Core i5 sandy bridge now ..or AMD bulldozer later ??

[CraigHarrison]

I have a 1000$ budget for my rig and someone recommended that I get a core i5 SB instead of an AMD Athlon X4 645 ..but its a little outta my budget ..so I was wondering ..why not wait for a couple of months for bulldozer which may be cheaper than SB ..what are your thoughts? ..should I wait or get the i5 now or stick with the X4 645?

 

[Leaps-from-Shadows]

You have the Athlon II X4 645 system now right? As long as the system can handle the stuff you want to do at decent detail settings, just wait for the next big thing to hit and see how things shake out.

 

[acer0169]

If you already have an X4 AMD it'll run most anything that's currently on the software / games market. The bulldozer looks very good, but if you can I would just overclock your current X4 and keep that for another 8 to 16 months and see what's on the market then..

I can't imagine there's much a 645 can't handle pretty well.

 

[jimmysmitty]

I don't think the OP actually has a rig right now. I think he planned a rig with a X4 6456. But if you can budget it, go for the Sandy Bridge setup. If not then go with the X4 setup.

I also agree with Psycho. There is no way to tell what pricing Bulldozer will be until its out and the performance numbers are in. If it is about 20% slower than SB, then it will cost less unless Intel also drops the prices. If its better than SB it will cost more.

No way to tell though.

 

[daship]

The only reason AMD is cheap right now is because they can not compete with the competition in performance so they have to be cheap. The minute they make some as good, or better then the competition watch the prices soar. Have we forgot the price of AMD before Intel came out with the Core 2 series? They have to be loosing money, and when they do compete they will have to try to play catchup with their shareholders.

 

[Leaps-from-Shadows]

If I misunderstood and the OP has no rig right now, then Sandy Bridge is definitely the way to go. I just plopped down $1300 including shipping on a pretty high-end Sandy Bridge setup, and could probably shave off $300 to get it at $1000. Of course, I already had a 23" LCD monitor.

My new rig:
Intel Core i5-2500k
Prolimatech Megahalems Rev.B cooler w/ two SilverStone FM123 fans
Gelid GC-Extreme thermal compound
ASRock P67 Pro3 mainboard
G.Skill Ripjaws X 12GB CL9 RAM (one 8GB kit and one 4GB kit)
Palit GTX 570 Sonic 1280MB video card
Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB SATA hard drive
Samsung SH-S223C SATA DVD burner
Cooler Master HAF 912 case w/ six Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F fans
SeaSonic X-Series SS-560KM 560W power supply

Less CPU, less cooler, less RAM, less video card, and less fans would save more than $300 ... and still be plenty to beat the crap out of an Athlon II X4 rig.

 

[Stardude82]

If there were AM3+ motherboards, the 645 or even a 445 would be tempting. However, Tom's would recommend the i3 340 over the x4 645 as it stands.

If you wait a month the i3-2100 will come out... It beats down the 645 in every benchmark and it has an upgrade path.

 

[andy5174]

Why does everyone think Bulldozer is going to be cheaper then SB? If bulldozer is close the processors will cost right around what sandy bridge prices are.

1000 dollars is plenty for a 2500K rig

+1

The only reason AMD is cheap right now is because they can not compete with the competition in performance so they have to be cheap. The minute they make some as good, or better then the competition watch the prices soar. Have we forgot the price of AMD before Intel came out with the Core 2 series? They have to be loosing money, and when they do compete they will have to try to play catchup with their shareholders.

+1

I had said similar things many times, but AMD fanboys just won't listen. Sigh!