Processor Comparison

Hi all,
 
I'm long overdue for a CPU upgrade, so I'm taking advantage of a Microcenter deal (free motherboard with AMD processor purchase).
 
That said I've narrowed it down to two choices, the Athlon X4 640 or the Phenom II X2 560. I guess my big question is, which one is the best bang for the buck? Will SONAR utilize the Level 3 cache in the Phenom more, or the extra two cores in the Athlon?
 
I did a benchmark test between the two, and for exporting Multi-Track Audio in SONAR 8, the Athlon slightly performed better than the stock Phenom (96.6kbps to 90.1). That said, if I go with the Phenom, I plan on trying to unlock the other two cores to make it an X4 Phenom. If I am able to do that, then the Phenom X4 will soundly outperform the Athlon (118.1 to 96.6).
 
So initially I would lean towards the Phenom, since the risk/reward seems to favor it quite a bit. However, are there different areas of SONAR where I would see a huge performance hit if I'm not able to unlock the cores?
 

superdan54


Hi all,
 
I'm long overdue for a CPU upgrade, so I'm taking advantage of a Microcenter deal (free motherboard with AMD processor purchase).
 
That said I've narrowed it down to two choices, the Athlon X4 640 or the Phenom II X2 560. I guess my big question is, which one is the best bang for the buck? Will SONAR utilize the Level 3 cache in the Phenom more, or the extra two cores in the Athlon?
 
I did a benchmark test between the two, and for exporting Multi-Track Audio in SONAR 8, the Athlon slightly performed better than the stock Phenom (96.6kbps to 90.1). That said, if I go with the Phenom, I plan on trying to unlock the other two cores to make it an X4 Phenom. If I am able to do that, then the Phenom X4 will soundly outperform the Athlon (118.1 to 96.6).
 
So initially I would lean towards the Phenom, since the risk/reward seems to favor it quite a bit. However, are there different areas of SONAR where I would see a huge performance hit if I'm not able to unlock the cores?
 

without sounding rude the only good AMDs are the 6 core Phenoms
and then you can buy Intel for the same price for better perfomance.
 
i would be very suspect of any free motherboard with concern for audio (compatibility)
 
 

brundlefly

However, are there different areas of SONAR where I would see a huge performance hit if I'm not able to unlock the cores?

I believe extra cores are way more valuable than extra cache in general. Increasing the number of cores pretty much gives you a proportional decrease in processor load for any given project.


Exporting audio tracks is not particularly processor intensive unless the tracks are un-frozen soft synths or heavily loaded with FX. Where you'll see the advantage of more cores is in real-time soft synth and FX load-handling at low latency, and when bouncing/freezing/exporting synth tracks.


I don't know the AMD processor family, but I would not take a chance on being stuck with 2 cores when I could get 4 for the same price.

Ok that's what I was wanting to hear.

The gambler in me still wants to risk it and unlock the cores, but I think now it might be the safer bet (both system stability wise and $$) to just go with the Athlon.

i would be very suspect of any free motherboard with concern for audio (compatibility)

The free motherboards are MSI & ASUS, so I'm not worried on that end of things ;).

i will go one past what fred said.
for the most part GHz is king over core count
but it also depends on the architecture.

a single 6 core i7 3.33GHz outperforms most 12 core Xeons until you hit the 2.93GHz 12 core. (and even then it depends)

on the other hand an intel i5 3.6GHz dual core is outperformed by a quad core i5 760 2.8GHz.
not so much due to core but but differences in the processors. (even though they both have the i5 name)
the Phenom is a newer architecture and also faster GHz wise.
thats what i would pick if i had to pick between the 2.

also that anadtech bench mark means absolutely nothing for audio
that test shows the i7 870 beating the intel i7 920 which absolutely does not translate to real audio performance.

as to the boards they are giving away extreme budget boards that the part i worry about..

jcschild


as to the boards they are giving away extreme budget boards that the part i worry about..

I was actually going to step up and pay $9.99 for the MSI 785g-E53 board. It retails around $100 everywhere I've seen and has gotten good reviews so I think it should handle what I throw at it ;).