Quote Originally Posted by Epsilon84 View Post
"3DMark Vantage Breathes New Life Into AMD Phenom"

How? I don't think this benchmark shows Phenom in a positive light at all, especially the quads. The fastest Phenom, a 9850BE @ 3GHz is slower than a stock Q9300 @ 2.5GHz. If you count max overclock, its 40% slower than a Q6600 @ 3.8GHz.

Moving on to the X3, at stock they match up well with C2Ds, but at max overclock falls behind slightly. However, considering the small price gap between tris and quads at this point, it doesn't really make much sense to get an X3, especially if you want maximum 3DMark e-peen scores.
Yeah, you are right, some X3's are not that worth. But the lower end's X3 is not bad.
If we compare amd vs intel with respect to the CPU price, I think AMD is doing ok with lower end X3. Take a look at the CPUs, price and vantage score (I got the pricelist from egg ) at stock speed:

X3 8450 $148.00 = 5179
X3 8650 $165.99 = 5623
X3 8750 $195.00 = 5942
X4 9550 $199.99 = 7231

C2D E8200 $184.99 = ~5262 (no score from the chart, scaled from E8500 score)
C2D E8400 $189.99 = ~5934 (scaled form E8500)
C2D E8500 $279.99 = 6251 (expensive due to shortage? )
Q6600 $229 = 8598

As you can see, at stock speed it's not that bad. But Q6600 has the highest vantage score per dollar .

Of course, for us where overclocking is a big concern, Intel has a way bigger advantage.