I5-750 or AMD Phenom II X4 955BE?

kingneptune117

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I am a flight simulator nut and play lots of Lock On, Falcon, FSX and what not. I will also be going into college in about a year and going into an aerospace engineering program, so I want the processor to also run CAD software well.

If anyone knows what it is, im really looking forward to the DCS A-10C. Not sure if its multi core or not.

My friend just recently built his own system with an i5 in it, and it kicks some serious arse. He played Fallout 3 highest settings without any lag at all, and he didnt do any overclocking.

Thanks!
 
The I5 750 is faster then the Phenom II x4 955BE it will out perform it in almost everything. But when it comes to gaming they will perform very similar since gaming these days relies more on a good GPU more then the processors.

Phenom II 965 BE vs I5 750
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/102?vs=109

They did not have a comparison for the 955 so I put the 965 which is the same processor just 200mhz faster.

As you will see they are pretty close in all the benchmarks the I5 750 is slightly faster but will also cost about $30 to $40 more then the Phenom and the motherboard will be a little more expensive. So either one will be a good performer its more of a question about which will fit your budget. Also both processors overclock extremely well both go into 4ghz without breaking to much of a sweat.
 
The i5 750 is generally better performing than a Phenom II X4 955 BE.. Having said that, i'd also like to point out that maxing fallout 3 is a GPU headche more than the CPU.. And depending on which CAD program you are talking about ( electrical or civil or mechanical etc..etc.. ) the multicore usage differs.. Autocad in general is not thread optimized to use multicores that effectively so either the i5 or the Phenom II will work great.. Most of the games are 90% GPU dependent so again both the CPU's in picture here will do fine.. If you are looking to make a purchase then the Phenom II route is not a bad idea considering the reduced overall platform cost, almost negligible difference for apps you've mentioned and the upgrade path being open.. The i5 750 being an LGA 1156 has no future to its platform..
 

flyinfinni

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+1 to the i5 in this situation. If you were just going to be gaming, I would say the 955, but since you want desktop performance for things like AutoCAD etc, then the i5 is a better choice. I've got the 750 and its on a 24/7 OC at 3.6 without even passing 55C at full load. I can OC it farther, but haven't got any reason to as I don't really see any gaming improvement with anything higher than that, and I figured I might as well let the temps stay nice and low.
 

werxen

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I would personally go i5 but then again have you considered a 980? I know that its very pricey but you will get the best performance for the kinda stuff you do which is VERY cpu intensive. A 930 would theoretically also get better FPS than an i5.
 

flyinfinni

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We'll have to wait and see what effect Thuban has on the market- performance and price- before we can really say that for sure, though waiting for its release is probably not a bad idea, though the OP may be needing the new system sooner than that.
 

werxen

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OP I would highly suggest waiting for the benchmarks on Thuban to come out. Theoretically you will get AT LEAST the performance of a 955BE plus 2 additional cores which will come much handy with FSX.
 

flyinfinni

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not to mention the turbo feature on Thuban, that will superclock 3 cores when 3 or fewer cores are being highly utilized- 500MHz boost on each of those 3 cores could be a pretty massive performance enhancement for most games that use 1 or 2 cores!
 

fatkid35

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nobody asked what his budget was. kinda dictates what he can get away with build wise. so, king neptune how much you wanna spend? the more you save on the cpu/board/ram, the more you have to spend on your gpu. the gpu will have more of an effect on your games than the cpu. tom's proved that a few articles ago.
 

flyinfinni

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the only issue with going i7 over the i5-750 or any of the AMD CPUs is that the platform as a whole will be quite a bit more expensive, especially with the cost of DDR3 these days. Though who knows what the OP's budget is. I was just kindof assuming an approximate budget based on the question (about $200ish for CPU and then a matching board at ~$150) Bumping up to a Thuban would add about $100 to the CPU, but could go into the same Mobo price range and RAM range. Going to i7 would add about $100 to the CPU, but would also add a good $50 to the RAM and probably $50 to the Mobo as well. That was my thinking anyway- but I'll revise my recommendations when the OP gives his actual budget.
 

Raidur

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Well, I was assuming extra cores wouldn't help his needs (including HT) so i5 would be the same. :)

Yes the mobo wil be more expensive but the ram shouldnt be. Its not like he's FORCED to use triple chan. :)

Either way I stand corrected. I5 would be better for his uses. (Performance wise AND money) Compared to Thuban.
 

flyinfinni

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Well- you gotta remember Thuban isn't just adding cores (plus I think there is going to be a 4 core version), it is also adding an AMD Turbo thing- boosting 3(2 on the 4 core version I believe) cores up to 500MHz could be a real performance boost and may put the Thuban chips much closer to the i5 and i7 in intensive desktop type performance.
Also- not FORCED to use triple channel, but if you are gonna spend the money on an x58 board and i7 CPU, why the heck would you NOT use triple channel? lol ;-)
 

Pro Llama

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You don’t need to have triple channel ram for the i7 it will work fine with the same ram you would use in the other builds, but the price of the motherboards are ridicules.

With that being said if you don’t need the computer right now, I would wait for Thuban to come out. The very least that will come from this is a drop in price for the cpus you are looking at. If you post how much you have to spend we can choose the best parts to fall into that price range.
 

Pro Llama

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Sorry I must have clicked the reply button just as raidur was submitting his. If you don’t have the money for it you don’t have the money. It would also be a nice upgrade later because you know it’s always fun to upgrade. [:boudy:1]
 

Raidur

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Agreed on the triple channel thing. I just see a lot of people thinking its another expense when really its a plus.

Anyways, I agree with your points, however if the OP is overclocking his CPU (even on stock voltage) he will likely see more benefit.

Guess its up to the OP!

Are you overclocking? Can you utilize 6 cores?

Yes/Yes, Thuban / i7
No/Yes, Thuban
Yes/No, i5.
No/No, i5 / Thuban
 

kingneptune117

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Well im thinking about buying a whole new rig. I want the Processor under $200, the mobo under $150, Ram 100 or less. I found this awesome ripjaw ram that is supposed to work if you have an i5. my friend got it it works great and 4 gigs for 100 dollars not bad. I guess the graphics card I will get is the radeon XFX 5770. Thats what my friend got and it works great from what I can see.

Also in terms of the games I play the CPU matters more. Games such as Lock on, Falcon, and the like.

Ill post the wish list I made on newegg once it goes public. I wish there was an easier way to post my wish lists without having to wait 24 hours.


 

flyinfinni

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Given those requirements, the i7 is out of the question on price. The Phenom II is probably about equal to the i5 there, so no clear winner. the i5 is gonna be a little faster in productivity stuff, but thats not what you care about. The Phenom II will probably be a bit more upgradable, so thats a nice thing in that respect. Probably still worth waiting for Thuban to release just because it could impact the prices on the stuff you ARE looking at even though it will probably be out of your price range.
 

kingneptune117

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Ive been planning on buying everything at the end of June. Will this be enough time?