Intel i3 530 Vs. AMD Phenom II X2 555

[Optix]

Hey kids!

Any idea which one I should go for? The i3 runs $129 while the 555 runs $122. The motherboards to run each one weigh in at $106.99 (Gigabyte P55M-UD2) and $119 (after MIR/Asus M4A79XTD EVO) respectively.

The reason I cannot seem to pull the trigger is because I know that the i3 overclocks like mad but so does the 555 with the new C3 stepping. The i3 can handle some crazy memory speeds while Phenom II's can sometimes be jumpy with speeds over 1333mhz based on what I read.

Here is the kicker though. The 555 has the possibility to unlock the 3rd and 4th core. As we all know there is no guarantee about unlocking the cores but it all comes down to the base instinct - do you want the luggage set and trip to Aruba or what is in the mystery box?

Since I am a real cheapsake and a budget builder in the worst possible way I am not willing to just toss out my cash. I am still leaning towards the i3 since it is the cheaper of the two but I could possibly be persuaded to cross over to the Dark Side with the 555 Black Edition.

Thoughts?

 

[Rob Williams]

This is a great question, and it's one I hope to be able to answer next week at some point. I have had an i3-530 for almost two months, and haven't even managed to get it popped into one of the machines around here. That drought ends soon, and I plan on comparing both that, and the X2 555 BE to see which is the better value.

The thing about unlocked chips is that the chips are locked for a reason, so even if you have all four cores available, it doesn't in any sense mean that all four are stable. Once I unlock our chip here, I plan to stress the heck out of it with LinX and other tools to see if it truly is stable or not. If it's not, I probably won't bother with such a comparison, because when a CPU is unstable, especially from a hardware standpoint (vs. the reason being overclocking), I'd never be comfortable using it on a day-to-day basis.

To be honest, I'd be willing to bet that the Core i3-530 would be the better bet, because after all, Intel chips overclock like nothing else, so achieving an impressive clock on it would take little skill or time. There's a good chance that the chip could match up nice with the X2 555 BE unlocked, so when overclocking, it would simply blow past it.

 

[Kougar]

Intel has the stronger architecture so I think it's a very close call on performance... if you plan to overclock then the Intel chip would be an easy call. Basically the AMD chip will always need to overclock higher than the Intel to stay performance competitive.

Even if the cores functioned, once you unlock them they might only be stable at lower frequencies... it is very likely you would need to decide between running a slower clocked Quad, or a highly clocked Dual. I'd love to give AMD my support, but I want to get the most bang for my buck and I feel Intel still offers it. If you did unlock a Quad and it was stable at high frequencies, then that'd end up ahead though.... it's a big if.

 

[Optix]

Well, I do not play the lottery because I would rather keep my $2 since that $2 is a sure thing just as an i3 is a sure thing. I know exactly what I would be getting although I am still curious to see how a locked 555 will stack up since the C3 stepping can hit over 4Ghz.

If I were to go AMD I could save a bit of cash by going with a 785 board instead of a 790.

I am looking forward to the review, Rob. Any chance you will match up both chips to some LGA775's as well? Past reviews I have read shows the i3 530 trading places with the E8600 if I remember correctly.