[bkwegoharder]

and they have also effectively killed the Core 2 Duo line in value. Their is no reason to get a Dual core now with amds low prices, their quads not only are priced at about the same as favorites like the e8400, and e8500, but even in single threaded performance they are beating or tying with the Core 2 duos, and with multithreaded performance the dual cores are being blown away. The phenom II X4. Plus if you get a Core 2 Duo, you'll be stuck on a dying platform as well. It looks like if you are going with Intel, it is i7 or bust.

Phenom II X4 955 3.2GHz vs Core 2 Duo e8500 3.16GHz


AnandTech Bench (beta): Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 vs AMD Phenom II X4 955
AnandTech Bench (beta): Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 vs AMD Phenom II X4 955


Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops
Newegg.com - AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

The e8500 and the Phenom II X4 955 are priced the same. As you can see in those benchmarks many things are tested from synthetic benchmarks, to 3d rendering, photoshop, gaming, video and audio encoding, compression and even file recovery. In the single threaded apps and in gaming, the Phenom II X4 performs about on par, when the e8500 does win, it is usually by a small win. But notice that when the Phenom II X4 does win, it wins big. Very big, and in games that are threaded for more than 2 cores like Grand theft Auto 4, Far Cry 2, FSX, H.A.W.X, World in Conflict, Supreme Commander, Resident Evil 5, Devil May Cry 4 and even PCSX2 software mode etc. And the many newer games that are going to be released with higher than 2 core support there will be huge boosts in performance over the e8500. Now, the e8500 can get to 4GHz easier, but I'm seeing near 4GHz overclocks on the Phenom II X4 as well. In the end 200mhz wouldn't make much of a difference in performance, once you get to the mid 3GHz you are basically good for just about everything. The extra cores however DO make huge differences and the future in gaming is going to be about using the extra cores since there isn't much more we can do with to get higher clockrates. Everyone was talking about how quadcores are useless because nothing uses quads and once we reach the future, there will be cheaper and better performing quads, well that time is now. We have the cheaper and stronger quads now and they are being taken advantage of. Intel and AMD have plans to branch out with more cores so it seems like Quad cores are the sweetspot for the mainstream gamer today. The LGA 775 line is at the end of it's like, and now it is all about AM3 and LGA 1366/LGA1156. The only reason to get a Core 2 cpu is if you are upgrading to a stronger cpu for your lga 775 motherboard. Plus the Phenom II X4 955 is a Black Edition cpu so it has an unlocked multiplier which makes it easier to overclock than it would be normally.

Here are some more match ups.

Phenom II X4 940 & 945 vs Core 2 Duo e8400


AnandTech Bench (beta): Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 vs AMD Phenom II X4 940

Newegg.com - AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition Processor - Processors - Desktops
Newegg.com - AMD Phenom II X4 945 Deneb 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037

 

[Squall-Leonhart]

Meh,
not cheap enough.

 

[koko]

Newegg.com - AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition Processor - Processors - Desktops
This Quad-Core one is absolutely awesome. Intel Quads are overpriced for now. I'm thinking of getting AMD CPU from on now, but I don't know the latest news about emulation on PCSX2 and quad CPUs.

 

[-StrikE-]

With AM3 they did it right and not just cause of the cheapness even my Athlon 2 X2 performs good , overclocking is decent now as well (though all i need now is just some better ram for OC :lol

 

[bkwegoharder]

Emulation with pcsx2 on quads will probably be better than dual cores. You have the option to do software mode, and from what I'm testting on my i7, software mode set to 2 threads gives great performance boosts, and even setting to 6, 7 and 8 threads only gives a very small unoticable performance improvement over two. So, you'd be able to get full speed in many games in software with the quad. It's better than having just a dual core since when there is a game that only works in software, you'd actually have playable performance. At the least, you'd get the same performance as a dual core.

Also, the pcsx2 devs did talk about threading it out more in the future when the time comes.

 

[nanaya]

AMD offering currently destroy what Intel has on 200$ and below IMO

 

[jembut]

if old phenom success maybe the price wouldn't like this (remember old agena was priced) ,there is consumen benefit when something lose with its competitor

p.s
i hope amd keep their price range (although right now i think they little bit overpriced)

 

[Squall-Leonhart]

920 D0 can be had for 199

 

[nanaya]

not here my friend, and i believe in most other country too

 

[Sonic2036]

lol the LGA777 Lived long enough

 

[masta.g.86]

I never knew there was an LGA777.oO That's what I get for living under a rock.

 

[Sonic2036]

i r rock and u live under me.
any ways I meant 755... not really focusing on the name just what i have =p

 

[masta.g.86]

755? oO That one's new too! I can't believe that Intel would kill off that socket design already.

 

[Shadic]

Ohoh silly, he means 757

 

[masta.g.86]

939? Socket A? wut?

Ahem, I don't think these prices are quite "insane" yet, but they are the cheapest CPUs that are worth buying. And yes, I know Core2Duo/Quad is available. It's just stupid to buy one now when Intel is moving on to LGA1156 and LGA1366. :/

 

[Shadic]

But you need a whole new board for the new sockets = ( (and DDR3 ram)

 

[Sonic2036]

775 *~.~*

 

[masta.g.86]

But you need a whole new board for the new sockets = ( (and DDR3 ram)

Correct. What I'm getting at is that there is no reason to build a new PC around socket 775. If you already have one that's fine. There's still plenty of headroom for some more upgrades until it becomes obsolete. (or at least too slow for the user)

DDR3 has its merits too. The biggest plus is the higher native clockspeeds you can achieve with it. In my testing, it also OCs better than DDR2 ever did.

 

[Shadic]

Well if you (or anyone else) could asnwear me this one question. Would upgrading my Q6600 to a Q9550 be a good idea? That's mostly because of emulators, cuz for games i'm waiting for the next ATI video cards = )

 

[bkwegoharder]

I wouldn't do it. The q9550 is stronger but definately not worth 200 dollars over the for an upgrade when you have a Q6600.