i7 or AMD A6-3620 processor

twohooter_2

• In searching for a new desktop PC I have been faced with a dilema. What is the difference between an i7 processor and an AMD A6-3620 processor? Would I be able to tell the difference? I am looking for something speedy , capable of handling multiple applications and with some future proofing. Some advice on this would be very much apreciated as I have seen an ASUS with an AMD and a DELL and a Lenovo with an i7. Other than the processor the spec is comparable but the i7's are about £200 more expensive. I am leaning towards the Dell but the price of the ASUS is quite appealing if the processor is good enough. Please help me decide:o

Livingthedream

You pay for what you get, I7`s are high end processors hence the extra £200. The A6-3620 is an all round entry level processor. The A6 won`t beat the I7 on processing power but it will beat it on onboard graphic capabilities as Intel onboard graphics are rubbish.

If your using the system for internet, emails maybe light gaming then the A6 will do but for anything more serious the I7 is better or maybe a system with a cheaper I5 or I3 processor with the savings spent on a discrete graphics card.

Mobeer

If your interest is in multiple applications (especially complex ones), then the i7 would be a better choice. But so then would be a PC with an i5 processor. Most users wouldn't see much difference between an i7 and the much cheaper i5-2400 (or similar).

The AMD A6 processor is a better choice for a budget PC, especially if a little light gaming is desired.

Jamie_Cortez

Depends on your multi tasking is it heavy multi tasking? or just streaming a video and a few web pages? or something more heavy like encoding.

The A6 is not bad at multitasking and it also depends what I7 you comparing it too, there are many so just saying I7 does not allow us to compare them effectively.

twohooter_2

Thanks very much for the replies so far. The Lenovo I am looking at has an Intel® Core™ i7-2600 processor. The Dell has an i7 3370. The PC will be mainly used for web search, e mails, editing photos and videos, streaming films, i tunes and a bit of MS publisher. Inclanation towards buying something beefier than probably required is to provide some future proofing as experience tells me that what is super fast and super huge today is barely fast or big enough 24 months down the line! I hope to avoid having to make these decisions again for about 5 years!

Cisco001

What is your budget?
And could you post the model you are referring to? There could be other better option.
For your use, A6 will be enough, but it won't provide good upgrading pathway. If you want it to last 5 years, I would say go for powerful i7.
Or less expensive i5.

i7 2400 is the last generation. Go for i7 3370. And since you are doing a bit of video editing, you would probably best to get a discrete graphic card.

robmar0se

Passmark which benchmarks processors give relative values which show how much "grunt" the processor has; higher the number the stronger performance - I am sympathetic to your concerns regarding future proofing - I do the same.

I couldn't find the i7 3370, wonder if this is a typo as the most common i7 is the 3770, the i7 3770K has a passmark value of 10225 - there are other versions of the 3770 but much have similar passmark values - the K derivative may be overclocked provided you have a powerful psu and cooling.

AMD A6-3520 has a passmark value of 3536, around a third of the i7.

PS A comment that maybe relevant: Note that RAM/HDD may easily be added to as needs arise, much harder to upgrade the CPU......

No argument in my opinion, assuming I have the right i7!

thor

I have recently bought an asus board with an even more budget a4 3300 amd processor and am happily multitasking several applications including video editing. I say go cheap, you don't always need the best.

robmar0se

thor wrote: »

I have recently bought an asus board with an even more budget a4 3300 amd processor and am happily multitasking several applications including video editing. I say go cheap, you don't always need the best.

You say that your a4-3300 2.5Ghz is happily multitasking, which I can believe subject to what you're doing and how lean you keep the PC. It is as you say a budget cpu, my question is how often do you change the board/cpu? I myself like to keep mine for a reasonable time, for example the Q6600 which I use, is now 5 years old, and is still 40% more powerful than the a4-3300, so hopefully will keep me going for another 5 (provided I keep it lean and mean).

I always wonder whether it is better to buy cheap and change more often, or go for something better and be more future proof. I guess it is very much down to individual choice. Can't say that either concept is wrong.

Jamie_Cortez

There is no such thing as future proof in the world of computers.
The I7 in this case is a massive waste of cash, an I5 will be perfectly fine as will just about any of the AMD chips.

The FX series of processors are pretty bad at single threaded applications although you won't notice a difference in what your looking to do day to day. And things like video editing and encoding are increasingly more multi-threaded.

That said i personally would not look at the A6 which is an FM1 socket which is pretty soon to be dead and holds no upgrade path.

IMO you'd be better off on a budget finding an AM3+ socket machine with something like an FX 4170/6200 this will not only cover what you need now, but offer an upgrade path into the next series of AMD chips (piledriver) assuming you pick up a decent board could be tricky to find on an OEM machine tho.

robmar0se

Jamie_Cortez wrote: »

There is no such thing as future proof in the world of computers.

Jamie, I guess it depends on what the OP means by future proofing, I take it to mean that he wants good performance for an extended period of time without having to replace the machine or key components.

"Future proofing" is a relative term, not absolute. If your comment is supposed to refer to the former then I have to disagree with you. On the other hand if you refer to future proofing as something that lasts for an exaggereted period of time, then perhaps your comment might have some validity.

I tried to show that a stronger CPU will give stronger performance for longer - yes you may be lucky and be able to upgrade the CPU providing the socket allows it, however 99% of folks don't, they just buy a new machine.

Many of the folks that come on this website forum, do so because they aren't technically savvy, hence it is best to give advice that the OPs would find most helpful. I might be wrong but from reading the original query, I don't believe their objective is to buy a machine that they will need to upgrade the CPU in the relatively near "future"!