BleepingComputer.com: Thinking of jumping to i7 860 from Phenom X4

Hey guys, I was wondering if it is worth the money switching over to an i7 860 from a Phenom X4 955?

I'm having no problems with the Phenom, and infact the thing is pretty beast but I kind of just am getting greedy. Will the performance jump be significant in playing games? My first guess is yes, but I want your opinions.

No, it wont. Stick with the PII.

Performance differences between the Phenom II and the i7 aren't that severe. However, there are differences between the Phenom (first generation) and the Phenom II and, obviously, the i7. The original Phenom CPU's released a few years ago had issues and could not easily go above a certain clock speed. AMD fixed these issues and updated the architecture to the Phenom II. If you have a recent AM2 or AM2+ motherboard, you can do a simple drop-in upgrade to a Phenom II 965 or 955 and get near the performance of the i7. Spending $200 to replace a CPU, compared to twice that to replace an entire motherboard, CPU, RAM, and OS, is a bargain.

Actually, I neglected to mention it is a Phenom II X4 955, and B.E. no less. I don't really want to mess with overclocking, so that thought of the i7 sort of enticed me. It's good to know that you guys wouldn't spend the cash. It makes me feel better about my choice of the Phenom.

Thanks for the replies!

This post has been edited by RJ350z: 12 December 2009 - 11:13 PM

RJ350z, on Dec 12 2009, 10:01 PM, said:

That's the whole point of a Black Edition, an unlocked multiplier.

Changing the multiplier is insanely easy and can be done through the BIOS.

dpunisher, on Dec 13 2009, 11:42 AM, said:

Yes, but I just wanted the ability to do it if I so choose. Realistically I won't, though.

DJBPace07, on Dec 13 2009, 05:34 PM, said:

The problem is I haven't done much in the way of research on OCing and I've only got the stock cooler on there at the moment. I did go with a very nice Gigabyte board though so it's ready if I want to.