thinking of replacing my winchester with phenom

[jarthel]

but I'm having 2nd thoughts. I want the best I can get for my money and it seems AMD can't provide that unless you can convince me otherwise. :)

Thank you

ps. I'm not loyal to any brand when it comes to computers and I wouldn't be overclocking this to the max. maybe a slight overclock of 400Mhz above stock.

[Jakalwarrior]

Your first impression was correct.
Assuming no overclocking though AMD may become best bang for the buck after they release the rest of the series and bring the prices down. What are you doing that requires 4 cores though?

[Nedjo]

but I'm having 2nd thoughts. I want the best I can get for my money and it seems AMD can't provide that unless you can convince me otherwise. :)

Thank you

ps. I'm not loyal to any brand when it comes to computers and I wouldn't be overclocking this to the max. maybe a slight overclock of 400Mhz above stock.
only question is how much money do you have!?

[jarthel]

only question is how much money do you have!?

not much but I know intel's cpus are a little dearer and I'm prepared to pay that little extra

[Jamesrt2004]

What will you be doing with comp?
How much to spend?
where would you like to order from?

3 main q's imo

[Nedjo]

not much but I know intel's cpus are a little dearer and I'm prepared to pay that little extra
if you know what you say you know, why on hell do you do this: "thinking of replacing my winchester with phenom "??

do you expect from other forum members in this room to argue with what you know...

thing is simple, if you want most afordable quad core CPU on the market then Phenom is the ONLY solution for you. If you have more money to spend on CPU then your options are beyond AMD offering. IMHO you should spend less money on CPU, and more on good GFX card...

[Extelleron]

but I'm having 2nd thoughts. I want the best I can get for my money and it seems AMD can't provide that unless you can convince me otherwise. :)

Thank you

ps. I'm not loyal to any brand when it comes to computers and I wouldn't be overclocking this to the max. maybe a slight overclock of 400Mhz above stock.

Whether AMD makes sense depends on how much you are willing to spend. If $199 is your budget and you want a QC CPU, then the Phenom 9500 is a good choice. But if you can stretch that budget to $270, then there is no competition and the Q6600 is the way to go.

Phenom isn't a bad chip, but I'm not sure it's the way to go even if you do go AMD. It doesn't overclock well and an X2 5000+ BE or even a cheap Opteron 1210 HE ($70 for 2x1MB F3) will outperform it most of the time because they can reach higher clocks to offset Phenom's 15-20% IPC advantage. Of course Phenom comes ahead in applications that use 4 cores.

If spending a bit more isn't an issue, then buying a Q6600 for $270 is probably your best idea as it is a (virtually) guaranteed 3GHz on stock voltage with the Intel cooler. Pump up the voltage a bit and go with a higher end HSF, and you're talking 3.4-3.6GHz.

If you want AMD, I'd recommend getting an AMD 700 series motherboard so you are set for Phenom, but go with a lower-end processor. X2 5000+ BE for $99 (maybe $89 if that code still works @ newegg) or the Opteron 1210 HE for $69 (IMO actually a better deal) and you'll be set. 90nm's w/ 2x1MB like the 1210 have IPC close to Intel's E2xxx series, so you'll actually be very competitive with the low end E2100 series. Performance of C2D CPUs really dies when you remove its cache.

[WeStSiDePLaYa]

Can your board even support a phenom?

If not ditch the amd rig and get a wolfdale.