Phenom2 vs i7 purchasing questions

[dreadloxx]

I am building my first system and i have some questions. Obviously I am new to the whole concept and I'm sure I'll get burned for this thread but O well. Ive been researching both the Phenom 2 and the i7 CPU's and everyone seems to have there own opinion about them. I'm a heavy gamer and I've been playing on a crappy Acer E380 pc for some time now. The Mobo is crap and I have an AMD athlon 64x2 CPU. I recently bought the Antec 1200 case and a BFG 550w PSU and need some goodness to to go with it. Like i said im looking at either the phenom2 or the i7. I'm also curious of the mobo to go with it, I know that most mobo's out atm are set up for ddr2 and ddr3 is starting to get in circulation so i dont want to gimp myself off the start. It would be awesome if there were some Noob friendly people who wouldnt mind giving me a point in the right direction on where to go. It would be nice to stay under $500 for the combo since i still have to buy the 64bit OS.

 

[Silverion77]

$500 for Mobo, cpu and ram??

What sort of res. and GPU do u have running this?

 

[dragonsprayer]

550w psu? kinda small

$500 dollar? go amd! if your low end then you can save money -- i7 mobos start at $200 amd you can get a lot cheaper

due to price amd!

$300 for cpu and mobo and ram, 175-$200 for the gpu

 

[dreadloxx]

$500 for Mobo, cpu and ram??

What sort of res. and GPU do u have running this?

I have a nvidia 8600GTS OC atm but will be getting the 9800GTX oc after all is said and done. basically i dont want to spend more that 500 on the CPU/mobo combo. so i have more to get the rest with. This is what i have been looking at:
AMD Phenom2 940 Denab 3.0GHz $229.00
ASUS M3A79-T Deluxe $188.99

But from what i read the mobo doesnt quite sink up with the phenom 2 without adjusting the BIOS

 

[Silverion77]

at those specs, definitely go AMD, but im not one to give that sort of Mobo recommendation
Point being is save money on the cpu and mobo and put it towards the GPU where it actually matters. Silly having crazy cpu power when ur gpu bottles u anyways

 

[dreadloxx]

Yeah I really don't need the i7 extreme lol but i would like to have power there so future upgrades wont be limited by one of the more "important" part . So in your opinion the AMD is still a good hopefully great CPU that would do all i need it to?

 

[unclefester]

I'm currently running this combo,PII 940, M3A79-T,OCZ Reaper, and EVGA 260 55nm. Quite happy with it. If you get the 79-T board it will require a BIOS flash to 504 or 604, to do that you would have to install your 64x2 to get up and running. It's not hard with EasyFlash2, but 2 CPU installs is kind of a pain.

 

[dreadloxx]

Is there a mobo out there that is already compatible with the ph2?

 

[rescawen]

core 2 e8400 ?? I strongly recommend

 

[enigma067]

I am building my first system and i have some questions. Obviously I am new to the whole concept and I'm sure I'll get burned for this thread but O well. Ive been researching both the Phenom 2 and the i7 CPU's and everyone seems to have there own opinion about them. I'm a heavy gamer and I've been playing on a crappy Acer E380 pc for some time now. The Mobo is crap and I have an AMD athlon 64x2 CPU. I recently bought the Antec 1200 case and a BFG 550w PSU and need some goodness to to go with it. Like i said im looking at either the phenom2 or the i7. I'm also curious of the mobo to go with it, I know that most mobo's out atm are set up for ddr2 and ddr3 is starting to get in circulation so i dont want to gimp myself off the start. It would be awesome if there were some Noob friendly people who wouldnt mind giving me a point in the right direction on where to go. It would be nice to stay under $500 for the combo since i still have to buy the 64bit OS.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwcKyrHHQac

Ci7 965EE/3.2GHz LGA1366 6.4 GT/s $1079.99

X4 940 / 3.00GHz Socket AM2+ 1800MHz (3600 MT/s) $239.99

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Category/category_cpu.asp?name=CPUs

$840 difference.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1EJKifq6JM

The 4870 x 2 will also save you money over Nvidia.

 

[cjl]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwcKyrHHQac

Ci7 965EE/3.2GHz LGA1366 6.4 GT/s $1079.99

X4 940 / 3.00GHz Socket AM2+ 1800MHz (3600 MT/s) $239.99

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Category/category_cpu.asp?name=CPUs

$840 difference.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1EJKifq6JM

The 4870 x 2 will also save you money over Nvidia.

Of course, if you were being somewhat more honest, you'd admit that a $180 Q6600, a $270 Q9550, and a $165 E8400 are also functionally identical to the Phenom II in that particular comparison. That doesn't make the Phenom as fast as the i7. It does mean that the i7 965 is a waste of money for pure gaming, but that's why Intel has other CPUs available.

 

[roadrunner197069]

Pointless thread.

$500 for mobo, cpu, and ram.

You cant get i7 on that budget.

It takes $580 plus shipping, minimum to get on the i7 wagon.

 

[Ken168]

I don't know about other mobo. My gigabyte mobo (GA-MA790GP-DS4H) comes with utility to flash bios in Window mode. Easy cake for anyone who are not comfortable or never flash any bios before.

Even with the default bios, the cpu still functioning (it just not recognise as a Phenom II).

 

[dreadloxx]

IPSG DP45SG 775 ATX Motherboard $143.99
Intel® Boxed Core 2 Quad Processor Q9550 $279.99
Crucial 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) $78.99
Total $502.97

or

IPSG DX58SO 1366 ATX Motherboard $263.99
Intel® Boxed Core® i7 Processor 920 $229.99
Crucial 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) $78.99
Total $572.97

I know its alittle more that i originally wanted to spend but its close so it isnt impossible to get this done cheaply.
any opinions about the 920 vs the Q9550 and im not familiar with the mobo's. they are from microcenter so i wouldnt think they are too bad.

 

[unclefester]

@Dreadloxx, which ever way you decide to go don't forget a good powersupply.

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

Check out this link for a good gaming comparison
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3506&p=1
A P2 vs Q9550 vs i7 920. Theyre about the same in performance gaming wise. Your choice, Id get the cheapest possible, and put the rest into your card

 

[jitpublisher]

You do not need 1066 DDR3 memory with the Core 2 Quad.
Standard 800mhz with fast timings is all you need.
Drop to a motherboard that runs DDR2. You are wasting money for no good reason on this setup you have listed. Way less $$$.

For the i7, you want 1333mhz. Memory controller on the chip, it can make good use of faster memory, if you are going i7, don't bottleneck it in the memory department. You also want to go triple channel to reap more of the benefits of moving to an i7. You have also choosen a slower clocked i7 processor compared to a faster clocked Q9550. All in all, by going with the cheaper memory to keep the i7 cost down, and the slower clocked processor, the system won't end up any faster really than the Core 2 quad. If you want to build on the system later though, the i7 may still be most attractive. Just depends on what you want to do.

So put that into perspective, and the Core 2 Quad and the i7 get a little farther apart on price.

 

[someguy7]

Go with the PII. And ignore anything that enigma067 ever says.