[STUPPA]

Ok i'm thinking about getting a new PC my old P4 dinosaur is falling apart as we speak, there's bits falling off, strange noises and a general refusal to run anything that is at all demanding , it's not pretty

I'm thinking of going for one of these top end AMD phenom II processors

https://shop.amd.com/US/_layouts/shop...I&region=us-en



or I5 ,I7 pentium

https://www.intel.com/en_uk/Consumer/Products/Processors
/corei5.htm

https://www.intel.com/en_uk/Consumer/...ors/corei7.htm


I dont know whether to buy bits seperate and build it myself or get a ready built one it depends on what deals i can find really.

What i want to know at the mo is what processor is best to go for , i'm will be using the comp for everyday things but also for music making and some gaming so need the best performance i can get but also at the best price .

What are the pros and cons of having either processor ?

[soulfly22583]

why not go with AMD's hex core chip? Whats your budget?

[STUPPA]

Originally Posted by soulfly22583

why not go with AMD's hex core chip? Whats your budget?

Hey man , i was just reading that the phenom X4 was better value for money than the phenom X6 , the top end x6 seems to be about twice the price of the top X4. This site was also saying that the X4 gives more performance than the equivalent pentium processor

i have seen this deal for an phenom X6 base station tho which is going for about £600 (US$900) i can buy the screen seperate later.
i think this has the 2nd fastest AMD processor available, i think LOL.

Specification

• Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
• AMD Phenom 1055T Six Core Processor
• 8GB Premium Branded DDR3 Memory
• Premium Branded 1000GB SATAII Ultra Fast Hard Disk
• ATI Radeon HD 5450 1024MB Performance Graphics
• Ultra Fast Samsung DVDRW
• ASRock 770 Extreme3 Motherboard
• Deluxe Midi Tower Case
• Quality True Power PSU
• Multi Format Memory Card Reader
• 7.1 High Definition Surround Sound
• 10/100/1000 Ethernet LAN
• 2x USB 3.0 Ports
• 13x USB2 Ports
• Firewire
• 3 Year Classic Bronze Warranty
• Microsoft Office 60 Day Trial
• Microsoft Windows Live Essentials

https://www.cube247.co.uk/products.asp?partno=Delta+GT4


budget i guess around £800 tops for the base unit or for the parts to make it up. Then i'll get a decent soundcard and screen afterwards.

I've been pretty happy with the AMD Phenom series. I'm currently running a quad core with 6GB RAM and an NVIDIA GTX260, and it hums along nicely on just about every task I need. I spent about $500USD on my system, and it's not as nice as the one mentioned above. I think $900USD for the system you listed is very reasonable, and you'll be pretty happy with it.

[El Toker]

I'm running an AMD Phenom triple core now, on Windows 7. I can run I-tunes, C&C generals, WAMP server, thunderbird and bittorrent all at the same time without any lag. My last machine was a P4 and although it's only a couple of months ago, I wouldn't have the patience to run a desktop at that spec again.

Moore's law makes life worth living.

[jd4083]

Unless you are in an industry where you need that sort of power for work, all of that is pretty much overkill brother. You'll almost never use 4 gigs of RAM, much less the 8/16+ that so many pasty basement-dwellers like to brag about. Truth be told, a good SSD drive will do more for the money than the equivalent $$ upgrade in memory, GPU, CPU, etc.

I guess you're not in the US so my suggestion for tigerdirect.com's DIY computer kits probably won't suffice (although shipping might not be bad), but as a general rule pre-built systems are not going to be great deals. What exactly are you going to use your PC for? That would help us frame our responses a bit better.

[STUPPA]

Mugenbao and El toker thanks for the input .

jd4083 i did say in the first post i will be using the comp for everyday stuff but i make music aswell on DAW's and in my experience that is pretty demanding . Just running one of the lastest vst instruments can make my current comp grind to a halt or get jittery. I dont think you could ever have too much RAM for audio production esp if alot of samples are used.

I hear what you are saying about pre-built being pricier tho , if i can find all the bits cheaper i will have a go at building it myself.

For what it's worth, the machine I mentioned above is used primarily for software development as well as 3D modeling and rendering. Especially with rendering, the quad core and six GB resulted in quite dramatic improvements over my previous machine. I imagine that DAW is similarly demanding, so the prebuilt system you listed should be a very nice step up.

Custom builds can be cheaper, but you gotta figure out what your time is worth, imo. A lot of research goes into a custom build, just pricing parts alone can take a significant amount of time, let alone determining component compatibility. Then parts usually arrive in different batches on different dates and have to be assembled, etc. It's the way to go for the cheapest, most badass machine for an enthusiast, but prebuilt systems can be quite nice and not terribly pricey for significantly less hassle.

My $0.02USD

.

[BabyHuey]

There may be some options in between building from scratch
or buying a new PC.
Do you happen to know what motherboard you have?
If not you should be able to find out in your system info.
I have a Intel 775 socket motherboard, which gives me
multiple processor upgrades options.I can go from an old
1.6 Pentium all the way up to a Core 2 Quad 3.0 mhz .

This is a simple and cost effective way to upgrade if your motherboard is compatible.

FWIW

[Sgt.Stedenko]

Just because you have an old P4 socket 775, does not mean you can upgrade to the latest Core2duo/quad.
If there is no support for the processor, higher bus speeds, DDR3 slots, etc, you're sol.
It all depends how well the mobo manufacturer provides BIOS upgrades for newer hardware.
My guess is there's no P4 mobos running core2 quads.