AMD Phenom II X4 955 vs Intel Q9550 vs i7 920 for TriSLI GTX275's

[Mpyra]

Title pretty much says it all.

The Core i7 920 is a bit more expensive than the Q9550a and so would be the Mobo for it.

The Q9550 is supposed to OC to 4 Ghz easily.

I don't know how well the i7 overclocks.

The Q9550, has more cache, i don't know if that would be of benefit to processing the multiple GPU's?

I am probably only going to be playing Crysis Warhead with this computer, all other uses will not likely be very challenging on resources.

I know little of the Phenom at this point.

I'd very much appreciate some advise in this decision.

Thanks.

 

[branflakes71]

I'd go with the i7-930 (930 replaces the 920 - just released). It's the best processor of the three and will make sure those cards aren't bottle-necked.

Sockett 775 that the Q9550 is based on is a "dead" socket. Socket 1366 (the i7-9xx series) still has plenty of life.

The 930 should overclock better than the 920, which overclocks very well. Plenty of people get to 4GHz on their 920's. Check out the Overclocking section for more info.

 

[galta]

+1 for branflakes71.
BTW, do you already have your GTX275? If you don't, your system deserves better stuff for the money. At $300 each, you could get a pair of 5870 and save some money.

 

[Mpyra]

+1 for branflakes71.
BTW, do you already have your GTX275? If you don't, your system deserves better stuff for the money. At $300 each, you could get a pair of 5870 and save some money.

Lol, all day people have been saying that to me and when i hold my ground they end up insulting me and closing the thread:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/283394-15-gtx275-trisli-5870-crossfire-building-system

You'd have to go through the thread to see how i countered objections.

The reality is that 3x275's will pwn 2x5870 in Crysis Warhead outrageously, which is the only game on PC i have interest in playing.

Here in the UK, 5780's would be £650-700 3x 275's would be £450.

In anycase i will benchmark when i get them.

The 930 seems to be about £35 more expensive than the 920, but can it really overclock any further?

Also, i need some motherboard suggestions.

 

[saaiello]

The I7 920 or 930 will overclock quite a bit in the rite motherboard and with proper cooling. I7s need some really big cooling on them if you plan on overclocking as far as your GPUs if you are not worried about having DX11 then the 275 would be a good setup for crysis.

Since you want to run tri sli i would have to suggest this board.

Asus P6TD Deluxe X58 Socket 1366
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/170159

 

[hella-d]

Go For The Phenom, It Will NOT Bottleneck Your Cards, Prolly Perform Better Than A STOCK i7 920 When Overclocked, And Cost Less

I Dont Give A {*Poop*} Intel Is Faster, AMD Is The Better Value And Plenty Fast, Judging By The Fact That My Machine An Older Athlon X2 With A Mid-End Graphics Card Handles Cryis At Medium Settings At 1600x1200 With 2x AA Smoothly With No Stuttering Im Sure Youll Save ALOT Of $$ And Be Fine With The Phenom

 

[Mpyra]

The I7 920 or 930 will overclock quite a bit in the rite motherboard and with proper cooling. I7s need some really big cooling on them if you plan on overclocking as far as your GPUs if you are not worried about having DX11 then the 275 would be a good setup for crysis.

Since you want to run tri sli i would have to suggest this board.

Asus P6TD Deluxe X58 Socket 1366
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/170159

Is there no board with full 16x16x16?

 

[Mpyra]

Okay, so it's apparent 16x8x8 is better than 16x16x4, 16x16x16 only seems to be availible in the form of an added nForce 200 which seems to perform slightly worse.

My options are:

MSI Eclipse and i7930

or

Asus Rampage Extreme II and i920

Both would cost me the same, but which would offer better performance?

Here are the benches again:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/eclipse-plus-n200,2332.html

 

[tipmen]

Mpyra you need to think about DX11 which Crysis 2 will be supporting. If you will not listen to people suggesting the 5870 that is okay but will you at least wait about 16 days for Fermi?

 

[tipmen]

Oh, If you got the Cash i7 will be your best performer. Phenom 2 will be your best performance for the price. The Q9550 will beat the phenom in performance but will cost a tad more so will the motherboard.

 

[emyyhh]

Okay, so it's apparent 16x8x8 is better than 16x16x4, 16x16x16 only seems to be availible in the form of an added nForce 200 which seems to perform slightly worse.

My options are:

MSI Eclipse and i7930

or

Asus Rampage Extreme II and i920

Both would cost me the same, but which would offer better performance?

Here are the benches again:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/eclipse-plus-n200,2332.html

I have the rampage 2 extreme and a i7 920 and its a great board. overclocking is very easy and its 100% stable. I know some people have suggested the Phenom 2 955 but with your budget just go the i7 route, you wont be disappointed. I wont turn this into a flame war, but if you're looking for such a high performance set-up, which you quite clearly are, Intel is the way to go, and I am certainly no fanboy.

 

[Mpyra]

I have the rampage 2 extreme and a i7 920 and its a great board. overclocking is very easy and its 100% stable. I know some people have suggested the Phenom 2 955 but with your budget just go the i7 route, you wont be disappointed. I wont turn this into a flame war, but if you're looking for such a high performance set-up, which you quite clearly are, Intel is the way to go, and I am certainly no fanboy.

That is the setup i have chosen to go for

Thanks.

 

[emyyhh]

That is the setup i have chosen to go for

Thanks.

Good choice. Im not sure about the performance differences, so I was only speaking from experience. I always go for the ROG boards, and not a single one has ever let me down, even with massive overclocks (4Ghz+).

Btw, the i7 930 is out in the UK (overclockers) and it overclocks slightly better than the 920.

 

[Mpyra]

I'm going to pass on the i7 930 as the price differences outweigh performance IMO.

I have actually decided I'm going to try both the Phenom and the i7.

I've kinda build this PC as a Crysis rig as I'm not that big on PC games and i think Crysis is the only game that i like that would really give me trouble playing.

I've seen in benchmarks the Phenom actually consistently out does the i7 in Crysis, the i7 i think tends to do a bit better on most other games.

The problem i have now is finding a TriSLI Phenom mobo, got any ideas?

The price difference between the i7 920 and Phenom X4 II 955 is about £60 and again the difference between and 930 and a 920 is a further £60.

The i7 mobo looks to be costing £100-150.

I'd ideally like a cheaper mobo for the Phenom, if i test them and the Phenom outdoes the i7 on Crysis with my setup, I'd definitely keep it.

 

[ussr]

o my god.....no way.no AMD.I HAD 5 MACHINE WITH AMD....STARTING FROM:
1.AMD -K6-2-ACORP ALI ALADIN
2.AMD DURON -PC CHIPS VIA KT 133
3.AMD THUNDERBIRD-EPOX VIA KT 266
4.AMD ATHLON XP- GIGABYTE VIA KT 266......all that create me a lot of problem and i sad....i will never... bUt never ,,,buy an AMD SISTEM AGAIN...


AFTER THAT: I TOOK AN INTEL PRESCOT-GIGABYTE-INTEL 965,IF I REMEMBER CORECTLY...'''a great machine, trust me , my life was changed...no problems, run like hell today too, but with another mobo,the gigabyte was blow up....
and now i have an intel q6600@ 3.0 ghz....with MSI P45 D3 PLATINIUM....i m lovin it!!!!

 

[shravankale]

If you can afford an i7 get it, but for gaming the AMD phenom II chips are as good as i7 and are cheaper, in some games Phenom II processors beat the i7. For the i7 you will need to buy a LGA 1366 socket motherboard with DDR3 ram, but for phenom II you can use an AM2+ motherboard with DDR2(cheaper ram)......avoid the core2quad, instead of core2quad get an i5 or Phenom II 955BE....OVERALL BEST processor is i7