CPU/Mobo Intel i3 vs AMD Phenom 955BE

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zktel

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Hi Guys,
My friend wants to buy a new pc for General Home purpose n 24 X 7 downloading and light gaming n bit of photoshop and corel work on it.

Please throw sum light on this topic.

Thanks for viewing the thread.
 
Which i3 , if its i3 2100 then here is a comparison between the two cpus AnandTech - Bench - CPU , i3 2100 has a TDP of 65w and 955 has almost double the TDP at 125w so 955 isnt the best choice for 24/7 rig if you want to save power.
 
Go with the i3 if you plan to keep the rig 24x7. But its better to have a separate rig/router for downloads.....

If power is of no concern to you and you want the best VFM, would say wait for bulldozer reviews....... and then take a call.
 
dont wait..
Technology comes and becomes obsolete pretty fast..
Just take what is latest now.
Right now intel has high hand..
Sadly AMD has no match
to current Intel's lineup..
AMD's Bulldozer has taken way more time in releasing..and not even single benchmarks to put in front..
Go with i3 or probably i5 if you can manage 3k more..
 
zktel said:
Hi Guys,

My friend wants to buy a new pc for General Home purpose n 24 X 7 downloading and light gaming n bit of photoshop and corel work on it.

Please throw sum light on this topic.

Thanks for viewing the thread.
Click to expand...

Sire, your needs will be perfectly dealt with the AMD Llano platform, it has a peak TDP of ~100W, here is what I'll recommend --

AMD A8-3850 / A6-3650 ~ 6800/- OR 5900/-

Gigabyte GA-A75-S2V ~ 5900/-

Corsair ValueRAM 4GB x 1 1333MHz ~ 1300/-

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB ~ 2750/-

Corsair CX V2 430W ~ 2200/-

Zebronics cabinet [minus SMPS] ~ 1000/-

For the Intel equivalent --

Core i3 2100 ~ 5500/-

Intel DH67-BL ~ 5200/-

[rest same as AMD rig].

with the Intel RIG you get better power savings, while the onboard IGP is crippled to a fault, for the AMD the IGP has much more muscle but the quad-core CPU's still can't catch up to the Core i3 2100 [Sandy-Bridge architecture]. --> http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/399?vs=289, Ill still recommend the AMD set-up due to the IGP and true-quad core set-up.

Hope this helps, Sire.
 
Thanks to everyone for their valuable suggestions.

I know Llano is perfect solution but its FM1 socket so its not future proof and the mobo suggested by alpha17 doesnt have HDMI port n it has only 2 DDIM ports and other Llano supporting mobos are not available at present in Mumbai.
About bulldozer its release date is only a mystry forget about benchmarks.
 
he wants only CPU, Mobo, PSU, Cabinet,
Budget - Rs. 14k - 15k
He has 2X4GB Gskill Snipers
BenQ G2420 HD
1TB HDD

He is not ready in investing GPU!!!!

Please Suggest......
 
What kind of games does he want to play? That would really determine what kind of PC to suggest.

If he wants to play recent titles or newer upcoming games, then go for a Llano setup. But the CPU performance in this case would be inferior compared to the i3 combo. Also, if he decides to go for a GPU later on, he will have to upgrade this PSU as well. If he will add GPU later on, do NOT go for this config.

CPU - AMD Llano A8-3850 - 6800

Gigabyte GA-A75-S2V - 5700

Cabinet - Coolermaster Elite 310 - 1500

PSU - FSP Saga II 350w - 1500

TOTAL - 15500

If he wants to play older titles, then go for the i3 setup. With this combo, he can add a GPU later on if he feels like. IMO this is the setup he should go for. It has a better CPU, better cabinet and better PSU. Only in this case the onboard graphics would be inferior to the AMD Llano setup. But frankly speaking, with the AMD Llano he won't be able to enjoy games that much anyways, so not really worth getting it IMO.

CPU - Intel Core i3 2100 - 5500

Motherboard - Intel DH67-BL - 5000

Cabinet - NZXT Gamma - 2200

PSU - Corsair CX v2 430w - 2200

TOTAL - 14900
 
viralbug said:
With this combo, he can add a GPU later on if he feels like. IMO this is the setup he should go for. It has a better CPU, better cabinet and better PSU. Only in this case the onboard graphics would be inferior to the AMD Llano setup. But frankly speaking, with the AMD Llano he won't be able to enjoy games that much anyways, so not really worth getting it IMO.
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How can you say that, the Llano APU's main forte is the amazing graphics adapter which literally mops the floor with the Intel HD 3*** graphics, true clock-to-clock it gets completely outclassed by Intel's snappy new Core arcitecture but pitch in the IG units and it owns the field in gaming --> AnandTech - The AMD A8-3850 Review: Llano on the Desktop / AMD A8-3850 APU Review: Llano Hits the Desktop - Page 24.

The natural competitor for the A8-3850 is the dual-core/four-thread Core i3-2100 series, which headlines as Intel's mainstream-level Sandy Bridge offerings. As luck would have it, we just happened to have a Core i3-2120 on hand. This little Intel chip retails for $150, which is a little more expensive than AMD's top-end APU, but it nevertheless allows us to see what the strengths and weaknesses of each processor family is.

There's no reason to beat around the bush here, the "Stars" K10.5 cores simply cannot compete with the newer Sandy Bridge microarchitecture when it comes to lightly threaded applications. The Llano chip does occasionally score the odd victory thanks to its four native cores, but even those victories are often by a very slight amount. To make matters worse, in all of our gaming benchmarks it was a slaughter in favour of the Sandy Bridge processor, but only when using a discrete GPU.

When we benchmarked the integrated GPU's, Llano's raison d'être became crystal clear. The Radeon HD 6550D graphics solution that AMD have embedded in the A8-series leaves in the dust anything that Intel have produced so far in the IGP realm. The A8-3850 had on average 80% higher frame rates than the Core i3-2120. If we increased the Llano's memory frequency from DDR3-1333 to DDR3-1866, we could have easily realized a further 15% framerate improvement. This synergy between the GPU and CPU that has been personified in AMD's APUs is becomingly increasingly important as software manufacturers begin harnessing the parallel processing horsepower of modern graphics architectures. While there was once only a handful of GPU-accelerated programs available, now everyday programs like Microsoft Word, Internet Explorer and Flash can benefit from GPU acceleration.
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This is my slice on the picture, so cheers!!
 
well you will definately need good apu motherboard for optimum performance, last time i went with my friend to enquire, apu + mobo combo was costing around 14/15k..
So if you wanna spend 15k on llano do that, its your decision, but you will get more better performance on i3.

Intel i3 2100 + Dh67bl = 9800.
Ati Radeon 5670 = 4000.
Total = around 14k..
This config will out perform AMD Llanno in most thing..
 
Invinci you are right
But my friend dont wants to spend on GPU.
And Llano is not future proof.

So please suggest me a Good Mobo for intel i3 2100 which can provide Good IGP.
 
Aces170 said:
^^ I think what he meant games are not to be enjoyed on onbard GPU no matter how good they are :)
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Yes. Agreed they are the best solution for games without a discrete GPU and blows out Intel's onboard solution, but they still aren't up to a level where you can ditch a GPU completely.
The Llano only manages to play games at lower resolutions. The OP's friend has a full HD monitor. He'll only be able to play a few of the recent titles, likely not even those. Yeah he can turn the resolution down, but this is just for recent games. Newer games will not be so playable on it in any case.

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

@OP - The motherboard won't determine the onboard GPU performace because these new generation processors have a GPU integrated on the CPU die itself. So no matter what motherboard you buy, the onboard GPU performance will still be the same.
 
zktel said:
Invinci you are right
But my friend dont wants to spend on GPU.
And Llano is not future proof.

So please suggest me a Good Mobo for intel i3 2100 which can provide Good IGP.
Click to expand...
unfortunately intel mobo. And processors have their own IGP which are ok for day2day work, watching HD movies and light gaming like counter strike, nfs etc.
Its not that bad like its portrayed. I've used P4 Motherboard IGP for years without any problem.
Intel lags behind when it comes to IGP..but it is workable..

Intel DH67BL Is overall good mobo.
If you want more quality go with Asus Mobo. they are expensive but very good quality.

Why your friend doesn't want to buy GPU? Any particular reason?
There is no harm in having a GPU.
And ATI 5670 is energy efficient card.
It doesnt require extra pin to power it from your Psu..
I am just saying it will be a rocking rig.
And you can play it most games at medium to low settings better then llanno. So its like welcome addition.
As for future proofing socket..i will say buy Intel as of now.
Because AMD's BD launch is still not sure..and most mobo. With am3+ support except for 99Ofx will have problem. And 990fx mobo. are damn expensive as of now.
Well thats what i read about it. I may be wrong.

While afaik, intel are pretty much clear right now that Ivy Bridge will support 1155 socket!..
 
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