Cant decide on amd or intel. For music production & gaming

So my budget on my build is 600-650ish and I had picked out an i3 2120 but here is the thing. I do a lot of music recording/production at home and I'm wondering whether or not I'd be better off picking up a phenom x4 as opposed to the i3 because of this. Programs used: Sonar, Fruityloops, Reason.

Thanks guys.

Reply to AlphaOmegaX

i think core to core, the i3 will come out on top. im guessing that those progrmas you listed are going to be single or dual threaded, so probably the i3. but, whats stopping you from getting an i5? further, how much ram are you planning?

Reply to guavasauce

I can't imagine recording or editing music, or encoding music files uses many resources. Either CPU should suffice. For gaming, the i3 is better.

either one should be good but the i3 will probably be better as I don't think those programs uses multiple threads too much.

------------------------------ sllaw eht no nettirw gnihtemos saw ecno ereht
Reply to esrever

performance aside and me being an intel fanboy - having said that, the i3 has only 65 tdp and the x4 has 95 tdp so go green save money and blabla (i really like to take a good look at power consumption, if you use that thing 12/7 or even 24/7 over 2 years that will save you real money); also (albeit not very important i guess) how does the am3 look? intel keeps crapping out new 1155 products at least atm

Reply to Vevusio

Yeah, you'd save about $20 a year if you could keep the cpu from throttling down for the whole year...
Personally I would go Intel. AMD has already stopped phenom/athlon production and letting the existing stock dry up. Soon I expect them to pretty much stick to low end pc's & low power devices and leave the enthusist market to Intel all together. Not that I think they have bad stuff its just that they cant compete and have nothing in the pipeline that can.

1155 will be around for at least another year and there are plenty of chips for an upgrade.

With AMD all you have left is Thuban or Bulldog currently and frankly they are no better value than Intel unless you get a thuban that unlocks to a 6 core.

Reply to popatim

This all kind of depends on the GPU needed. If they don't need a good GPU a Llano wouldn't be bad choice. If they do need a discrete GPU then it's down to whether or not multithreading is going to be used.

Reply to kinggraves

http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 106-5.html

Reply to totalknowledge

naa,there's no intel fanboyism here.

here's an interesting little article:

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1838/1/

remember,just as you put your intel system together,they'll come up with another socket design.

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Message edited by Earnie on 01-27-2012 at 02:26:31 AM

Reply to Earnie

Earnie wrote :

naa,there's no intel fanboyism here.

here's an interesting little article:

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1838/1/

remember,just as you put your intel system together,they'll come up with another socket design.

Wow AMD won a contest sponsored by......wait fot it........AMD. Amazing.

I have been building my own computers since the Pentium 2 days and you know how many times I have upgraded a CPU and not a motherboard? None, nada, zip. You know how often I plan on upgrading a CPU and not a motherboard in the future? Yep, you guessed it.

Message quoted 1 times

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Reply to anort3

intel has a much better upgrade path.

------------------------------ Overclocked Intel HD 3000 Performance: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] e#t1978730
Thermal Paste Removal/Installation Guide: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] emoval-ins
Reply to amuffin

anort3 wrote :

Wow AMD won a contest sponsored by......wait fot it........AMD. Amazing.

I have been building my own computers since the Pentium 2 days and you know how many times I have upgraded a CPU and not a motherboard? None, nada, zip. You know how often I plan on upgrading a CPU and not a motherboard in the future? Yep, you guessed it.

been building just as long,maybe even longer.....and I Have upgraded a many cpu and NOT a mobo.

And before you call me a fanboy,i have had many of both intel and AMD

Even if intel did the contest with the same results you would still call BS.and the fanboyism continues........

amuffin:What upgrade path?I've read more people upset that they just built a new system with ,say 1155,then bam..new socket,same thing happened with the 1366.

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Message edited by Earnie on 01-27-2012 at 05:06:44 AM

Reply to Earnie

Yes, if Intel sponsered a contest and won it I would call BS you are correct. Neither companies marketing department would allow something like that to be released if the sponsoring company did not win. Really not sure how that equates fanboyism.

I also have had both and I have no problem recommending AMD when appropriate. The thing is since Phenom is no longer being made and Bulldozer sux wind that leaves Thuban as the only decent product they make.

And no I would never upgrade a CPU and keep a motherboard with old tech. Why would anyone? You miss out on too much doing that. Motherboard features change as fast as CPU generations. I have however, had several motherboards die and had to put an old CPU in a new board. Not the other way around though.

Message quoted 1 times

------------------------------ i7 2600K @ 4.5/P67A UD4/Scythe Mugen 2 Rev B/OCZ Vertex 2 120GB/2xWD 640 Blacks/Antec 1200/Samsung 23in LED LCD/EVGA GTX 460/2x4GB GSkill Ripjaws X DDR3 1600 7-8-7-24/Windows 7 Ultimate x64/Corsair 750TX
Reply to anort3

anort3 wrote :

Yes, if Intel sponsered a contest and won it I would call BS you are correct. Neither companies marketing department would allow something like that to be released if the sponsoring company did not win. Really not sure how that equates fanboyism.

I also have had both and I have no problem recommending AMD when appropriate. The thing is since Phenom is no longer being made and Bulldozer sux wind that leaves Thuban as the only decent product they make.

And no I would never upgrade a CPU and keep a motherboard with old tech. Why would anyone? You miss out on too much doing that. Motherboard features change as fast as CPU generations. I have however, had several motherboards die and had to put an old CPU in a new board. Not the other way around though.

well,at least we agree that BD sux wind. ...thats why i went out and picked up an 1100t before they were gone.

Reply to Earnie

Earnie wrote :

been building just as long,maybe even longer.....and I Have upgraded a many cpu and NOT a mobo.

And before you call me a fanboy,i have had many of both intel and AMD

Even if intel did the contest with the same results you would still call BS.and the fanboyism continues........

amuffin:What upgrade path?I've read more people upset that they just built a new system with ,say 1155,then bam..new socket,same thing happened with the 1366.

i3-2120 can go to any ivybridge 1155 cpu. i3-2120----->i5-3570k or i7-3770k i3-2120------->i5-2500k or i7-2600k

------------------------------ Overclocked Intel HD 3000 Performance: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] e#t1978730
Thermal Paste Removal/Installation Guide: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] emoval-ins
Reply to amuffin

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