I5-750 vs X6 1055T

[10hellfire01]

At the moment, I am in a corner not knowing how to go further

After thinking more, I was going to get the Crosshair IV Formula with an X6 1055T. But looking more, I started thinking about an i5 which is the competitor. Only difference is the L2 and L3 cache sizes and number of cores and I would get a Maximus III Formula. Of course I would overclock both quite a bit. For me, I game a LOT and need the best for it and multitask while doing so (i.e. alt+tabbing, running other things in between, etc.). Would an i5-750 or an X6 1055T give me better performance? I plan on doing SLI with a GTX 470 later. And with using a lower-end computer for so many years I don't know how I would notice the difference. I'll probably give up the SLI if the X6 is better.

X6 1055T i5-750
----------- -----------
6 Cores 4 Cores
45nm 45nm
2.8 GHz 2.66 GHz
L2: 3MB L2: 2MB
L3: 6MB L3: 8MB

Please no biasness I want pure facts, no Intel is better than AMD, or vice versa, in every way possible. Need to stick to the $200-205 range. Thanks!

 

[Cryslayer80]

Pure objectiveness:

- I5 750 has no hyperthreading (a technology dividing CPU cores into two logical cores which, in theory, makes things faster), meaning it doesn't get any advantage even over the current AMD quad cores which are better or on par with it.
- PII 1055T is a hexa-core, which means it has two more cores. In any application that can use the extra cores, it will be very much faster. In others, it will still be faster, just not by that a large margin.
- As for the energy efficiency, both CPUs fare very well with the I5 easily being one of the most efficient processors on the consumer market and PII not consuming that much more power over the other AMD quads.
- Motherboards and RAM should be around the same price for the same class on both sides. RAM is DDR3, so that is a no brainer, but motherboards might have some slight difference in price (Intel is always pricier). Anyways, that department is no problem if you have already decided that these two CPUs are your best options.
- As for SLI, this is the breaking point. There are very few AMD motherboards that support this technology and they are usually low-mid end. That is why if you want dual GPUs, you better go ATI or just get the Intel solution. You can always get ATI cards that are faster or as fast as the nVidia ones, plus for a lower price...

Finally, I guess you have already guessed what my recommendation is: Phenom II X6 1055T. I think you can't go wrong pairing it up with Crosshair IV and some nice 4GB DDR3 RAM. If you were able to overclock it, it could probably match I7 960 and beat the lower end ones in multi-threaded (non-Intel optimized) applications.

Cheers.

 

[10hellfire01]

Best answer selected by 10hellfire01.

 

[10hellfire01]

Ok thank you so much

I can't stop jumping btween looking for parts, I go for this one, then wanna see this one and back and forth. I already got a pair of G.Skill Ripjaws 2x2GB 9-9-9-24 1866MHz, so I'm set with that. Might just give a look at the 980a SLI board I saw on Asus.

 

[Raidur]

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/109?vs=147

Look at the games.

The 1055T is a great chip, especially when overclocked. But if you plan on using a GPU as strong as GTX470 sli you'll want higher IPC over higher cores for gaming.

If you were using a single GTX 470 or 5870 i'd be 1055T all the way.

Most games still use 2 cores so there will be room for multi tasking. However, depending on your games and multi tasking needs the i5 could limit you.

What kind of multi tasking while gaming are we talking about?

 

[Raidur]

Now that I look twice, is a 1055T not compatible with a crosshair III?

 

[10hellfire01]

It's compatiable. But I am going to be getting the Crosshair IV Formula which is the new 890FX chip on top of that. Still not sure about SLI, would need new PSU (Using a 650w). I'll probably drop the SLI thought and Crossfire in a year or two when prices drop.

 

[Cryslayer80]

There's something wrong with those game benchmark numbers... Something really, really wrong.

 

[10hellfire01]

I just pay attention to the benchmarks from hardwarecanucks, etc. Seeing the setup of what they are using during the benchmarking makes it seem accurate. Don't like the shot in the dark benchmarking...In my cases I have used that before years ago and didn't give me accurate info for the parts I did end up buying which back in the day was a GF6800.

 

[Raidur]

If you can find benchmarks using crossfire 5870s or better you'll see the performance gap I'm talking about.

Here's some that show exactly what was done, see the effect of stronger GPUs?

http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/amd_phenom_ii_x6_1090t_be_1055t,6.html

These last 2 show Phenom II x4 with a GPU strong enough to relieve the bottleneck is used.

http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/radeon_hd_5870_crossfire_cpu_scaling_performance_part_2,1.html

http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/radeon_hd_5870_crossfire_cpu_scaling_performance_part_1,1.html

You will also notice, if you use a 30" monitor with resolution of 25x16 or eyefinity a Phenom II is enough.

 

[porksmuggler]

nice comparison at anandtech, not sure why people are recommending the 1055T for gaming rigs...

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3723/system-buyers-guide-1700-performance-midrange/6

 

[Slayer697]

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/109?vs=147

Interestingly, by comparing the 1055T and the 1090T we see that the 1055T performs better. Something fishy is going on here. This might've even helped me decide on which one I want, but I don't know if anand's data is correct.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/147?vs=146

Edit: forgot to add link to 1055T and 1090T comparison.

 

[porksmuggler]

looks like a pretty standard margin of error on the tests where clock speed isn't a very good indicator, and the 1090T takes the lead, predictably, on the ones where it does, 20 out of 36 tests...

the point still being the i5 750 is still the better pick at the same price point for a gaming rig.

Don approved!
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-core-i5-phenom-ii,2620-7.html

 

[nikito82]

http://niksanmar.blogspot.com/