AMD 955/965/ Intel I5 Question

[Reanimation]

Ok, so, to be completely honest, I am much better with software than hardware when it comes to computers. Granted, I know a pretty good amount about the later, and am constantly learning, one thing in particular has really been bugging me, given what I have read as far as people choosing I5 over a AMD 955 or 65. I honestly have not heard of any reason other than the "I5 is better", but it seems in every benchmark, they only include "stock settings", however, doesn't the I5 overclock automatically when need be? If so, doesn't that give the benchmarks a bit of a bias, as anyone who would use either processor at max would know how to overclock, so shouldn't the benchmarks include an overclocked AMD as well? And if so, does the AMD gain a significant performance increase?

Again, I could be way off, it just seemed odd to me, and i would really like your opinions, as I want to do a well build and powerful AMD build, but can't get a good response as to if I should go that route, or instead take the I5 that some say is much better, while others don't. Any advice or input?

 

[jj463rd]

The i5 can have a significant over clock on air cooling over 50% whereas the Phenom II's like the 955 and 965 will be capable of around 20% on air cooling.However look at the top of the forum as (or I have the link on the bottom) it seems many LGA 1156 motherboards for the i5 are having multiple problems at the moment with overclocking.I would wait for a few months ( a few months so you won't get a old defective board) before getting a P55/LGA 1156 motherboard when the teething problems have been worked out.
If you can wait for a while go with an i5 otherwise right now I would go the Phenom II route because of the P55 motherboard problems.
Also see here for another problem with the P55 motherboards.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/budget-p55-motherboard,2436-15.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/268403-28-1156-owners-beware

 

[Reanimation]

Thanks a ton, much appreciated, and I will take a look at both sections. Another question, in addition to any other responses to the above, and this may be in the wrong place as well, but here goes...

I have a friend with the new high end I7, and they said that there are 4 mem slots on the intel boards, 1 black, 3 blue. If you use all four, the CPU only uses the black mem unless it NEEDS the others, so they recommend only using three chips in the blue to use 6 or 12 gb mem constantly. First off, is that really how it works, and second, is that all boards, or just intel?

 

[Cryslayer80]

I haven't seen it on my board, and I know I7 X58 boards have 6 RAM slots.