Stay AMD or upgrade to Intel?

Solution
At 1440x900 and a GTX 460, there's little to be gained by more processor than the PHIIX4 965BE. That combo at stock will play any game today at fast frame rates and max/near max settings. More is always faster, but not always necessary.

willard

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The 965 BE is your best bet I think. It's powerful enough not to bottleneck most cards, and in general is a really solid chip. You certainly won't get 4x the performance by spending 4x the cash for an Intel rig.
 

Shaddo

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For gaming and it's a GTX 460 768 mb at 1440x900
 

clutchc

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Yeah, I saw that right after I hit submit. Duh...

Since you have a nice card and you game at a non-demanding resolution, I agree with the rest. Upgrade the processor (and you'll get more out of the graphics card) to a PhII X4 965BE as suggested. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727

Have you tried unlocking your processor's 2 dormant cores? Upping the multiplier to gain a little more speed?
 

Shaddo

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I have my cpu OC'd to 3.5ghz I think, and I have tried unlocking my cores but it wouldn't boot.
 

Shaddo

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My Mobo is has an AM3 socket, so I would have to buy one with an AM3+ socket for the FX
 

willard

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It's decent. I wouldn't say a beast, but it's not exactly garbage.

And some people use their computers for things other than gaming, by the way. Sometimes that extra CPU muscle really helps.
 


heh you obviously have never experienced performance then have you?

to the OP a GTX460 + X4 965 is a better suit then an i5 with a GTX460 the 460 will cap the i5

also unlock -- yes perhaps, if i remember correctly some of the X2 550's are quads with 2 cores disabled so with some luck and the right motherboard it may just work.
 

I've got a system with an i5-2400 w/ a GTX 460. Doesn't do anything super fancy that the rig in my sig cant. And no I don't think if I used a GTX 670 on each rig either one would greatly impress me more than the other, on paper the i5-2400 might do better, but on paper communism is a very effective system of government too.
 

Raidur

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Only a fool would buy a FX for gaming. It's $200 for the 2500k which is within range in gaming of all their more expensive CPUs. Generations ahead of AMD, though you need powerful GPUs pushing a ton of frames to see their real performance in most of today's games.

Learn math.
 

A Bad Day

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All of the FX processors come nowhere close to the energy and cost efficiency, except for one that received an honorable mention (but failed energy efficiency).

To the OP, if your motherboard can be updated to AM3+ and want to go AMD, wait for Piledriver. If you want performance and are willing to buy a new motherboard, then go with Ivy Bridge.
 
All of the FX processors come nowhere close to the energy and cost efficiency, except for one that received an honorable mention (but failed energy efficiency).

This is true, but I honestly don't consider energy use to be a high concern when talking about computers. This is strictly my opinion, the difference in terms of the electric bill is maybe a single incandescent light bulb on average.

I look at it this way, and I apologize if you've heard me say it before, if I'm buying a Ford Mustang with the V8 engine, how much gas it uses is not high up on my priority list. Sure, better gas mileage is nice, but there are certainly better cars to buy if gas mileage is a primary consideration.

Furthermore, I'm fortunate enough to have a lease that covers my electricity, I don't much care how much juice our computers use.
 

clutchc

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At 1440x900 and a GTX 460, there's little to be gained by more processor than the PHIIX4 965BE. That combo at stock will play any game today at fast frame rates and max/near max settings. More is always faster, but not always necessary.
 
Solution
Well, for what its worth, its looking like the first look at PileDriver, (in Tom's new benches for the Trinity APUs), AMD is going to meet or exceed their 10% improvement goal on their roadmap for this year. Of course, they're still going to be behind Intel, but they still get the job done. To echo what clutch said, more is nice, but not always necessary.
 

A Bad Day

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I wasn't looking at power consumption, but rather thermal output. A FX has to put out a lot more heat to catch up to a SB or IB.
 
I see what you're saying, now I'm not being a smartass, but why exactly is that a major concern? In all seriousness. I plead ignorance, but it seems to me this is not a substantial concern if you have a decent case with good airflow, which any homebuilder should.