Tom's asks "Gamers: Do You Need More Than An Athlon II X3?" - Page 4

trivium nate · 08-03-10, 12:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ragejg

And this is in reference to.... ?

the thread title

ragejg · 08-03-10, 12:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bob saget

Pshhh, not with my salary

Yeah, seconded, definitely. I used to always stick to a $70 total with shipping CPU cost limit. I think the Phenom II x3 720 I bought July '09 is about the only time I've ever breached that, and not by too much. And maybe the XP 1600 Palomino back in 1536.

stncttr908 · 08-03-10, 08:23 AM

I've always gone the cheap CPU route. My Athlon XP 2500+ was $90 and I believe my current E4300 was somewhere around there. I can't really believe I'm considering going the expensive Core i7 route for my next upgrade. Maybe this article will force me to scale back my purchase to a higher end Core i5.

08-03-10, 08:58 AM

I think for most of us the reason we go for the i7 is simply because we can, and we want the best at the time. Yes, a simple CPU will always do but who doesn't want the best?

stncttr908 · 08-03-10, 10:55 AM

My deal with the i7 is I have all of these other aspirations for which it would be perfected suited - getting a CableCARD tuner and turning my HTPC into a DVR with the Core i7 doing the encoding grunt work, getting back into content creation (video, 3D, web design) but I'm sure I'd get bored with those ideas eventually and have an i7 doing no real work.

Then again, you're absolutely right - we buy these things because we can.

08-03-10, 10:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stncttr908

My deal with the i7 is I have all of these other aspirations for which it would be perfected suited - getting a CableCARD tuner and turning my HTPC into a DVR with the Core i7 doing the encoding grunt work, getting back into content creation (video, 3D, web design) but I'm sure I'd get bored with those ideas eventually and have an i7 doing no real work.

Then again, you're absolutely right - we buy these things because we can.

I am about to build a new PC now. I would love to go i7 because it's the best but I would be just as suited getting a $90 Athlon X4. Won't do as well in benchmarks but it will work great.

08-03-10, 12:11 PM

4ghz Quad Core or bust!

Redeemed · 08-03-10, 12:16 PM

Only reason I went i7 was the price was right- got a ridiculously good deal through work. Otherwise I'd probably be rocking AMD's 6-core or top end quad right now.

**nekrosoft13** · 08-03-10, 03:21 PM

I still like the i7 and x58 platform more, while it does cost more, but overall is much better deal/rig.

I got x58 with i7 and two AMD platforms one with 780G + 9550 and 890G + X4 and I just don't see using either AMD chipset as my main rig.

the 780G is my HTPC, I got the video issues fixed, when I disabled onboard ATi and installed GT240. The pesky H264 acceleration issues are gone.

It also fixed HDTV scanning issue, with ATi i had to expand the screen by about 2 inches all around for it to fix fully on in the display, with GT240 I didn't had to touch any scanning options.

Just waiting for a decent i5 +H55 combo at fry's and replace the 780G + 9550.

08-03-10, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redeemed

Only reason I went i7 was the price was right- got a ridiculously good deal through work. Otherwise I'd probably be rocking AMD's 6-core or top end quad right now.

Ya i7 930 is about 299 most places as the top line AMD 965 quad is 179. However microcenter have the 930 for 199 by my house so I'm going for it. Only 20 bucks more.

**bob saget** · 08-03-10, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bearclaw

Ya i7 930 is about 299 most places as the top line AMD 965 quad is 179. However microcenter have the 930 for 199 by my house so I'm going for it. Only 20 bucks more.

will you be taking the limo?

08-03-10, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bob saget

will you be taking the limo?

Where did you get this notion I am rich? You keep mentioning it...

08-03-10, 08:23 AM	#39
stncttr908 Registered User Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: NJ, USA Posts: 4,496	Re: Tom's asks "Gamers: Do You Need More Than An Athlon II X3?" I've always gone the cheap CPU route. My Athlon XP 2500+ was $90 and I believe my current E4300 was somewhere around there. I can't really believe I'm considering going the expensive Core i7 route for my next upgrade. Maybe this article will force me to scale back my purchase to a higher end Core i5. __________________ PC - \| Core i7-2600K @ stock \| Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD3 \| 4GB Patriot Sector 5 DDR3 \| Galaxy GTX 460 1GB @ stock \| Corsair Force 120GB SSD \| Seagate 1TB 7200RPM \| 320GB Seagate 7200.10 \| 2x Seagate 500GB USB 2.0 \| Lite-On 20x SATA DVD+RW \| Silverstone TJ-09 \| Corsair 620W PSU \| Logitech Z-5500s \| Sennheiser HD-570 headphones \| Samsung 2494LW \| Laptop - \| Dell Inspiron 1420 \| C2D T7300 (2.0GHz, 4MB cache) \| 2GB DDR2-667 \| 160GB 7200RPM HDD \| DVD +/- RW \| 14.1" WXGA+ (1440x900) \| Broadcom 802.11g \| NVIDIA 8400M GS 128MB \|

08-03-10, 08:58 AM	#40
Bearclaw Guest Posts: n/a	Re: Tom's asks "Gamers: Do You Need More Than An Athlon II X3?" I think for most of us the reason we go for the i7 is simply because we can, and we want the best at the time. Yes, a simple CPU will always do but who doesn't want the best?

08-03-10, 10:55 AM	#41
stncttr908 Registered User Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: NJ, USA Posts: 4,496	Re: Tom's asks "Gamers: Do You Need More Than An Athlon II X3?" My deal with the i7 is I have all of these other aspirations for which it would be perfected suited - getting a CableCARD tuner and turning my HTPC into a DVR with the Core i7 doing the encoding grunt work, getting back into content creation (video, 3D, web design) but I'm sure I'd get bored with those ideas eventually and have an i7 doing no real work. Then again, you're absolutely right - we buy these things because we can. __________________ PC - \| Core i7-2600K @ stock \| Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD3 \| 4GB Patriot Sector 5 DDR3 \| Galaxy GTX 460 1GB @ stock \| Corsair Force 120GB SSD \| Seagate 1TB 7200RPM \| 320GB Seagate 7200.10 \| 2x Seagate 500GB USB 2.0 \| Lite-On 20x SATA DVD+RW \| Silverstone TJ-09 \| Corsair 620W PSU \| Logitech Z-5500s \| Sennheiser HD-570 headphones \| Samsung 2494LW \| Laptop - \| Dell Inspiron 1420 \| C2D T7300 (2.0GHz, 4MB cache) \| 2GB DDR2-667 \| 160GB 7200RPM HDD \| DVD +/- RW \| 14.1" WXGA+ (1440x900) \| Broadcom 802.11g \| NVIDIA 8400M GS 128MB \|

08-03-10, 12:11 PM	#43
\|MaguS\| Guest Posts: n/a	Re: Tom's asks "Gamers: Do You Need More Than An Athlon II X3?" 4ghz Quad Core or bust!

08-03-10, 12:16 PM	#44
Redeemed Registered User Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 17,986	Re: Tom's asks "Gamers: Do You Need More Than An Athlon II X3?" Only reason I went i7 was the price was right- got a ridiculously good deal through work. Otherwise I'd probably be rocking AMD's 6-core or top end quad right now.

08-03-10, 03:21 PM	#45
nekrosoft13 I'm Geralt Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Chicagoland, once a year in Poland Posts: 24,364	Re: Tom's asks "Gamers: Do You Need More Than An Athlon II X3?" I still like the i7 and x58 platform more, while it does cost more, but overall is much better deal/rig. I got x58 with i7 and two AMD platforms one with 780G + 9550 and 890G + X4 and I just don't see using either AMD chipset as my main rig. the 780G is my HTPC, I got the video issues fixed, when I disabled onboard ATi and installed GT240. The pesky H264 acceleration issues are gone. It also fixed HDTV scanning issue, with ATi i had to expand the screen by about 2 inches all around for it to fix fully on in the display, with GT240 I didn't had to touch any scanning options. Just waiting for a decent i5 +H55 combo at fry's and replace the 780G + 9550. __________________ Windows 8 the next big failure, right after Windows ME