AMD Phenom II x4 955 BE vs. Intel Q9400

[llarson2012]

So I was wondering what would be a better choice for a build I was doing this fall/winter. I am planning on gaming on this rig, so I want a good processor. I narrowed my choice down to an Intel Q9400:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115131

...Or an AMD Phenom II x4 955 BE:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103674

Both of these processors cost $189 on Newegg. At first glance, it appears that the AMD dominates in performance. But all of my friends say to go with Intel. There seems to be this weird stigma with AMD quality. It would be great to get any advice I could on which processor to go for.

Thanks!

 

[xaira]

if ur friends arent die hard tekkies, i wudnt listen to them, there is a stigma around amd parts that intels marketing team works fevorishly day and nite to create thet stigma, the socket 775 platform is pretty much dead as of the release of lga 1156, go with the 955, make sure the board supports the 125w tdp tho, and i would try to go am3 ddr3 route, because the next gen amd chips should be fully compatible, but most likely only with ddr3

 

[jennyh]

Your friends are idiots, the 955 BE walks all over the Q9400.

 

[sseyler]

Given that LGA 775 is a dead platform and that both processors have similar stock performance, you should go with the 955 BE and the AM3 platform on this argument alone: 955 BE.

Looking at the Tom's Charts, the 955 will beat out the higher-binned (and higher-priced) Q9550 in games and will trade blows when it comes to rendering and application use. The 955 BE will have an all-around solid lead over the Q9400, especially in gaming. If you are looking for a gaming processor at this price-point, the decision should be a no-brainer: 955 BE.

If you are an overclocker, and you have no problem with messing with the FSB, memory divider and northbridge/memory/processor voltage, then the Q9400 will likely to around the same levels that the 955 BE will. I believe 4 GHz is more easily achieved by the Q9400, but you will likely need to fool around with it and be confident in your overclocking abilities (especially since you're starting out at only 2.66 GHz - you'll need to tweak the FSB and memory divider quite a bit). Also, you will likely need faster memory to accommodate the high FSB speeds when overclocking the Q9400, unless you really cripple the memory clock with the divider. Both should be able to easily achieve ~3.7-3.8 Ghz without too much effort, albeit the 955 BE will be FAR easier with its unlocked multiplier: Q9400 or 955 BE, 955 BE if you will do basic overclocking.

There is nothing wrong with the quality of AMD processors. Your friends are simply biased and uninformed and are telling you to go with Intel due to the hype they've heard or their unjustified prejudice toward AMD. Remember, we are looking at performance/price, not who wins in the absolute sense or which processor is the G3WD3R one. Both processors will be perfectly reliable; quality isn't the issue here. The decision is pretty clear to me. You make the decision for yourself.

Here is a link to a comparison between the 955 BE, Q9450 and Q9550. Remember, the Q9400 has half the cache of the Q9450 (6 MB vs. 12 MB), so its performance will be slightly less than the Q9450: =on&prod[2621]=on&prod[2620]=on]http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2009-desktop-cpu-charts/compare,1396.html?prod[2607]=on&prod[2621]=on&prod[2620]=on

 

[El_Capitan]

AMD ftw!

 

[brett1042002]

+1 for AMD 955 BE

 

[ominous prime]

Your friends are idiots, the 955 BE walks all over the Q9400.

QFT, go AMD.

 

[slo]

The amd is an excelent processor and is more than enough even for the hardcore gamers.
Anything above that is bragging rights and enthusiams (with the exception of some who might benefit from the i7 achitecture eg. rendering and encoding)

 

[dazed69]

Q9400 is not bad at all .Stock I 'm playing all the newest games maximum settings 1920x1080 23" mon. BadC2,DOW2,Borderlands,DA ect....never a glitch with stock settings ,if i use OC profile my Frame rates go like 35% higher it's crazy.I went from a 34 avg. to 45 avg with a 25 Mhz increase on both clocks on DOW 2 .I can hit 3.2 GHz with just a FSB increase to 400 Mhz if i want which puts me real close to the I7 on alot of practical apps.with little to no temp increase wich is awesome.


Under a grand

Q9400 2.67 @3.2 GHZ__ Arctic Freezer pro 7__ P5Q pro turbo__Gskill 4GB DDr2 @1066__ 750W Pc power & cooling__ XFX 4890 @900/1000__WD640GB cav blk__ Lian-Li K7B__Acer 23"H233H__ XP 32

 

[Vyndril]

I can run 2 instances of Eve on full, while playing Torchlight, and using Vent, running 3 22" monitors in 1080p. Everything is fluid, no lag in running anything I can surf the internet on one monitor, while I play torchlight on the center one, running eve in windowed on the third and vent showing on the surfing monitor. granted I have 2 msi GeForce GTS 250 twin frozr video cards running the monitors. But virus protection which we all know takes way too much away in system resources, but it can run with this processor. And at 4.6 Ghz with a Thermaltake SpinQ cooling system. I use just 65% of my processors capabilities with all that running. And the rest of Windows 7's programs and usage of processing power and the just 8 gigs of G.Skill DDR3 1600 Ram. All on an MSI NF980-G65 motherboard. I personally think the 955 Black is an amazing processor. And I would tell anyone and everyone that. Use it, get to know it. And tell me if you still want an Intel processor? You too will become an AMD Fanboy! Sorry for the rant, and no I don't work for AMD tho I would love to!!!

Once you play with an AMD your Dragon comes out!

Shawn Salisbury

 

[Raidur]

Unless you OC it to a lucky 3.8ghz+ and compare it to a 4.0 955 intel might match or lead.

But, the Q9400 is going to get spanked any other way so in other words...

+1 Phenom II 955 hands down.

Jenny had it right, your friends are idiots.