AMD or Intel?

[kjcs34]

I am a digital photographer, I am trying to decide between the AMD Phenom II x4 945 vs the Intel I7 920 processors. Seems to be a $200.00 price difference, not sure if it is worth the extra? These are both from Dell.

 

[Raidur]

The Phenom II is a very capable CPU, and the i7 is a beast.

The i7 might be overkill for you, but would have the extra power to carry you for a few extra years down the road, its up to you.

If I were you, i7 920 all the way.

 

[skora]

If all your doing is editing photos professional grade, the i7 860 should be an overall cheaper choice than the 920. Performance would be equal or even a touch better. I'd also get the i5 750 before the AMD for your usage and they would be close to the same price.

You can use this tool to compare CPUs at stock speeds which is what you would get from dell.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?b=2

The only thing the 920 is going to offer over any of the other choices is the gaming capability with 2 graphics cards. If you're not a gamer, don't spend the extra money on the 920.

 

[Wisecracker]

Go with the Phenom 945 (if it is the 95w version) and spend the extra money on an additional hard drive for 'scratch' and extra RAMs.

 

[lok]

If you look at the PS CS4 benchmarks on Tom's (http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2009-desktop-cpu-charts/Adobe-Photoshop-CS-4,1387.html), it's pretty obvious that even Intel's cheaper Q8200 does better for this app than AMD's flagships. This benchmark doesn't give a complete picture, but no matter how you look at it, AMD's performance is lagging a bit for this kind of application.

 

[skora]

I agree with lok and that's what I was trying to point out with the anandtech bench link. If you took the time to look at that, the i5 750 usually beats the 965, including in photoshop CS4 by 15%.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=109&p2=102

Taking a closer look, the 860 takes it another step and beats the 750 by 12% and the 920 by 9%. So the 860 is the best raw performance choice beating the AMD 965 by 25%.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?b=25