Ok, so there are now a few reviews and benchies of the new Phenom 2 920, 940 (priced aroud £165 +VAT and £260 + VAT respectively) but i cant find any mention of them in here? why not? all too busy with christmas?
Firstly I'm not pro intel or AMD, and I dont have a current top end gaming rig, still choosing parts, and so I'm only interested in pure performance and price.
http://209.85.135.104/translate_c?hl=en&sl=el&tl=en&u=http://www.hwbox.gr/showthread.php%3Ft%3D3189%26garpg%3D22&usg=ALkJrhhAVRywzzzsxF0VpXI8X7JEqSsMWA
There's the link to the review, its translated so its not in perfect english. But as you can see, in GAMING benchmarks (the thing I'm sure most of us here really care about) the Phenom is not being "raped" by the i7's at all as some people have being saying. In fact, when the CPU's are pushed a bit and the res is jumped up to 1680x1050 the phenoms give the i7 a bloody nose. And more importantly, the Core2's aint exactly being brushed aside by their new replacements.
Given the set up cost for an i7 system (£200 mobo, £300 6g RAM tripple channel, and £200 for the 940, £400 for the 940) it begs the question what are hte i7's for, did intel not steal enough technology from AMD to make the i7 surpass its old guard, or did intel just do too good of a job on the Core2's and rush out the i7? I dont know. but what i do know is that tne phenom 2 920 is a bloody good upgrade for anyone with an AM2 mobo. And people building a new rig (without spending stupid amounts of money) now have a real choice. AMD, cheap mobo, cheap RAM, good performance. vs i7, expensive mobo and RAM, and very similar gaming results!
YES, the i7's are miles ahead in most of the synthetic test, but so what?! its like have a car with 500bhp that goes the same speed as a car with 250bhp, it may make more noise, but you're going to get there in the same time. The synthetic test show nothing meaningful, i dont even get why they're still used?! (does anyone? other then intel's PR department) AMD have always done crap in synthetic tests. But just look at the CAD and gaming results, the i7 and phenom 2 go head to head, and AMD even takes the lead in Far Cry 2, GTA 4, crysis warhead, and devil may care 4. SO well done AMD, and consider that thats all using an existing set up, not the custom set up that intel pushed out for the i7's, all the tripple channel crap really doesn't seem worth it, specially as DDR3 is already over priced.
One other thing i'd like to ask is, whats the point in the i7 940? its twice the price of the 920 (literally) but has almost no gain over the 920? as too with the phenom 2 920 and 940, an extra £100 for a 1-2 fps...not worth it in my books.
Anyway, just thought i'd throw my tupence worth in. If you're an intel fanboy, PLEASE dont go bleating at me, i just say what i see. AND YES, the q6600 is still in there holding its own on a mid range set up and only costing £140. (which is also a pain for the i7's)
all in all, i think any decent rig atm with a good AMD phenom 9950 or x2 7750 (mentioned because its new and only £55) or 6000. or an intel with an e8400 or q6600 is not lookin old yet and really isn't being over shadowed by anything that intel or AMD have released recently.
thanks for reading.
Firstly I'm not pro intel or AMD, and I dont have a current top end gaming rig, still choosing parts, and so I'm only interested in pure performance and price.
http://209.85.135.104/translate_c?hl=en&sl=el&tl=en&u=http://www.hwbox.gr/showthread.php%3Ft%3D3189%26garpg%3D22&usg=ALkJrhhAVRywzzzsxF0VpXI8X7JEqSsMWA
There's the link to the review, its translated so its not in perfect english. But as you can see, in GAMING benchmarks (the thing I'm sure most of us here really care about) the Phenom is not being "raped" by the i7's at all as some people have being saying. In fact, when the CPU's are pushed a bit and the res is jumped up to 1680x1050 the phenoms give the i7 a bloody nose. And more importantly, the Core2's aint exactly being brushed aside by their new replacements.
Given the set up cost for an i7 system (£200 mobo, £300 6g RAM tripple channel, and £200 for the 940, £400 for the 940) it begs the question what are hte i7's for, did intel not steal enough technology from AMD to make the i7 surpass its old guard, or did intel just do too good of a job on the Core2's and rush out the i7? I dont know. but what i do know is that tne phenom 2 920 is a bloody good upgrade for anyone with an AM2 mobo. And people building a new rig (without spending stupid amounts of money) now have a real choice. AMD, cheap mobo, cheap RAM, good performance. vs i7, expensive mobo and RAM, and very similar gaming results!
YES, the i7's are miles ahead in most of the synthetic test, but so what?! its like have a car with 500bhp that goes the same speed as a car with 250bhp, it may make more noise, but you're going to get there in the same time. The synthetic test show nothing meaningful, i dont even get why they're still used?! (does anyone? other then intel's PR department) AMD have always done crap in synthetic tests. But just look at the CAD and gaming results, the i7 and phenom 2 go head to head, and AMD even takes the lead in Far Cry 2, GTA 4, crysis warhead, and devil may care 4. SO well done AMD, and consider that thats all using an existing set up, not the custom set up that intel pushed out for the i7's, all the tripple channel crap really doesn't seem worth it, specially as DDR3 is already over priced.
One other thing i'd like to ask is, whats the point in the i7 940? its twice the price of the 920 (literally) but has almost no gain over the 920? as too with the phenom 2 920 and 940, an extra £100 for a 1-2 fps...not worth it in my books.
Anyway, just thought i'd throw my tupence worth in. If you're an intel fanboy, PLEASE dont go bleating at me, i just say what i see. AND YES, the q6600 is still in there holding its own on a mid range set up and only costing £140. (which is also a pain for the i7's)
all in all, i think any decent rig atm with a good AMD phenom 9950 or x2 7750 (mentioned because its new and only £55) or 6000. or an intel with an e8400 or q6600 is not lookin old yet and really isn't being over shadowed by anything that intel or AMD have released recently.
thanks for reading.