Is it wrong to buy a Phenom 965 in 2013?

[Guest]

The Phenom II x4 965 is one of my options, it costs the same as an I3 ivy bridge..

However i got this dilemma,
How much sense does it make to buy a 3 years old CPU?
And then for it's intel counterpart, how much sense does it make to buy a dual core in 2013?

Considering i do not plan to buy a new rig for the next 3 years to come. Which will grow older faster?

 

[rudi95]

if i where you i would wait for the next generation of processors and see what they have to offer

 

[skitz9417]

no its not

 

[Guest]

if i where you i would wait for the next generation of processors and see what they have to offer

Are you refering to Haswell's? I won't wait 6+ months for +10% performance on a proccessor that won't be on my budget anyway.
New rig will come by the end of January.

 

[rudi95]

well in that case phenom all the way

 

[Onus]

That depends a lot on what you'll be doing with it. For most things, the i3 will perform better. http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/102?vs=677 shows that there are some tasks, however, typically dealing with video and other content creation, where the Phenom II is faster. There were no games on that list, but in every game benchmark I can remember, AMD CPUs are at or near the bottom, often weaker even than Pentiums. For games, the i3 is the much better choice, unless you enjoy playing with your PC as much as you enjoy playing on it (e.g. lots of tweaking and overclocking). The i3 will also use a lot less power.

 

[darth pravus]

IF you want to game or use anything proc intensive it's much better to wait and get an i5. Even a sandy bridge one as they are a huge jump over both the i3 and phenom II

 

[Guest]

But won't at some point 2 cores just won't cut it?, i mean we already had games that use more than 2 in 2012, one can only imagine future titles will use more than 2 as well.

I know the i5 has no competitor but tha'ts another price range.

 

[fudoka711]

Why not go for an FX 63xx AMD processor instead?

I honestly don't see a good reason to invest in the phenom II 965 at this point in time. Don't get me wrong, its an amazing cpu, but if you're looking to save money down the road - go for a different cpu.

I would recommend getting something current from AMD - that way you still have an upgrade path should you desire to do so in the future. You won't have to buy a new mobo. You can always sell your old cpu to recoup some of the costs anyways.

The other route is to wait for Haswell to come out and then buy a new mobo/Haswell cpu then. That way you would have an upgrade path.

2 cores is will cut it for a little while longer, but if Crysis 3 is anything like its purported to be, it should hopefully force the gaming industry to step up their game, in which case 4 cores will be recommended for most games.

Also, if you wait and save a little more, you can get something a little better down the road. I think saving up an extra $50-100 over the next 6 months would be very beneficial and more cost-effective.

 

[darth pravus]

Hence I suggested saving up.

The performance per core is also something to consider.

In BF3 multiplayer which uses as many cores as it can get, The phenom is worse than the i3.

I agree that quads and more are the future but you won't benifit from that future with either of these chips

 

[Onus]

I would recommend getting something current from AMD - that way you still have an upgrade path should you desire to do so in the future...

No. AMD does not provide an upgrade path, at all. The i3 has an upgrade path to an i5 or even i7, either of which blow the doors off anything AMD has now for games, or is likely to have at least through the next year or two. Assuming Steamroller will be available on AM3+, it will not outperform the current Ivy Bridge chips in games. Furthermore, AMD does not yet support PCIe 3.0. That doesn't really matter yet, but eventually will; again it indicates the lack of an upgrade path with AMD.

 

[Guest]

I'm trying to spend the less i can and still be able to game at high settings. res 1366x768. (not demanding games just MMORPG's)

This is what i gather:
I3.3220 3.3 GHz Ivy 90£
Asus P8H61-MX 40£
8GB (2x4GB) 1600MHz Kingston 36£
Asus HD 7750 1GB GDDR5 80£
TOTAL: 246 £

What is not listed i don't need.
Do you think i can do better with that cash? or less? (not interested on expending more money)
Prices from overclockers.co.uk

 

[simon12]

The 965 needed to get to 3.7GHz ish to equal the i3 2100 in gaming (even games that use 4 cores well) so will need alot more to get to 3220 performance so makes no sense. If it was £50 then it would still be a good buy.
The spec you are looking at will be limited by the graphics card anyway even at the low resolution so you could save a few more £s and get a pentium G series without a noticeable performance hit while gaming.

 

[darth pravus]

Go for the 7770

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-xfx-radeon-hd-7770-dd-core-edition-4500mhz-gddr5-28nm-gpu-1000mhz-640-cores-dp-dl-dvi-i-hdmi?utm_source=google+shopping&utm_medium=google+shopping

 

[Guest]

The 965 needed to get to 3.7GHz ish to equal the i3 2100 in gaming (even games that use 4 cores well) so will need alot more to get to 3220 performance so makes no sense. If it was £50 then it would still be a good buy.
The spec you are looking at will be limited by the graphics card anyway even at the low resolution so you could save a few more £s and get a pentium G series without a noticeable performance hit while gaming.

I looked it up now that you mentioned it.
http://ark.intel.com/compare/53493,65527,65693

I don't know if it's worth it it's 16£ less but i loose Hyper-Threading and 2 threads with a pentium G2120.

 

[Guest]

Go for the 7770

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-xfx-radeon-hd-7770-dd-core-edition-4500mhz-gddr5-28nm-gpu-1000mhz-640-cores-dp-dl-dvi-i-hdmi?utm_source=google+shopping&utm_medium=google+shopping

Hey that's nice but on overclokers the cheaper 7770 is an MSI one at 100£!
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-101-GI&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=
or a sapphire same price:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-292-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=

I didn't know about "scan" are all their prices so convenient? Would they ship to Europe mainland?

 

[darth pravus]

I assume so. I have had deliveries from them in the past to the UK and had no problems.

They are very reputable.

 

[Guest]

I assume so. I have had deliveries from them in the past to the UK and had no problems.

They are very reputable.

Been looking it up. I don't think they do
http://www.scan.co.uk/information/delivery.aspx (No europe)
And while registering:

I guess i can buy the graphic card from ebay and all the rest from OC.UK.

"86.12 British Pound Sterling equals 106.16 Euro"
http://www.ebay.it/itm/AMD-RADEON-HD-7770-1-GB-GDDR5-PCI-EXPRESS-3-0-AMD-HD7770-DIRT-SHOWDOWN-/200874245855?pt=Schede_video_per_PC_e_Server&hash=item2ec509bedf&_uhb=1#ht_8300wt_1203

and i get free shipping, same price as scan.

 

[Onus]

I tried playing GW2 (a MMORPG) on my father's old E6750/HD6670 at 1600x900, and it was playable but on fairly low settings. An i3-3220 with a HD7750 would have no trouble with high settings at only 1366x768. Whereas FPS titles tend to be very dependent on the graphics card for good performance, MMORPGs tend to need more CPU muscle.
I'm not in the UK, but I frequently see people recommending scan.co.uk for parts.

 

[darth pravus]

Ebay might be a good idea if you can't get scan

 

[angaddev]

scan, aria, and overclockers are all very good, I used them for my high end Intel rig.

 

[Guest]

I tried playing GW2 (a MMORPG) on my father's old E6750/HD6670 at 1600x900, and it was playable but on fairly low settings. An i3-3220 with a HD7750 would have no trouble with high settings at only 1366x768. Whereas FPS titles tend to be very dependent on the graphics card for good performance, MMORPGs tend to need more CPU muscle.
I'm not in the UK, but I frequently see people recommending scan.co.uk for parts.

I know right? I don't think i'll give up on the 3220, the processing power will come handy. And i'm definitely getting an HD7770 now.

Ebay might be a good idea if you can't get scan

scan, aria, and overclockers are all very good, I used them for my high end Intel rig.

Thanks for suggestion, i've been doing a little research since scan doesn't ship outside UK, and overclockers prices aren't exactly a big deal, even less when you convert to euros and add shipping.
I've come to the conclusion that been in Italy and buying components on the UK, is retarded.
So after some mad search i found this site with good prices (cheaper than ebay), in Euros, inside italy.(less shipping cost)

Check it out:
Core i3-3220 €110
http://www.e-key.it/prod-cpu-intel-core-i3-3220-dual-core-330ghz-socket-1155-3mb-ivy-bridge-55w-con-gpu-hd2500-boxed-31038.htm
MSI HD7770 1GBGDDR5 €97
http://www.e-key.it/prod-vga-msi-r7770-pmd1gd5-ati-amd-radeon-hd-7770-core-1000mhz-memory-gddr5-4500mhz-dvi-hdmi-dp-30469.htm
Asus P8H61-M LX3 PLUS €40
http://www.e-key.it/prod-scheda-madre-asus-p8h61-m-lx3-plus-socket-1155-intel-h61-ddr3-sata2-usb20-vga-microatx-35433.htm
Kingston HyperX Red 8GB (2x4GB) 1600MHz €37
http://www.e-key.it/prod-ram-ddr3-kingston-khx16c9b1rk28-hyperx-red-8gb-2x4gb-1600mhz-pc3-12800-cl9-165v-34838.htm
TOTAL: € 284 Euros.

How does it look?

 

[jacobsta811]

Asus P8H61-MX 40£

i3-3220 is Ivy Bridge, while H61 is the chipset from Sandy Bridge. While they do work together, you often need a bios update on an H61 board to get it to work with Ivy Bridge chips. Fine if you have a Sandy Bridge chip available, but if you don't, then you are screwed.
Generally better off with a newer B75 or H77 motherboard anyway.
Otherwise, it will all work fine, although as mention above 7770 is a decent step up from 7750 in gaming performance.

Your other option for similar budget is probably an A10-5800k and an A75 FM2 motherboard (with DDR3-1866 or DDR3-2133 - it needs fast RAM to perform well). That probably is just a little bit slower than the 7750, but will play all games at 1366x768
at some level of detail (many on high or better). CPU wise it is pretty similar to the i3-3220, a little slower single threaded, a little better multithreaded (and can be overclocked). That would save you a little cash though.

 

[odiervr]

Have you looked at the AMD A-10 5800k? At your resolution i believe this would provide a very good solution at a better price. You can overclock both the CPU and integrated GPU and get some great results.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/trinity-gaming-performance,3304-2.html

The only down side would the FM2 chipset future ?

Here's what I know: I built a 5800k w/ ASRock Ext 6 Motherboard in Dec for my son. It's a very capable gaming machine at 1600 x 900 (display's max). He plays Guild Wars 2 on it and it's very smooth ( I don't know his settings). I've played World of Tanks on it - medium settings and it gets approx 38 fps. It's very playable.

This machine is nowhere near the performance of my i5 3570k w/ HD 6850 gamewise but in your pricerange I would consider it.

Good Luck !!

 

[djangoringo]

Just get a pentium G860+h61+better card, what it counts is the gfx card, and a 7770 is not good enough even for 1600 x 900, e.g. battlefield 3 maxout.