Phenom II 955 Versus Core i7 920: Gaming Value Compared

Necuno

Necuno

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Phenom II 955 Versus Core i7 920: Gaming Value Compared
Conclusion


Well, I'll start off by apologizing to AMD and our readers for some of the conclusions I drew from the Cyberpower Gamer Dragon review.

I deserve a good measure of blame for rationalizing the difference that we saw when comparing a machine with Radeon HD 4890s against a machine with GeForce GTX 260s. While I had considered this when I was benchmarking, I had also convinced myself that the power of the Radeon HD 4890s would compensate for any game engine preferences. I was also mistaken about the dramatic extent that Crysis favored the GeForce GTX 260 over the Radeon HD 4890. This represents one quarter of the games in in our condensed gaming benchmark suite used in the SBM series, and I will definitely push to have the benchmark suite revised to better handle this disparity.

It also appears that our overclocked Cyberpower Gamer Dragon sample was not performing as well as it should have been, with our Phenom II test system routinely outperforming it at stock speeds. It was odd that the synthetic CPU benchmarks demonstrated that the processor was working as expected, but the synthetic memory benchmark showed an anomalously low result for the Gamer Dragon. While it's true that our Phenom II test system had the advantage of slightly faster RAM and the 790FX chipset with its dual PCIe x16 slots, the game performance results were notably below what our Phenom II system demonstrated.

In any case, I am more than happy to revise my previous conclusion and say that a Phenom II can make a fine gaming rig at the same price as a Core i7 system. The money saved by choosing the Phenom II setup instead of a Core i7 system can be applied to the graphics subsystem, helping the Phenom II stay competitive in gaming environments. Across all of the games and all of the resolutions we tested, the Phenom II system delivered frame rates just as playable as the Core i7 system.

However, at the end of the day, I'd go with the Core i7 system if someone were to hand me enough money for one of these builds. Why? Primarily because I do a lot more than game on my PC. AMD's got game, for sure, but if I have to make a choice between gaming and everything including gaming, I find it difficult to rationalize going with the Phenom II. In all of the game benchmarks we took, the Core i7 rarely lost by a notable margin, but there were quite a few instances where it pulled ahead, especially when overclocked. On the other hand, in our application testing as demonstrated in previous articles, the Core i7 leads the Phenom II by a more substantial margin. And there are secondary factors as well. Note that our Core i7 overclock was conservative compared to the Phenom II overclock, giving us more potential with which to play. Also, the Core i7 offers the flexibility to use both Nvidia and AMD GPUs in multi-card configurations, wheres AMD CPUs are either limited to Radeons in CrossFire for multi-card setups or GeForces in SLI if you go with an Nvidia chipset--but never both.

Does this mean we recommend staying away from AMD CPUs? Not at all. But AMD's offerings shine below the Core i7's price segment, especially when budgetary constraints mean that buying a Core i7 requires sacrificing a balanced graphics card. We can build a killer Phenom II system for hundreds of dollars less than a Core i7 if we go with an AM2+/DDR2 Phenom II or the Phenom II X3. Also, even more money can be saved if you're willing to settle for a motherboard with one of AMD's more value-oriented chipsets. If this kind of low-cost system is overclocked, we should see gaming results very similar to the ones we saw in our Phenom II X4 955 tests today.

This is where the AMD option makes the most sense: not by going toe-to-toe against the Core i7 at higher prices, but by offering similar gaming utility at a much lower cost. This is also where AMD pulls a rabbit out of its hat, by serving up an alternative for budget gamers who want to build a cost-effective gaming rig.
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Pretty obivous, if you want "out and out" speed, go for a Core i7. If you want value for money go for the Phenom. I don't understand the part about where the "everything including gaming" makes the Core i7 so much better. Very few people need a high end rig for anything else other then games or DTP. Either machine would be more then adaquate for the day to day run of the mill stuff.
 
Abe said:
Pretty obivous, if you want "out and out" speed, go for a Core i7. If you want value for money go for the Phenom. I don't understand the part about where the "everything including gaming" makes the Core i7 so much better. Very few people need a high end rig for anything else other then games or DTP. Either machine would be more then adaquate for the day to day run of the mill stuff.
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I think what they mean if you want an all rounder go for i7, if you want only a gaming machine then AMD is the best option
 
killadoob said:
I think what they mean if you want an all rounder go for i7, if you want only a gaming machine then AMD is the best option
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But thats exactly what I am questioning. I would put it the other way around, if you want all rounder (and to play the odd game) get the AMD, if you want the top end gaming, get the i7. I really put my system through it's paces as I am a heavy user (VM's, etc) and my AMD is sufficient but if I wanted to play Crisis at top settings (and had the cash to burn) then I would definitely go for the i7.
 
When i say all round performance abe i mean if you have a computer that you use for gaming and cpu intensive applications, then i7 is perfect and worth the extra money. If you game and check your email i think i7 is an overkill and you would be better off buying the core series or amd with a better vga card.

Although i will still say if you have money for an i7 buy it without doubt :p
 
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killadoob said:
When i say all round performance abe i mean if you have a computer that you use for gaming and cpu intensive applications, then i7 is perfect and worth the extra money. If you game and check your email i think i7 is an overkill and you would be better off buying the core series or amd with a better vga card.
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I am just trying to understand what cpu intensive applications people need to run that sort of processing power. The person who wrote the article seemed to hint that the AMD was not sufficient for him in this case. I run database servers, VM's, application development tools, application servers, etc and while it is always nice to have the top of the range, there is nothing there that really needs an i7, not even close. Even video encoding etc is pretty rapid on my machine and although it would be faster on an i7, there is no way to justify the extra cost just for that.

Although i will still say if you have money for an i7 buy it without doubt :p
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I agree, it's definitely the more powerful machine of the two, by a margin.
 
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Well you just said it is more powerful, meaning work will get work done faster. Some people want their stuff done faster and to them it is worth the extra cost.
 
I have a phenom 2 and an I7 and most of the time they run neck and neck on similiar tasks however the phenom based system does perform better in certain games compared to the I7 ie. TR underworld and stranglehold runs better on the amd, ati combo I have than on the intel, nvidia combo, I do feel however that my findings might not be accurate as the i7 runs faster than the phenom 2 taking clockspeeds into mind however the phenom system do have 2 gigs more ram and it's running vista compared to the i7 that's running XP !

Just my opinion

Full specs of the systems here
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=154155&highlight=rigs&page=10
 
killadoob said:
Well you just said it is more powerful, meaning work will get work done faster. Some people want their stuff done faster and to them it is worth the extra cost.
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I quite agree but the reviewer said "AMD's got game, for sure, but if I have to make a choice between gaming and everything including gaming, I find it difficult to rationalize going with the Phenom II.". Thats not the same thing. It sort of hints that the AMD is not up to the job for other stuff which is definitely not the case. I can understand people wanting (and being prepared to spend extra) a faster system, but thats not what he was saying.
 
AMD all the way!

also have Phenom x4 940 running with ATI HD4850x2 and what a dream! cant complain!
 
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