Final Words
Most users that email questions about building a computer system are planning to build a midrange computer system. With a price range of $700 to $1700, this covers a huge number of potential choices. AMD's Phenom II has certainly leveled the competitive playing field in the midrange in recent months. With Phenom II AMD can now effectively compete throughout the midrange, at least to just under the price point of the Intel i7-920 at about $285. Core i7 still wins over any AMD CPU, but all the Core i7 parts have really been high-end up to now.
Looking at the current AMD and Intel CPU prices it easy to say with confidence that you can pick a price where both AMD and Intel compete and find roughly comparable performance from either manufacturer. Even the old "overclocking exception" no longer applies, as the 45nm AMD Phenom II parts are just as overclockable as the best Intel processors. That is very good news for potential AMD buyers.
So far so good, but then comes the $64,000 dollar question: with Intel LGA-1156 due to be announced next month should you buy one of the recommended midrange systems or wait for i5? Unfortunately, we don't have a clear answer for this question, and the answers we do have will not be satisfying to all readers.
If past experience is anything to go by, an announcement of i5 next month may mean it is still months before the new socket 1156 chips and boards are readily available in the market. In addition, early versions of new socket boards like the upcoming socket 1156 often take a while to mature; there are often issues with early boards with a new socket and chipset that take some time - and a few BIOS updates - to resolve. Prices for early adopters are also normally higher than where prices settle once the market pipelines are filled. Early adopters pay more, and since midrange buyers are not normally early adopters they should be less inclined to wait.
Finally, we don't yet have hard performance numbers to truly judge whether i5 is a large performance step forward or merely a technology refresh with a minor impact on performance. We have seen both from Intel in the past and we are still not far enough from the Pentium 4 to blindly trust that new Intel technology will push the performance envelope. We will have answers to the performance question in a few weeks, but that may or may not be a clear-cut answer. All of which leads to our conclusion.
If you are in the market for a new midrange system now you should buy it now. This is particularly true if you are planning to buy an AMD midrange system. Values are at an all-time high and i5 will not likely change the value equation much since Intel already controls the top performance spots. Intel does not have a history of "giving away" performance; they adjust prices when competitive pressures force them to.
History has proven that technology is always evolving and performance is always improving. Those who wait for the latest and greatest usually gain nothing and merely lose the waiting time for the newer technology. Whatever you buy today is almost always improved upon soon after you buy it. If value is good, as it is now, you have no real reason to wait and little to gain. If you have to have the latest then nothing we can write here will likely dissuade you from waiting for LGA-1156, but all indications are that socket 1366 will continue to be the performance king for a while yet.
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GuruX - Thursday, July 30, 2009 - link
The OCZ Blade 1150 2x2gb for the Intel value setup doesn't seem to be avalible in sweden. What would be a good replacement?Cepak - Saturday, August 1, 2009 - link
Any suggestions on a performance oriented mid-ranged system with a smaller form factor (mATX)? A system that can still accommodate all the goodies like the Phenom II x4 955 Black Edition, MSI Radeon HD 4890 1GB OC Edition, a ASUS VW266H Black 25.5" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor, maybe with an external SATA port to connect the LG BD/HD DVD 8X BD read/16x DVD read/write via a external SATA case. It only need two internal SATA HDD bays. I don't care how the case appears because I'm going to tuck it out of sight (space is a premium for me).sebudes - Wednesday, July 29, 2009 - link
What'll be the benefits of stepping up one notch in the motherboard departement and go with DD3 memory and a "real" AM3 slot? As I understand it, right now there's litte, but will you be happy you did when maybe upgrading CPU or GPU in the future?glenster - Tuesday, July 28, 2009 - link
I've read the LG W2486L, which has been released, is a better monitor yet for less money. And the Silverstone Raven RV02 case has just been released (with a Fortress 2 on the way). Please write reviews of them.zshift - Tuesday, July 28, 2009 - link
I absolutely have to agree with choosing the Logitch X-540 speakers for the midrange. These speakers are amazing for the price. They also sound much better when paired with a good dedicated sound card (for all the nonbelievers out there, I used to think dedicated sound was stupid; then I tried a creative x-fi with these and I don't wanna go back to onboard. Sound is MUCH clearer). These speakers also get VERY loud If you want them to, past 50% volume and I can hear them clearly from outside my house. And the base is excellent, explosions in fps games have a nice deep feel to then, and crashes and engine revs in burnout are amazingly realistic.jpk - Monday, July 27, 2009 - link
I have that board and it takes DDR3 not DDR2 as stated in the write up. Funny, you can put an AM3 CPU in an AM2+ mobo but you can't put an AM2+ CPU in an AM3 board. Fabulous mobo by the way. Love mine.Wesley Fink - Tuesday, July 28, 2009 - link
Yes we still need an Edit function."The Gigabyte MA790XT-UD4P is indeed DDR3 memory, but when you drop the T in the name to Gigabyte MA790X-UD4P you are describing a Gigabyte motherboard that uses DDR2 memory."
just4U - Tuesday, July 28, 2009 - link
I've been recommending the MA790X-UD4P for two months now. It's a solid board that comes in at a attractive price point. One of Amd's strong points..Another consideration (since it seems Asus finally noticed..) is the ..Asus M4A78-E which either has come down alot in price or is a new release (not sure which). It's priced in line with the UD4P but comes with the 790GX chipset so onboard 3300 graphics.
Wesley Fink - Tuesday, July 28, 2009 - link
The information in the Buyers Guide is correct. The problem is there are two different Gigabyte motherboards with just one letter difference in the name. The Gigabyte MA790XT-UD4P is indeed DDR3 memory, but when you drop the T in the name to Gigabyte MA790X-UD4P you are describing a Gigabyte motherboard that uses DDR3 memory.This naming scheme has created more than a little confusion for buyers and reviewers.
vol7ron - Monday, July 27, 2009 - link
I'd like to start seeing numbers with these configurations; something to quantify the performance.Usual stuff:
FPS
Encoding Times
Super Pi
Load times
I know benchmarks are created for each individual component, but it'd be nice to see the synergistic effects and then make a decision on value per dollar.