Am3 955

[tastegw]

for what gain?
when running games, there's basically no difference.

And we don't know if the 955 is going to stay at its current price. It's only just been released.

bolded selection was my point to the tee

as for the pricing, ya, they will indeed come down

the 940 showed up @ the egg for $275 upon release, its dropped $95 in price.
and while the 955 drops in price, everything else in line should too in theory.

so if somebody was to decide between a 940 and a 955 on a am2+ platform, he would be wise to pick the 940.

lets say everything but the cpu and the video card are either purchased or final.
and the person has $400 left to get the cpu (955 or 940) and a video card.
choosing the 940 would allow him $55 more to spend on a video card.
in the end, the 940 rig on this particular budget would outdo the 955.
the 940 could rock a 4870 while the 955 would have a 4850.

 

[TheOtis]

phenom II 940 owner here,

the 955 will perform slightly above the level of the 940, it may just overclock 100-200mhz more on average. The main difference is that the 955 can use the am3 boards and get a small performance boost from ddr3.

newegg has it listed @ $245 as we speak
Newegg.com - AMD Phenom II X4 955 Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

but the i7 920 is only a few bucks more @ $279
Newegg.com - Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops
and can be found cheaper at other sites.

if I was making a new build this week, and these where my two cpu options, I would go with the i7.

but if you add in the 940 @ its current price, ($180) that would certianly mix things up.

Well sure, but you're forgetting the entry cost of ownership with the two. With the i7, you're looking at atleast $199 for an "entry level" X58 mobo (A good $220 or $240 for a good solid mobo), tri-channel memory (At least $20 more for DDR3-1333 than a good set of DDR2 800 4-4-4-12), you can run dual channel but you'll need dual channel DDR3 that runs @ 1.65V, and teh core i7 920 is still $279. You're looking at a good $550 to enter into the Core i7 god like-ness.

With AMD, like Apok said, you can get a 955, 790GX mobo, and DDR2-800 4-4-4-12. So that's $415 Assuming $245 for the 955, $120 for a mobo, and $50 for the memory.

That's a $135 difference. Not that's not a ton of money, but budgets are budgets. $135 is a good video card. Not to mention, I'm sure quite a few people will be carrying over their DDR2 from their previous build since it's been widely used for the past few years.

And keep in mind, for gaming DDR3-1600 and higher is where DDR3 shows its suff and you're going to see a performance increase over low lat DDR2-800 and DDR2-1066 C5, Also DDR3-1600 C7 will cost $90 and more.

you're forgetting the costs of the board and RAM. 955's can be used in AM2+ 790GX boards with DDR2.

That's the biggest selling point for me. I'm looking forward to seeing some reviews come out for the 955, to see how much better they perform than the 920s and 940s. I'm also curious to see how well the 955s are going to sell with AM3 boards and people picking up DDR3. With the cost of the 955, AM3, and DDR3 it's getting closer to a Core i7 rig cost then a 920 or 940 w/ AM2 and DDR2.

 

[Apokalipse]

bolded selection was my point to the tee

as for the pricing, ya, they will indeed come down

the 940 showed up @ the egg for $275 upon release, its dropped $95 in price.
and while the 955 drops in price, everything else in line should too in theory.

so if somebody was to decide between a 940 and a 955 on a am2+ platform, he would be wise to pick the 940.

If you were to buy right now, yes.

We don't really know what the prices will stabilise to in, say, a couple of weeks.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

I would go for an i7 unless there was no possible way to fit it in your budget. The 32nm 6 core Gulftown cpu's which will be released sometime next year will work on current x58 motherboards so it gives you a great upgrade path. Plus the ability to run sli or crossfire on a x58 also gives you more options for future gpu upgrades.

 

[hikaricloud]

The Phenom IIs are a great deal for the money, and a good upgrade option if your motherboard can handle it. Build a PC from scratch though, it really depends on what you're throwing into it. If you're going to spend a grand on a machine, I would just shell out the extra few hundred to get an i7.

Though I will say the x3 720 is possibly one of the best bang for bucks CPUs out there right now. You could build a whole rig for around 600 bucks and have a really nice machine.

 

[Wildside]

getting DDR3 is only a small improvement. In gaming, like 2-3 fps more in Crysis:

AMD Phenom II – DDR2 vs. DDR3 Performance Benchmarks – Crysis :: TweakTown

i see no need in going DDR3 anytime soon for AMD, but for Intel, it's better thx to the tri-channel. That is like around 5 fps or something increase im guessing.

 

[MrCoffee]

The Techspot review seems pretty comprehensive:

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition review - TechSpot

Still, I think i'm sticking with a i7 920 in my next build.