Hardware AMD Phenom II X4 970 Review

Sorry, just noticed but have a stolen someones line there?

 

Was an often used word by a certain forum member

 

You are right he doesn't know what he is talking about Bulldozer is going to require a new socket.

 

I built my new AMD/ATI system a couple of months ago as it fits my budget, I wanted the 5770 and I like the 965BE. The system works a dream and handles everything I throw at it. My future proof vision is to add more Ram, another 5770 for crossfire and then an SSD when they are cheaper. Along with my USB 3.0 Sata 3 6Gb/s ports that will be useful in the next few years.

I thought out and researched my system before building and it has matched my every expectation. I love it! I have done some mild overclocking just for fun but when finished I returned it back to stock. I don't need the extra 5-10% performance you gain, rather I want the system to last me a good 5 years.

This is my vision. This is why I chose AMD/ATI.

When I build another system I will look at all my options again and choose the best solution for my needs - be it AMD or Intel.

 

Good for you, sit back and enjoy your build!

 

Interesting discussion.
Pure from the price point of view the Intel CPU looks to be better than the Phenom. No discussion about that.

Every 5 (or if possible even more) years I buy a new system (unfortunately I can't afford doing it more often).
Anyway I've reached that point now. I have a budget of 750 Pounds (for a case, PSU, MB, CPU, memory and GPU) and I want an all round machine.
For a new system like most of you I now want to have sata3 and usb3 and a couple of eSata ports and in addition teh possiblity to OC my CPU later or to replace it with a faster one. I'm going for a single mid range GPU board. Most likely within 2 years (or less) I want to boast my graphics with a second GPU. So I want a board with enough PCI lanes (at least 20). I've looked as ASUS, MSI and Gigabyte. There are other valid options out there I know. I did ignore the most expesive boards and had a look at cheapest solutions of these brands that do meet my requirements. I ended up around 290 Pounds for the board and CPU together.

Just because I'm curious I did the same exercise with the Phenom processor.... and I ended up spending only 220 Pounds with a board of the same brand and very similar features.

So the i5 gives me about 20% more raw processing power (after OC) and this for about 70 pounds extra.

For those 70 Pounds extra I could by a Phenom II 1090T BE.... or a small SSD and a considearbly faster GPU. But I prefer to save the money now an spend it later when the need rises.

Many articles on the web (and also some on this site) are indicating that the SSD or faster graphics will add more to the overall system performance then the additional raw processing power.
So right now (end 2010) it seems that both the AMD and intel processor are less of a bottelneck than the other components in an average system.
However in 2-3 years from now this could be different. The newest games will benifit from faster CPUs and media content will move to higher qualities. By then (certainly after adding a second GPU) the CPu could become the next bottleneck in the system.

In the past I've upgraded my Intel systems with a faster processor a few times. A long time ago (in the larte 90s) I doubled my CPU power with an upgrade and the overall resulte were acceptable given the money spent. 3 years ago I replaced my latest CPU will the fastest upgrade available for my socket (on paper 40% faster), but it was a real diapapointment. I didn't feel the improvement, I only could measure it. You already can guess it ... the 2nd replacement (50% better on paper) left me with an improvement less than the first one but better than the last one.

Lessons learned: A CPU upgrade is only making a real difference if it adds more than 50% to the raw processing power.

Will I ever get that kind of a gain again with an Intel based MB? Certainly not in coming years, the next generation of Intel CPUs will need another board. Will I ever get that kind of a gain with an AM3 board? For sure I can plug in a 6 core Phenom now, and chances look good that AMD will eventually also release 8 core processors for AM3 boards....

Intel has the better processor .... but at this moment a similar AMD system (will 20% less raw processing prower) costs 70 Pounds less. Unfortunately the overall system performance of the Intel isn't 20% better for the same reason why my latest intel processor upgrade was such a big disapointment..

However the comparision is not valid because in 2 years I would buy a much more powerfull Intel processor than whatever upgrade an AM3 board could give me ? Or am I wrong ? Yeah I could be very wrong ... I wouldn't be able to buy the damn good SSD that I can buy with 200 Pounds in 2012 or 2013 ....

It remains a very difficult thing ... why in hell has Intel introduced that stupid tic-tac game ?!?! If they hadn't, there simply was no discussing here. Intel certainly has proven the last 5 years that buying a low-medium end Intel processor in the hope to upgrade later is no more than a myth. So, if one wants to enjoy an Intel PC for 5 years or so, one should start with a pretty expensive processor or buy another motherboard later.

No thanks, my friend bought an AM2+ system 2 year ago and replaced his 2.4 Gz Phenom I dual core processor with 3.4 Phenom II quaprocessor