AMD or Core 2 DUO ?

[cudakite]

Hi guys.

I plan on building a new rig soon. I was planning on using an AMD (this would be my first time using one) But I'm not to sure now because this whole Core 2 DUO thing has hit the market. I have to admit this dual core revolution thing that all processors are going through is kinda lost on me because my primary use for computers is gaming. Any suggestions on what processor I should go with?

[Lee1026]

Depending on your budget.

[cudakite]

About 11 hundred US dollars

[alin]

I would suggest going for Core 2 Duo since intel has fixed now with the new core(conroe) the heating and power consuming problems that the prescott series had, also they're cheaper than amd's cpu because of the 65nm fabrication process and the most important part is that they deliver more perfromance than the available amd cpu's, the core 2 duo E6600 beats theamd athlon 64 fx-62(afaik the top cpu from amd) in all, from price to perfomance.
So the core 2 duo E6600 has a price of around 400$ and wich imo has the best price/performance ratio...

[Shaun]

About 11 hundred US dollars

Oh, well if that is your budget for your processor alone, then I suggest the fasted Core 2 Due, the E6600 IIRC, but if thats your whole budget for a whole new system, then a cheaper one should be your choice, the cheaper AMD Athlons beat the Core 2 Duo's on bang for buck, but $1100 isnt a low budget, so you should be able to get mabe an E6400 and a good GPU Mobo and RAM.

[Arakorn]

A completely new PC or are you going to use parts from your old?

[cudakite]

I'm kicking around the idea of selling my old computer but i might keep my video card (7800 gt) and buy another for SLI.

I would suggest going for Core 2 Duo since intel has fixed now with the new core(conroe) the heating and power consuming problems that the prescott series had, also they're cheaper than amd's cpu because of the 65nm fabrication process and the most important part is that they deliver more perfromance than the available amd cpu's, the core 2 duo E6600 beats theamd athlon 64 fx-62(afaik the top cpu from amd) in all, from price to perfomance.
So the core 2 duo E6600 has a price of around 400$ and wich imo has the best price/performance ratio...

makes sense to me. thanks!

[Arakorn]

He doesn't need a GPU. He'll be using a 7800 GT, but he'll need a SLI MoBo. I really think you should go with the Core 2 Duo. The E6600 is good, though you might need to shave off the performance from the rest of the parts in that case...

[Zhuge_Liang]

A duo core E6600 is best in terms of performance and cost. It is about twice as fast as the best AMD, but then again not many games will be able to use half of this and so it works out about as good as an AMD (until games use the duo cores).

I think the 7800GT works best with intel processors, and the ATI works best with AMD processors. There is a new ATI card coming out which will be the best on the market (for a while). It's all up in the air with things changing so quickly. No matter what you get it will be out of date before long. Perhaps it would be best to go with a good AMD for the time being and upgrade in a year or two.

I'm on an AMD X2 4800+ and it will do anything. It's a great all round processor and quite cheap these days.

[Arakorn]

There is a new ATI card coming out which will be the best on the market (for a while).

And how, if I may ask, wdo you know that? :hmmm:

You can't be sure, look what happened when NVidia released the 7800's, Atis answer came a few months later but they were so behind...

[Zhuge_Liang]

And how, if I may ask, wdo you know that? :hmmm:

You can't be sure, look what happened when NVidia released the 7800's, Atis answer came a few months later but they were so behind...

LOL, you love NVida, i know . But in terms of power the ATIX1950XT rules and any sequel to that is gonna rock (but we already had that debate). Don't get me wrong though, there isn't much in it at the top, and things are getting better so much faster than before that the title of best graphics card won't stay with any particular brand for long.

[Kdar]

Get. AMD.. They cheaper now, and as good.

I have AMD Althon64 X2 4400+

works great..

[Lee1026]

I suggest the E6400.

[Lusted]

Go for the Core 2 Duo, got an E6300 in my new pc, and its a great processor. May only be a 1.86ghz core duo, but it beats any AMD at the same price.

[viper1980]

Really get Intel E6600 Core Duo!
You can always overclock it from basic 2.4 GHz to 2.7 GHz (E6700 level) or even 3.0 GHz (X6800 which costs 1000$!). E6600 itself kicks asses of almost ALL AMD's except - may be and in some rare cases - FX-62.
Believe me it'll be a best choice for a now.

[Zhuge_Liang]

Really get Intel E6600 Core Duo!
You can always overclock it from basic 2.4 GHz to 2.7 GHz (E6700 level) or even 3.0 GHz (X6800 which costs 1000$!). E6600 itself kicks asses of almost ALL AMD's except - may be and in some rare cases - FX-62.
Believe me it'll be a best choice for a now.

Indeed the E6600 is the best in terms of power for the price.

[Lee1026]

Not really, the Allendales (E6300 and E6400) generally overclock higher as they are cooler.

[Incinerate_IV]

Its higher percent wise, a E6300/6400 can never reach the clock speeds a E6600 can reach.

[Bella]

personally, i think it depends on what you plan as the main use of your computer. in your case, you said gaming.

right now, games aren't really taking advantage of dual core cpu chips, but i would understand if you want to go ahead and get ready for the next 2 - 4 years of technology. but currently, there's not really a need for gamers to have two cores on a cpu for a few reasons. a) nothing's using two cores (gaming) and b) dual cores aren't really built for gaming right now anyways. dual cores are for extreme multitasking. not an extra kick of power. ie - running one of your games on one core whilst running a virus scan off the other core. if i were you and had to have a dual core chip right now, i would go ahead and get a good, quality motherboard that will be compatible with the future duo and quad cores amd has lined up to answer intel's duo core 2's. then grab a decent, but not expensive, dual core chip. amd or intel. personally, i've bought amd for the last 8 years and never had a problem at all with any chips. intel chips generally run more stable with less heat, but sacrifice power for that stability. amd's are usually much more powerful (and overclockable), but not as stable and kick off a bit more heat than intel's. but with a quality cooling system and good chassis airflow, you'd be able to minimalize that heat output. it's up to you really. i just wouldn't go spending over a grand on a system right now. i'd wait to see what amd's quad cores are offering, plus that's really going to knock the bottom out of dual core cpu's once those quad's are out. this christmas season is going to be a nuthouse for the pc industry. i'd wait til after christmas and see what prices do. you could end up coming off a lot cheaper for the same parts you're about to buy.

[DougyM]

Or if you can wait just hang on till november and get a Qaud core intel.

Yip.

Ive been saving for my new rig since january...

right now my budgets £2000 (bout 3600 dollars) and by november im expecting to have roughly another grand and a bit (£).

As for the guy saying AMD is the best choice....

ive been whoring any and all articles on the cpu market for the past 2 months (so that i get the best cpu when i buy one) and in all the non AMD affiliated articles they are basicly stating AMD will be lucky not to go out of buisness.

They have a 2.5 billion dollar loan they need to repay.
They just had to cut their cpu prices up to 50% to even compete with intel.
They have no real answer to the performance that the intel dual cores and quad cores are delivering (the new supposed amd cpu thats meant to answer the intels is supposed to be out of its league).

AMD realy are in trouble, they just didnt expect intel to make a jump as big as they did.

To beat intels quad and dual cores AMD effectively needs a whole new chip... not rehashes of its current ones, and a whole new chip takes years to produce.

Im not trying to be an intel fanboy or anything... im just rewording stuff ive read from several reputable sources.