Which is better i7-975 or amd 965 x4 black edition

One is $825.00 and one is $179.00


Why haven't you looked at the 6 core processors from both companies?

out of those two, i'd go with the 965; i7-975 is overkill for gaming

IMO, i'd go with a i5-750 for gaming

well thats the thing is i have a amd motherboard, and was just wondering because im buying a new cpu soon

The x4 955 is the best choice.
Slightly cheaper than the x4 965, just as fast after you up the multiplier in the BIOS, basically as good for gaming as the 975.

And how large is your budget?  

If it's this big,

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Might as well look into this..........  

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Now, both cpu's are overkill and costly just for games but the core i7 980x will last a very very very long time for the gaming world compared to the 975 due to the extra cores/threads.


If you're budget more down to earth, Core i5 750, Phenom II x4 955 BE or At most i would recommend is the Phenom II x6 1055t for around $200

What motherboard?

If you want the best overclock and excellent performance cpu,go for the Intel Xeon W3680,you can overclock to 4.3GHz with over 13,000 benchmark,but make sure you have good cooler like liquid or water cooler for it.Because it doesnt come with thermal solution.Other wise go for i7-975,the downside with that is you get less benchmark results.If it was up to me,id get either Intel Xeon W3680 or the Intel Core i7 X 980 and Intel is better than than AMD in performance.

Dont listen to those who says it overkills.There basically saying there no good,but in reality,there excellent cpu's and excellent for gaming if you study.The one's they say it overkills are giving you a bad choice and manipulating as well,so go for the good cpu like those good one's which i mentioned if you have the cash for them,i would.

Not "overkills" "is overkill.
Is overkill is the truth, to a point. In extreme circumstances the performance of the 975 can make a difference. For example, if you triple crossfire or triple SLI 3 GTX480s of radeon 5870s.

Yes it is certainly faster by a large margin but... the noticeable performance increase in most cases is little to nothing, especially if you are limited to gaming. If you are doing 3d modelling etc, then that is different.
Is the i7 975 much better than the phenom II/i5? yes. Does the performance correlate with the cost? no.

id get either Intel Xeon W3680
I'm sorry but why the ---- would a gamer spend the extra cost on a server CPU?

I suppose my reply here stems from the fact that past the i7 930, every CPU is overpriced for the performance benefit.

Like others have said, go with the i5 750 or the phenom II 955. But then again, you might not even need that much. What video card do you have/ are looking into?

+1 to what enzo said.

Why would someone need a workstation/ sever cpu just for gaming?!?!?!?  

If you really need the power of the i7, get a 930 and overclock it. There very good overclocker. Going all the way up to 4Ghz range.

But for gaming. It's been proven time and time again that for now, Core i5 750 (soon to be core i5 760) and Phenom II x4 955BE is all you really need for gaming unless (as enzo pointed out) you have an extreme gpu setup.

Then again, some people say all you need is a highly clocked Athlon II x3........ which is the truth but most people will like there computers last for abit longer than a year...



Seriously Core i7's, Phenom II x6's, and work station/server cpu's are either not made for or necessary for just pure gaming.

Those cpu's would be twiddling there thumbs when you play games on them as the mass majority of them cant even use 4 cores. What there better for is programs that can use them fully.

Cad, rendering, video editing, Folding@home, BIONC, ect. are just a few that can use the cpu's to the fullest.

Anyways, If you want to make a real difference, get a better gpu. There more important than cpu's for mass majority of gaming.

Get an i5-760 or i7-930, both will destroy the 965 X4 in games, and with a little OC they will be equal or faster than the i7-975 and even faster than the extreme edition.

Single GPU => AMD 955BE and a good cooler.

Two GPUs => Again, the 955BE probably won't be constrained. If you feel you might be because of a review you read, there are good i5 options.

Three GPUs => i7 930. Buy a cooler and overclock it. If you still have lots of head room in your budget and don't care, go for the 980x.

An SSD has minimal performance on gaming unless you play a game that constantly has loading screens.



This isn't true in most cases. In some rare cases (tri-SLI GTX480s or CPU intensive games or running games at 640x480... lol), you will see major increases in gaming performance.

But at 1680x1050 or higher, you are not going to see any CPU bottlenecking unless you fall into one of the above exceptions.

Oh well,we all make mistake some times.My apology.

Best answer selected by urbansaint.