New AMD 6 core CPUs

[Zachstar]

Anyone here grab one of those new AMD 6 core CPUs yet? The silicon on those badboys is supposed to be far superior to my C2 Phenom II X3

 

[Hielor]

Anyone here grab one of those new AMD 6 core CPUs yet? The silicon on those badboys is supposed to be far superior to my C2 Phenom II X3

I looked at it and must admit to being tempted to switch to the red team after having been on the green team for the last several years, but some of the reviews/benchmarks, especially for gaming, were less than glowing.

 

[Zachstar]

I looked at it and must admit to being tempted to switch to the red team after having been on the green team for the last several years, but some of the reviews/benchmarks, especially for gaming, were less than glowing.

That's because they cant help themselves but compare it to i7. It gets its ass handed to it because most games cant utilize more than 2 cores let alone 6.

Its absurdly unfair to compare it to the i7 i7 requires new mobo, expensive ram and chipsets that dont do SLI/crossfire well. PhII X6 requires only a bios upgrade on a majority of AM2 AM2+ and AM3 mobos. Giving extreme flexibility.

Tho I have to admit tho. These wont sell nearly as good as their X4 and X3 counterparts. The new silicon is expected to produce VERY fast quads.

 

[Hielor]

That's because they cant help themselves but compare it to i7. It gets its ass handed to it because most games cant utilize more than 2 cores let alone 6.

Its absurdly unfair to compare it to the i7 i7 requires new mobo, expensive ram and chipsets that dont do SLI/crossfire well. PhII X6 requires only a bios upgrade on a majority of AM2 AM2+ and AM3 mobos. Giving extreme flexibility.

Tho I have to admit tho. These wont sell nearly as good as their X4 and X3 counterparts. The new silicon is expected to produce VERY fast quads.

Comparing it to the i7s is perfectly fair, because that's what it's competing against. Presumably the consumer will take into account that if they already have an AMD mobo, they can just keep that one. If you're already looking at a full mobo/CPU upgrade though, it doesn't really matter. What would you prefer they compare it against, if not its competition?

I already have a Core i7 920 and am happy with it overall. The problem is that it has a relatively low clock rate, which for cpu-bound games like FSX it's not that great. I have an older version of my model of motherboard, which apparently has a flaw that prevents it from sustaining voltages even under mild overclocks.

I'm also curious as to what you mean by "don't do SLI/crossfire well"--I haven't heard of any issues with the X58 under SLI.

 

[Zachstar]

Intel's latest chipsets which basically completely lockout Nvidia or other companies from building chipsets for the latest i3 i5 and i7 platforms.

 

[Urwumpe]

The good thing is, that the big differences between AMD and Intel are gone now. Software for a Intel CPU should also work on a modern AMD and vice versa.

Developing software to use more than just one or two cores, is not that easy, so don't complain too loud about it. Be happy if there is a game that scales perfectly on multi-cores. Even something like OpenMP requires you to think for parallelism. Even though it makes things insanely simple today.

 

[Hielor]

Intel's latest chipsets which basically completely lockout Nvidia or other companies from building chipsets for the latest i3 i5 and i7 platforms.

Uh, that doesn't mean that they don't support SLI/CrossFire. Back when the i7 first came out, it was already supported well enough:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/core-i7-multigpu-sli-crossfire-game-performance-review/

 

[Zachstar]

Uh, that doesn't mean that they don't support SLI/CrossFire. Back when the i7 first came out, it was already supported well enough:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/core-i7-multigpu-sli-crossfire-game-performance-review/

That is not the P55 H55 mobos that that older socket that costs a fortune more than p55 mobos. Yes it did have crossfire and SLI but that was before the switch.

 

[Hielor]

That is not the P55 H55 mobos that that older socket that costs a fortune more than p55 mobos. Yes it did have crossfire and SLI but that was before the switch.

Uh, what?

The i7 only runs on the X58...

 

[Zachstar]

Uh, what?

The i7 only runs on the X58...

Thats the "Main" i7 with an absurdly expensive NB the one I speak of is http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115214 which pairs with less expensive but locked out P55 and H55 chipsets.

 

[Hielor]

Thats the "Main" i7 with an absurdly expensive NB the one I speak of is http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115214 which pairs with less expensive but locked out P55 and H55 chipsets.

If you're running SLI with a subpar processor, you're spending money in the wrong places.

 

[Zachstar]

If you're running SLI with a subpar processor, you're spending money in the wrong places.

Most people use SLI to pair midrage cards in a case like that even a Kuma core will do. Now to be fair. Not having SLI open spec is costing Nvidia dearly as clever mobo makers put crossfire on their H55 and P55 boards. However AMD allows other chipset makers to produce chipsets that work with their full range of CPUs.

Right now my mobo will run with the PhII X6 a simple bios update and I am set. If I wanted to "beat" its performance. I would have to spend 150 minimum for a board that barely replaces this one (And I question its ability to FSB overclock as well as this one can) and an absurd amount for the i7 itself when the i3 with 32nm process can overclock to 4ghz with some nice fsb tricks. Not to mention my current 720 X3

If I truly needed a boost all I need to do is get a 50-80USD CPU cooler and crank this baby up to near 4ghz. When most of the cores are reduced on the X6 model its superior silicon is setting mhz records. The X3 and X4 models are going to sell like hotcakes to overclockers drooling over its silicon.

 

[Hielor]

its superior silicon...

Good one.

Like I said, I considered the X6 for a couple hours, and then I did a little bit of research, and saw that even when overclocked to 4GHz it still barely outperforms the (stock) 2.66GHz i7 920...

There's no "superior silicon" here. AMD is behind in the processor wars, and they know it--that's why they bolted on two more cores to the X4 and are trying to pass it off as something new.

 

[Zachstar]

Good one.

Like I said, I considered the X6 for a couple hours, and then I did a little bit of research, and saw that even when overclocked to 4GHz it still barely outperforms the (stock) 2.66GHz i7 920...

There's no "superior silicon" here. AMD is behind in the processor wars, and they know it--that's why they bolted on two more cores to the X4 and are trying to pass it off as something new.

Not saying towards you but I call BS on that comparison. There are limits on what 45nm can do and I am suspicious of even an X4 being that way much less an X6.

In terms of gaming yes an I7 will win over the X6 but you pay a pretty penny for it.