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What i have been expecting for a while now: 990FX chipset and AM3+
http://www.amdzone.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=532&t=138433
AMD can make the fastest processor on the planet but until they adopt triple channel DDR they’ll always have 33% lower memory performance than Intel chips. Dual channel DDR3 is a bad dream that AMD seems unwilling to wake up from. I guess it’s easier to simply keep increasing RAM speed but upgrading to tri-channel would provide an instant 50% increase in memory performance using the exact same RAM sticks. It just seems foolish to keep pretending it’s not something their customers would be interested in.
But yeah, AMD’s lineup is looking better than Intel’s new lineup. The new Intel series is a complete and total sellout to their business partners and with the new overclocking lockouts I can’t imagine anyone would be interested in owning one.
Profits. Overclocking allows people to buy cheaper processors and modify them to perform like their expensive counterparts. When I bought my Q6600 there were two Core2 Q series processors out and the only difference between the $280 and $1100 models was .266GHz. Behind the scenes the low-end had a multiplier of 18 and the high-end had 20 but in essenence all you had to do was overclock the FSB from 133MHz to 145MHz and you just saved yourself $800. In the past, the money you just saved was money Intel wasn’t getting. Now it is. Intel’s standard line of Sandy Bridge processors switch from overclocking to “turbo boost”. It overclocks the CPU but also disables cores so you’re essentially not getting any extra power at all. They have an overclockable series that costs more and gives a little more flexibility with the “turbo boost” settings but overclocking as we know it is no longer an option on Intel processors and likely never will be again.
I called this, btw, as soon as I heard that Intel was locking their core i7 processors to intel-only chipsets. They called it a design imperative, I called it profit-driven. AMD managed to put the memory controller on the CPU without locking out 3rd party chipset manufacturers, there’s no reason Intel couldn’t have done the same.
Were I to build a new computer today it would be a last-gen Bloomfield Core i7 but I’m happy with my 4 year old Q6600 and will be for the foreseeable future. I’m also extremely fond of my oldschool nVidia nforce chipset motherboard, you just can’t get those like you used to. You know I can actually rebuild RAID arrays while windows is running? When my RAID5 dropped a drive I was able to rebuild the entire array while playing L4D2 from the array that was being rebuilt. It was awesome. Intel’s RAID controllers are, well, horrible on the best of days. You can’t even build a mirror without wiping both drives. Terrible.
Say what you want about AMD, but they make a product worthy of my money. I’ll be upgrading to an 8-Core Zambezi when they come out, and I won’t do that until ASUS’ Crosshair V motherboards are released.
im right there with ya derrick i love my crosshair iv. I want to overclock with rog connect but the wife wont let me use her laptop.
BTW Mitch whats your opinion on the 6970 vs the 6990
JShank said:
BTW Mitch whats your opinion on the 6970 vs the 6990
IMO, a single 6970 is all the GPU you need. If you really want that much power, you’re much better off with a pair of 6970s than a single 6990. You’ll pay the same but get more performance for it. Dual GPUs are ALWAYS clocked lower than their single GPU counterparts and the overall card runs warmer. Not only that, but when they’re seperate you’ll get them to overclock better and if one fails you can ship just the single bad card off instead of not having a video card at all.
Don’t get me wrong AMD makes a great processor and I’d recommend them for most lower and mid-lower systems but they’ve been getting dominated in the high-end market for years. The new Sandy Bridge Core i5 wipes the floor with the Phenom II x6 and are priced nearly the same. AMD’s architecture is starting to show signs of weakness and if Intel were to ever price their CPUs competitively AMD wouldn’t stand a chance. Intel is consistently getting 15-17% faster clock-for-clock with each new generation and AMD just can’t compete with that. AMD is pulling an ATI and just throwing more MHz and cores at the problem hoping it’ll go away but no amount of bandaids is going to help in either of the markets they’re in. Intel processors are getting faster and cheaper, Nvidia’s GTX500 series matches ATI’s newest cards in both price and performance, and AMD’s response is to fire the CEO for keeping the company out of debt. AMD’s future has a fairly ominous storm cloud hovering over it and if they don’t get their act together soon they’re going to end up out of business.
On that note, check out the GTX570 and GTX590. They’re priced the same as the 6970 and 6990 and get considerably better performance in some games. But not in others. Check the benchmarks for the games you’re most interested in and buy accordingly. Personally, at the same price and similar power usage and noise levels, I’d pick the Nvidia card every time just from a driver and lifetime warranty standpoint but that’s just me. My 5770 GPU crashes almost every day due to sucky drivers and it’s a major turnoff
I will stand buy AMD/ATI all day and say their products are great (just ask MasterP… who do you think pushed him to buy that 5770?), but at the end of the day, 4 of my 5 computers (3 laptops and 2 desktops) have intel cpu and 4 of the 5 have nvidia graphics (3 are intels with nvidia gfx, 1 intel with intel gfx, 1 amd with nvidia gfx). When it comes down to it, intel and nvidia have been the superior bunch. That being said, if I were buying a new DESKTOP today (automatic intel and nvidia if a laptop; AMD needs to step this up badly), I would consider an AMD processor and graphics card.
I can attest to that, Nickname is a major AMD/ATI fanboy but he’s a closet Intel/Nvidia consumer.
AMD has the cheaper processors and motherboards, there’s no question about that, but when it comes to performance per MHz and performance per dollar Intel wins every time in every category except ultra-low power. In ULP AMD wins for now until Intel releases the new Atom next year with a 50% increase in clock-for-clock performance and out-of-order execution.
I definitely want to see what these zambezi’s have to offer this year but i have been reading that am3+ mobos are going to be backwards compatible with am3 chips, so i could always upgrade my mobo and gpu and still be satisfied, for now lol
Aside from compatibility with the new AM3+ processors, does the 990FX have any features that the 890 doesn’t? The 890 already has USB3, dual x16 PCIe, and SATA 6Gbit. IMO, it’d be better to hold off on buying until you’re ready buy the new processor as well. You’d save a ton of money buying later.
i guess your right on that Mitch.. why not wait and upgrade the whole thing instead of doing bits and pieces which would cost me more in the long run. Also if i wait there should be a bigger choice to choose from later
And ASUS is notorious for having buggy boards in their first production run of a new motherboard. Newegg is really good about making it right though.
I mean if you’ve got the money to spend fire away but unless it’s got a feature that you absolutely need there’s no reason to upgrade motherboards and go through the hassle of reinstalling windows. Waiting 6-12 months means the CPU and motherboard will be cheaper and you’ll be able to buy based on reviews, not just on hype.
Used video cards don’t sell for crap on the interpipes, especially the expensive ones. Been there, done that with my 8800 GTX. I ended up just using it until it died.
How much do you want for one?
they are good cards but you can buy a new 6870 for ~ 180 after MIR.. so I would think a used 5870 would be worth something in the $140ish range.
Nickname said:
they are good cards but you can buy a new 6870 for ~ 180 after MIR.. so I would think a used 5870 would be worth something in the $140ish range.
Except the 6870 is less powerful, and due to change in naming scheme, actually replaces the 5770 as opposed to the 5870. The 5870 was replaced by the 6970. I got an appraisal done on overclock.net, they are worth 200$ a piece in their current condition (dust free, fully reference design, transferable lifetime warranty).
So yes, WORTH roughly $200. Now to decide what I WANT for them…
I saw them as low as $170 new before they went out of stock everywhere because they were replaced. I mean if you can get $200 for them go for it, I am just saying I wouldn’t pay nearly that much.
You can get a brand new 6950 for $210 and they perform almost identical to the 5870. The only way you’re going to get anywhere remotely close to $200 for them is if you sell them to a moron. Also, how is a message board an accurate appraisal?
170, for off brand ones maybe like visiontek or galaxy. XFX ones come at a premium, and appraised unanimously by hundreds of different people to be around the $200 mark because of both their condition and warranty. I trust them far more than what you say lol, because I know what the resell value is:P
Derrick LeBrocq said:
170, for off brand ones maybe like visiontek or galaxy. XFX ones come at a premium, and appraised unanimously by hundreds of different people to be around the $200 mark because of both their condition and warranty. I trust them far more than what you say lol, because I know what the resell value is:P
FYI that $170 price was for an XFX card and that was from back at the end of March (the item is since deactivated). Maybe you should do some research rather than just blindly trusting people on a message board. OK maybe that was a little mean, but I would prefer you not just assume I am talking out of my *edited*.
http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?sduid=472103&t=2784421
The fact is, I never said you couldn’t get $200 for it. A quick eBay search will prove as much. Cards actually tend to go up in value right after they cease production (all the people that wanted a 2nd for crossfire, for example, will flock to try and pick one up). I just said I think the card is actually worth $140, but supply and demand is a wonderful thing (if you have the supply at least).
Perhaps I should have mentioned that they are both Eyefinity 6 video cards. No DVI, No HDMI. 6 Display ports. Yes, I can run 12 monitors with these cards.
I don’t think that makes a difference. All that does is remind me that my ATI card with eyefinity and 4 video ports only supports 2 monitors.
MasterP said:
I don’t think that makes a difference. All that does is remind me that my ATI card with eyefinity and 4 video ports only supports 2 monitors.
It does in price of card:P
2GB GDDR5 on each of these cards, and the E-6 edition cards can support 6 monitors a piece.
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