Bulldozer vs SandyBridge

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Cs342

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I'm planning on building a new system in January, but I can't decide whether I should build an AMD or Intel system. Which of these processors do you think will offer the best value for my money and why? Also what are the release dates for these 2 new processor lines, and should I just build a 1366 or AM3 system instead of waiting??
 
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I dont know what to believe.... I dont believe in speculating, just wait for the SB chips to come out and choose then, no one really knows 100% what SB and BD are going to be like and it is said bulldozer is expected Q3 of 2011 and ivy bridge is expected Q4 2011 just buy an SB when it comes out otherwise you are going to be waiting forever for newer and newer tech that will be on the brink of coming out, just dont get a 1366 build right now as it would suck knowing that 1366 will be dead in a month or so (im not saying that 1366 cpus wont be good anymore, im just saying it would suck knowing it is dead)

exhail

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bulldozer is not coming out in january, its coming Q2 or Q3 of 2011, however sandy bridge is coming out in January, around the 5th, i have put a hault on my build until january for Sandy bridge and the rest of the ATI 6xxx series, its worth the wait, just keep in mind the Sandy bridge CPUs are not overclockable only the k ones are, so the i5 2500k will be overclockable and the i7 2600k will also
 


It should. AFAIK, there is one new CPU planned for 1366 - the i7-990X which will probably supplant the 980X, assuming you have $1K to spend on it :p.
 

Destroysall

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So will the sandy bridge i5 2500 or 2500k be better than the i7-950? I know, and I kinda hope that the current CPUs will probably go down in price, but I too want to have something that will last for a while.
 

halfcalf

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Nooooooooooooooobody really knows and don't believe anyone who tells you that they do. :) Tthere will be no confirmation of anything solid until the benchies come out on shipping silicon, likely by the end of this month.
 
^ +1. Also, if BD does ship in April or so, there should be some engineering samples out in January or February, and perhaps some leaked performance 'benchies'. Although AMD seems to be playing hardball with information control on this one, however..
 

rebus_forever

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i agree with you entirely, on the one hand if BD is as powerful as the i7 range or dare i say sandybridge then why are they not giving an approximation of where it will sit in the performance hierarchy, i cant answer this, i wish i could.
It seems if they, AMD, were capable of competing with SB then it would be very much in their interest to make such a claim to encourage people to await their chips before buying SB or an older i7 assuming their prices recede somewhat, at this moment in time ive seen very few solid announcements indicating where AMD think their new chip will sit in the performance table. Im a staunch AMD fan but unless BD out performs at least the i7 range or performs on par at a reduced price range i think BD could become a hard sell.

personally id like it if BD was capable of beating intel on performance while also beating them on value rather than the current situation wherein the main selling point of AMD is their value. Im a 955 owner and find it very difficult to imagine AMD making such a huge leap forward, though i hope, oh boy i hope. If BD lives up to the figures it is supposed to then i will save and i will support AMD if its not so impressive i think i would wait till the 955 becomes a hindrance and buy when needed the most value orientated gaming cpu at that time, Id just reallly sooner it was an AMD "super" chip.

I think im a wanna be fanboi unable to escape the harsh realities of this world
 

exhail

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bulldozer will be better then sandy bridge (as it is coming out quite a bit later) bulldozer is actually competing against ivy bridge, sandy bridge will be on socket 1155, ivy bridge will be on socket 1365 and bulldozer will be on socket am3+
 

exhail

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I have put a hault on my build waiting for sandy bridge as it is coming just around the corner.... I think its worth the wait as the rest of the ATI 6xxx series is coming out and the rest of the gtx 5xx series, im going to pick up an hd 6950 or a gtx 570
 

rebus_forever

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that face palm made me laugh like a goon for about 3 minutes, ty very much.

op- id wait, if your looking for next gen tech it wont be out till it is, if bulldozer competes with sandybridge then prices will be forced to drop and that will force all the last gen tech down a notch, its got to be said even on the gpu front waiting now is the only reasonable option unless you dont want to wait in which case go crazy or go budget and sell it off when new tech comes along.

this is the best advice I am capable of providing, i rekon at least a month after bulldozer comes out and we should see some semi reasonable prices from both camps across their ranges, I hope so at least.

Im basing this on my opinions so can only call this advice, gl either way
 

exhail

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I dont know what to believe.... I dont believe in speculating, just wait for the SB chips to come out and choose then, no one really knows 100% what SB and BD are going to be like and it is said bulldozer is expected Q3 of 2011 and ivy bridge is expected Q4 2011 just buy an SB when it comes out otherwise you are going to be waiting forever for newer and newer tech that will be on the brink of coming out, just dont get a 1366 build right now as it would suck knowing that 1366 will be dead in a month or so (im not saying that 1366 cpus wont be good anymore, im just saying it would suck knowing it is dead)
 
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Phoenixlight

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If it still works and does everything you want it to what's the problem?
 
1: C2Q's are still sufficent; an i5/i7 build (Nehalem) will "last" for two years, but you likely won't have significant upgradability should you go that route, ESPECIALLY on 1056.

2: Right now, I'd WAIT. With a socket change in the VERY near future (two-three months), a new intel arch, and very promising benchmarks, it doesn't make sense to make a new build that is meant to last. Nothing quite like buying a Pentium 4 right before the Core 2's dropped, after all...

3: AMD is VERY tight lipped about BD. That itself is VERY worrysome, as AMD has been very good about leaking benchmarks...when they beat the competition. And given how Phenom I = C2D, Phenom II = C2Q, I suspect BD = Nehalem. If thats indeed the case, and SB is a significant performance upgrade, AMD could be left significantly out in the cold.

Right now, I would just wait until we start seeing more benchmarks, and get an idea where performance for SB will land.
 

halfcalf

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Let's face it. AMD can't afford to keep playing second fiddle on the high end for much longer. That's why the Bulldozer silence is worrysome. Does AMD have the tech cojones to come out with a paradigm shifting CPU or is it going to be nothing more than a good strong competitor to something along the lines of the i5 750... Booooooooooooooooooring! :kaola:
 


+1. I myself just bought an SSD and an ATI 5770 to upgrade my old Q6700 machine that had an 8800 GTX card. It'll last me until I can see the benchies and decide on my next build - either Bulldozer or a performance Sandy Bridge (not mainstream which is what is coming out next month).

2: Right now, I'd WAIT. With a socket change in the VERY near future (two-three months), a new intel arch, and very promising benchmarks, it doesn't make sense to make a new build that is meant to last. Nothing quite like buying a Pentium 4 right before the Core 2's dropped, after all...

3: AMD is VERY tight lipped about BD. That itself is VERY worrysome, as AMD has been very good about leaking benchmarks...when they beat the competition. And given how Phenom I = C2D, Phenom II = C2Q, I suspect BD = Nehalem. If thats indeed the case, and SB is a significant performance upgrade, AMD could be left significantly out in the cold.

Right now, I would just wait until we start seeing more benchmarks, and get an idea where performance for SB will land.

I sorta think AMD started a new coroporate policy about not leaking performance info on unreleased products, after the Barcelona PR fiasco, where the AMD VP Randy Allen (?) was claiming 40% performance over Core2 in a bunch of benchmarks. I really haven't seen a lot of leaked stuff since then. So given than, I'm not too concerned about the lack of Bulldozer benchies at this point. Once the engineering samples get out to the mobo OEMs, then I expect we'll see some.

Now what is hilarious is reading some of the other enthusiast site forums that are linked in this thread. One guy is posting that he is absolutely sure that Bulldozer is going to bulldoze Sandy Bridge, given the name "Bulldozer", and then in the next sentence admits he knows nothing about Sandy Bridge.. :p
 
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