# Which one to Get Intel Core i5-650 or AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition



## whoru007 (Sep 12, 2010)

Hey Guys, I am going to purchase new system which will basically used for Photoshop, Corel Draw and other designing tools.

So I decided to Google! but got a confusion rather than a solution.

Which one to buy?

Intel Core i5-650 3.2GHz 4MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 73W Dual-Core Desktop Processor [BX80616I5650] (Rs.8,700)

OR

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor [HDZ955FBGIBOX] (Rs.8,100)

please explain reason and suggest good motherboard under 5k for each.


----------



## coderunknown (Sep 12, 2010)

answer in simple terms: with those apps in use, don't expect much higher performance than your current rig with the i5 or the Phenom II X4. for those apps, Phenom II X6 is best choice. 

so if you provide total budget & the parts you require, we can suggest a better config cause just throwing in a fast proccy & a premium motherboard won't guarantee better performance.


----------



## pimpom (Sep 12, 2010)

According to Tom's Hardware performance charts, the Phenom X4 955 is faster by about 10% than the i5-660 (they don't give a value for the i5-650) in both gaming and Photoshop CS5.

The Phenom 955 is faster than a C2D 8400 (no numbers for your current E8200) by about 23% in gaming, and by 37% in Photoshop.

So, based on those results, the Phenom is better (and cheaper too).


----------



## Cool Buddy (Sep 12, 2010)

Yet, if you could increase your budget by 2k for the processor, you would be able to get Phenom II X6 1055t which would be a much better choice.


----------



## Piyush (Sep 12, 2010)

Phenom all the way


----------



## whoru007 (Sep 12, 2010)

Cool Buddy said:


> Yet, if you could increase your budget by 2k for the processor, you would be able to get Phenom II X6 1055t which would be a much better choice.



I can't increase my budget.

Also Benchmarks may show only ideal values and what matters is realtime performance.


----------



## pimpom (Sep 12, 2010)

whoru007 said:


> Also Benchmarks may show only ideal values and what matters is realtime performance.



Would you like to explain what you mean by that?

Sure, synthetic benchmarks can be misleading. But the comparative benchmarks I pointed out are with real-world applications doing practical tasks. How else are you going to judge performance?

A 37% increase in Photoshop (the application you gave) is significant, but may or may not be enough to justify getting a new rig. The decision is yours to make. We have provided you with information and opinions. The ball is in your court now.


----------



## whoru007 (Sep 12, 2010)

pimpom said:


> Would you like to explain what you mean by that?
> 
> Sure, synthetic benchmarks can be misleading. But the comparative benchmarks I pointed out are with real-world applications doing practical tasks. How else are you going to judge performance?
> 
> A 37% increase in Photoshop (the application you gave) is significant, but may or may not be enough to justify getting a new rig. The decision is yours to make. We have provided you with information and opinions. The ball is in your court now.



What i meant to say is when dealing with multi-threaded applications like Photoshop etc. this benchmarks doesn't work also can anyone provide me good site which have some Benchmarking facilities; I only know TomsHardware and AnandTech.


----------



## pimpom (Sep 12, 2010)

whoru007 said:


> What i meant to say is when dealing with multi-threaded applications like Photoshop etc. this benchmarks doesn't work


I don't know what you're looking for. I summarised the benchmarks with Photoshop for the three processors that are relevant to you. You can easily check them yourself. What more do you need?

Another factor that concerns those who regularly do serious work with Photoshop is to dedicate a partition for sole use as Photoshop's scratch file (virtual memory). Some even use a small fast drive for the purpose. But this has become less important as memory prices decrease and most computers now have multi-GBs of RAM.


----------



## suyash_123 (Sep 13, 2010)

Hello whoru007,

I have AMD Phenom X4 955 BE. and With ASUS MOBO	: ASUS M4A785-M .
4 gb Ram (ddr30

Every time on my system u can see this software open
1. SQL server 08
2. MS Visual Studio 08.
3. Adobe Photoshop 
4. FireFox (15 tabs + always) , IE ,Chrome, Opera, safari (For cross browser check of websites)
5. Windows Media Player 
6. remote Desktop Connection to my server.
7. remote connection to My Office PC for My files..
8. OUTLOOK 07

ALL Runs Smoothly.....
Only One problem. takes a time to Shut down as lots of services are there to close....

One More Problem....
Only It make Much Noise (CPU FAN)

But By ASUS Catalyst Software, u can change setting to work in power saving mode 
there are 3 Model: Power saving Mode, Auto, FULL power Mode.


----------



## whoru007 (Sep 19, 2010)

suyash_123 said:


> Hello whoru007,
> 
> I have AMD Phenom X4 955 BE. and With ASUS MOBO	: ASUS M4A785-M .
> 4 gb Ram (ddr30
> ...



Thanks for your reply which mentions almost the real world scenario similar to me.


----------



## toad_frog09 (Sep 19, 2010)

suyash_123 said:


> Hello whoru007,
> 
> I have AMD Phenom X4 955 BE. and With ASUS MOBO	: ASUS M4A785-M .
> 4 gb Ram (ddr30
> ...



.
.
My pc config is same as yours only with the ASUS M4A785TDV-EVO (if i got the name right) as mobo with 2 gb kingston.

Sometimes I watch full HD porn with games like Fifa10, Just Cause2, & Batman AA minimised just as precaution if mom comes knocking on door. Alt-Tab then.
And the pc does not even glitch on that.
Smooth as my lube lotion.
.
.
Ok getting serious here, the phenom 955 is a go anytime.
I dont have the pc shut down problem.
But the fan noise is something you cant ignore.
The icing on the cake is that the cpu is a black edition, easily overclocked to 3.6 on stock. Or if you wana get rid of noise and decide to put a costly aftermarket HSF, then theres nothing stopping this cpu.
I seriously am gonna try to hit a nice 3.8-4 if I get some nice HSF like NH-14.


----------



## papul1993 (Sep 19, 2010)

AMD!!! And i scale the CPU to 800MHz when not in use. keeps CPU cools and (just a guess) fans runs slower


----------



## suyash_123 (Sep 20, 2010)

Hey Guys u r Right ...

This Stock Cpu fan Is A S#it . It makes lots of Noise COz it roates at 3500 Rpm + and After that also The Idle temp reaches 50-53 oC

And rated Temp is just 62oC For  AmD X4 965 B.e.

Next month 1st thing is to Buy a GOOD HSF .

i AM Finding Good HSF for Amd Phenom X4 965BE 
Can Any Body suggest?


----------



## coderunknown (Sep 20, 2010)

^^ Cooler Master Hyper 212 (not the +. just 212).


----------



## topgear (Sep 21, 2010)

Hyper 212 is good but it's availability is very scarce and the hyper 212+ without any lapping is not that bad either and the price is just 1.8k and it's available in all major cities too.


----------



## The Sorcerer (Sep 22, 2010)

well if there's someone in mumbai i know who is going to sell his p55a-ud7+ 661- let me know if you are interested


----------

