Considering building a new tower, help?

[Coh3n]

More cores != better

Oh really? What does it mean then?

[Capricorn]

Oh really? What does it mean then?

It means then for some tasks, having two extra cores comes in handy. The problem is, programming for multiple cores isn't easy and a lot of stuff doesn't use more than two cores.

For games, the i3 530 and the 950 BE is a difference of about 5 FPS going for the AMD chip. Difference is 80$ with Intel.

Edit: And most stuff is GPU limited and not CPU limited.

[Coh3n]

Ohh okay I didn't realize that. Guess I have a delema here. Let's see if we can get someone other than yours and Frement's opinion.

Thanks for all the help though

[noidea]

Woah. Dont buy tigerdirect mate. Newegg is cheaper and ships to canada.

[3Garrett3]

Tigerdirect is a good company, I've dealt with them before.

But yeah, Newegg has a canadian site too, iirc. It's probably around the same price though.

E: Getting the i3 is a better decision IMO. I have the i5 and the processor is only 2.3GHz but it is ranked higher for performance than a quad core 2.8GHz apparently. Because requirements for one of the games I downloaded yesterday was 2.8Ghz pentium quad core, and mine plays it on very high graphics.

I'd recommend shelling out the cash for a better gfx card, because in the future, graphics are only going to keep getting better. Spending the 200 now rather than spending the 100 every year or two would pay off in the long run.

[Capricorn]

Difference of 40$ between the 955 BE's for newegg.ca. So no, its not similar at all.

[3Garrett3]

Are you on Canadian $ for each one though? I wouldn't imagine it would be that much more expensive..

[Capricorn]

Yeah both are in Canadian currency.

[3Garrett3]

Well then fuck me sideways and call me sally. Use newegg I suppose :P

[Coh3n]

Okay, I've switched out the processors, I now have the i3 has my first choice which brought my total down $80. I'll look more on Newegg tomorrow night, see if any of the same parts are cheaper.

Thanks again guys.

E: The case I want is $35 cheaper at Newegg and has free shipping.
E2: The HDD I want is the same price, but has free shipping.
E3: Motherboard is $10 cheaper.

[Sabzi]

Yeah, if you compare the price of a helicopter to a car, the car is cheaper. One flys and one has wheels.

Totally this. You wanted more opinion so I say go with the i3(intel). IMO intel is better in price performance ratio(lol just google translated this).
But Capricorn has much more knowledge in this then me so I'm only agreeing with him .
Nice price reduction with newegg there.

[Coh3n]

Thanks Sabzi. And yeah, I didn't realize how much cheaper it was.

[Capricorn]

Okay, I've switched out the processors, I now have the i3 has my first choice which brought my total down $80. I'll look more on Newegg tomorrow night, see if any of the same parts are cheaper.

Thanks again guys.

E: The case I want is $35 cheaper at Newegg and has free shipping.
E2: The HDD I want is the same price, but has free shipping.
E3: Motherboard is $10 cheaper.

What mobo is that?

[Coh3n]

What mobo is that?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131595

E: Oops, most of the newegg ones I switched to are Newegg.com, not Newegg.ca. I'll sort that out now.

[Capricorn]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131595

Yeah. that won't work with a i3 CPU lol.

[Coh3n]

Yeah. that won't work with a i3 CPU lol.

Lol well I guess I should choose a different one then.

[Capricorn]

Lol well I guess I should choose a different one then.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...ue=706%3A56289

[Coh3n]

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...ue=706%3A56289

Oh that's cool, I didn't know you could do that. Thanks

E: I don't know, this CPU is cheaper, and will support the motherboard I want.

[Coh3n]

I think I have the configuration I want, unless someone can point out something significantly better.

[Capricorn]

I don't really think anything we say at this point is going to change the fact that your dead set on what you originally wanted.

[Coh3n]

I don't really think anything we say at this point is going to change the fact that your dead set on what you originally wanted.

Lol, well I've changed things around a bit, but yeah I basically ended up with what I originally had. I've also talked to Hobbit (a computer technician) and a couple people I know IRL, and they said this setup will work just fine. ^^

I appreciate all your guys' help.

[TRiLeZ]

IMO intel is better in price performance ratio

Looking at this site, AMD Phenom II X4 955 @ 3.20GHz is rated 3937 and its around $160. The Intel equivalent is Intel Core2 Quad Q9450 @ 2.66GHz is rated 4024 and is around $316.

For AMD: every 1 of a rating is about $0.04
For Intel: every 1 of a rating is about $0.08

So, AMD is better in performance : price ratio, but Intel wins in highest performance.

On the other hand, Coh3n, I highly recommend getting a mobo that supports DDR3 ram. With the computer I've built for myself (parts coming Wednesday / Thursday), I purchased 4gb DDR3 1600ghz for $98 ($10 off regular price). My ram is 2x faster than your preferred ram and it's the same price.

Look at the build I made for my cousin:
http://secure.newegg.ca/WishList/Pub...umber=11199494

I think it's cheaper than your build.

[3Garrett3]

Looking at this site, AMD Phenom II X4 955 @ 3.20GHz is rated 3937 and its around $160. The Intel equivalent is Intel Core2 Quad Q9450 @ 2.66GHz is rated 4024 and is around $316.

For AMD: every 1 of a rating is about $0.04
For Intel: every 1 of a rating is about $0.08

So, AMD is better in performance : price ratio, but Intel wins in highest performance.

But the Intel i3 or i5 are probably better performance, no? I'm not that great with computers, but I know that my machine stacks up well even though the GHz are less, and I have an i5. Just throwing it out there that you aren't comparing the most recent Intel product.

[Coh3n]

Looking at this site, AMD Phenom II X4 955 @ 3.20GHz is rated 3937 and its around $160. The Intel equivalent is Intel Core2 Quad Q9450 @ 2.66GHz is rated 4024 and is around $316.

For AMD: every 1 of a rating is about $0.04
For Intel: every 1 of a rating is about $0.08

So, AMD is better in performance : price ratio, but Intel wins in highest performance.

On the other hand, Coh3n, I highly recommend getting a mobo that supports DDR3 ram. With the computer I've built for myself (parts coming Wednesday / Thursday), I purchased 4gb DDR3 1600ghz for $98 ($10 off regular price). My ram is 2x faster than your preferred ram and it's the same price.

Look at the build I made for my cousin:
http://secure.newegg.ca/WishList/Pub...umber=11199494

I think it's cheaper than your build.

Thanks very much! I've switched to the motherboard in that wishlist, but chose OCZ ram instead. It's cheaper, and was recommended by Hobbit. <3

But the Intel i3 or i5 are probably better performance, no? I'm not that great with computers, but I know that my machine stacks up well even though the GHz are less, and I have an i5. Just throwing it out there that you aren't comparing the most recent Intel product.

I chose the Phenom more or less because it's quad core and it shouldn't be outdated in a couple years (*I hope*). Also, it wasn't that much more than the others I was considering.

[Capricorn]

Looking at this site, AMD Phenom II X4 955 @ 3.20GHz is rated 3937 and its around $160. The Intel equivalent is Intel Core2 Quad Q9450 @ 2.66GHz is rated 4024 and is around $316.

lolno. The Intel Core Quad line up is last generation.

And second, that website uses a synthetic benchmark, which means what is shown there is not going to relate to the real world.

Intel really doesn't have anything interesting around the 160$ mark. But to give you a comparison of REAL WORLD benchmarks.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/109?vs=147

We have two similar priced CPU's from Intel and AMD, and we have some interesting results. Knowing what type of programs you run is VERY important for making a CPU purchase. As we can see from the results, the i5 750 beats the 1055T in almost zero of the programs that use multiple cores (Video rendering, synthetic benchmarks that use multiple cores, raytracing) but then we go down into stuff that relies heavily on one or two powerful cores and the i5 750 smashes the 1055T. There isn't any game where the 1055T performs better.

AMD and Intel are not competing directly. AMD cannot beat Intel at their own game. Intel has superior clock vs clock speeds when comparing similar generation CPU's. AMD realized this and has decided that instead of competing against Intel at having faster CPU's at similar clock speeds, they started building CPU's with more cores at similar prices. AMD is targeting a entirely different consumer than Intel is at this point.

For the average person who uses the internet, reads email, word processes and does gaming, you will not have ANY advantage to using a AMD cpu until games start utilizing 4/6/8 cores.

Ask yourself this, am I a hobbyist director? Do I do graphics on a consistent basis? Do I work in a environment which requires virtualization? Well then you should probably buy AMD, since they have the most cores per $.

I honestly do not even think there is a reason to buy a CPU in the 160$ range. AMD just doesn't compete* at that price range compared to lower priced Intel and once you hit 200$ your best off buying a i5 750 for gaming. Which is what OP should have gotten when he said his budget was 1k, but then he decided he didn't want to spend that much.

*for gaming