Processor help

[ace22]

Hey helpful people,

I'm helping my brother build a new computer that he is building for photo editing and "some" gaming but I think we all know the gaming is first on his mind (he's only 17). Leaving all that behind, I need to know if you will lose much between these two processors...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103471

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103650

The problem I'm having is he doesn't want to have less than 3 ghz without OC (which I'm discouraging because he's an idiot at this stuff) and I can't find a motherboard that will fit the am2+ socket and two 4870 x2 cards with ddr3 memory. I know I'm a little out of it so if something is really confusing please do post with questions for me if I need to clarify anything.

My main question I want answered is what will I lose/gain between the two processors.

 

[kubes]

I don't think you want to go with ddr3 ram? you won't see much of a preformance increase from ddr2. I'd rethink that part of your rig build. This would save you a lot of money to maybe upgrade to the better of the two cpu's.

Yes there's a preformance difference between the two, but for gaming you're probally fine with the cheaper of the two.

 

[Proximon]

If your brother thinks ghz is that important, let him 😉 just build around an E8500. Quality motherboards are usually cheaper for the Intel builds also.

If he's really a multi-tasker, then he should stick with a Deneb 940.

As already stated, the DDR3 is a waste.

 

[xthekidx]

Like the other said, DDR3 isn't really worth it, so don't go that route. If you want DDR3, you can't use the 940 BE. Only the AM3 socket supports DDR3 on the AMD side, and the 940 won't work with DDR3 because its memory controller is DDR2 only.

So you want to get 2 4870x2 GPU for Quad-fire? What size of monitor does your brother have? Unless its a 30" screen, there is no point in getting 2 4870x2's, its a total waste of money, one is fine. You should just get a GTX 295 and then go for an i7 build instead. Even though the i7 920 runs at a lower clock speed, its faster...GHZ isn't a very good way to measure performance potential. You are comparing apple to oranges there.

 

[kubes]

Ya xthekidx makes some good points. the i7 920 shouldn't be compaired by its ghz. It should be compaired about its instruction set and its ability to multi-thread apps. With current instruction sets coming out they are making processors faster and the ability to multi-thread makes it so it looks like there is 8 cores. Lets the processor really be able to parralize work easly. I also think that the i7's ability to offload work evenly on to cores is quite nice.