I5 661 or Phenom 2 X6 1055T?

[theKingKong]

Hi,

I was about to purchase all the new bits for my new pc today when that bloody Phenom X6 1055T was released and has put all my choices into disseray!

Baisically I am building an all-rounder PC which is gna be used for everything from playing bluerays to gaming (nothing to resource intensive however as I prefer my xbox). The system I want can b built for roughly the same amount with both cpu's I really just wanna know which one is best or shud i just save myself a hundred quid n get me an i3.... Oh and I want my pc to be a quiet, no-descipt piece of hardware that is on 24/7 downloading & media server'ing when I'm not on it!

Cheers

 

[loneninja]

The I5 your looking at is a dual core, nothing but a higher clocked I3 that has turbo implemented into it. Most peopel consider the I5 6XX series a joke because they exceed the quad core I5 750 in price. Personally I would take the Phenom II X6 between those 2 choices for performance reasons, however based on your planned usage, the I3 should serve you just fine if you want to save some money.

 

[xaira]

you can go i3 or x4 630, anything above will be overkill for you

 

[l3xus]

Get a Phenom II x2 and unlock the other cores turning it into a quad core if u have a compatible motherboard. 6 cores is point less at this time because there are not that many programs that can fully utilize 6 cores.

 

[Raidur]

I see you're getting mixed answers.

Maybe we could be more specific if we knew the rest of your system, mainly your graphics setup and what you're looking to spend.

Tbh if you want it to be quiet and cool you'll want a quick little dual core. I3 is the perfect dual core CPU IMO. Cheap, nehalem IPC, HT, 4.0ghz possible on STOCK voltage. I'd invest in some aftermarket cooling and you could have a 4ghz dual that's as cool as a stock on stock cooling.

 

[das_stig]

Based on your requirement for something to play bluray and non-intensive gaming, have to recommended a Phenom II x4.

 

[xaira]

AMD Athlon 64 x2 @ 2.7ghz, 4gb ddr2 ram, 9800gtx+, 530 watt Raidmax PSU, Windows 7

get a better cpu, you are bottlenecking that gtx+

 

[xaira]

Based on your requirement for something to play bluray and non-intensive gaming, have to recommended a Phenom II x4.

phenom II x4 for bluray and non intensive gaming, really, cmon, really...

 

[logainofhades]

Either a core i3, core i5 750, or any Athlon II or PhII will fit your needs. The i5 661 is a retarded cpu price wise when you can get a better performing i5 750 at the same or for a better price. The Ph II X6 is just plain overkill for you. For HTPC and light gaming, the i3 or an Athlon II would be your best bets.

 

[smithereen]

DON'T get a a 661, period. Don't get a X6 unless you know you need one.

 

[theKingKong]

Hi, well I'l be looking to play a few decent pc games counter strike / crysis / Halflife etc... the stuff that isnt on xbox but i definitely want good performance! my other specs are:

Gigabyte UD3 if i was going Intel not sure about AMD yet!
4Gb DDR3 1333mhz
1Gb Nvidia 250GTS
500Gb Samsung Spinpoint (I have 3 TB's of Data HD's already)
Antec 300 Gamer Case
600w Tagan PSU
Liteon Blu Ray
Audigy X-Fi etc....

I do a fair bit of Web Design / Photoshop work, loadsa C# & C++ game programming coding etc... I've had a look n i can get a i5 750 for like £10 more so its still within budget just! I am the kinda guy though who buys and doesnt look to upgrade/replace till like 3 years down the line!

I am currently running a AMD Opteron 170, 2gb DDR2, ATi X1800XT etc.... its old, loud, clunky and looks like crap!
I thought about the X6 and i5's because I thought they'd provide abit more future proofing (as well as you can do in a computing sense!)

However you guys think I should save my pennies n get an i3 or X4 chip then I'm all ears!

Cheers fellas!

 

[theKingKong]

Sorry i forgot to mention I do alot of audio editing / sound engineering with progs like Reaper, Renoise, Pro-tools etc.... they're pretty resource heavy n kill my pc at the mo!

 

[xaira]

oh, in that case the x6 or the intel 930 is fine, we need to know what you do in order to tell you what you need

 

[FALC0N]

I5 661 or Phenom 2 X6 1055T?

The X6 is a far better performer. The I5 661 is more power efficient.

I think the X6 is the obvious choice here.. Its faster, AM3 has a more reliable upgrade path, and in my experience you always benefit more from the extra cores down the line. So the gap will only increase with time.

The only time I would go with the I5 661 is power sensitive setups.

 

[pausert20]

For encoding and software that takes advantage of more cores then the X6 1055 you can't beat. For a HTPC I would use the Core i3 540. It runs very cool and if you can believe it the IGD does the best job I have seen supporting Bluray playback. It only uses around 9 - 11 % cpu cycles when playing back Bluray discs.

If you want to add gaming into the mix then yo would need graphic card and I would then go with a Core i5 750 with your ATI card of choice. Lower power usage from the ATI cards I have found and could still be used as a HTPC.

 

[pausert20]

Yes, those processors were sent out to the press for the Clarkdale processor release. Intel wanted to show what the 900MHz IGD could do.

 

[Herr_Koos]

Are you aware the i5-661 has built in graphics?

Mostly useless built-in graphics.