Amd cpu or wait? Not going old i7's

[johnners2981]

Just sold my i7 950 and gtx 580 and was thinking of buying a sandy bridge but then that sandy bridge flaw popped up so not sure on what to do now, was thinking of going for an amd but never built an amd system before.
Reason I sold was cause I like building pcs especially on a lower budget, the one I sold was just not being used to its potential and decided to sell it before it started losing too much value.

Have a 24" 1080p monitor and was thinking of getting a 5870 for it which should do nicely, dont feel like going back to the old i7s so what does that leave me?
Would be used mostly for gaming

 

[fazers_on_stun]

Hmm, wait for BD and then decide - by that time, the fixed Intel chipset for SB will be out (maybe as soon as March from what I've read). However don't expect a lot of gaming improvement over your old system. Sounds like you just enjoy building systems - maybe you should take some orders from family or friends...

 

[geofelt]

What are you using now?

It surprises me that you sold a GTX580; about the best gpu out there.

Anything you build now will be old tech. If you can wait for the sandy fix, then do so.

Otherwise, I suggest shopping on e-bay for something interesting to build. Whatever you buy used there, can probably be resold later for not much of a loss.

 

[johnners2981]

Yeah I suppose I should wait, is there any point getting a phenom ii x4/6 and then selling when bulldozer or SB 2011?
Have a laptop but its not powerful so I'd be stuck on my ps3 for the next few months then

 

[johnners2981]

ok thanks for the advice, was told to try out amd but think I'll leave that till BD. Yeah I know the gtx 580 was great but just wasn't getting much use so thought I'd sell it before the dual gpu cards come out

 

[snurp85]

If you enjoy building computers, then go ahead and build an AMD system. It will be new and exciting to learn.

Get a Phenom II X6 Black Edition and a pair of Sapphire 5770's. Throw in a raptor drive or SSD. Have some fun with it. Then in 9 months when you are bored with it, build another one with SB or BD or whatever is the new thing

 

[snurp85]

comparing an X6 to a core i7 isnt exactly fair. they are on two different manufacturing processes and the nehalem architecture is leaps and bounds better than what the phenoms use.

but thats not the point.... the point is that you enjoy building computers. building an amd system will be a new and enjoyable experience. you already said that you werent utilizing the power of your i7 machine, so going with the fastest option out there shouldnt be much of a concern for you. you dont need the best, so why not try a new build with an amd processor. its not like their bad cpu's by any means.

 

[geofelt]

If you need to build now, go ahead and get one of the flawed sandy bridge motherboards. If you use only the 6gb ports, you are safe. In time, the motherboards will be replaced under warranty. Try to find an authorized retailer that will sell you one. You may need to shop on e-bay, since motherboard manufacturers are not selling old stock. It will cost them more to replace them in the field. They are, however still committed to doing so for current users.

 

[ares1214]

I say wait till March, rumour has it thats when BD is revealed at CeBit and when Intel should have this all sorted out, or maybe Z68 released.

 

[johnners2981]

You are confusing me even more now Had an i7 870 before too which is better than the i5 760. I'm torn between the challenge in making a cheap pc which I'd probably try amd but then its great having the power of intels cpus so could try the i5 760
Right sure I'll have a look at the price difference between the i5's and the phenoms.

 

[jj463rd]

I think that you should just wait a few months until AMD's Bulldozer CPU's come out and Intel's Sandy bridge platform is corrected.Then you will be able to compare the two competing systems with benchmarks,reviews and other user opinions and can decide then.Don't be scared at all about putting an AMD system together as it's really easy. The CPU plugs in the socket the traditional way (with pins on the CPU).

 

[johnners2981]

So would the flawed SB i5 be better than an i5 760 seeing as the prices are fairly similar?

 

[jj463rd]

It's the motherboard chip set on the Sandy bridge platform that is flawed not the CPU itself (as far as we know).
The SB i5 is much better than the i5-760

 

[snurp85]

to further expand on the flaw in the P67 boards: over time, there is a 5-15% chance that you will see a drop in performance from your sata hard drives and eventually they will no longer be recognized by the computer.

 

[johnners2981]

Ah right I see. Right think I've decided to go with amd, going to try keep it as cheap as I can, make it a bit of a challenge, if I wanted the powerful option I would of just kept my previous machine.
I'll wait till the next SB and BD come out to make my proper one.
Thank you for all the input, I'm picking snurp85 as the best answer cause this build is more bout messing about with a new build

 

[johnners2981]

Best answer selected by johnners2981.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey