Intel Core I7 920 Quad Core vs AMD Phenom II X4 810 Quad

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Crasher

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Hi guys. I'm looking to build a new Pc and here i'm stuck with a choice to make. Intel or AMD :rolleyes: . As a gamers and as a professional photographer, I Need power to run my fav games and programs like Adobe Lightroom 2, Photoshop CS4...and as we all know, Windows 7 is comming this winter and I'd like a system that will be able to handle it. What would be your choice and for why ?? My budget is around 1400-1600$.
 
Take the I7 920. It totally mops the floor with the Phenom, and has all the power you need to handle Adobe-software and games as well.
 
You are totally missing the biggest problem with this comparison:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202 $280 i7
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103650&Tpk=phenom 2 810 $170 Phenom II

The prices are in COMPLETELY different markets. Yes the i7's wipe the floor with the Phenom II's, but if you compare price with performance the Phenom II is a far superior choice.
Plus the cheapest i7 motherboard is $200 on newegg whereas the cheapest AM3 is $100.
I can almost promise you that if you go i7 you will not fit in the budget you want unless you buy really crappy parts for the rest o the build.
 
PuddinPop said:
You are totally missing the biggest problem with this comparison:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202 $280 i7
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103650&Tpk=phenom 2 810 $170 Phenom II

The prices are in COMPLETELY different markets. Yes the i7's wipe the floor with the Phenom II's, but if you compare price with performance the Phenom II is a far superior choice.
Plus the cheapest i7 motherboard is $200 on newegg whereas the cheapest AM3 is $100.
I can almost promise you that if you go i7 you will not fit in the budget you want unless you buy really crappy parts for the rest o the build.
Click to expand...

this is absolutely the biggest point, if you want to make an expensive mega-powerhouse then i7 is the obvious choice, but if you'd like to keep the price as well as the system specs a bit more modest than they'll be far too expensive and AMD will be your best shot.
 
If your budget it at 1400-1600$ I would go with the i7, you will have got enough money left to buy a very decent high-range gfx card too.

I got the i7 920 myself. I can say it's an excellent multi-tasker. I can easily run Photoshop, illustrator, dreamweaver, ... and encode a movie in the background.
 
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well with that budget you could do either. Why not get the phenom a good motherboard for it and 4gigs of quality ddr2 1066 ram. Also buy a high quality psu and then spend the rest on your videocard(s) and os.
 
I recently put this build together for about $1400 cdn(not including taxes). Phenom is the obvious choice when considering price vs performance. Not only are the AMD chips less expensive, so are the supporting mobos.

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 940
MOBO: ASUS M4A78 Pro
RAM: Corsair XMS2 Dominator TWIN2X4096-8500C5DF 4GB 2X2GB PC2-8500 DDR2-1066
PSU: Corsair TX750W 750W ATX
HDD: Western Digital WD1001FALS Caviar Black 1TB SATA2
GPU: XFX Radeon HD 4890 XT 1GB 875MHZ 1GB 3.9GHZ GDDR5
Sound: ASUS Xonar DX 7.1 Channel PCI-E Sound Card
Case: Antec Nine Hundred

I am very happy with this build, running all my games at more than acceptable framerates on maximum settings at 1680x1050.
 
[n00b] Crasher said:
Hi guys. I'm looking to build a new Pc and here i'm stuck with a choice to make. Intel or AMD :rolleyes: . As a gamers and as a professional photographer, I Need power to run my fav games and programs like Adobe Lightroom 2, Photoshop CS4...and as we all know, Windows 7 is comming this winter and I'd like a system that will be able to handle it. What would be your choice and for why ?? My budget is around 1400-1600$.
Click to expand...

Processor Intel i7 920 Nehalem Socket 1366 (2.66GHzx4 4x256MB L2, 8MB L3 Cache) $289
Cooling Vigor Monsoon III LT for Socket 1366 $56
Video Sapphire Radeon HD 4890 1GB (After $20 Rebate) $230
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX (after $15 rebate) $185
Memory OCZ 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3-1333 Triple-Channel Kit OCZ3X1333LV6GK 7-7-7-20 $91
Hard Drive Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31000333AS 1TB $90
Optical Drive LG BD/HD DVD / 16x DVD+/- RW GGC-H20LK $99
Audio On-Board -
Case Thermaltake Spedo V190001N2Z Black Full Tower $110
Power Supply Silverstone ST70F 700W SLI/CrossFire 80 Plus Modular (after $25 Rebate) $100
OS: Win 7 Beta = free
Base System Total $1250

Now that the i7 is at revision D0, you can overclock this baby to 4.2 GHz or more with a good CPU cooler and blow all other systems out of the water. Plus, the MB supports 3-way Crossfire/SLI for great upgradability in the future. You could settle for less performance with less money, but if you got the bucks, why would you? Top-dog performance, great performance longevity and future upgradability with this system.
 
The i7 is more than $100 bucks more than the Phenom, it's not even a fair comparison of course the i7 will destroy it. Canuck's build seems pretty great.
 
PuddinPop said:
You are totally missing the biggest problem with this comparison:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202 $280 i7
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103650&Tpk=phenom 2 810 $170 Phenom II

The prices are in COMPLETELY different markets. Yes the i7's wipe the floor with the Phenom II's, but if you compare price with performance the Phenom II is a far superior choice.
Plus the cheapest i7 motherboard is $200 on newegg whereas the cheapest AM3 is $100.
I can almost promise you that if you go i7 you will not fit in the budget you want unless you buy really crappy parts for the rest o the build.
Click to expand...

You can get Core 2 Quads for the same price as a Phenom II and have the same performance.
 
bigwilly said:
Now that the i7 is at revision D0, you can overclock this baby to 4.2 GHz or more with a good CPU cooler and blow all other systems out of the water. Plus, the MB supports 3-way Crossfire/SLI for great upgradability in the future. You could settle for less performance with less money, but if you got the bucks, why would you? Top-dog performance, great performance longevity and future upgradability with this system.
Click to expand...

Now, I could be wrong here since I've been out of the hardware loop for a few years. But, last I checked almost doubling your processor speed from overclocking is a bad idea. My friend was using incredible cooling systems, and all he had to show for it was a melted piece of slag and he didn't get near double.
 
OK!

The thing you need to think about is Bang for Buck.

If you are a rich kid and mommy and daddy buy you everything, GET THE INTEL!

If you are a real world guy and play all the latest games, you will be sacrificing 5-10% on frames for $900 less in a good gaming machine.

I have a Phenom II and the money I saved allowed me to put water cooling to get a cool, quiet and reliable machine that is very nice. I have the build on another post so you can check it out there.

MONEY IS KEY unless you REALLY have to have braggin rights. If you are stacked with cash, build it and they will come 8)
 
Vader said:
The i7 is more than $100 bucks more than the Phenom, it's not even a fair comparison of course the i7 will destroy it. Canuck's build seems pretty great.
Click to expand...

Dont forget the Chip is 100 more, the board is 100 more and the ram is 100 more! Unless you skimp and get the lower end stuff. "I" buy ASUS and Corsair. They have done me good and always work without a hitch together. I know there are other manufactures out there and everyone has a favorite. :P
 
KrzyMoke said:
Dont forget the Chip is 100 more, the board is 100 more and the ram is 100 more! Unless you skimp and get the lower end stuff. "I" buy ASUS and Corsair. They have done me good and always work without a hitch together. I know there are other manufactures out there and everyone has a favorite. :P
Click to expand...

That's not true in all cases. There are also some DDR3 motherboards for the PHII too. So memory will cost as much as you want it to. And boards aren't always cheaper then the i7 ones.

my favorite manufactures are also Corsair and Asus :) (my ram and mobo)
 
a pet rock said:
Now, I could be wrong here since I've been out of the hardware loop for a few years. But, last I checked almost doubling your processor speed from overclocking is a bad idea. My friend was using incredible cooling systems, and all he had to show for it was a melted piece of slag and he didn't get near double.
Click to expand...

They have shrunk the die size down from 90nm to 45nm by now which means a huge decrease in heat output. Meaning you can increase the processor speed and voltage through the chip more until the heat evens out. I think the e6600 can overclock to about 4.3 GHz. And that is running at about stock voltages.
 
•Jv•;773584 said:
That's not true in all cases. There are also some DDR3 motherboards for the PHII too. So memory will cost as much as you want it to. And boards aren't always cheaper then the i7 ones.

my favorite manufactures are also Corsair and Asus :) (my ram and mobo)
Click to expand...

Indeed I myself have a ddr3 board w/ PHII.

I don't care for Asus. Gigabyte > Asus

I had an Asus board and hated it.
 
rawr said:
Indeed I myself have a ddr3 board w/ PHII.

I don't care for Asus. Gigabyte > Asus

I had an Asus board and hated it.
Click to expand...

Alot of my friends had gigabyte boards, and they all failed :huh:
 
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