Picking my CPU - i5 vs. Phenom II

Hey guys...I tried searching but sometimes your questions get so complicated, you just don't know what/how to search for something...I'm building a computer for the company I work for. We're a small business and this computer would be for inventory management. In the past, we've just purchased from Best Buy, but I figured if I built one, it'd be more "bang" for the same "buck". Just need some professional opinions.

First off, I started looking at i3 and i5 processors because they were around the price range we were looking at. Then I stumbled upon the Phenom II X6 1055T for only $200. I figured Six-freaking-cores would last us forever and thought this was the way to go. But after reading the article on this website, it seems like it was out performed by even the i5, when I assumed it would compete with the i7. So here's the question; would the i5 750 be faster? In the future? Would the Phenom II be better overclocked? Would THIS be a decent motherboard if I went with the AMD?

Also, if anybody has an easy way of picking a PSU, I would love you to death. I've always considered myself somewhat tech savvy, but trying to figure out power consumption has made me with otherwise. I can't even find how much power the motherboard uses!

Thanks guys. I appreciate any and all help.
 
Hi, could you just give use more info about your computer?
The X6 destroys the i5 in some areas...but not very many.

Make sure to include budget (and if you want a monitor, os, peripherals...), and intended use. i5 and X6 is a really close battle.

Also, if anybody has an easy way of picking a PSU, I would love you to death. I've always considered myself somewhat tech savvy, but trying to figure out power consumption has made me with otherwise. I can't even find how much power the motherboard uses!
Motherboard hardly takes any power, we'll figure out a powersupply after we set some other components.

In the past, we've just purchased from Best Buy, but I figured if I built one, it'd be more "bang" for the same "buck". Just need some professional opinions.
Good :).
 
Thanks for the reply. I was thinking, roughly, about the following -
  • Motherboard: LINK
  • CPU: LINK
  • PSU: Unknown
  • HDD: LINK
  • RAM: LINK
  • OS/Case: (Bundle) LINK
  • CDROM: Taking it from current computer
  • Graphics: That ^^ MoBo has one built in. Thats about all we would need.

For the most part, I was trying to keep it under $700, give or take a couple bucks. If we WERE to buy a system from Best Buy, it'd probably be a Gateway DX4840-11e. I was hoping we could build something better though, since that has a i3 and probably a mediocre motherboard.

We basically need something that can multi-task like a champ. We have a lot of edit a lot of pictures of inventory and run multiple applications at a time. The programs we use aren't too terribly cumbersome, but a few simple applications and a browser w/ multiple tabs running at the same time can add up and slow down a computer.

EDIT - And we don't need a monitor, keyboard, or mouse.
 

Wow, great advice. Only question is with the Processor. Looks great, but the main reason i was leaning towards the i5 or Phenom was hoping that it would extend the amount of time we would use this computer. My thinking was, get something that was close to the top so it would take longer to become obsolete? Does that matter or should I just go with the Quad core that you posted?
 
Well...as long as you're not doing some drastic changing on the usage (ie heavy photoshoping or video encoding), the Athlon II X4 630 is actually a pretty quick processor.
If you take a look at these benchmarks, you'll see that on average, the X4 is 70% as fast as the X6. Good deal at less than $100 IMO.

By the way, the Athlon II's are just rebinned Phenom II's with a bit less cache and/or disabled or inoperable 5th/6th core or whatever. The actual processors (functional) are nearly identical.
 
Well...as long as you're not doing some drastic changing on the usage (ie heavy photoshoping or video encoding), the Athlon II X4 630 is actually a pretty quick processor.
If you take a look at these benchmarks, you'll see that on average, the X4 is 70% as fast as the X6. Good deal at less than $100 IMO.

By the way, the Athlon II's are just rebinned Phenom II's with a bit less cache and/or disabled or inoperable 5th/6th core or whatever. The actual processors (functional) are nearly identical.

Awesome. Thanks for the help man. You've been a huge help! :grinthumb
 
Other people might have something to say...

I agree with you on the processor choice, like you said, the HDD is going to be the one getting a beating in multitasking operations, so the performance between the athlon quad and the phenom hexacore would be difficult to actually detect (without the use of benchmarks)
 
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