AMD or Intel?

[chinesekidx]

Which processor would be better for gaming? i7 930/860, Phenom II x4 945/955/965, or Phenom II x6 1055T/1090T?

[ShyguyXPC]

Depends on a persons Budget.

but price aside, Intel is still where its at IMO.

AMD's 6 cores are nice, but how many games out there, even take advantage of a Quad core, let alone a Dual Core, or Quad core with Hyper Threading, or in AMD's case, Triple, Quad, Six or 8 Cores (AMD, has an affordable 8 Core Opteron in the $300 range)

[chinesekidx]

Say the individual could afford all the listed CPUs above or any close to one of those higher price ranges CPU listed above, which one would be better for gaming?

[ShyguyXPC]

Single GPU, Dual or Triple SLI, Crossfire?

if Multi GPU, Socket 1366 Core i7 then (greater PCI Express bandwidth)

Single GPU, I think would still fall on Intel i7 for Socket 1156.

Supposedly AMD's 6 core is making some big news, especially with gamers, but to be honest, like Mentioned above, not too many games really take advantage of 3 or 4 cores, let alone 6. granted 6 cores, means more for the OS, and other programs to use in back ground, freeing up resources for games, but I don't think its going to make a Huge Impact.

Games like Supreme Commander 2, and some other RTS games, or CPU intensive games might see a benefit, but if its GPU intensive then 6 cores isn't going to be much better than a current Quad core of equal speeds IMO.

[chinesekidx]

Alright thanks! That's all I wanted to know.

[mdpcrepair]

I'll back intel for now. Unfortunately, they are not doing as good of a job as they could be doing with their developers. Optimizing the chipsets for a certain apple made computer is my only problem with intel.

[Networker4321]

For what it's worth, nobody in a large enterprise ever got fired for buying Intel, but they have been fired for choosing AMD. It's Leap Frog technology.

[RacerX]

Which processor would be better for gaming? i7 930/860, Phenom II x4 945/955/965, or Phenom II x6 1055T/1090T?

Well, since you're asking specifically about gaming performance, here goes.

It depends on what video card and what games you like.

The reality is you pair a higher end video card with a higher end/speed processor and overall you'll be fine for any game.
BUT, if you're looking for the absolute most fps possible for that setup, then you'll need to start with which games, and then go for what GPU, then pair it with the right CPU.

Here's why:

As anyone who has looked at the various video card reviews and benchmarks over the years, one thing has become rather obvious.
That would be lack of consistency, and no clear winner on every game/benchmark.

For example, last gen cards, some websites show a 4870 x2 beating the GTX295, while others show the opposite.
Even current gen reviews show the same pattern.

Certain CPU/GPU combos seem to work better than others, plus as we all know, some games seem quite a bit more "optimized" for a particular brand.


The one thing no one seems to really mention when quoting a particular review is the CPU and the OS used.
This can have an impact on the performance.
That's why the fanboys for each side like to quote a particular review where their beloved card did better, then dismiss the review that showed it doing worse.
as you read reviews take a look at the test specs, some are AMD, some are Intel, some are vista, some are W7, etc..

THG actually did a pretty good review on this, showing different CPU/GPU combos, both stock and OC'd.


Some other things to consider, going along the lines of what games you like now.
What kind of monitor will you use?
Probably an LCD i'm guessing.
What's the resolution?
if it's a lower res and you don't plan on upgrading for a long time, you'd be wasting money on the highest end cards.
Plus, remember, unless you have the newer 120hz refresh monitors, that LCD is 60 hz, so having a video card that can pump out 200fps is pointless other than bragging rights, as the screen will still only refresh 60 fps, and when you get too high on fps, you can get "tearing" which can actually make the gameplay look worse, so then you're enabling VS which will drop the frames back to the 60 of your monitor refresh rate.

Remember, this whole industry is driven for perpetual sales. Not only by the hardware manufacturers, but by every magazine and website out there in this field. Of course they want people hyped up on the "latest and greatest", they all need the continual revenue stream.


Summary:
I know this got a bit winded, but any of those cpus will "work', but if you want the best bang for the buck, decide what you'll play and match that brand of GPU up with the games that give the best performance, then compare the test specs to see what CPU's got paired up.


Oh, once you've done all that, and have narrowed it down, see which CPU gives better performance in other stuff you might do on he computer.

[Taxmancometh]

Bang for your buck? AMD.(especially if you can overclock) Want to spend a bunch of money? Intel.

I've read that ATI is better at Direct3D than Nvidia.

[cksboy15]

I've read that ATI is better at Direct3D than Nvidia.

Only for now I wouldn't doubt it if nVidia is working on a new addition to fermi (hopefully one that doesn't run hot enough to replace the house furnace)

If your looking at running high end or multiple GPU solutions intel is better other than that justifying the price difference is hard with only a few fps in difference (my son went from an amd 955 to an i7 920 and only gained 7 fps on crysis)

[Taxmancometh]

Why is it that Intel is better for multi GPU solutions?

[ShyguyXPC]

Intels X58/Socket 1366 Platform is, not sure about 1156 or Socket 775, if their better than AMD though.

X58 chipset and related Core i7 CPU's have better PCI Express Bandwidth for setups with 3 or more GPU's than other "lower" platforms.

[FreakyOCR]

AMD = German/Canadian (ATI)

Intel = US

Intel is paying AMD damages for monopolistic practices.

(In case these have any bearing on your decision.) Intel is the defacto standard for I.T. because they always have been, AMD comes in cheaper because you're not paying as much for the name.

Buy AMD and spend the dough on a better GFX card, or go SLI/Crossfire it'll have a bigger impact on your gaming performance than your CPU will.

My 2c.

[Taxmancometh]

Sunnyvale, CA?

Advanced Micro Devices - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Intel Corporation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I like to compare graphics to cologne. The name brand crap always sells for waaay too much on eBay.
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