AMD 64 X2 or Intel's duel core 2?

[Andeh13]

Im looking at getting a new PC within the next few days and intially i was all set with the AMD 64 X3 4200+ processor wise. When i show'd my specs to few people for advice on it, i kept being told to go for the Intel Core 2 Duo processors. I know very little/nothing at all about intels new processor's except what people have told me(cheaper, faster, intels are now cheaper then AMD etc) over the last day or so.

I have a budget of around £130 for a processors and originally i was going for the:
AMD Athlon 64 (ADA4200BVBOX) X2 4200+ socket 939 Dual Core 2.2ghz
and this mobo:
ASUS A8N-SLI Premium skt939 nForce4 Gigabit Ethernet Firewire 8channel audio

The last thing i want to do is buy the AMD and regret it for the next few months as people keep telling me i shuld have gone for intel's duel core.

This PC will be used for uni-work(so needs to be reliable) but also for gaming use.

What are your views & advice?

thanks in advance.

[Gibb0N]

You can get an Athlon 64 X2 4400+ for £130 !?
Are they really dropping in price that fast? :|


Get the Conroe, they're the future and they're MUCH better.

There's only the E6300 in stock atm, but if you're prepared to wait a month ish you could pick up the E6600 for about £250.

If you can get hte 4400 for 130 quid I'd probably go with that lol. But it would be very dated by the this time next month.

[rainbow]

but tbh who cares about dated? if it does what you want then its great,i bet i can make a gaming pc faster than one of them conroes and to spite tihs whole forum i damn well will try its not ALL about your cpu after all

[NightshadowUK]

Agreed, as long as your CPU is above the limit for the game it'll be the graphics card doing all the talking.

HOWEVER, if I was building a new PC right now then I'd most certainly go with Core 2 Duo. There's more to a PC than just how it handles games but as it happens, Intel's latest offering creams AMD at pretty much everything, including gaming.

[kasavien]

tbh i agree, for gaming at least, the graphics card is the most important component, there's maybe more noticeable difference in other apps though. I can see the processor being more important for video encoding etc

[kalniel]

Agreed -the upgrade path for core 2 might be longer as well.

But if you can save money going the AMD route, then that money could be spent on a better gfx card, so it's more a question of budget.

[shaithis]

If you already have PC3200 (or above) RAM and don't want to spend a firtune, stick with the X2.

Conroe motherboards are pricey, you will need DDR2 RAM and Conroes are still VERY hard to purchase.

[Andeh13]

sorry, i meant £140 for the AMD.

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=91328

Im trying to keep the whole thing under 800.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...K_/AndehPC.jpg


So overall, the intel duel core processor isnt bad, but when you add in mobo, ram etc it adds up a fair amount?

[rainbow]

i still say if you want and out and out gaming machine buy a single core opteron and have it running at 2.8- 3 gig and you will havea capable machine for less,plus you will never get bottlenecking with a clock speed that high. and as said the gfx card is the most important thing, hence why in 939 so many people bought lieka 3200 cpu and 7800 gfx cards to game coz thats the best cost effective way to do things, i think that epole get caught up in upgrade fever and forget that they will never use a cpu for video encoding,
just get back down to earth and say what do i want this pc for..

[kalniel]

This PC will be used for uni-work(so needs to be reliable) but also for gaming use.

So dual core is probably suitable assuming the work can be parrallelised in any way.

[Bennah]

Atm, the A64 X2's at some places are very very cheap.

They are a good buy, however they are on the 939 platform which is now dated.

I would suggest going down the Conroe route Get a E6300 and your good to go.

Have you just got £140 to buy the cpu? You need to buy a new board and ram aswell then if your looking at a new cpu.

Whats your overall budget for the CPU, Mobo, and Ram?

[Andeh13]

Whats your overall budget for the CPU, Mobo, and Ram?

id like to stay on cheap side of £300 if possible. I want to keep this PC under 800 if possible.

I dont like the idea of the 939 starting to get a bit dated. With this PC id like to be able to repalce components at a time, dont want to buy a new mobo, because the next gen graphics/processors/memory etc dont work on it, if you get what i mean.

[sawyen]

Conroe boards really need a price cut.. Any decent 975X board will cost you an arm and a leg.. and AFAIK, i965 is not in the 7950GX2 compatibility list..

conroe may be fastest now, but whats the use when u only have one arm and one leg left to use it? FPS would be impossible unless u can handle WSAD with ur toes..

[Bennah]

id like to stay on cheap side of £300 if possible. I want to keep this PC under 800 if possible.

I dont like the idea of the 939 starting to get a bit dated. With this PC id like to be able to repalce components at a time, dont want to buy a new mobo, because the next gen graphics/processors/memory etc dont work on it, if you get what i mean.

Well you can get a E6300 and Gigabyte DS4 for under £300.

Thats probably your best bet

[Andeh13]

would the ram still work with that board though?

edit: so going for the AMD would be the end of the last generation of CPUs, and this intel is the start of the next generation?

[kalniel]

edit: so going for the AMD would be the end of the last generation of CPUs, and this intel is the start of the next generation?

Going for a 939 socket AMD, yup, exactly. AM2 has a lot more life, but still isn't as fast as core 2 duo, and probably isn't going to be.