AMD processors - what would people recommend these days?

[LinkedKube]

to Rage:

I really like the 275 as a mid budget card, what about monitor resolutions. I know more than likely he'd have a 20-22" monitor as most gamers do. How does it perform at higher resolutions?

 

[Rick]

Processor cache is expensive, both in money and resources (takes up a tremendous amount of space on the processor die, generates a lot of heat etc..). I don't know about CPUs specifically, but cache seems to always have diminishing returns (1MB may result in poor performance, 2MB may provide far superior performance than 1MB, but 3MB may result in marginally better performance than 2MB and 4MB may make no appreciable difference compared to 3MB).

An article I recently saw shows AMD is generally a good lower-end, value CPU. It also shows if you want a high end system, it's Intel I7 or bust...
http://techreport.com/articles.x/17023/14

Of the three value dual-core processors, the Phenom II X2 550 is the obvious choice. Both the Athlon II X2 250 and the Pentium E6300 are reasonably attractive cheap CPUs, but the Phenom II X2 550's combination of a much larger cache, generally better performance, and low-effort Black Edition overclocking makes it easily worth the extra $15 or so over the other two options.

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

The Phenom II CPUs are not meant to compete with the i7 series. They are aimed as competition for the Core 2 CPUs; something they very much are, considering price vs performance.

As for a suitable motherboard, the GA-EX58-UD3R is an excellent inexpensive board with vanilla Crossfire and SLI support.

@supersmash, it's good for any res upto 1920x1200. Good performance at 2560x1600 is possible with an OC, since then it performs similarly to a GTX 280\285.

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

Heh, facts are so contraversial.
I vote Phenom II x3 720 and an AM3 board.

 

[red1776]

it just occurred to me pyro that nobody has asked you how you use your computer. if you want the absolute fastest, then nothing competes with the i7, but if price/performance comes into play. thats a different story. and yes intel overall has the overall performance advantage, and in many price points, AMD offers the better value. but remember, you are buying A processor for A machine, so...what do you want to accomplish with your new computer?

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

Probably gaming, either way, I still vote Phenom II 720 triple core!

 

[red1776]

LOL I get it HK, you like the 720 triple :haha:

 

[LinkedKube]

it just occurred to me pyro that nobody has asked you how you use your computer. if you want the absolute fastest, then nothing competes with the i7, but if price/performance comes into play. thats a different story. and yes intel overall has the overall performance advantage, and in many price points, AMD offers the better value. but remember, you are buying A processor for A machine, so...what do you want to accomplish with your new computer?

Good Point, BUT, as an i7 owner I'm willing to drop my hat and admit it may have been one of my most expensive pc purchases and its overkill even for the avid gamer. For example I burned two blueray disk at the same time while playing an mmo called "Aion," not a single hick up, its nice, but most people dont do these things.

I think the 720 triple core is a great recommendation, w/e your choice it should last you quite a while.

 

[red1776]

Good Point, BUT, as an i7 owner I'm willing to drop my hat and admit it may have been one of my most expensive pc purchases and its overkill even for the avid gamer. For example I burned two blueray disk at the same time while playing an mmo called "Aion," not a single hick up, its nice, but most people dont do these things

.Thats exactly what i meant Super, much of the i7 capabilities would never be used(much less ever realized) by most users, even moderate enthusiasts, most notably the monster memory bandwidth of that thing. I saw one of your posts about yours not even throttling up most of the time you use it....yikes ........I want one!