AMD build vs Intel

[kman338]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: the closer the better

BUDGET RANGE: (e.g.:1000-1200) After Rebates

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: gaming

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: (e.g.: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS)

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.ca

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: (Canada)

PARTS PREFERENCES: by brand or type (asus, i5 750, gtx 460 vs gigabyte, 1055t, 5850)

OVERCLOCKING: Yes

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Yes (second card at Christmas)

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1600x1200 and up

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: (should last me a few years)


So I priced out two systems that cost within a few dollars of each other. I haven't built a system since 2004 and am way out of the loop (p4 3.06 HT ftw!) Everything I've read says amd/ati or intel/nvidia is best so that is why I have these two builds. There is also an asus (ASUS M4N98TD EVO AM3 NVIDIA nForce 980a SLI ATX AMD Motherboard) that does am3 and sli but with amd and nvidia not being friends anymore I'm just worried about support for future updates on this platform. Also not sure how the nforce 980 compares to the p55 or 890. Kind of an oddball chipset.

intel build

CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-750HX 750W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black Steel + Plastic and Mesh Bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 24X DVD Writer LightScribe Support

Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Thermaltake Frio Overclocking-Ready Intel Core i7 (six-core ready) & i5 Compatible Five 8mm Heatpipes Dual 120mm Fans Intel & AMD Universal CPU Cooler CLP0564

G.SKILL ECO 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL8Q-8GBECO

ASUS P7P55D PRO LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard

Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor BX80605I5750

EVGA 01G-P3-1371-AR GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

amd build

All the components are the same for the amd build except for


GIGABYTE GA-890FXA-UD5 AM3 AMD 890FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard


AMD Phenom II X6 1055T Thuban 2.8GHz 6 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Six-Core Desktop Processor HDT55TFBGRBOX


MSI R5850 Twin Frozr II Radeon HD 5850 (Cypress Pro) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card w/ Eyefinity

______________________________________________

Here are some questions:

First will that Frio fit these mobo's and the case?
Will it fit with my ram banks full?
The ram I chose doesn't have big heatsinks sticking off so I thought it would work?

I plan on playing sc2, diablo 3 and ffxiv with this rig. Maybe the new dragon age and the new civilization. Crysis doesn't interest me one bit (as in i'm not really into crazy high res fps games).

I know 460 scale very well but what about 5850?
If I add a second card to each system at Christmas how will they do? I haven't seen any 1055t with 5850 solo or CF benchmarks but lots of i5 750 460 ones.

I would like to know if these two systems will play games equally well. Will they both work equally well when they are sli/cf (or will the difference become more apparent for one over the other?)? Will the gb having 2x 16 benefit me more then the asus only having 2x 8? Will the newer gb last me longer (bulldozer) then the intel board?
Can I OC them both equally well?

I would love to see some benchmarks with i5 750 @4 with 460 sli vs 1055t @4 with 5850 cf. I haven't found any.

I know there are lots of questions but the last pc I built was alot easier to figure out what I needed. I would like to build this soon though as I have sc2 sitting here and my pc doesn't really want to run it all that great (not at all).

Thanks!

 

[mindless728]

1) you aren't going to need 8GB of memory, and if you do later buy it then
2) for the AMD you could save roughly $50 going with the PII X4 955 BE as you probably won't need more than a quad core
3) for the AMD build you could save a bit more and go 890GX as the single cards (like the 5850) work fine with PCI-E 2.0 x8 slots
4) The GTX460 has good scaling, but its not like ATI's is so bad that it's not worth it (though dual 460's will come close to dual 5850's)
5) i wouldn't recommend the WD Black 640 drive as the Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB is faster (with 500GB/platter instead of 320GB/platter)
6) with some of the savings on the AMD side, you might be able to fit in a 5870 (instead of 5850)

 

[kman338]

Thank you for the advice.

I was under the impression that if I don't buy a set (4x 2gb) but rather 2 now and 2 down the road that they will not work correctly? It says on the newegg website that sets of 4 are meant to go together and that buying 2 now and 2 later won't work. Is this true?

I changed the cpu to the x4 955 BE with C3. I'm looking to put a Frio heatsink on. Will this heatsink fit my board with the ram I selected?

I changed the mobo to the GIGABYTE GA-890GPA-UD3H AM3 AMD 890GX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard

Cheers

 

[mindless728]

you should be fine as the heat sinks on the ram are not tall

the 8GB i have i bought at the same time, just not a 4x2GB pack, i bought 2 x 4GB(2x2GB) packs and they work just fine, its not much of an issue if they are the same speed, latency, and voltage, and especially if the same brand

though if you are really set on 8GB, have you thought about going DDR3-1333, as you can get an 8GB(2x4GB) set for under $200 (G.Skill)

 

[kman338]

So the ripsaws would fit or be too tall?

I guess I'm trying to decide between these two.

G.SKILL ECO Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL7D-4GBECO

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL7D-4GBRH

And in 6 months if I want I can buy another set of identical ram and put it in the other two ram slots and it will work?

 

[mindless728]

looking at the heatsink, it might be close, though you could go the Cooler Master Hyper 212+, though if you do don't get it from newegg, get it somewhere else as the price should be $30 not $50

if we could get someone in here who knows that heatsink a bit better that would be great (looks at other people in the forum)

 

[soundguruman]

OK, you want the AMD build, but the LITE ON has problems reading double layer DVD's, you want LG drive instead.
If you don't have 7 fans, you don't have cooling.
Guess what? The AMD BOX comes with a heatsink and fan that will work just fine, unless you are overclocking. Infact it works great!
Overclockers: use coolermaster. But don't forget that the huge coolermaster cooler blocks off your memory slots.

 

[kman338]

Will the ripjaws fit on that mobo under the frio? I'm leaning towards them as they are 1.5v and the eco are 1.35v. Since that mobo doesn't run ram at 1.35v it would automatically set it at 1.5v which would damage the ram? To counter this I would have to overclock the ram to 1800?

Similarly, the ASUS M4A79XTD AM3 mobo using quad-core Phenom II X4 965BE (Deneb-C3) @ 125W will automatically set the minimum voltage of the ECO memory to 1.5V and require a corresponding clock cycle increase from 1600 (2x800MHz) to 1800 (2x900MHz). The percentage voltage change is (1.5 – 1.35 = 0.15V) apx 11% or 1.11 factor. Where as the target frequency change is (900 – 800 = 100MHz) apx 12% or 1.12 factor. Thus the target voltage should be left at the default of 1.5V

In the above example, I have used a target increment range of 10 – 20 percent. Greater factors may be used but may experience instability – experiment at your our risk! My plan of attack will be the more modest factors stated above.

The thread is here if you want to read the whole thing. It's from the gskill forum where someone wanted to know what ram to use (eco) for a amd build.

http://www.gskill.us/forum/showthread.php?t=5092&highlight=4gbeco

Thanks.

PS Also is there any chance anyone can measure how much taller ripjaw is vs eco? And for those that have the frio or similar how much plastic could I remove on the bottom to make the ram fit (with a dremel or similar) if I had to without touching the fins? How much buffer is there between the lowest edge of the fan frame that would be sitting over the ram and the lowest part of the actual fan?

 

[asteldian]

I vote Eco series and Intel build.
4gb will likely last you the next 3 or so years before anymore is needed, by then DDR3 will be cheap.

I have the Ripjaw RAM and they are tall and would give trouble for any big heatsinks.

The x8/x8 on the Intel board will not be significant to your cards. The Intel board allows for 2 x GTX460s which are great in SLI and cheaper than the 5850s with the same kind of performance.

The build will last you 3-5 years so I would not worry about any kind of future proofing - by the time you need to upgrade you will be wanting to replace the mobo and RAM and CPU anyway due to new technology by then