Intel versus AMD

[Archer]

Im enjoying my Quad Core, but looking at an i7 upgrade. What would be AMD's cpu in the same range?

Alas, AMD does not have an answer to the i7 yet. The best chips they have are the 955 and 965. Having said that though, you need to decide why you want an i7. If you're just playing games an i7 is not going to give you huge performance gains (maybe 5 more fps at best), probably more like 2-3 fps). But if you do lots of video encoding, or photoshop, or other CPU intensive tasks then it'll be worth it. Then the i7 wins hands down because of hyper threading.

 

[Rodent-Boy]

It would be nice if AMD was a little better represented in SA. I have the Phenom II X4 955BE and have been considering one of the Gigabyte AM3 boards for it for a while. Unfortunately, no AM3 Gigabyte availability in SA. (Last I checked anyway.)

And in terms of price vs. performance, the i5 competes pretty well with AMD.

 

[Archer]

Ya, for whatever reason 955/i5 are priced the same here. In th USA they are $20-30 apart, making the 955 the better choice, especially if you consider you'll get an equal performing AMD mobo for cheaper as well. But if all things are equal I try to go AMD since at the moment they are the underdog. And the worst thing that can happen is for either of these two companies to gain control of the market.

 

[risingtide]

+1. If you want raw performance there is no denying it, but Intel. If you want a good priceerformance ratio then go AMD.

The price only irks you once. The lower performance, even if just suspected, will irk you for a long time.

 

[Viva]

The price only irks you once. The lower performance, even if just suspected, will irk you for a long time.

+1 Well Said.

 

[afrodeity]

Frankly I'm getting a bit tired of the Intel vs AMD two-horse race. Surely there is room for a third processor manufacturer? The market sorely needs more competition. The only alternative is to get some kind of legislation which will allow generic Intel chips to be manufactured, cheaper, better, think about it. Most mid to high-end chips still extremely overpriced in South Africa.