Which CPU Should I Purchase

K

kly91

New Member
Hi there. I can't decide over:

------Intel i3 540
------AMD Phenom II x4 945

I will use my pc for photo editing while surfing the net, office apps,watching HD videos and sometimes but not that often play games like Mass effect 2, Monday night madness, and Need for speed Hot Pursuit.

I will also Purchase:
-MOBO
For the AMD: ASUS M4A87TD/USB3 AMD 870 / SB850 DDR3
For the Intel: GIGABYTE GA-H55M-S2H HDMI/GLAN /DDR3
-2 GB Geil DDR3 1333mHz
-ATI HD 5570 1gb Graphics card
-600w PSU

I plan to stick with the processor's stock fan if its good.

Can anyone help me decide between the 2 processors and suggest anything that might be better at the same budget. Can you please comment on their stock fans and the motherboards too.

Thank you so much for the help..
 
Well the i3 is much stronger clock for clock, but I highly doubt it's twice as fast. Personally I'd go for a quad core over a dual core any day of the week, especially if you do photo editing. AMD also has much better quality stock coolers. Don't get me wrong, they're not great, but Intel's are really bad from what I've seen. If the budget allows for a quad core i5 then I'd heartily recommend that over the 945, if not I'd take more cores any day of the week. I'd also recommend getting 4Gbs of ram over 2. 2 isn't very much these days, especially not if you plan on playing any sort of games or doing editing. 2Gb is more for the cruise the web and do e-mail bracket. RAM isn't exactly expensive so you should be able to find 2x2GB sticks for relatively cheap.

You also seem to be looking to cut costs, so I have to ask what power supply you're getting exactly. 600w is more than that system needs by a long shot, and chances are since you're under a tight budget you don't have a high quality unit. Power supplies are one of few areas in which brand name REALLY matters. A cheap 600w power supply won't make as much power as even a quality 450w in some cases, and the 600w will stand a much high chance of failing and taking the whole system with it. Antec, Seasonic, OCZ and Corsair are some reputable brands to get you started, there are many more, but keep in mind that anything with high wattage and low price is probably not a quality unit. There's more to clean, stable power than just the watts, and the el-cheapo companies are counting on you not knowing that :P If you already have a decent power supply, then disregard that whole paragraph :)
 
I agree with CardboardSword. Go with the quad-core Phenom II 945. I would only think of a dual-core processor system if I were looking at laptops.
 
CardboardSword said:
Well the i3 is much stronger clock for clock, but I highly doubt it's twice as fast. Personally I'd go for a quad core over a dual core any day of the week, especially if you do photo editing. AMD also has much better quality stock coolers. Don't get me wrong, they're not great, but Intel's are really bad from what I've seen. If the budget allows for a quad core i5 then I'd heartily recommend that over the 945, if not I'd take more cores any day of the week. I'd also recommend getting 4Gbs of ram over 2. 2 isn't very much these days, especially not if you plan on playing any sort of games or doing editing. 2Gb is more for the cruise the web and do e-mail bracket. RAM isn't exactly expensive so you should be able to find 2x2GB sticks for relatively cheap.

You also seem to be looking to cut costs, so I have to ask what power supply you're getting exactly. 600w is more than that system needs by a long shot, and chances are since you're under a tight budget you don't have a high quality unit. Power supplies are one of few areas in which brand name REALLY matters. A cheap 600w power supply won't make as much power as even a quality 450w in some cases, and the 600w will stand a much high chance of failing and taking the whole system with it. Antec, Seasonic, OCZ and Corsair are some reputable brands to get you started, there are many more, but keep in mind that anything with high wattage and low price is probably not a quality unit. There's more to clean, stable power than just the watts, and the el-cheapo companies are counting on you not knowing that :P If you already have a decent power supply, then disregard that whole paragraph :)
Click to expand...

Thank you so much for the advise.. I would consider what you've said. Maybe i'd scrap the bundled psu in the trendsonic case and buy a branded one if it's in the budget..Thnx.
 
kly91 said:
Thank you so much for the advise.. I would consider what you've said. Maybe i'd scrap the bundled psu in the trendsonic case and buy a branded one if it's in the budget..Thnx.
Click to expand...

Avoid bundled PSU's at pretty much all costs. It'll probably work, but the PSU is like the heart of your machine, and a bundled-with-case unit is like the heart of a morbidly obese senior citizen. Yeah it works for now, but you strain it too much... Just something to consider. Some people run low end units for a really long time no problem, and I know money doesn't grow on trees, but for me personally it just feels too much like Russian Roulette with my computer. :P
 
johnpeter said:
Intel or AMD ? Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, Core Duo, Core 2 Extreme or Xeon ? That's the first question in your mind when you are looking to buy a new desktop or laptop computer because processors, whether from AMD or Intel, are probably the most expensive part of any configuration.

For extreme performance, go with either Intel Xeon or Opteron desktop processor, loads of RAM (minimum 2GB of DDR or DDR2 memory) and graphics card from nVidia or ATI with at least 256 MB memory.

If you are looking to do basic email, spreadsheets, word processing (standard Microsoft Office), internet browsing - the 2-GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ or the 2.8-GHz Intel Pentium D 915 processor should be a perfect choice.

If you want to do higher end work (like video editing, Photoshop, gaming, multimedia etc) - you would need a dual core processor like the Intel Core 2 Duo chip or an Athlon 64 X2 processor. The best in the Intel Core Duo processor category is currently the Intel 2.93 GHz Core 2 Extreme X6800.
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Actually I'm currently using a core 2 duo 2.8 ghz and on a 2gb ddr2 ram so i think this advice won't help at all for now..I am deciding on the phenom II over i3...

Thnx anyway:(
 
Hi again.. I think i'll changed my mind on the phenom II:
I am Thinking of

Processor: Athlon II x4 640 3.0GHz 2.5mb
Mobo: Asus M4A88T-M
RAM: 4gb Geil DDR3 1333MHZ with Heatsink
ATX: Trendsonic Vision
PSU: Gigabyte Superb P 460 watts

What can you say with the parts? Kindly help me decide if these are all ok. By the way i would stick with the stock heatsink and fan of the AMD for now.
 
Athlon II x4 is still a good processor choice :)

PSU: Gigabyte Superb P 460 watts
Click to expand...

I have this PSU under my bed :),While its a decent PSU (Well has been for me anyway) id recommend changing it for something else.

What is your exact budget for this system build and we can do you a system build list.

Do you need an OS?
Keyboard/Mouse?
Monitor?
What is your location? US? Can? UK?
 
Nevakonaza said:
Athlon II x4 is still a good processor choice :)



I have this PSU under my bed :),While its a decent PSU (Well has been for me anyway) id recommend changing it for something else.

What is your exact budget for this system build and we can do you a system build list.

Do you need an OS?
Keyboard/Mouse?
Monitor?
What is your location? US? Can? UK?
Click to expand...

oh..ok..I see..hmm i don't need an os a keyboard or mouse..i also don't need a monitor.. I just need the CPU..:)..

By the way i'm from the Philippines but I could use a build list to help me..
If you could help me find the parts using Philippines as a location, i would really appreciate that. Nonetheless any of the 3 will do.

I'm on a real tight budget cause i'm just a graduating student of BS Accountancy..here it is 300 to 350 USD.

By the way i already have a ATi hd 5570 Graphics card to use for the new rig
 
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