Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 or AMD64 Dual Core 5000?

[Lord Boris]

I know that the Core 2 Duo is the better than AMD's X2 but would one of the fastest AMD X2's outdo a mid range Intel Core 2 duo? I particularly have these two processors in mind.

1) AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5000+ 2.60GHz (Socket AM2)

or:

2) Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB)

On paper the AMD chip seems to me like the beefier as it has higher clock speeds and an impressive '5000' designation (to someone who previously had an AMD64 3200 it seems like quite a jump). But everyone raves about how great and efficient the Intel Core 2 duo is, so which should I go for? Bear in mind that I dont want to do any overclocking (i tend to feel uncomfortable within bios) and the AMD chip is cheaper.

But, if the 2.4ghz Conroe is better than the 2.6ghz X2 for gaming then i'll go for that. I have also heard that some games run better on one or the other. If that is the case, can anyone let me know which is better for MTW2 and Oblivion? And X3?

Thanks very much for any advice!

Boris

[Maical]

http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/...4800-5000.html
why do u mention the fsb if u dont plan on overcloking ?
overclocking is perfectly safe on cpu's, u just need better cooling, in case something goes wrong, they got safety's and the cpu turns off
its better to pay less and overclock then pay more and not use its full potential

[Lord Boris]

http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/...4800-5000.html
why do u mention the fsb if u dont plan on overcloking ?

Sorry, I only mentioned it because I copied and pasted the processor titles from a site I was thinking of buying them from.

In response to Shaun, my budget is about £1000 UK sterling, but I'll push it to £1,200 if need be. I had a power surge in August that damaged my old motherboard and graphics card and have been without a PC since! Some of my components from my last PC are going to be re-used, such as the 500watt PSU and the case and dvd drives/copier etc. However, I'm also largely using this as an opportunity to generally upgrade as my last hard drive was smallish and the motherboard was AGP. The DDR 2700 doesnt quite cut the mustard either nowadays and the bulky CRT monitor of mine just has to go!

Heres what I was thinking of getting:

Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Soundcard
Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5000+ 2.60GHz
HIS ATI Radeon X1950 XT ICEQ 3 TURBO SILENT Heatpipe 256MB GDDR3 VIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI
Asus M2V (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
Belinea 2225S1W 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor

That will all come out at £1,025.63 including VAT & Delivery

But now I'm thinking more and more to go for the above but with a Core 2 DUO E6600 with an Abit AW9D Intel 975X (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 motherboard. It will cost £1,092.61 which isnt that much more.

[Incinerate_IV]

The E6600 all the way. It's even better than a FX-62.

[Shaun]

The E6600. Now, numbers and stats dont mean anything at all. The only way to compare two CPU's are to pit them head to head in a benchmark. I can find one if you really want.
It also depends on your budget and current hardware. If you have a skt 939 mobo and enough (quality) DDR RAM, then you are better off ticking wit hAMD and getting a skt 939 4800 X2. With Core 2 you will need new RAM and a motherboard, which is not cost effective when a 4800 will give you good enough performance for less than $300. What is your budget?

[rayzzz]

E6600 undeniable. cant go wrong.

[belson]

I imagine this is what you are looking for: http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/08/02/thg_tuning_test/ It is a head to head comparison of the E6600 and the X2 5000 (among many others.) The E6600 wins in every single test, and in most cases it beats the overclocked FX-62!

P.S. There are ways to overclock your components without ever looking at the bios! See nVidia's nTune for more details.

[Shaun]

E6600, with out a shadow of a doubt, it would be foolish to buy and AM2 based system currently.

[Valerius Maximus]

i'm also looking to buy a new pc, didnt want to start a new thread...definitely buying a c2d , just not sure whether i should buy the E6600 or E6700 since there is a significant difference in price and i was wondering if the extra money is worth it.

Also would any of you consider buying components from E-bay??cause i've found the E6700 and the nvidia 8800 GTX quite a lot cheaper , but i'm not sure i should but that kind of expensive stuff on e-bay

[Shaun]

i'm also looking to buy a new pc, didnt want to start a new thread...definitely buying a c2d , just not sure whether i should buy the E6600 or E6700 since there is a significant difference in price and i was wondering if the extra money is worth it.

Also would any of you consider buying components from E-bay??cause i've found the E6700 and the nvidia 8800 GTX quite a lot cheaper , but i'm not sure i should but that kind of expensive stuff on e-bay

Well, the E6700 is not worth the extra money it is compared to the E6600, they both have the same amount of L2 Cache, its just the the E6600 runs around 0.27GHz slower, not much at all! You can easily OC the E6600 to faster than E6700 speeds on stock cooling. ON Ebay, I dont see anything wrong with it, just get from a reputable seller. But remember, no returns there.

[Lord Boris]

I have to say, i'm quite excited about getting this new PC! Roll on January, its been too long since i've been without a computer (currently using a work one and sometimes a friends).

What do you guys think of this set up:

Belinea 2225S1W 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black/Silver (£229.11)

HIS ATI Radeon X1950 XT ICEQ 3 TURBO SILENT Heatpipe 256MB GDDR3 VIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (H195XT256DV-R) (£199.74)

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (£65.79)

Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Soundcard - Retail (£58.74)

Intel Core 2 DUO LGA775 E6600 2.40GHz Retail / Asus P5B / 2GB GeIL PC2-6400C4 DDR2 Dual Channel Kit - Bundle (£477.01)

Total : £1,043.26 (including vat & delivery)

Its from overclockers.co.uk, not too shabby hey!

[King Edward I]

I have to say, i'm quite excited about getting this new PC! Roll on January, its been too long since i've been without a computer (currently using a work one and sometimes a friends).

What do you guys think of this set up:

Belinea 2225S1W 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black/Silver (£229.11)

HIS ATI Radeon X1950 XT ICEQ 3 TURBO SILENT Heatpipe 256MB GDDR3 VIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (H195XT256DV-R) (£199.74)

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (£65.79)

Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Soundcard - Retail (£58.74)

Intel Core 2 DUO LGA775 E6600 2.40GHz Retail / Asus P5B / 2GB GeIL PC2-6400C4 DDR2 Dual Channel Kit - Bundle (£477.01)

Total : £1,043.26 (including vat & delivery)

Its from overclockers.co.uk, not too shabby hey!

why not spend an extra £100 and get an 8800GTS

[viridian]

I have a E6600 with 4G memory, runs like hell. M2TW plays very smooth and fast.

[rayzzz]

I agree with King Edward I, 8800GTS = futureproof. What about your psu and case?

[Incinerate_IV]

100 euros is a lot... And Crysis. the only announced DX10 game that I'm looking forward to, won't be released until Q3 2007. So it's perfectly fine to get a nice mid/high range card now and then upgrade again when DX10 comes out, that's what I'm doing.

[King Edward I]

Heres one I put together

20" Viewsonic VA2012-2, Widescreen TFT, 1680x1050, 8 ms, £204.44
320 Gb Seagate ST3320620AS Barracuda 7200.10, SATA300, £65.18
Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Sound Card £56.62
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600, Socket 775, 2.4 GHz, Retail £199.61
Asus P5B-E Plus i965, S775, PCI-E (x16), SATA II, £108.91
2Gb (2X1Gb) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC5400 (667), £152.21
256MB Sapphire RX1950Pro PCI-E Mem 1400MHz GDDR3 GPU
580MHz 36Pipes VIVO CrossFire + Zalman VF900-Cu £144.11
OR
256MB Sapphire Radeon X1950XT, PCI-E(x16), £176.12
Mem 1800MHz GDDR3, GPU 625MHz, 48Pipes, VIVO



With Carriage £945.57

The X1950Pro should handle most of your games on fairly high settiing and will do as a temporary card

I have put the X1950XT there two - secondly as your arent overclocking then 667 ram is plenty good enough - if you wanted to save a bit more money 533 ram would probably do the job fine.

PS: If you wait till end of jan (r600 release) the 8800GTS will become cheaper and you could get that if you wanted for probably about £200 - pailt ones are now cheaper than an X1950XTX

[Lord Boris]

My PSU is 500 watts and the case is a generic ATX tower which i've had for ages. It's a bit too big and bulky and the ventilation could be better on it so I may upgrade that too but it probably isnt necessary. The 8800 GTS does seem a good idea as well, my only worry is that I hear some games are a bit glitchy in places but future drivers should sort that out.

Also, how much better is an 8800 GTS than a X1950 XT 256 for the directx9 generation games?

[Maical]

depinds on settings and resolution
check this out http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphi...=586&chart=199

[rayzzz]

i would suggest changing the psu and or the case. 500 watts might not be enough for your new setup and the case needs good ventilation or things might get too hot.

[Lord Boris]

Because the Core2 Duo is quite energy efficient the 500 watts will probably be alright, especially if I go for the ATI card which is probably less power hungry than the 8800 GTS.

I think I may leave it a bit before moving on to directx10 as once that series of cards has reached its conclusion the 8800 GTS will probably be a lower mid range directx10 card while the GTX will probably be upper mid range.