Phenom 2 or Core i7

jdelsignore911

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Which processor would have the most performance... The AMD Phenom 2 955 BE 3.2 GHZ or the Intel Core i7 920 2.66 GHZ.
Neither will be overclocked. I was thinking the AMD would be better because of the higher speed but I'm probably wrong. :) Thanks for your helps guys. I am thinking of building a pc soon and I am a newbie at all of this stuff. Thanks
 

jdelsignore911

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Even with the faster speed for the AMD???
Will there be noticable differences in applications and frame rates???
 

kevin1212

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Clock vs clock, the i7 920 is faster than the 955BE, what i mean is a 2.66GHz i7 is faster than a 2.66GHz phenom, but it doesnt end there. It is so much faster that it still surpasses a phenom at 3.2GHz. The clock speed is only one part of the cpu's description, their architectures are still different, its why you cant compare them by just their clock speeds. Anyways, what i'm saying is the i7 920 is faster, by quite some distance.
 

pat

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not really in game, but with apps, it will be faster. Not really noticable in day to day use thou, as you always end up running many goodies because in fact, you have the power and memory to do so! But i7920 cost more.. For me, it did not worth the price difference, that I prefered to use to get 4 more gigs for a total of 8. With 64 bits OS, and using Sun virtualbox, running few virtual machine is now quite usable.. Always good to have a XP virtual machine.. to test and try things..
 

Ilyafordictator

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I'd get the phenom 2, just because of the price.
Check out the combo deals w/ mobo on newegg.
You can get about 80$ cash back, which isn't really available for the i7
 

kevin1212

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Indeed, initially you only asked which is faster, but that doesn't mean the faster one is for you. It really does depend on what you plan to do and not to do with your system, along with how much you plan to spend. The i7 is faster, but more expensive, in addition, you will also be forced to buy an expensive motherboard along with expensive ram. The i7 gives a noticable benefit with some multicore apps, but when it comes to day to day use, almost any modern processor will do. In gaming, the i7 only shines with multi Gpu's, especially when overclocked, which you do not plan to do.

I think in your position, the 955BE would be a better choice, although you may not even need that. If you're looking for build advice, use this format to give us more info on exactly what you're looking for... http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261222-31-build-advice