Anyone using L4 with AMD Phenom X4 9750?

Doug · December 2009

I'm considering buying a new ASUS motherboard with the Phenom X4 9750 processor and 4GB of 1066 DDR2. Is anyone out there using a similar setup? What kind of performance are you getting with L4?

Keith Larson · December 2009

Douglas,

I have a Phenom 9600 running with 4GB memory of 800 DDR2 and I am happy with my performance. However, I would strongly recommend you not putting your money into these first generation Phenom's and DDR2 memory. If you purchase a Phenom II chip and DDR3 memory you have upgrade options for the future, the system you are looking at is a dead end. Newegg is selling the chip you are looking at for $80, but for only a few more dollars you could get an Athon II X4 running at 2.6 Ghz for $100 or at 2.8 Ghz for $112. Both of these chips should give you better performance that the Phenom 9750.

BillS · December 2009

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/63678#Comment_63678

P. Keith Larson said:
for only a few more dollars you could get

Hi Douglas,

Though I'm a pastor now (by calling), my 1st career was Info Systems. I'd commend shopping at the kneee of the performance / price curve... where the next bump up in performance starts costing a much more significant jump in price than the last bump in performance.

Blessings on your upgrade / new system!

Doug · December 2009

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/63678#Comment_63678

Hey Keith,

Thanks for the reply. I would really like to have the Phenom II but it's still a little too pricey for me right now. You really think the Athlon II X4 will do better than the Phenom? I was under the impression that the Phenom was a successor to the Athlon chips.

What I'm replacing is a 3.2 GHz Pentium D. It's been a great processor and still is for some things but I'm looking for something to give me better performance out of L4 than I'm getting on my laptop right now. It has a 2.2 GHz Turion X2 in it. It does okay with L4 until I try to hook up a second monitor to spread my books out more. Then it wants to bog down. I thought maybe the Phenom would keep me going for a while. Could also get a Core 2 Quad for about the same price. Which way to go?

Keith Larson · December 2009

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/63684#Comment_63684

DouglasEStephens said:
I would really like to have the Phenom II but it's still a little too pricey for me right now. You really think the Athlon II X4 will do better than the Phenom? I was under the impression that the Phenom was a successor to the Athlon chips.

The Athlon II's are just Phenom II with the Level 3 cache disabled and/or one of the cores disabled. Without a doubt the Athlon II X4's which are a newer and fast chip would out perform the older Phenoms. One of the reasons I am recommending you go with a newer AMD3+ chip rather than an older AMD2+ chip is that your motherboard and memory will be ready for the newer AMD 6 core chips that will be coming out in mid 2010. If you already had an AMD2+ motherboard and DDR2 memory such as I do, the purchase of older cheaper AMD2+ chips is not such a bad move, but to purchase an outdated chip, outdated memory and an outdated motherboard is throwing your money away IMHO.

Here is an artical comparing the Athlon II's and Phenom II's http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/athlon-l3-cache,2416.html.

Another option is to wait for the new i3 and i5 chips that are coming out in January. Up until now AMD has owned the sub $200 market, all that is about to change next month. AMD is going to have to do some serious price cutting just to stay in the game in early 2010 until their new 6 core chips come out. Most anyalist don't think AMD will be able to compete with Intel again until 2011. This will give you a little idea of whats in the future for AMD: http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3673.

Doug · December 2009

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/63713#Comment_63713

Wow! 6 cores. It's hard to imagine that I'd ever need that. But I can guarantee that if they make it, I eventually will. Tiger Direct has mother boards bundled with the new i5 on their web site already. What's the deal with those? Are they going to be a good fast chip? Maybe I should look into those again before I make up my mind. Thanks for the article. You've given me something else to think about and I appreciate that. I don't want to jump in uninformed. That's one reason I posted the thread. I knew someone with some experience would chime in.

Keith Larson · December 2009

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/63747#Comment_63747

DouglasEStephens said:
Tiger Direct has mother boards bundled with the new i5 on their web site already. What's the deal with those?

i5s have been out for a while, but the new ones are based on a new smaller die. This means they will run cooler and thus faster. The i3's will be the ones that will be competing against the AMD's. The current i5's beat AMD hands down, but all of them are $200 plus. The i3's will be in the sub $200 market and should really shake things up. The current crop of i5's might get pushed down below $200 as well. January should be an interesting month for geeks, especially with the iSlate coming out as well from Apple.

Doug · December 2009

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/63779#Comment_63779

Well, I just went back to Tiger Direct and looked at the i5. The 750 is on a 45nm die and looks pretty amazing. It with an Intel P55 motherboard, 4 GB of 1600MHz DDR3 and a CPU fan would run me $485. That's $110 more than the Phenom and the ASUS Mobo but it definitely looks like it's worth the difference. It appears that the main difference between the i5 and the i7 is the number of logical cores and a little bit more turbo boost on the i7. Also, the top end i7s will soon be able to use triple channel DDR3 and that should give a boost too. But for what I intend to use it for, it looks more than adequate and that motherboard will support the i7 and up to 16 GBs of RAM should I need to upgrade further. Does this seem like a pretty good way to go to you?

Doug · December 2009

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/63791#Comment_63791

Hey Keith, just one more thing. How does L4 respond and act with your note files using that quad core? It it still really sloppy? Or does it behave more like a word processor?

Joseph Colombo · December 2009

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/63794#Comment_63794

I am quite computer illiterate so can I ask for some free advice. Although only 2.5 years old, my current computer only meets the minimum specs for Logos 4My and my university's IT department has given me a menu of options after some standard configuration including Windows 7 Professional, 8G RAM, and 640G HD:

Intel
i7 860 or Intel i7920

1G
nVidia GeForce 220 or 1G ATI Radeon HD 4850

Will this work OK and, if so, any preferences?

Doug · December 2009

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/63836#Comment_63836

From the research I just did, if you can get the i7 920, then get it. It will give you a better upgrade path in the future. The 900 series has a different pin configuration and when Intel releases their 6 core i9, you'll be able to upgrade if you want. If you go with the 800 series, you won't have that advantage. I would go that way myself, but it's just more than I can afford right now. I'll be happy with my i5 though. It'll blow away what I'm using now. Good luck and God bless.

Keith Larson · December 2009

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/63791#Comment_63791

DouglasEStephens said:
Well, I just went back to Tiger Direct and looked at the i5. The 750 is on a 45nm die and looks pretty amazing. It with an Intel P55 motherboard, 4 GB of 1600MHz DDR3 and a CPU fan would run me $485. That's $110 more than the Phenom and the ASUS Mobo but it definitely looks like it's worth the difference. It appears that the main difference between the i5 and the i7 is the number of logical cores and a little bit more turbo boost on the i7. Also, the top end i7s will soon be able to use triple channel DDR3 and that should give a boost too. But for what I intend to use it for, it looks more than adequate and that motherboard will support the i7 and up to 16 GBs of RAM should I need to upgrade further. Does this seem like a pretty good way to go to you?

If I were purchasing a new motherboard, CPU, memory combo today I would go with Intel and as the link I gave you to read implies, AMD is really struggling right now. I have been a big fan of them in the past, but 2010 looks grim for them. I you already had a AMD2+ or AMD3+ motherboard as I do a AMD chip upgrade makes sense, but in your situation it is not to attractive. However, if you go with Intel you might want to see what January brings with their new chip set and CPUs.

Keith Larson · December 2009

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/63794#Comment_63794

DouglasEStephens said:
Hey Keith, just one more thing. How does L4 respond and act with your note files using that quad core? It it still really sloppy? Or does it behave more like a word processor?

After moving my quad core to my church computer notes have been much smoother. They do slowdown at times when L4 is syncing, but I think 4a has improved the situation. I am much happier than I was at first.

Keith Larson · December 2009

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/63836#Comment_63836

Joseph Colombo said:
Will this work OK and, if so, any preferences?

All these suggestions are top of the line. If you can afford this it should work well.

Joseph Colombo · December 2009

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/63894#Comment_63894

Thanks, Keith!

P.S. Lest you think me rich as Croesus, my employer will build the unit and own it. [Let me hasten to add that I am most grateful because I suspect most pastors aren't as lucky when it comes to the subsidy of the tools of their trade.] The IT folks just threw some spec sheets at me and asked me to choose.

Doug · December 2009

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/63890#Comment_63890

P. Keith Larson said:
After moving my quad core to my church computer notes have been much smoother. They do slowdown at times when L4 is syncing, but I think 4a has improved the situation. I am much happier than I was at first.

Thanks again Keith. This is way more computer than I need for anything else right now. The old Pentium D has been serving me well. But L4 will be one of my main computer uses. That and some development with Microsoft Blend and Visual Studio 2010. So, I think a quad core is in order and I'm getting really excited about the i5. I'm looking forward to learning how to develop in the WPF/Silverlight platform and that computer should defintely give me the muscle to do whatever. Thanks for the conversation.

Doug · December 2009

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/63948#Comment_63948

Joseph Colombo said:
P.S. Lest you think me rich as Croesus, my employer will build the unit and own it. [Let me hasten to add that I am most grateful because I suspect most pastors aren't as lucky when it comes to the subsidy of the tools of their trade.] The IT folks just threw some spec sheets at me and asked me to choose.

I caught that from your post above. If I were in that position, I would take advantage of it. If you can get the 900 series i7, go for it. I don't think you'll be disappointed. One advantage it has over the i5 is in the hyperthreading. Even though it has four physical cores, Windows sees eight logical cores and can send eight threads through the processor. In very intense situations, that will give better performance. Of course, most of us probably don't have situations that intense, but I suspect we will soon because Intel is already making plans for the i9. You'll be in position to go there with the setup you have.

Anyone using L4 with AMD Phenom X4 9750?

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