Whirlpool

Hey guys, a friend has about $1250 to spend. I listed him a e8400 setup which I think is reasonable. He then asked me what does AMD has to offer and I checked the AMD X4 Phenom 9500 which is also the same price as the e8400.

Which will be better in performance and bang for buck, considering strictly no overclocking and mild gaming only?

Here are the parts I came up with for the Intel system. Opinions or suggestions of any parts would be great.

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz 775-Pin
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L
RAM: Kingston 667mhz 2GB Kit
HDD: W.D 320GB SATAII 16MB Cache
GPU: 512MB Inno3D/Generic 8600GT
Case & PSU: Coolermaster Centurion 5 (CAC-T05) w/ 430W PSU
Optical Drive: ASUS BLT-1814 Lightscribe x18 SATA
Monitor: Acer 22 X223W
Speakers: Logitech X-530 5.1
K/B & Mouse: Logitech Cordless Desktop LX710

Cheers

I would probably spend a bit more money on a better motherboard. Definitely go E8400 though, The phenoms won't overclock all that much, people get 4Ghz easy on the E8400, and I know you said you wont be overclocking, but the performance at stock the E8400 should be better in most applications.

ummmz writes...

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L

might want to go with a p35 board for a few extra $

GPU: 512MB Inno3D/Generic 8600GT
maybe the new 9600gt? or 3850?

everything else looks good,

The AMD appears to be better.

www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_2007.html

garygame writes...

might want to go with a p35 board for a few extra $

I was thinking about that, but he doesn't need the features of the P35 boards. So he rather save the $30.

Might look into the graphics card though.

~Doug~ writes...

The AMD appears to be better

Tomshardware, everything "appears" better on there...

Both CPU's would be adequate for your friends needs. You're comparing a dual with a quad. The 8400 is the better all round chip though, and if overclocked will beat the 9500 in almost any bench, even rendering.

~Doug~ writes...

The AMD appears to be better.

Hmm...and that appears to be a high-end multithreaded design program.

Try looking at gaming performance (which is what the computer will be used for), and it's a different story:
www23.tomshardware.com/c...2=1076&chart=421
www23.tomshardware.com/c...2=1076&chart=422
www23.tomshardware.com/c...2=1076&chart=425

etc, etc...

if you were gonna consider quad core then get q6600 or wait for q9450...also grab a better graphics card....9600gt is a good cheap option for $200

Coldplayer writes...

consider quad core then get q6600

The Q6600 won't be in the price range therefore just comparing the amd 9500 and e8400.

9600GT is being highly considered atm.

To be honest, if your friend isn't going to game on his machine much, then he'd probably be better off spending only $1000. If that is the case, I'd go with an AMD X2 4800+ for $105, and a nice socket AM2+ Gigabyte MA770-DS3 for $124 for future upgrades.

www23.tomshardware.com/c...2=1096&chart=444

the e8400 is better bang 4 buck

I hesitate to use the term "bang for buck", because it is dependent on the needs of the user. Since I gather that his friend will only be using the system for internet browsing, university work, and mild gaming, an AMD based system should be more than sufficient for his needs. Why spend the extra money if you don't need that level of performance?

What is mild gaming though?

Does it mean he will be playing 5 year old games? If so he probably doesn't need such a great computer.

Does it mean he just wont play games very often? If so he still needs a decent computer.

khakishorts writes...

Why spend the extra money if you don't need that level of performance?

Your exactly right. But if the Intel system is like $20 which isn't very much I would rather get that.

Hey guys, sorry to bring up a old thread. Due to the lack of E8400 and the high prices. What would be a good CPU instead of the E8400. Would the AMD Phenom 9500 or 9600 be an ideal option?

Cheers

bump!

no worries with my 9600 :)

Disappointed that several games only use 1 core, such as WiC. It spazzes out core 4 but barely uses anything else.

Get a xeon e3110, they're exactly the same as the c2d e8400 and they're cheaper. You may want to get a p35 motherboard, since you're saving money of the cpu. I'd suggest a GA-EP35-DS3R.

The 9600 would be the way to go. 4 cores > 2 cores