Real world difference between amd and intel?

[HalloweenJack]

a good friend is asking , whether he should jump ship from an AMD Pheniom X4 965 to an Intel i5 2500k;

he`s using 2 x HD 6850`s in CF

i dont know how to honestly answer him

any help?

[Hoonigan]

The main information we need to provide a decent recommendation is, what does he actually do on his PC?

Does he browse Facebook and sometimes play a bit of Solitaire or does he run Photoshop and high-end games? (A bit of an exaggeration there, but you get my point)

[HalloweenJack]

gaming mostly - currently has 2 x 4 1600mhz ddr3 with a phenom X4 965 and 2 x HD 6850

im just not convinced he`ll actually see any real difference in games (gaming at 1900x1200)


was more thinking an SSD would be better

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Does his current games run fine?? If yes,then don't bother upgrading. Upgrade when the need arises and beware of the "bottleneck" term,since it is used to justify spending more money. A bottleneck IMHO is only important when it affects what you are doing.

[kalniel]

Depends what the game is. If it's Skyim or The Witcher 2 then he will experience a noticeable improvement in gameplay even without changing any other components. If it's something else then the difference will be less noticeable - the FPS will go up because that setup is going to put a load on the CPU, but it might not make a noticeable difference to the experience.

[Zak33]

jumping ship will also require a new mobo.

keeping what he has is in fact sensible and financially astute.

a 3.4 Ghz Quad AMD Phenom II is no slouch.

If he hasn't got an SSD, I suggest now is the time

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

jumping ship will also require a new mobo.

keeping what he has is in fact sensible and financially astute.

a 3.4 Ghz Quad AMD Phenom II is no slouch.

If he hasn't got an SSD, I suggest now is the time

Agreed. Upgrading is only worth it when you actually cannot run games smoothly or find a bargain. From experience some games are also playable at much lower framerates than others too and it is dependent on the person too (plus the amount of OCD). I tend to rather try out games first. Saved me loads of money to be wasted on other things!!

[ShadowKnight]

Indeed, even though the Intel might gain some ground, unless there is an actual need for it (unplayable due to speed or looks). I tend to wait till it gets ever so slightly dire with games, then build slight monster of a rig but keeping it within reason (possibly enthusiast level components, but no over the top ones, as the last 5% will cost dearly and the next gen will equal it with a mid level processor)

[KeyboardDemon]

If he was building a new rig then I would say pick Intel, but as he already has a rig I can see no compelling reason to simply swap out for an Intel, I don't think the gains would be sufficiently high enough to justify the costs.