$1080 System Quad Core Phenom 2 940 Vs Q9550

[fred02171]

excluding: keyboard, monitor, mouse, case and OS.

I want to go quad. I also want to game at 1920 X 1200 resolution. I want to keep the entire budet under $1080.

Keeping to good quality name brand components for both systems,
750 watt PSU
8 gb 1066 ram
DVD burner
640 GB hard drive
P45 or 790FX/GX motherboard

If I go with the Phenom 2 I can get up to a 4870X2 and stay in budget.

If I go with the Q9550 I can get up to a single 285GTX.

Which will give a better experience the Phenom 2 or the Q9550? Yes, I do know the I7 is better, but it would mean a greater compromise on the video card to stay in budget. Is it worth compromising further on the video card to to get the I7?

 

[Guest]

this article might help you with the decision of a processor, it helped me:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/phenom-ii-940,2114.html

but 2 4870's would be pretty sweet.

 

[batuchka]

+1 P2 X4 940 built. Outside of encoding/synthethic benches there are already benches with a non TRI SLI set ups online and its up there with i7 so why compromise on GPU performance when that is most crucial in a gaming rig unless you have a dog of a CPU that is hehe

 

[Outlander_04]

The Phenom .

 

[fred02171]

Thanks for the input!

I haven't built a PC in about 4 years. I'm sure anything I build now is going to seem lighting fast.

If I go AMD are there any good motherboards that will post with the Phenom 2 out of box? I don't want to buy a chip just to update the bios.

 

[batuchka]

From numerous Phenom 2 builders input most of the 790GX/790FX with SB750 will POST with a P2 with the 'unidentified CPU' prompt but you wil be able to update BIOS to the latest ones ^^

 

[fred02171]

If I go with a single card solution (4870X2) is there any reason to go with the 790fx over the 790gx motherboard. I don't think I would be planning to crossfire with an additional 4870X2?

Are all differences between the chipsets limited to how they handle crossfire on two separate cards?

 

[batuchka]

790GX when used with 2 single GPUs output 8x + 8x crossfire while 790FX can give you either 16x + 16x when used with 2 GPUs or 8x + 8x + 8x + 8x if the board can slot in 4 GPUs. The 790FX also does not include integrated video ^^