This new Phenom II, or old Q9550

[AmuseMe]

I've been asking alot on the HWC forums, looking for new upgrades, but I just came accross some good deals, resulting in the same price for both builds. Im just looking at RAM, MOTHERBOARDS, AND CPUS. This will be for gaming.

AMD
Antec 1200
Sapphire 4870x2
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750w

Phenom II 940 BE
ASUS M4A79 - Deluxe (DDR2 version)
OCZ Reaper (8GB DDR2) 1066MHz

Intel
Antec 1200
Sapphire 4870x2
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750w

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield
AUS P5Q Pro Turbo
OCZ Reaper (8GB DDR2) 1066MHz

[1Tanker]

I would say...the Q9550..by a nose-hair. The 9550 and PhII 955 run very close, so the C2Q should edge out the 940 in most apps/games.

[wonton1017]

Q9550 for sure

[AmuseMe]

The 9550 has a 12MB cache, while the rest of the intel line only has a 8MB cache, and the Phenom II 940 - 955 is 8MB as well. Is the 4MB extra that big of a deal? What is the cache?

[sswilson]

It's basically high speed internal memory which is used to store commonly used information/calculations.

This is how I always think of it.... consider how an OS uses motherboard memory to store portions of our apps rather than having to grab it off of the (relatively slower) hard drive every time you need to use them. Accessing the information from RAM rather than from the HDD speeds up the process by leaps and bounds. In laymans' terms, that's how processor cache works.

Does it make a huge difference? That depends on what you're comparing.

If you're comparing the same core (as in a higher end proc from the same line), then my experience has been that cache can make a huge difference. OTOH, you can't look at two completely different cores and say that one will be faster than the other because one has more cache.... the processor's architecture & clockspeed would take presidence.

That said.... just like some men have a preference for certain body parts when looking at a pretty lady, some folks have their own personal preferences when it comes to cache..... (I'm a cache man myself..... :) ).

[1Tanker]

Originally Posted by AmuseMe

The 9550 has a 12MB cache, while the rest of the intel line only has a 8MB cache, and the Phenom II 940 - 955 is 8MB as well. Is the 4MB extra that big of a deal? What is the cache?

The 9550 has a huge shared 12MB L2, and the 940 has a smaller 6MB L3...with 512kb L2/core. The 940 also has the advantage of the IMC...which speeds access to and from the cache and memory...which helps makeup for Intels larger L2. Don't let the specs/numbers fool you..proper benchmarking can show which chip is more effective on which app/game.

Edit: Keep in mind that the PhII chip is adding L3(6MB) and L2(4x512kb) to get a total of 8MB....which sounds more competitve with Intel's 12.

[AmuseMe]

The 9550 beats the phenom II 940 at everything according to...

CPU Benchmarks - HardwareCanucks Charts

With that said, should I get the 9550? How much can I overclock this thing?

[martin_metal_88]

Well Q 9550 is a pretty overclocker I have never see a PHII Oced by myself so I can't tell you about that. But for my part I'll try to get a AM3 MOBO and CPU so you are futurproof for some years.

[Soultribunal]

I would Opt for the PII build personally.
With LGA775 comming to its eventual End, at least the PII gives you room in the future.
The IMC on the latest AM3's really gives a good performance boost.
I just did a build with a 955 and its an amazing little monster.

Regards,
ST

[snoosebum]

The 940 isnt AM3 however, You'd have to move up to the 945 or 955.