Choice of quad-core setup

[Leggie]

Greetings all,

I am currently musing on what components I should use for my next build.

Usage

• General office tasks
• Software development (NetBeans)
• Occasional video editing (Sony Vegas Pro)
• Blu-ray viewing (possibly)
• No gaming.

Considerations/thoughts

• Would like to keep future upgrade options open; slightly concerned about Intel's seemingly tremendous pace through various sockets, but not sure how long AM3 will be around either.
• No screaming urgency to upgrade.
• Low noise operation a priority.

Parts I already have

• Case: Enermax ECA3052-BS Chakra Mid Tower
• Monitor: Dell 2709W
• HDDs: 2 x Samsung EcoGreen F2 HD154UI 1.5TB
• Sound card: Creative Audigy 4 Pro

Ideas for other parts
CPU: Athlon II X4 620 or Intel Core i5?
RAM: At least 4GB DDR3
Graphics card: HD 4550 or nVidia 9500GT?
Motherboard: If AMD, an AM3 board; must have RAID 0 support (though RAID 5 would offer extra options)

As you can see, I'm wondering which makes more sense upgrade-wise, a Core i5 or a Athlon II X4. Obviously the Athlon won't have the power of the i5, but bear in mind that I perform video editing and rendering relatively rarely. Another considering is power efficiency: has anyone any experience of the performance of the 45W Athlon II X4 600e?

Lots of thoughts...quite jumbled up...sorry for the haphazard ramblings.

Any input welcome.

Cheers,

Leggie

[DanceswithUnix]

Your motherboard can, according to ASUS, take a Rev-C 965BE Phenom-II quad core. How come you are replacing it? I would opt for a CPU upgrade with your current board, which should keep you going for a generation. The DDR2 ram is not *much* of a penalty.

As for power efficiency, the high end stuff only pulls 125W when you really load it. The real world difference seems quite small. In fact, in switching from an old 2.5GHz dual core to a 3.4GHz quad core, my temps have generally dropped as I seldom use more than 2 cores.

[Leggie]

Your motherboard can, according to ASUS, take a Rev-C 965BE Phenom-II quad core. How come you are replacing it?

Good question - reason is that it's a computer from work, which I don't really want to spend much money on upgrading. (I also don't much like the board and its OC capabilities, but that's another story.)

Interesting points you made about power efficiency, thanks.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Good question - reason is that it's a computer from work, which I don't really want to spend much money on upgrading. (I also don't much like the board and its OC capabilities, but that's another story.)

Interesting points you made about power efficiency, thanks.

There are also the 95W X4 925 and 945 available!!

I would look to upgrade to the following processor:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/177044

Even if you do a new build an X4 925,a 785G based motherboard and some DDR3 should do the job for not much money. Some 785G motherboards have their own memory integrated onto the motherboard for the IGP too.

If you are doing a new build I would get the following bits:

Phenom II X4 925 ~ £107

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/177044

ASUS M4A785TD-M EVO ~ £68

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/170277

Has 128MB of DDR3 RAM for the IGP.AFAIK does not support RAID 5 but the more expensive 790GX motherboards do.

4GB 1333MHZ DDR3 ~ £80

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/178943

350W Be Quiet! PSU ~ £30

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/166784

OR

450W Corsair HX450W modular PSU ~ £54

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152606

[Leggie]

Has 128MB of DDR3 RAM for the IGP.AFAIK does not support RAID 5 but the more expensive 790GX motherboards do.

The idea of SidePort memory is an interesting one that I hadn't considered. My main worry is that it wouldn't be up to accelerating 1080p by itself, and I certainly wouldn't want to share any system memory with it, to avoid memory bottlenecks. Have you or anyone else got any experience with SidePort?

On the subject of CPUs, I had another thought - I'll be changing the stock cooler pretty much instantly, so is buying a cheaper OEM CPU a possibility? Or have AMD and Intel phased out offering OEM versions to end-users?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The HD4200 should be fine for 1080p playback:

http://techreport.com/articles.x/17328/7

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3615&p=3

[DanceswithUnix]

The idea of SidePort memory is an interesting one that I hadn't considered. My main worry is that it wouldn't be up to accelerating 1080p by itself, and I certainly wouldn't want to share any system memory with it, to avoid memory bottlenecks. Have you or anyone else got any experience with SidePort?

On the subject of CPUs, I had another thought - I'll be changing the stock cooler pretty much instantly, so is buying a cheaper OEM CPU a possibility? Or have AMD and Intel phased out offering OEM versions to end-users?

Can't help with the sideport, despite my board having it. I have always run with an 8800GT plugged in.

But for the heatsink, my 955BE came with a very nice heatsink with plenty of heatpipes. Don't know what the lower end versions come with, but the 955 seems to be going for £125 so cheaper than a lower end quad core + aftermarket cooler.

If you want to overclock, sounds like you want the new stepping 965 for £145 anyway.

[Leggie]

The HD4200 should be fine for 1080p playback:

http://techreport.com/articles.x/17328/7

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3615&p=3

Thanks, looks good, I'll watch out for a SidePort motherboard.

On the subject of CPUs (again), I found this chart interesting; I focussed on this chart since it's likely to reflect the hardest task that I'll ask my CPU to do, albeit in a different NLE:

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2...-CS4,1404.html

Suggests there's very little difference between the Athlon II X4 620 and the Phenom II X4 945, if I'm reading it correctly. So I'm tending towards the idea of going for the 620. Or am I missing something?

If you want to overclock, sounds like you want the new stepping 965 for £145 anyway.

Overclocking is not so much of a priority for me; I'm likely to only overclock when I start to get restless with the performance. I'm more concerned with keeping everything cool and quiet.

Cheers,

Leggie

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Thanks, looks good, I'll watch out for a SidePort motherboard.

On the subject of CPUs (again), I found this chart interesting; I focussed on this chart since it's likely to reflect the hardest task that I'll ask my CPU to do, albeit in a different NLE:

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2...-CS4,1404.html

Suggests there's very little difference between the Athlon II X4 620 and the Phenom II X4 945, if I'm reading it correctly. So I'm tending towards the idea of going for the 620. Or am I missing something?



Overclocking is not so much of a priority for me; I'm likely to only overclock when I start to get restless with the performance. I'm more concerned with keeping everything cool and quiet.

Cheers,

Leggie

The X4 925 will be a faster processor especially in single threaded applications since it has 6MB of L3 cache the Athlon II lacks.

TBH,though even the Athlon II X4 620 would be a big improvement over an X2 7750+ and it is on the Scan Today Only webpage for around £70 too:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=106&p2=78

http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx

The Athlon II X4 620 trades blows with the Q8200 in performance:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=106&p2=52

For running Sony Vegas Pro the Athlon II X4 620 looks pretty speedy for the price:

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...3638&p=6&cp=15

It seems to be around the speed of a Q8400 in this case.

[Terbinator]

I'd say get a cheapish GFX as mentioned.

[Leggie]

The X4 925 will be a faster processor especially in single threaded applications since it has 6MB of L3 cache the Athlon II lacks.

Indisputably; looking at the charts on Anandtech, though, I suspect the Athlon II represents better value for me - and as you say, it's just over £70 at Scan...very tempting...

I'd say get a cheapish GFX as mentioned.

As in a separate graphics card like the 9500GT?

[Terbinator]

Indisputably; looking at the charts on Anandtech, though, I suspect the Athlon II represents better value for me - and as you say, it's just over £70 at Scan...very tempting...



As in a separate graphics card like the 9500GT?

Yah yah. I don't know what your budget would be regarding a seperate gfx card but i think the ATi Radeon 4670 doesn't even need a seperate power connector and packs a lot of punch.

Edit: for £1 more this is better than a 9500 GT.

[Leggie]

Yah yah. I don't know what your budget would be regarding a seperate gfx card but i think the ATi Radeon 4670 doesn't even need a seperate power connector and packs a lot of punch.

Probably only £30-40. As I said I don't game, so I don't think anything more than a HD 4550 / 9500 GT would be anything other than overkill and a waste of power...unless I'm missing something...would a dual-monitor setup require anything more?

EDIT: Oh, I should say that a passive heatsink is nigh-on essential!

[Terbinator]

Ive posted a card up above ^

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Indisputably; looking at the charts on Anandtech, though, I suspect the Athlon II represents better value for me - and as you say, it's just over £70 at Scan...very tempting...



As in a separate graphics card like the 9500GT?

TBH,since you are not gaming and are using a single monitor I would go with an integrated graphics as it will be cheaper. You can always add a separate graphics card at a later date if the need arises.

After all the HD4200 integrated graphics card with sideport memory is comparable to an HD3450 in performance IIRC.

[Leggie]

Ive posted a card up above ^

Ah, thanks...looks interesting, I'd be interested if a passively-cooled version appears.

I'm tending towards nVidia as I suspect it might prove better than ATI for video editing in the future.