Originally posted by omegaman7:

---

I just planned on using the stock cooler. My athlon 5200 has done quite well with stock. And since she won't be doing anything real strenuous, I don't see the need in over doing her system. Quads are not even fully used yet. I have very few softwares and games that use all cores...

But at least she'll be set for a while :)

---

Originally posted by sammorris:

---

I don't get it, that LegitReviews article is supposed to be about the X4 630, but that CPU isn't even tested in the Cinebench benchmark, it's just a comparison of other CPUs...
and in the games tests, they didn't compare any of the AMDs to any useful CPUs, of course the i5 is faster than the 965, but where are any lower down Intel offerings?
Sorry, but the legitreviews test is crap.


Also, I'm pretty sure we agreed that the X4 630 was around the level of the Q8200, slightly above it for the 630, slightly below for the 620. What made that change?
I still wouldn't call the power consumption of the Athlon II X4s good, since as you say, they compare to the i5 750, a CPU almost twice as fast, but they're still making strides.

---

Originally posted by sammorris:

---

People like those love cheap, overclockable CPUs, and that's exactly what the X4 600s are. Like the E2100/4000 series and Pentium D805 before them, they offer low-budget enthusiast attraction so you can play around with loads of systems for fun. What they aren't, however, are rivals to CPUs twice the price.

---

Quote:

---

It also highlights intel are starting to wean off the Core 2 architecture in favour of the i5 and upcoming i3. Interestingly, this also includes refreshes of the current LGA1156 crop to an 82W TDP.

---

Originally posted by sammorris:

---

Still hear a lot of abuse for the i7, even though Intel are primarily targeting the i5, which is perfectly fair, since it costs no more than a high-end AM3 system. It's still a high-end platform ultimately, just one in the reach of normal consumers, unlike the i7.
To say Intel's sales are 'not very good' across the board is very misleading, as it's not exactly any better AMD side. CPU sales in general have been mediocre lately since it's no longer such a requirement to continuously upgrade your CPU just to get a PC that runs properly, only to keep up with the latest PC games, or quicken those encode/compress times.
Given the potential to wreck your board with a BIOS update still, I'm still not happy about the fact that you need to update your BIOS to run AMD CPUs.

---

Originally posted by shaffaaf:

---

but AMDs also reqire a new mobo/memory, with the AM3 stuff.

i5/i3 are not targetting upgrades, but rather new systems.

---

Originally posted by sammorris:

---

No, not really. I have an innate distrust of having to update a BIOS. I'm willing to do it (for Gigabytes at least, I'm not touching an Asus BIOS, but then, I'm not owning another Asus board) but I would never recommend it to other people. With the stock BIOS for example, Gigabyte boards let you use Auto volts for overclocking, which makes it a breeze. You try that once you've flashed the BIOS, the CPU will be dead within weeks from an insane voltage.
You seem to think that I'm saying Intel BIOSes aren't bad to flash. You know that's not what I meant. What I mean is if you buy an Intel CPU you don't have to flash the BIOS. With an AMD it's pretty much mandatory, and it shouldn't be!
You can go on about how a $199 CPU is unaffordable in the USA. That's a load of rubbish. Seriously? A $199 CPU with motherboards starting at $100, and DDR3 being cheaper than DDR2, 4GB of it for $90? I've spec'ed at least a dozen systems with CPU/board/RAM twice as much as that in the last couple of months, just from US customers, just on afterdawn!
To say people can't afford i7s had some merit to it. To say people can't afford i5s is utter crap, AMD systems don't cost a penny less. I'm sorry, call me stubborn, but I won't stand to see that argument.
Not living in the US, I don't know what Black Fridays are usually like, but what I do usually note of stores in the UK is that the best deals tend to be relatively low-key, you troll through a huge list of the 'today only' offers and occasionally you find an amazing bargain, not put up in huge big flashy adverts on the front page.

---

Quote:

---

I don't know what rock you've been hiding under, but virtually every new CPU that comes out, usually needs a bios flash, generally if the MB is out before the CPU.

---

Originally posted by sammorris:

---

Quote:

---

I don't know what rock you've been hiding under, but virtually every new CPU that comes out, usually needs a bios flash, generally if the MB is out before the CPU.

---

Often true of the Core 2s (though not always), but not true with i5s or i7s to my knowledge.
The E4300 I owned POSTed right away, even on the dodgy P5N-E SLI. The X2 4200+ did so first time on both the A8N-SLI SE and A8R-MVP and all my gigabytes have never needed flashes, though it's often been recommended for the CPU type to be listed correctly.
As for the rest of the post, I'm ignoring it, it's exactly the same as your last post. You keep saying $400 for CPU, board and RAM is too much when most AMD quads cost just as much.

This reminds me why I keep not posting in this thread. I like the X4 600 CPUs, but you can't just use them as yet another excuse for claiming the i5s are too expensive. Firstly it's not relevant, and secondly it's not true.

---

Originally posted by sammorris:

---

Because an X4 630 is in the least bit comparable to an i5...
I would still consider the X4 600s a good deal when compared with a Q8200, you'll hear no objection from me there.
What I do object to though, however, is the blanket statement that the whole country if not the world can't afford CPU/Mobo/RAM combos that are only $400. It just isn't true. You'll see a lot of sales for the X4 600s because they're so cheap, no doubt about it, but the fact is, the i5s are good value too, and they will sell well because of it, or as well as any CPU can sell in the current economic climate. Yes, people are poorer, so fewer people buy new builds, but when they do, there will still be plenty of i5s for sale. A large number of my friends will be upgrading to i5s in the near future. Some of the proportion that don't already have i7s. Some of the others at least have Yorkfields like mine, which would still rival even the best of AMD's offerings. A world dominated by AMD sales would be a world where AMD's amazing low-cost CPUs extend into the competition zone of the i5s and i7s.

---