Core i3 or Phenom X4 965

[cryosin]

I am upgrading my rig for Planetside 2. I have an old 8800GTX which might work, but i definitely need a CPU/RAM upgrade.

I was searching around and saw that both the Core i3 540 and the Phenom X4 965 where retailing at $119. I was looking at the $100-$120 price range, and it seems to me that the 965 is a better choice here.

This machine is going to be a dedicated gaming machine, my laptop is for other work.

I like the 965 because the benchmarks are close to identical, but having 4 cores might pay off later. However, Planetside 2 developers are working together with Intel to develop tools. Would this effect my performance on an AMD chip?

I STILL play planetside 1, so ill be playing planetside 2 a lot and almost exclusively.

What do you guys recommend?

 

[nekulturny]

I guarantee you in gaming there is not much difference perceivable from an OCed Phenom II to a 2500K as in you won win or lose on the Battlefield cause of the CPU you run LOL as long as it is decent. I will guarantee you that that dual core Pentium you are running is a POS for gaming and the AMD would wipe the flipin floor with it.

Pentium is a name that really needs to be retired. It reminds me of Mercury Cougars, they used to be entry level luxury cars, then in 1999 they decided to make them into chinsy hatchback economy cars. In the same token, Pentium used to be Intel's premium product line, now they're just low-level junk. I honestly don't understand the point of producing a Sandy Bridge Pentium, it can't even touch a llano but for some reason they tried.

 

[RetiredChief]

MMO Fan
Get over it – take it as constructive criticism. If you want people to take you seriously, I would attempt to improve on spelling and grammar as opposed to a defensive manner.
All that I got is you are an AMD fanboy saying AMD is equal or better for gaming.

" ... OCed Phenom II to a 2500K" is that also true When the i5-2500k is OC to 4.6 GHZ which is realitively easy to achieve, or are you comparing an OCed AMD to stock i5.

 

[nekulturny]

MMO Fan
Get over it – take it as constructive criticism. If you want people to take you seriously, I would attempt to improve on spelling and grammar as opposed to a defensive manner.
All that I got is you are an AMD fanboy saying AMD is equal or better for gaming.

" ... OCed Phenom II to a 2500K" is that also true When the i5-2500k is OC to 4.6 GHZ which is realitively easy to achieve, or are you comparing an OCed AMD to stock i5.

Yea, it really isn't fair to try to compare an OC'd chip to a stock one, I try to avoid it. I do think comparing the feature of overclockability to a chip that doesn't have it is fair game. Which is why I brought it up mentioning the i3-2100 vs Phenom II 965

 

[jaguarskx]

The Core i3-2100 can beat the Phenom II in most or all games.

Overall the quad core AMD Phenom II is better for multi-threaded programs like media creation and video encoding, but if your primary concern is gaming, then the Core i3-2100 is the better choice.

Correction...

For whatever reason I was comparing the Core i3-2100 to the Phenom II X4 955 instead of the X4 965. The Core i3 would more or less be equivalent to the X4 965 in terms of game benchmarks since it wins some benchmarks, but looses in others.

 

[RetiredChief]

@ nekulturny - Concur.
Comparing a OCed cpu to a cpu that can not be OCed is fair game.

 

[MMO Fan]

Pentium is a name that really needs to be retired. It reminds me of Mercury Cougars, they used to be entry level luxury cars, then in 1999 they decided to make them into chinsy hatchback economy cars. In the same token, Pentium used to be Intel's premium product line, now they're just low-level junk. I honestly don't understand the point of producing a Sandy Bridge Pentium, it can't even touch a llano but for some reason they tried.

My old Athlon 3500+ OCed to 3.0ghz wiped the floor with my friends Intel Pentium 4 and yet I still got the same reaction from him as many Intel bigots around here. He just stood by that hunk o junk Pentium claiming Hyper Threading was the key LOL and to this day will not admit Intel failed with the P4 chip.

 

[nekulturny]

Well the first Pentium I had was back during Slot 1. Now thats probably as older than some of the kids posting on this forum. LOL.

Mommy lookit! its a dinosaur!

 

[RetiredChief]

^ Heck that's not a dinosaur, It's High tech compared to my SX-386 with a External math co-processor chip. or My 8086 first laptop.

And Yes the mercury was the "poor Man's" Lincoln. In fact owned a 59 merc with a Lincoln Continental Engine.

MMO Fan
You are correct the Intel Pentium 4 was pawned by AMD, back in AMD's glory days. Notice the PAST TENSE, stop living in the past!!
And Yes, back then I bought AMD and recommended them (except for corporate use).

 

[Earnie]

so much fun to read..Ask people that ACTUALLY own and use the products for REAL world use.
Benchmarks are easily fudged by any site.
And picking on someone for grammer/spelling(whatever) is just pathetic,Its a f'n forum,get over it.

 

[nekulturny]

so much fun to read..Ask people that ACTUALLY own and use the products for REAL world use.
Benchmarks are easily fudged by any site.
And picking on someone for grammer/spelling(whatever) is just pathetic,Its a f'n forum,get over it.

Well, I can stick with vouching for what I own. I can vouch that an i5-2400 (maybe its a 2300, 10 dollar price difference, they both cost more either way- its the boyfriend's computer and I didn't build it so I forget off hand) with a GTX 460 and 16GB RAM doesn't perform noticeably better than a Phenom II 975 set to 4.0GHZ with a 550TI and 16GB RAM. Theoretically, Max's i5 system should outperform it, the GTX 460 is a stronger video card despite being prior generation. Actually my Phenom II system gave me 3 more FPS on OpenGL when I ran cinebench.

As far as the grammar and spelling cheap shots, well I've always been a pretty smart guy, I type 70 wpm, if I make a typo so sue me, I made Dean's List last semester, and will this semester, got an A in English 101 years ago the first time I went to college, and last semester got a 97 percent in Technical Writing, I'm not being graded for my posts on a forum. I've already proven that I have a hold on English composition.


----------

RetiredChief,

lil bit before my time. I had a 30th anniversary Merc Cougar with the 4.6L V8. Granny car with a mustang engine, such a smooth car, was in pristine shape but the tranny blew and I got laid off so I kept my Acura RSX type S and sold the Cougar for 400 bucks. Such a shame.

 

[Rockdpm]

ok ok fans boys settle down settle down. Save your arguments for the respective threads. this guys still needs help!... Now I am a AMD user i have used AMD ever since gaming. Now i am going to recommend Intel. Why?, because sure enough if Intel was in the production process for a game/ benchmark, they are going to handy cap AMD for simple sales marketing performance. Now If he wants the best upgrade path, he needs to get a damn good Z68 motherboard update the BIOS when Ivy bridge is released on the 29th, and then get Ivy later on when the smoke is clear on what processor to get from the ivy family. Sandy Bridge still offers good performance but since something else is out thats better for just a little more. Why not?

Now you guys are probably gonna replay back saying oh listen to this chump, well look I am just as good as our weakest veteran on this forum, SO my opinion makes just as much of a impact as anyone elses. Especially when i have had a situation where i take home the Best Answer cup for a average threqad where 12 veterans, newcomers and other come from.


AND

Please don't forget to go vote for a Shout box or chat room, because this forum deadly needs it as much as forums get spammed with arguments!

 

[Guest]

so much fun to read..Ask people that ACTUALLY own and use the products for REAL world use.
Benchmarks are easily fudged by any site.
And picking on someone for grammer/spelling(whatever) is just pathetic,Its a f'n forum,get over it.

yes it is a forum, where the communication is the written word.

and to be able to express a thought, idea or point of view; it behooves the poster to be able to do it in an understandable manner; without the reader finding difficulty understanding what is posted because of the laziness of the poster.

#grammermatters

edited for typo :lol:

 

[shanky887614]

an i3-2100 is $129

if you could spend an extra $70 you could get

an i5 2400 which is not far off the i5 2500k in the charts, but hasnt got the overclocking ability

 

[nosnitrousx]

To OP...

I'd go with the i3...they're 'bout the same. (if you can save for an i5...that's the way to go... hands down)

However the i3 uses less power and generates less heat.
If you do lots of video decoding...get a z68 and use VIRTU.

Best regards.

 

[diablo34life]

get the 965. the i3 is only a dual core there already falling behind. the 965 is overclockable its fun to mess around with and it has solid performance all around. i would first wait for ivy bridge and see what theyre all about. i heard bad things. if you get a socket am3+ you can upgrade to the new vishera piledriver core around october when they launch. also the 965 is a true quad core

 

[Guest]

I am upgrading my rig for Planetside 2. I have an old 8800GTX which might work, but i definitely need a CPU/RAM upgrade.

I was searching around and saw that both the Core i3 540 and the Phenom X4 965 where retailing at $119. I was looking at the $100-$120 price range, and it seems to me that the 965 is a better choice here.

This machine is going to be a dedicated gaming machine, my laptop is for other work.

I like the 965 because the benchmarks are close to identical, but having 4 cores might pay off later. However, Planetside 2 developers are working together with Intel to develop tools. Would this effect my performance on an AMD chip?

I STILL play planetside 1, so ill be playing planetside 2 a lot and almost exclusively.

What do you guys recommend?

i would be apprehensive at getting an i3-540; its an older chip and will be/is two generations old. if the choice is between just the two specified than get the PIIx4 965.

however as pointed out it would be worth it to consider a sandy bridge platform; lower power and less heat than an amd solution along with having more options when upgrading. but when it comes to it; giving the requirements of the game;
Planetside 2

Minimum Requirements
Celeron E1200 Dual-Core 1.6GHz - Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3600+
GeForce GT 120 - Radeon HD 3670
1 GB - Win Xp 32 - DX 9

Predicted Requirements
Pentium Dual Core E6600 3.06GHz - Phenom II X2 560
GeForce GT 140 - Radeon HD 3870
2 GB - Win Xp 32 - DX 9

ANYTHING is fine . . .

 

[amuffin]

Well the first Pentium I had was back during Slot 1. Now thats probably as older than some of the kids posting on this forum. LOL.

Mommy lookit! its a dinosaur!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Pentium_II_front.jpg

Pentium I is 5 years older than me...Pentium II is 1 year older than me...

 

[AMD X6850]

Pentium I is 5 years older than me...Pentium II is 1 year older than me...

And I thought I was one of the younger people browsing these forums
Pentium I is about 3 years older than me. But we have a working computer with a Pentium MMX in addition to a broken one as well

To the OP, if you plan on upgrading later on (or don't mind upgrading), Sandy Bridge + Z77 is the way to go.

If you aren't but don't mind overclocking (even slightly), Phenom II is the better choice. Especially if future games do make use of its cores. But I can't see games becoming fully threaded any time soon. By fully threaded I mean using the CPU to its actual maximum, rather than the maximum of how the game engine can use the cores.

 

[RetiredChief]

You people are really trying to make me feel Old.
At least my DOB does NOT predate the Sliderule that I still have.

 

[cryosin]

Well this got out of hand quickly lol.

I am going to wait and see what happens when Ivy bridge comes out.

Does anyone have a good idea of when those chips are hitting the market? I heard two weeks but i cant find any info on the net.

If its happening very soon then i will just wait. At worst prices will drop for what im already looking to buy and i should be fine.

 

[jaguarskx]

April 29th.

 

[Guest]

You people are really trying to make me feel Old.
At least my DOB does NOT predate the Sliderule that I still have.

"William Oughtred and others developed the slide rule in the 17th century . ."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slide_rule

i would hope NOT.

 

[nekulturny]

You people are really trying to make me feel Old.
At least my DOB does NOT predate the Sliderule that I still have.

LOL sorry, I was just trying to make myself feel young!!!

 

[noob2222]

All I will say is do not get the 540. Its a dead socket and even now trying to find a quad core for that board is hard or stupid expensive.

As for the comments saying bus between the cpu and gpu don't matter, go back and look what happened when intel put the pci-e controller on chip.

 

[HEXiT]

yes it is a forum, where the communication is the written word.

and to be able to express a thought, idea or point of view; it behooves the poster to be able to do it in an understandable manner; without the reader finding difficulty understanding what is posted because of the laziness of the poster.

#grammermatters

edited for typo :lol:

not all of us are lazy. some of us are dyslexic... i am but you will find i have a solid rep in the games forum... i even get personal requests to come and look at topics, because they know even though i cant spell and my gamma sux (granda wont shut up about that fact ) they know i know my apples...
judging people for bad spelling says more about the person doing the judging rather than the person being judged... after all tom's is a world wide forum where english is often a second language... cut em some slack.
you never know there may be a day where you need help and dont get it because you made an ass of yourself... so chill a bit and just let it go...