[Hez]

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813138108

This is the motherboard I have now. It's only AM2/AM2+. My CPU is a amd athlon 64 X2 6400 +. It's a bit outdated now.

My problem is, no matter what it seems like I'll need a new motherboard to get a new CPU. This kind of gives me a chance to convert to Intel if I want. So, what are the pro's and con's of AMD VS INTEL in you guys opinions? As of right now, it's like the only thing outdated in my computer.

EDIT: I'm starting to read that AM3 will fit into an AM2+, is this true?

This post has been edited by Hez: 21 May 2012 - 10:50 PM

[SoullessSentinel]

AM2 motherboards do not support AM3 processors, however, AM3 processors will work fine in AMD2+ motherboards, the plus is important. I know this from experience as I had an AM2+ motherboard, and I used an AM3 CPU for a little while.
The only thing stopping AM2 processors working in AM3 motherboards, is that AM2 lacks DDR3 support. AM3 supports both DDR2 and DDR3, so it will work fine in AM2+ motherboards so long as the BIOS supports it.
It it helps, Biostar have a page on that motherboard here, which has a page listing all known working processors. It looks like it supports a pretty good range, including the Phenom II X4 at 3.2Ghz, which should be more than just a little upgrade.

[Hez]

No one thinks I should go the Intel route? I've heard that AMD is loosing the CPU battle.

[Thousand Pancake]

Hez, on 22 May 2012 - 04:22 PM, said:

No one thinks I should go the Intel route? I've heard that AMD is loosing the CPU battle.

"Losing". I'm so sick of everyone spelling lose with two O's.

If AMD falls, then Intel will effectively have the market all to themselves. I believe that's partially the reason for people urging you to AMD.

This post has been edited by Thousand Pancake: 22 May 2012 - 10:07 PM

[Aerosol]

I guess you could say that AMD is losing the CPU battle. Bulldozer is pretty underwhelming. But right now, Intel's dominance is really in the enthusiast market. If you just want faster processing, you can't go wrong with a Phenom II. The 920 and 940 All Phenom II's can fit in an AM2+ slot. It's up to the motherboard manufacturer to provide a BIOS that supports using an AM3 Phenom II processor.

This post has been edited by AerosolSP: 23 May 2012 - 10:52 AM

[HeartAttack]

With regards to core-for-core processing power, Intel is on top, performance-wise right now. BUT - the prices of Intel's offerings are pretty ridiculous. If you're talking price-to-performance, then AMD wins, hands down. You can grab an 8-core, 3.6GHz AMD FX-8150 for $199. Hell, you can grab the 8-core, 3.1GHz FX-8120 at $150 and overclock that sucker. Those things overclock like beasts. Benchmarks will show that Intel's offerings beat out AMD's, clock-for-clock - but the margin is virtually negligible. There just is NOT enough of a difference between the power of Intel and AMD's CPU's to justify the huge premium you'll pay for going with Intel. I mean, seriously:

$599:

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819116492

Fucking $1,029:

http://www.newegg.co...0%20-%20%241250

If someone absolutely NEEDS to have the very best because they get off on synthetic benchmarks, and because money is no object for them - then by all means, they should go with Intel. But if you want to be smart and get 90+ percent of the performance you'd get with Intel at a fraction of the cost, then you'll go with AMD.

Spoiler

I know I used the more extreme pricing examples here - but it's only fair; the expensive Intel chips are so priced because they are "unlocked" - a feature that nearly all AMD chips have without the insane price markup. Even if I had used less extreme examples, the point is the same: you'll spend more on Intel only to get virtually negligible gains - gains you won't even notice with real world usage.

Also to the OP, I wouldn't go the AM3 CPU on your AM2 board route if I were you. As someone stated, you won't be able to use DDR3 memory and your AM3 CPU will be limited to the AM2 hypertransport speeds. You'll be crippling the CPU's capabilities by limiting it to a slow bus and cause bottlenecks. Imagine a car has this very powerful engine - something from a race car - but the transmission is from some old minivan: sure, the car is capable of going very fast because it has a great engine, but the transmission is just too old or slow to properly transfer that power to your wheels.

This post has been edited by HeartAttack: 25 May 2012 - 07:42 PM

[Aerosol]

HeartAttack, on 25 May 2012 - 07:29 PM, said:

Also to the OP, I wouldn't go the AM3 CPU on your AM2 board route if I were you. As someone stated, you won't be able to use DDR3 memory and your AM3 CPU will be limited to the AM2 hypertransport speeds. You'll be crippling the CPU's capabilities by limiting it to a slow bus and cause bottlenecks. Imagine a car has this very powerful engine - something from a race car - but the transmission is from some old minivan: sure, the car is capable of going very fast because it has a great engine, but the transmission is just too old or slow to properly transfer that power to your wheels.

I disagree. He can upgrade the CPU now, then upgrade the mobo later, without having to buy them both at the same time. I don't see anything wrong with that.

[HeartAttack]

There's nothing wrong with that at all. The OP was talking about possibly going Intel, which would obviously require both a new motherboard and CPU anyways, so I figured they were looking for both a new mobo and CPU. That's what I was addressing; that if they're on the hunt for both pieces of hardware, they might as well get a new mobo if they want to see real benefits with the new processor. Clearly the OP can get the CPU now and get a new mobo at a later time if that's what they need to do for financial reasons and such.

[AamirM]

Quote

If you're talking price-to-performance, then AMD wins, hands down.

This isn't true anymore for the last 6 months or so. Intel now has cheaper and better performing processor in EVERY price segment.

Go Intel dude.

This post has been edited by AamirM: 26 May 2012 - 01:42 PM

[Aerosol]

I dunno...what Intel CPU beats a Phenom II X2 @ 3.2GHz for $120?

[AamirM]

Intel Core i3-2100

And benchmark comparision

Notice how it beats AMD by very good margins.

AMD has been beaten at its own game by Intel for a while now.

[Aerosol]

I had no idea Intels could get that cheap. Thanks for that AamirM. I wonder how an i3 would perform on that Saturn emulator of yours?
I had to I'm so sorry :<

Edit: But what about overclocking potential? The Phenom II X2 still has the edge in that regard, doesn't it?

This post has been edited by AerosolSP: 26 May 2012 - 03:34 PM

[Motwera]

Do we really care if Intel wins or not vise versa for AMD if true?
I don't what I care is that I buy the right thing, recommend it not say if its dominant or not.
I say just take one of the GTX series video cards from Nvidia or 5000 to 7000 AMD video cards (Just the higher numbers models)
What makes the difference in CPU are the following: Virtualization, random memory inside it and the way its technically designed to be fast.

This post has been edited by Motwera: 26 May 2012 - 03:31 PM

[AamirM]

AerosolSP, on 26 May 2012 - 03:29 PM, said:

I had no idea Intels could get that cheap. Thanks for that AamirM. I wonder how an i3 would perform on that Saturn emulator of yours?
I had to I'm so sorry :<

Edit: But what about overclocking potential? The Phenom II X2 still has the edge in that regard, doesn't it?

Oh, it gets even more cheaper. I was just showing you a $120 processor for reference. Here is a $70 processor that just embarrasses that same AMD processor as well:

Intel Pentium G620

And again, benchmark comparision.

Right now, only a die hard AMD fanboy would be fool enough to buy one of their processors.

EDIT: And what are you sorry for?

This post has been edited by AamirM: 26 May 2012 - 03:39 PM

[Aerosol]

Yea but newer Intel CPUs aren't backwards compatible with the Pentium CPU. You'd have to upgrade your motherboard AGAIN to upgrade your CPU. Who wants to do that?

No one likes being bugged about their projects

This post has been edited by AerosolSP: 26 May 2012 - 03:49 PM