The future of AMD vs Intel?

[YanBooth]

Bonjour,
There is a lot of hype about AMD's Phenom and Intel's 45nm offerings, and I have either been living under a rock, or I can't find proper information about either chip, or a combination of both.

The Phenom is touted as being a native quad core design, but surfing, Google-ing, and searching forums has yielded little information about what the native architecture actually means to the consumer, and the performance that will result. Any insight?
As for Intel's offerings, there is more information about the chip, but how the AMD and Intel chips will compare performance-wise is something I have heard little about. Any more insight?
What about PCI-Express 2.0, DDR3 memory support, and mobo chipsets, what is the deal with these new chips in regard to those three hardware aspects?

My current rig is out of commission, and I am looking to upgrade, and with all this new technology that is just out of reach at present, I don't really know which way to go in my planning stages.

Thanks so much!
-Jan

[XS Janus]

NAtive 4core means nothing to the consumer unless it brings lower power consumption along with it when compare to the equaly performing cpu that isn't native 4core. The current outlook, as I see it, doesnt support that happening. But hopefully we could be pleasently surprised, but I wouldn't put my money on it.

DDR3: Don't worry about that for the next year or so, if you are really interested in trying it maybe later in 2008 get a p35 mobo with DDR2 and DDR3 slots.

On the intel front there is little that is unknown, the chipset is already released (P35), and it is better performing, less power consuming than their last one.
PCIE is only on intels X38. and is meant just for new upcoming cards supporting it and the benefit will be that you could runa apower hungry card without additional power cords going into the card.
Get a X38 if you plan to overclock heavily and don't care for about consumption, and if you plan to get the best outhere and will pay for it.
But in 99% P35 is MORE than a better choice.
The new 45nm offerings will be 5-10% faster clock for clock than their 65nm CPUs now and dramaticaly more up to 80% in optimised applications.
All you got to do is wait untill January to pick one up.

AMD is yet to release their NEW chipset and it might be a gamble to get it right away, cause you will be a gunnea pig if any bugs are found on it.

If you must buy now, and plan to go Intel, get a cheap c2d like E2xxx series to get you through the year and than by a new quad.

No mater what you chose it will be great, and I dont think there will be a clear winner in performance this time.
AMD will offer their CPUs pretty cheap and priced the same as same performing Intels offerings.

But what we might see is Intel having even faster CPUs, but you can bet on the fact that they will not come cheap.

BTW: my name is Jan also :D

[YanBooth]

Thanks, Jan ;)
So you are saying I should wait until the 45nm Intel offerings are available? It seems like the best, most straight forward option, I am not a "fan boy" at all, I just like what is most powerful, and functional.
I am not interested in extreme overclocking, maybe a few hundred MHz wouldn't hurt as my next build will be on water, but it is not something I am concerned about at all. As for power consumption, I have an 850 watter, and water cooling is in the plans, so a power hungry setup doesn't bother me.

What I am looking for is good all around performance; the primary place where PC horsepower will be needed, in my case, is for games such as UT3, and Crysis, to name a few. I can wait, that is not an issue, so by then the options should be bench marked, so I can get a better idea then.

I guess my only remaining question, which is somewhat related, is regarding video cards and RAM. As you can see I have been out of the hardware loop for about 1 year now, and there have been a lot of developments that I am in the dark about... So say I plan on purchasing a new system around February 2008, currently I plan an Intel 45nm quad, SLI/Crossfire, and 4GB's of RAM minimum. Assuming I do go with the Intel, and the chipset that will run on, what should I be looking for, GPU and RAM wise? Anything special, such as DDR3 or the new revision of PCI express/next generation GPU chipsets, such as the R680/G92? Sorry for the redundant questions, I am having trouble finding the info I need without asking specific questions.
Thanks so much!!!!!
-Jan
PS - Does anyone know of a a good general hardware roadmap site? That would probably help me out a great deal in the learning process.

[XS Janus]

It's a goot thing to wait and see all the new hardware benched and tested before you buy anything.

Soon all the new games will be released and benched on hardware available in November.
My guess is that Nvidia is braking the release of their new flagship cards cause they don't feel any real pressure from AMD and the fact that they are heavily involved in Crysis development and know their current hardware will be suficient to run them with better than average settings.

They releasing a suped-up GTS 640MB soon just to spice things up a little and boost sales. Not because the current cards are to weak for crysis.

X38 is Crossfire enabled, SLi support is as allways hanging in the air but loser than ever.
Are you sure you even need 2cards for gaming? IMO it is only waranted if you plan to run a full 1920 resolution with all the perks on a 24" LCD, and keep the cards for longer time like 1,5yrs at least.
If you think you need 2 cards for gaming you should wait for the release and reviews of the new nvidia 780 chipset, and see if any of the early testers report issues with it.
Also for 2card setup wait for the new flagship cards to arrive to get your moneys worth.

New PCI-e 2.0 is only ther so the card can draw more power through their pci-e connector. On boards that wont have pci-e 2.0 support you will still have to use externall conectors to the cards.

Don't worry about DDR3 now it will be a choice when thy are at least 1600MHz speed and way,way cheaper than now. Remember faster ram equals almost no real-life performance gains. and DDR3 is no exeption. For next year build maybe, just maybe, if the price drops to at least 50% more than todays DDR2 prices

User oppinions on this forum are even more important than web reviews found around the web. Why? Because youll learn the bad things about your possible setup.

1 question remains though... Will you be able to wait till February to play the games released by the end of the year :D

I would wait till they are released and reviewed, and buy right away after that a system that will be easilly upgradable. If no flagship cards are released by that time get the one you know will work, enjoy the game and sell when new cards arrive. The same goes for the CPUs. almost any 2core will, not to mention 4core.

[YanBooth]

Are you sure you even need 2cards for gaming? IMO it is only waranted if you plan to run a full 1920 resolution with all the perks on a 24" LCD, and keep the cards for longer time like 1,5yrs at least.

If you think you need 2 cards for gaming you should wait for the release and reviews of the new nvidia 780 chipset, and see if any of the early testers report issues with it.
Also for 2card setup wait for the new flagship cards to arrive to get your moneys worth.

1 question remains though... Will you be able to wait till February to play the games released by the end of the year :D

I would wait till they are released and reviewed, and buy right away after that a system that will be easilly upgradable. If no flagship cards are released by that time get the one you know will work, enjoy the game and sell when new cards arrive. The same goes for the CPUs. almost any 2core will, not to mention 4core.

Hey again,
I have a Dell 3007WFP with a resolution of 2560x1600, and until a power strike occurred I was using a dual link DVI enabled 6600GT. I have been using the 6600 for over a year, coming on two, and it needs to go, so I think an SLI setup will be well worth the money, and if I ever have spare cash I would love to go for a second 30 incher.

I can wait until February, hopefully the full setup will be out by then and somewhat functional... So what remains to be asked is do you know any details/rumors about the name of nVidia's next flagship card, and when it will be released, and what of the release date of the nVidia 780 chipset? I am about to go Google those two queries, but I may as well ask, as like you said the opinions here are often more valuable than web reviews and information.

Chances are I will wait until I have to buy the final hardware, or perhaps put cheap replacements in my socket 939 rig for what was fried in the power surge. Advice and a little research will tell. And a night sleep on it, why must this hobby be so bloody expensive.

Best regards,
Jan