Phenom II 955 Versus Core i7 920: Gaming Value Compared

[cleeve]

The debate over whether to go entry-level Core i7 or flagship Phenom II rages on. After his most recent Phenom II system review, Don Woligroski revisits the performance of these two platforms with more tests and gives us an updated take.

Phenom II 955 Versus Core i7 920: Gaming Value Compared : Read more

 

[cruiseoveride]

As expected.

 

[chaohsiangchen]

Very good article. Too bad that it wan't done with nvidia cards. We need to see how GTX260-216 SLI with Core i7 920 can beat Phenom II 955 with two GTX 275.

 

[ahslan]

good article...happy to see the phenom hangs in there

 

[frozenlead]

Why weren't the graphics cards included in the price breakdowns for both systems? Especially considering the cards were different...they should be in there, no?

Adding in nvidia cards would be interesting to see, yes, but then we're moving more into engine optimizations and such, and things get less exact. Maybe the effect of software preferences on hardware architecture can be a future writeup? Nice article, here, though.

 

[twisted politiks]

how about all the AMD Fanboys stop complaining about Intel. so what if people say they are better. who FREAKIN cares. you should expect them to perform better, they are pricier. you buy AMD BECAUSE of the price, so therefor, you should expect less performance. AMD is awesome, and so is Intel, its like complaining about a Honda Vs. a BMW or something along those lines, they are different, and because of price, you should expect one to out perform the other. so if you want to save money, by the damned AMD, but dont complain when other people favor Intel whether they are right or not, you end up looking like imature Fanboy's who are jealous they cant afford the Intel (which is just a generalization). BTW, without Intel, AMD wouldnt be cheaper, nor would it be as powerful as it is without competition to keep the company improving it.

 

[Proximon]

Currently there is a huge newegg discount on a 955/790FX combo making it quite attractive, but of course that kind of thing has to be left out of an article like this.
As I expected on the numbers, but I now want to see if the 790X chipset is to blame, or the Gigabyte board itself, or perhaps the memory controller onboard the CPU is to blame?

 

[lashton]

its annoying to see that toms hardware seems to be very pro intel

 

[frozenlead]

[citation][nom]lashton[/nom]its annoying to see that toms hardware seems to be very pro intel[/citation]

Did you read the conclusion at all? AMD lost by the numbers. That's not pro-intel, it's pro-logic. It's pro-science. That's the way the world works.

 

[wisdom_learner]

[citation][nom]twisted politiks[/nom]how about all the AMD Fanboys stop complaining about Intel. so what if people say they are better. who FREAKIN cares. you should expect them to perform better, they are pricier. you buy AMD BECAUSE of the price, so therefor, you should expect less performance. AMD is awesome, and so is Intel, its like complaining about a Honda Vs. a BMW or something along those lines, they are different, and because of price, you should expect one to out perform the other. so if you want to save money, by the damned AMD, but dont complain when other people favor Intel whether they are right or not, you end up looking like imature Fanboy's who are jealous they cant afford the Intel (which is just a generalization). BTW, without Intel, AMD wouldnt be cheaper, nor would it be as powerful as it is without competition to keep the company improving it.[/citation]


Wow. You take things way too seriously.

 

[sohei]

only at toms site are such performances
Ahslan .... buy your own pc ...not your daddy

 

[tacoslave]

right now newegg has a combo for 189 it consists of a phenom 940 with a free yes thats right free motherboard. i couldn't resist.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.209473

 

[wisdom_learner]

I think this is a great review. You can't ignore the numbers. Intel's Core i7 is better. But I think we all expected that.

I still love AMD, though. I don't need the extra muscle that Intel gives. I'm happy with what AMD's processors give me, in terms of gaming.

I love supporting the underdog! I just can't help it. =] Intel might make great processors, but I just don't like their arrogance. That's why I support AMD. =]

 

[sohei]

really tom ...with the money remain is not necessary to buy another pairs of gpu's you can buy a nice case or video camera or a phone or 200-300 condoms...the pc is not everything ...ooo let's put all our money in intel 920 to play prototype ...and after 6 months you loose 40% from pc value ... 10x toms for a good advice ....
you realize that with this kind of articles you play with peoples money?

 

[tacoslave]

let assume the same case, hardrives,psu, and dvd drives, for a 1100 dollar build which would be about 70+70+70+20=230 (these where just average guesses) then lets move on with the guts for the i7 system i7 920 = 279
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130227 mobo= 169
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220378 ram = 85
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121291 4870 1gb times 2 =320 total =1083
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.209473 phenom 2 940+mobo =204
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227289 ram =65
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102809 4850x2 times two = 420
total=919 so thats the truth but if you want you could switch out the graphics for two gtx 285 or a 4870x2 or a gtx295 its up to you.

 

[tacoslave]

sorry for double post (damn thing doesnt look neat) but the total for the i7 system is 1083 and i used the cheapest ram and mobo. As for the phenom II 940 i used the combo deal, good ram, and a pair of 4850x2s for a total of 919. note:i didnt include the mail in rebates for the systems (lets assume thats tax. PS you have 181 dollars left for the phenom II build (beer money).

 

[erdinger]

Very nice Review. You take a Core I7 and equip it with everything it needs and compare to a PhenomII.

VERY MANY people buying I7 only pair it with one graphics card and save money everywhere in the system to be able to buy the I7 (talking about gaming systems).

Of course if you put in 2 great Gpu's, you need a very strong Cpu to handle them. Most people throw the I7 at 1 4890.

It would be very intresting to compare a PhenomII x3 720 system with Two 4890's to an I7 build with only one. (same price or amd even cheaper^^)

You compare the most expensive and not much overclockable 955 to the cheapest I7 with most overclocking headroom. Why don't you compare it to the cheaper PhenomII which also reach the 3.6 Ghz the 955 reached? Maybe even the x4 810.

After that Article I agree that If you have the money for two 4890 and still can afford an I7 it's the best choise.

But what if you dont have the money for an I7 and Two high end cards? Whats if you have to make compromises in you I7 build just for the sake of having an I7?

I think that's were the Phenom II shows its strength.

You Take the I7 best price/perfomance point and give the same budget to an Amd system. It's clear that Amd can't compete that well. It seems that you first build the I7 system you think is best and then take the money to build an Phenom II system.

Please try it the other way round once! Build a Phenom II gaming system (720/810/940 with two graphics)and THEN take the money you used and build an I7 system (maybe sacrificing the second card? or just Xfiring two lower end cards? I don't know where but you then will have to save some money)

Most benchmarks show that the X3 720 overclocked shows performance numbers on par with the 955 (oc) so why spend all the money for the 955?

 

[xthekidx]

[citation][nom]sohei[/nom]really tom ...with the money remain is not necessary to buy another pairs of gpu's you can buy a nice case or video camera or a phone or 200-300 condoms...the pc is not everything ...ooo let's put all our money in intel 920 to play prototype ...and after 6 months you loose 40% from pc value ... 10x toms for a good advice ....you realize that with this kind of articles you play with peoples money?[/citation]
Umm have you taken any time to read any Tom's articles? This is their bread and butter, the reason the site exists. People read these articles because they want to know what to do with their money, the THG authors know what they are doing. The reason for these articles is to show performance differences, and this article does that very well.

 

[sohei]

for me is simple ...the guys from tom are a software witch make random articles .... no brain just fill the blanks with the component name and press enter

 

[erdinger]

[citation][nom]sohei[/nom]for me is simple ...the guys from tom are a software witch make random articles .... no brain just fill the blanks with the component name and press enter[/citation]

WOW thats rude.

They made a great article comparing two cpus. Its good to know which one performs better in gaming.

Again the article was very helpful good work

 

[sohei]

[citation][nom]xthekidx[/nom]Umm have you taken any time to read any Tom's articles? This is their bread and butter, the reason the site exists. People read these articles because they want to know what to do with their money, the THG authors know what they are doing. The reason for these articles is to show performance differences, and this article does that very well.[/citation]

i read at least 10 reviews from different sites before a buy something ..and for me is more important the opinion of end user, about a product ....if 1000 people says the p2 x3 is great in games with similar performance with a 250 $ intel i will buy p2x3 and tom articles has no value for me because they are 5 people and they don't use a cpu like an end user ... they use a cpu just for rating and i spent my own money not their money ......open your eyes

 

[pulasky]

This crap site is worse than expected why http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/phenom-versus-i7,2360-12.html
vs
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/prototype-performance-benchmark,2350-7.html
what the hell, one single 4870 is faster than 2 4870 or 2 4890 (it seems that crossX do not work in any game tested) some explication is more than welcome.

 

[Guest]

wait... so the core i7 allows, say, using a gtx260 and a HD4770 in multi card format???? or is it just my over-optimistic mind reading the conclusion page??

 

[ufo_warviper]

I am glad to see Don give a nod to the Phenom II x3. When I built my new systems this year it was never about Flagship AMD vs. core i7 920. The core i7 was all around better CPU for just $80 more than AMD's Flagship. Fore me, it was really about deciding between core i7 920, and Pheonom II x3 720, which may seem somewhat bazaar. I opted to go for the Phenom II x3 720 BE's since they were significantly cheaper than the Phenom II x4's and did not suffer any substantial loss in gaming

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

Once again Cleeve, youve earned your money. It took guts to first call out AMD, but even more to come back, as you did, and show that your first impressions were not only wrong, but apologized as well. Thus somewhat putting the blame on the boutiqye system, as I suspected was the case.
I grew tired of defending your findings in the forums, and I was looking forwards to this, and its paid off.
Great read, and Toms should be thankful for having you