olliiee

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Apr 10, 2011
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I'm in no rush so have decided to wait for Bulldozer but was just wondering what everyone was doing, waiting a month or two for Bulldozer or go Sandybridge now?
 

Until some benchmarks are released on the Bulldozer series cpu, it's impossible to say which way to go. If you can wait then you have the advantage of getting whatever's best at the time when Bulldozer is released.
 
I'd be surprised.

AMD is in the same position with respect to Intel as Great Britain was to the U.S. during World War II. The U.S could afford to throw baskets of R&D money at any problem. Great Britain couldn't afford to be wrong too many times.
 
G

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I'm a gamer looking for value.

Putting AMD aside, my current choice is something between :
- Option 1 : Cheapest SB processor, cheap motherboard and cheap cooler (upgrade processor later), for the value.
- Option 2 : Cheapest overclockable SB processor cheap motherboard, and cheap cooler, for the fun.

Option 1 would be I3-2100, P61 motherboard, stock cooler (more value then fun).
Option 2 would be I5-2500K, P67 motherboard, new cooler (more fun then value).

Problem with option 1 :
- The multiplier being locked is expected.
- But the FSB is stuck at 100 MHZ.
- But I am forced to pay for an integrated Graphics 2000 GPU I will never use.
- But P61 gets in the way of a future "K" series upgrade.

Problem with option 2 :
- Having to buy a cooler is expected (specially with Intel apparently being careful to provide a worse then average one for the I5-2500K...).
- But I'm also paying a lot more for the cheapest available overclockable processor then I would want, because in the "K" series there is simply no choice available below the I5-2500K.
- But I also have to pay a premium for the P67 motherboard, which is basically a "K" series requirement, making it a hidden "K" series premium fee.
- But despite adding one cost to another, the FSB is STILL glued to 100 MHZ, and I'm STILL paying for an integrated GPU I will never use (and this time it's the more expensive but still every bit as useless Graphics 3000 one...).
- I end up paying twice the price of option 1, for something like a +20% overall performance boost : There is simply no value available for me in option 2.

What I need is option 1, but without the FSB being stuck at 100 MHZ, without paying the price of an integrated GPU I will never use, and a motherboard that can later be upgraded with a better processor : I need a I3-2100K, with an unlocked FSB, and a cheap motherboard with turbo boost that can make use of a "K" series unlocked multiplier.

And Intel simply isn't giving me any of that, and in fact it's more like they tweaked everything the best they could so I WOULDN'T be able to get that, which makes it all the more frustrating...



What I expect from the AMD Bulldozer :
- The FSB won't be stuck at 100MHZ.
- I won't be forced to pay for an integrated GPU I will never use.
- The motherboard can be as cheap as a P61, while still having the turbo boost features and processor upgrade capacities of a more expensive P67.
- As a bonus, the multiplier will be unlocked (from some leaked slides I saw).
- I am left free to spend any savings made on the "cheaper then I5-2500K Bulldozer" and the "cheaper then P67 Bulldozer motherboard" where I want to : More processor cores if I was building a server, but it will be more GPU power in my case.

I don't expect any more then I require the best Bulldozer processor (that I won't be buying) to beat the performance of the best Sandy Bridge processor (that I won't be buying either).

Instead, I do fully expect the Bulldozer that I will be buying, to offer me the kind of motherboard+processor combo that I want (meaning cheap motherboard, no integrated graphics, unlocked FSB...), so I can spend any leftover money where I want to, instead of where Intel wants me to (and as I already said, in my case that means I'll be spending more on the the discrete graphics card instead...).


If I was desperate for a change right now, I'd definitely pay the premium to get a P67 over a P61, then decide if I want an expensive enough I3-2100 (which only looks attractive today despite it's multiple shortcomings, because there is no alternative for it to compete against yet), or a twice as expensive I5-2500K+P67+Cooler combo (although what I'd really want, is a I3-2100K that can be unlocked on a P61 priced motherboard...). But I'd be frustrated with either processor, compared to just waiting another two months to get the kind of motherboard+processor combo that is certainly going to be much closer to what I really want.

Because how could AMD possibly fail to deliver the kind of motherboard+processor combo that I want, when it only has to compete with the premium price of the P67+I5-2500K ? With an unlocked FSB, no integrated GPU to pay for, and no artificial premium fee added for the motherboard, I would say it is simply impossible for AMD to fail to deliver that to me :)

I only have to worry about the inflated launch price of the first FX4 processor, but no matter how well it performs, or how much that initial inflated launch price is : It can't possibly be less fun then a I3-2100+P61, it can't possibly have less value then a I5-2500K+P67, and it will definitely hold more fun and value then anything Intel has available for me between that no fun I3-2100+P61 and that no value I3-2500K+P67.

As for other value oriented gamers who don't want a Bulldozer (because they believe a brand name is more important then a benchmark or something, and/or are willing to buy a processor based on the performance of the higher end processor they're not buying...), I would still heavily suggest they wait for the Bulldozer to come out, so that Intel comes up with better alternatives then the frustrating current ones (which really shouldn't be too hard for them to do, since they basically engineered the current Sandy Bridge drawbacks, and all they have to do to greatly improve their current offer is to remove those drawbacks they added).

Basically the only way you can go wrong is by buying something now if you can wait, right when you should be holding off just a few last weeks, no matter what you end up buying this year, because what Intel is offering is both more expensive and more frustrating then it should have been, and what AMD if offering isn't available yet : You'll be disappointed one way or another with whatever you can buy right now, so If you have too much time or too much money available before Bulldozer comes out (at least the benchmarks), then use it go choose your other components, or you will quickly live to regret that you didn't ^^
 
Only time will tell.

From "leaked" info. If you plan to do any folding, the Bulldozers will defiantly benefit you way more. Apparently the FPU of the BD chips is MUCH greater than the SB chips. As for BD, you also get the more cores, not necessarily meaning more perf, just the fact that you get more cores which is beneficial in other things (VMware [Visualization]).
 
In the meantime a $1,000 build will wipe the floor with any AMD out there. And then with a simple bios flash peeps will be able to use those P67 boards to run the new 22nm Ivy Bridge cpu's.

But I do agree...the 1155 boards...especially the P67 boards are a total hose job for what they are charging for them. I'm hoping AMD pulls a rabbit out of their hat and comes up with something that will give Intel a run for it's money. Because I'm sure as h*ll not going to do an AMD build now and get something that's bottlenecked by a ghetto cpu. I value my gaming too much for that.