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Forums - PC Discussion - Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 or AMD Phenom X4 9950 Quad Core?

Soleron on 30 October 2008
lightbleeder said:
yup I'll be using Vista 64-bit, How much RAM can it handle? Maybe I'll upgrade to 8GB in the future...

17.2 billion gigabytes. You won't need a 128-bit OS for quite some time.

More RAM doesn't improve performance. You're better off spending money on a new graphics card when you want to upgrade.

 



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Squilliam on 30 October 2008
lightbleeder said:
yup I'll be using Vista 64-bit, How much RAM can it handle? Maybe I'll upgrade to 8GB in the future...

 

 

Ram is limited by the motherboard, a 64bit OS can address over 128GB of ram.



Tease.

Viper1 on 30 October 2008
lightbleeder said:
yup I'll be using Vista 64-bit, How much RAM can it handle? Maybe I'll upgrade to 8GB in the future...

 

The OS can handle 16 exobytes of RAM.  264 addresses.

Your mother board though will not be so gracious and probably limit you to 8-16 GB depending on various factors.



The rEVOLution is not being televised

ethomaz on 30 October 2008

Depends...

For mount new machines = Core 2 Quad
For upgrade AM2 or AM2+ machines = Phenom X4

And yes, Core 2 Quad is better than Phenom X4.

Bye.



Soleron on 30 October 2008
ethomaz said:

Depends...

For mount new machines = Core 2 Quad
For upgrade AM2 or AM2+ machines = Phenom X4

And yes, Core 2 Quad is better than Phenom X4.

Bye.


That's a sweeping statement. Some Phenoms are better than some Core 2 Quads. AMD tends to be equal or better value in the price ranges where their processors are.

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lightbleeder on 30 October 2008

So any 775 socket motherboard should work right?



Soleron on 30 October 2008
lightbleeder said:
So any 775 socket motherboard should work right?

No. They ought to, but check every motherboard's specs to see whether they support 45nm Intel quad-cores. Some don't work and some require BIOS updates first.

Shoestar on 31 October 2008
Soleron said:

Shoestar said:
It depends on what you're getting as graphic card aswell... if you're getting an ATI card, I'd go with the phenom. If you're getting anything else, and price didn't matter, then go with the intel brain.

What? It has no effect on performance whatever graphics cards you pair with CPUs. The decision should be based on price and performance alone.**

I'd like to point out something though. The phenom is the only real quad core processor out there even though for some things (look for it on anandtech) the Intel C2Q out powers it.

Like I said, the X4 9950 is better than the Q6600. Don't confuse him with that 'native quad-core' stuff; performance is all that matters as feature set is pretty comparable.**

 

 

** Yeah... a few months ago I would have said the same thing when the price range/performance for the phenom was much higher compared to the intel C2Q line. But now with the price drop, the AMD Spider platform makes it worth it to have a full ATI/AMD combo. Source since I don't feel like getting into details: http://www.amd.com/us-en/0,,3715_15341,00.html

As well, if u didn't know... ATI is owned by AMD. Just in case you would contest the validity of this point as it comes directly from AMD themselves.

 

** He asked a question. Hence I'm giving him information relevant to his question. So I should refrain from giving him 'some' information because it might confuse him? That's kind'a illogical.

 



I am a Gamer... I play games and not consoles. I have a PC and Console on which I game... I like games. End of Story!

Soleron on 31 October 2008
Shoestar said:
Soleron said:

Shoestar said:
...

 

 

1) Yeah... a few months ago I would have said the same thing when the price range/performance for the phenom was much higher compared to the intel C2Q line. But now with the price drop, the AMD Spider platform makes it worth it to have a full ATI/AMD combo. Source since I don't feel like getting into details: http://www.amd.com/us-en/0,,3715_15341,00.html

As well, if u didn't know... ATI is owned by AMD. Just in case you would contest the validity of this point as it comes directly from AMD themselves.

2) He asked a question. Hence I'm giving him information relevant to his question. So I should refrain from giving him 'some' information because it might confuse him? That's kind'a illogical.

 

1) I know that AMD makes both of those now. It doesn't increase performance to have both. The reason they keep talking about a platform is to sell more stuff not because it offers an advantage. There is no physical reason for it to and no benchmarks I have seen have shown otherwise.

2) By 'confuse', I don't mean that the information shouldn't be given, I meant that it is irrelevenat marketing speak and ought not to affect his decision at all. Why buy native quad cores if they don't offer a performance or other advantage?

 



Tuanniez on 31 October 2008

5 years? You'll certainly be able to play games for 5 years, but you won't be getting great fps for 5 years. It'll last you alot longer than most things on the market atm though, so its a good buy.