does phenom have what it takes? what is your expert advice

[Myzery]

do you guys think the phenom can run todays best games with the best video cards on max settings with no bottlenecks or do i need an e8400, the phenom just looks really good and im no expert here, thanks

 

[Evilonigiri]

Phenom is great if:

1.) You don't OC
2.) You play multi-threaded games (Very few are out there)
3.) You have an AM2 board already

If all of the above matches you, Phenom is the way to go. If even one doesn't, Intel will suit you much better, preferably the E8400.

 

[Mathos]

do you guys think the phenom can run todays best games with the best video cards on max settings with no bottlenecks or do i need an e8400, the phenom just looks really good and im no expert here, thanks

Not likely to be a CPU bottleneck if you can manage to get it to 2.6ghz or higher, but with current line of b2's thats like playing roulette. If you run a 790fx/x or plan on getting a 780g board for hybrid crossfire, it should see decent performance there as well. Phenoms real strength right now isn't in the processor, but in what AMD's current platforms offer as far as triple and quad Xfire, and hybrid Xfire. But, if you get or have good video cards, then it should do well, if using nvidia, you might want to wait for the nforce 780a chipsets though.

 

[calyth]

Despite being an AMD fan, and a Phenom owner, I couldn't honestly recommend it if you're looking for a good price/performance ratio, and want it only for playing games.

I bought mine because clocking cores independently could help speedup my groups research by not fighting for servers with another 10 groups at school. It's running Linux at the moment.

However, if you're buying this for a good gaming performance, go for Intel *grinds teeth* If you do have specific application, or planning to use it more like a multicore workstation, _AND_ the benchmark shows that Phenom performs well - e.g. Mainconcept H.264 encoder, even UT3 (because those guys did multithread beyond 2 cores), then maybe it's worth it.

But yeah, if you have an existing AM2 board, and a Phenom drop in works, sure...

I do have some strange booting problems in Linux - mind you that's usually after I've tinkered with AOD in Windows.

If you're an AMD fan, wait for B3 or 45nm version.

 

[afrobacon]

id have to agree with everyone above. iv always been a fan of amd, yet when it comes to gaming or overclocking in general nothing really compares to intel (at the moment)

given the current "luck" amd has been having for the last year, i dont think they'll be catching up anytime soon either

 

[ryanthesav]

Its too slow and there are no multi-threaded games(good games)...so no.

 

[jaibot18]

i suggest getting a q6600 for 200 dollars. It will be able to run any game that is not multi-threaded well and will oc much further then the phenom. my friend has one at 3.5