Main Area and Open Discussion > Living Room

CPU Question: More Mhz per core or more cores?

(1/10) > >>

Deozaan:
Hi folks,

I'm building a PC for my sister, and it's been quite a few years (ancient history in internet time) since I built a PC (I still have a single core machine). I put together what I think is a rather nice PC for her but her brother-in-law insists its inferior because I used an AMD processor instead of Intel. Unfortunately I don't have a list of what he's offered to build for her, but it did bring to my mind the question about cycles vs. cores.

What would be best in the scenario of someone who mostly uses their computer for basic word processing and internet, but also does photography and photoshop, so sometimes has to handle image processing stuff of multiple large files? (She has a 10.2MP camera and takes all her photos in RAW format.) Is it worth it to stick with an Intel 4-core machine that has a few hundred more Mhz per core or is it better to go with an AMD 6-core?

My thinking is that a couple hundred Mhz per core won't match the extra power provided by two extra cores. But on the other hand my sister might not do enough things on the PC to utilize some of the cores, which would make them sit there idle and they'd essentially be wasted.

Opinions?

f0dder:
Humm, I don't know how well Photoshop has been parallelized - but making things scale well isn't the easiest task in the world. Personally, I'd rather have a quadcore with more GHz per core than a 6-core machine... especially since 6-core implies AMD, and the Intel CPUs are faster per MHz - AMD's only selling point these days would be lower price.

Ath:
Even a Quad-core is way overkill for that task, so I'd suggest to grab a high-MHz Intel Core i5-760 or i5-2400 processor, 4 or 8 GB Ram, Windows 7 x64, 1 TB 7200 rpm harddisk and a fine Videocard, using DVI or hdmi connection to a 24" LCD/LED monitor.

40hz:
Hard to come up with a hard and fast answer to this type of question. As f0dder pointed out, a lot depends on which software you're going to use, how often you're going to use it, and how well it takes advantage of the hardware it's running on. A general rule of thumb is that most software is at least a year behind in using the capabilities of the silicone it runs on.

As of right now, it's my understanding that Sandy Bridge beats out all comers for general PC computing use as far as "bang for the buck" is concerned. The i7-2600 models ($299-$329 street) stomp everything out there, and are more than adequate for handling anything you'll want to do on a desktop. The lower cost i5-2500 (<$275) edged out the AMD Phenom X6 in both CPU mark and value scores according to Pass Mark's metrics. Details on that  here.

Couple of good articles can be found here and especially here. From the look of things, the i5 and i7 both hit the sweet spot for a new 'power user' build. Normally I'd opt for the i5. That's because I always follow the old  "two or three chips down from the top-of-line" method for getting the best specs for the money when buying an Intel. But for something as central as a CPU, the $50 to $80 difference to go up to the i7 isn't enough to make me automatically rule out going for the higher priced chip. (Which is probably exactly what Intel was hoping most people would think when buying. :mrgreen: ) I keep my desktops for an average of 4-5 years. So a little future-proofing isn't a bad idea when it comes to people like me.

The only problem is the 6-Series chipset issue which is being resolved as we speak. Intel has targeted the beginning of March as when the re-engineered chipsets will become available. They also announced a replacement program. Anybody that got a mobo with the problem part is eligible for a no-charge replacement despite the fact the problem (supposedly) will only effect about 5-15% of the chipsets out there. Nice to see a company is doing right by its customers for a change.

f0dder:
A general rule of thumb is that most software is at least a year behind in using the capabilities of the silicone it runs on.-40hz (February 09, 2011, 01:40 PM)
--- End quote ---
If it's running on silicone, I sure as hell hope it's dual-core and nothing else - neither single nor quad :)

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page