AMD Phenom vs. INTEL?

[mac]

I'm about to build a new PC. How does this CPU compares to an Intel?

AMD Phenom II X4 940 Quad Core Processor HDZ940XCGIBOX

Thanks.
mac

 

[Paul]

I'm about to build a new PC. How does this CPU compares to an Intel?

AMD Phenom II X4 940 Quad Core Processor HDZ940XCGIBOX

Thanks.
mac

You can compare the 940 to a 945 here.

http://products.amd.com/en-us/DesktopCPUSideBySide.aspx?id=509&id=534

Then, you can compare the 945 (which is listed), to Intel processors.

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2009-desktop-cpu-charts/Fritz-11,1406.html

It appears to be in the same performance area, as a Q6700 ($190-$200
if you can still find them). A Q9400 at $190 might be close as well.

Of course, you need to study multiple benchmark charts, because the
picture changes depending on the application. I'll leave that up
to you.

One problem with the Tomshardware work, is you have no idea whether the people
running the benchmarks have a clue or not. For example, examine the Photoshop
benchmark. Check to see whether two cores or four cores are being used
by the benchmark. A quality benchmark effort, would include comments
about the benchmark itself, and whether it "scales" well or not. Photoshop
is actually a tricky application to benchmark, because some filters
are single threaded, and others are multi threaded. And in theory, the
multi threaded ones can run on four cores (as long as you've patched
the application, and have checked with Task Manager or in some other way,
to see the cores got loaded properly). Since the Tomshardware charts
include zero commentary, we have no way of knowing whether there was
attention to details or not.

You should also check out the benchmark results for the Core i7-920.
One of those costs $280, so is $80 to $90 more than some of the other
Intel options. In the case of the above benchmark, notice it gives
a significant boost to the results. The trick with the Core i7, is
to price out the entire system cost, and compare it to the
LGA775 or AM2/AM2+/AM3 system you're comparing it to. The Core i7 should
still have a higher overall system cost, as the motherboard and RAM
could cost a bit more. But it should still be considered as an option,
for the sake of a complete analysis before buying.

HTH,
Paul

 

[Rarius]

When I priced out my new system last December, I was looking
at the Q9650 and Asus Maximus II motherboard, with 4GB of
1333MHz DDR3. For the heck of it I also priced out an i7 920
and Asus P6T Dlx with 6GB of triple channel 1333MHz DDR3.
It turned out, the i7 system priced out at only $100 more, due
to the memory. At that time the i7 920 was $50 less than the
Q9650 and the P6T was $50 more than the Maximus II. Triple
channel was at a bit of a premium then, and there was 2GB
more. Naturally, I opted for the i7, and am glad I did.

And now there is the option of the Core i5 as well! Unfortunately
benchmarks for the i5 cpus are a bit thin on the ground as yet, but the
reviews I've read are very positive.

Rarius

 

[JR Weiss]

I'm about to build a new PC. How does this CPU compares to an Intel?

AMD Phenom II X4 940 Quad Core Processor HDZ940XCGIBOX

Depends on your requirenments...

The i7 is still at the top of the performance heap, especially when
combined with a MoBo/chipset that supports 3-channel DDR3 RAM.
However, you pay a price for it.

The Phenom II X4 is a much cheaper alternative if you don't need
absolute top performance.