

Originally posted by heartless

From my personal experience, and I may be wrong, AMDs are generally good for gaming and Intels are good for applications which rely heavily on the CPU. That is not to say that Intel's i7 is bad for gaming, it's the best CPU family on the market right now and even the 920 will outperform most AMD and Intel CPUs. Plus it is extremely easy to overclock as well.

They are both good CPU manufacturers though, and the Intel's i7 and AMD's Phenom II X4 are both very good processors. AMDs are also generally cheaper and buying an i7 brings with it additional costs of compatible motherboards and DDR3 ram, which are generally a bit pricey.

That being said, I am extremely happy with my i7 system. It brings most games to their knees and allows me to play everything on max settings.

 

While I try staying on subject, i did purchase a gaming laptop from gateway with a 2.26 Core 2 Duo (The Gateway FX P-7811). While i play games exceptionally well (For a damn laptop) I am looking to upgrade the Processors and GFX Card (To a 1g+ GPU instead of the nasty 512MB) so i can get a better framerate from games like AoC. My question to you is when limited to 2 processors (instead of teh AMD 4 cores) is it better for me to get the Core 2 i7's when they become mainstream or go with a Core 2 AMD (monet is not a problem, my pc to me is a worthy investment seeing as I play on it ALOT, mmos mostly)? Now im not PC savvy but the i7 seems like its more packed in a smaller package (believe i read somewhere that i7 has multiple something per core or was it more units per core? dont remember.)

So when limited for gaming performance and only 2 cores which will give me a bigger bang? All in all unless someone draws me a picture, i prolly wont know how the feck to even overclock my amd's while Its "so easy a moron can do it apparently for intel 7's" which may be why i get a intel regardless.

One more random thought, to get Graphic card drivers I have to go on the gateway website, so what would happen if i swapped for a different GFX card? I am pretty damn sure it isnt intergrated, but what would happen if i got a new one when i had to update drivers?

When upgrading the processor, you need to make sure that you have a compatible socket motherboard. Core 2 Duo is socket LGA 775, while an i7 is socket LGA 1366. The two processors are not interchangeable.

So in your case the i7 processor is not going to work. Neither is the AMD Phenom II, unless you purchase a brand new motherboard that is. Being that we're talking about a laptop though I'm not sure how well that's going to work out. Your best bet, short of buying a brand new PC is to see if you can upgrade the ram and the video card.

If you are going to be purchasing a new PC for gaming, both the Phenom II and the i7 are great processors. An average user will probably not notice any major differences between the two. One thing about the i7 processors is that while they are better than the latest AMD Phenom II's, the motherboards and the RAM required for the i7's are more expensive. It does tend to run a bit high so an aftermarket cooling solution is a good idea if you're planning to overclock it. A decent air cooler is enough though, no reason to bother with liquid. The stock cooler that comes with the i7 is good enough if you're not going to overclock. Overall, though, the i7 is a beast.

As far as your question about keeping your laptop cool, you might want to look into a decent laptop cooling pad. You can generally get a decent one from Newegg.com for about $30-$60. Laptops do get warm especially if you're using one for gaming.

Anyway, hope that helped. Good luck!