Intel vs. AMD System

[FireDK]

I'm about to buy a new PC and I was wondering which one of these configurations is better. I'll be using it as an all-purpose computer, so gameing, office and multimedia included. Tell me what you think.


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CPU | Intel Pentium 805 LGA775, 2.66 GHz, Socket 775, FSB 533MHz, 2 x 1 MB L2 Cache, Dual Core, BOX

MB | Asus, Chipset nForce4 SLI Intel Edition, Socket LGA775, 4 x Dual Channel DDR2 667, 2 x PCIEXP16x, 2 x PCIEXP1x, 8 Channels, Gigabit LAN, SATAII / ATA133, FSB 1066MHz, ATX                           

RAM | Twinmos DDR2 (240), 1024 MB, PC5300, 667MHz, CL5.0, CHIPSET TWINMOS

HDD | Western Digital, 250 GB, 7200 RPM, SATA II, 8MB                                                   

VGA | XFX GeForce 7300LE, PCI Express, 128 MB, 64 BIT, 450 / 400 MHz, TV + DVI

CASE | Miditower Linkworld 321-02U, 420W P4, Black, C2222, Prescott Ready, Airguide, 2 x USB, 24 PIN

DISPLAY | Hyundai ImageQuest, Dynaflat-x Q770, 17in, 0.25, 70KHz, Max 1280 x 1024 @ 60Hz, OSD, TCO99, Silver

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CPU | AMD Athlon64 3500+, 2200 MHz, Socket 939, BOX

MB | Epox, Chipset nForce4, Socket 939, 4 x Dual Channel DDR400, 1 x PCIEXP16x, 2 x PCIEXP1x, 8 Channels, Gigabit LAN, SATAI / ATA133, ATX             

RAM | Kingmax DDR (184), 1024 MB, PC3200, 400MHz, SUPER TSOP (MPXD42D-D8HT4)

HDD | Western Digital, 250 GB, 7200 RPM, ATA100, 8MB                                                    

VGA | XFX GeForce 7300LE, PCI Express, 128 MB, 64 BIT, 450 / 400 MHz, TV + DVI

CASE | Miditower Linkworld 321-02U, 420W P4, Black, C2222, Prescott Ready, Airguide, 2 x USB, 24 PIN

DISPLAY | Hyundai ImageQuest, Dynaflat-x Q770, 17in, 0.25, 70KHz, Max 1280 x 1024 @ 60Hz, OSD, TCO99, Silver

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Born from The Dark, in the black cloak of night!
And please excuse my spelling...

I am a sig Virus. Please put me in your sig so that I can continue to replicate.

 

[addy]

My only comment would be regarding the video card.

You mentioned gaming as one area of use in your post - how serious are you about gaming? IF you really want a gaming machine then the 7300LE may struggle, particularly wiht new games.

A 7300GS will struggle to hit 30FPS even at low resolutions in newer games such as Battlefield 2 and Half Life 2 and that is at medium detail settings.

 

[FireDK]

Well, I'm not really into gaming, but I would like to play an ocasional HL2 or FEAR or something.

I could also choose from the following. Which one do you think is best?

Asus Ati Radeon X1300 128MB

Asus Ati Radeon X550 128MB

XFX GeForce 6200 Turbo Cache 128MB up to 256MB

Asus Ati Radeon X30SE 128MB

Born from The Dark, in the black cloak of night!
And please excuse my spelling...

I am a sig Virus. Please put me in your sig so that I can continue to replicate.

 

[FireDK]

I've decided on a Club 3D GeForce 7300GS 256MB. Seems more powerful and I hope it will do.

Born from The Dark, in the black cloak of night!
And please excuse my spelling...

 

[attrofy]

Video cards tend to be the one area that is overrated, for a casual gamer. It is the one area that can be the best "speed" increase for a budget upgrade for a gamer, but I dare say most any game you choose will be playable. However, you may not be able to see the moss on the wall at the 1600 x 1200 settings, but I would still venture that most all games will be playable at a reasonable frame rate, even if a few top end textures have to be turned off. The higher end cards would be gravy, but one has to justify the cost. But, you are looking at a pretty budget card, so expect that there may be some limitations in full 3-D gaming.

Video card aside, the Intel is a dual core, and the AMD is not.

This may not be a big deal, and as gaming is not much of an issue, I don't know what you are intending with the setup, and how dual-core vs. single core would effect your expectations. However, you aren't really comparing apples to apples.

If you bumped the processor to say a 3800+, you would have a more even comparison.

As for opinions, my personal preference leans towards the AMD - but then I am biased. In most tests, the AMD outperforms the Intel in most REAL WORLD computing. Intel takes some of the top benchmarks, but these are sterile tests. You usually see more bang for the buck in AMD's (IMO).

 

[attrofy]

Dang I wish there was an EDIT button.

One last point, if you are thinking that your uses will tend towards the graphics and multimedia side - or highend multitasking (i.e. ripping dvd, listening to music, while surfing, and tickering a stock quote) - you should go with the Dual core. If you are thinking more minimal CPU intense tasks, or more single minded tasks (playing a game, then checking stocks, then ripping a DVD) the single core would be a better choice. And, IMO, if you are leaning more towards the dual core - I would bump up to 2GB of RAM. Memory is relatively inexpensive, and for those sort of intense number crunching tasks, an extra gig won't hurt.

 

[Grenage]

I think attrofy summed up quite well. I would add that AMD prices are plummeting now due to Intels new 'wonder chip', so you'll get more 'bang for buck' there.

If you are considering games then 2GB memory is really the minimum these days. I'd also be looking at RAID since most decent boards have that onboard, you can double your transfer speed quite cheaply.

I'd probably disagree on the GFX card, modern games are very demanding and quite frankly look pi*s poor or choppy. Dual Core's as mentioned aren't really utilized in current games, but will be. It's more 'bang for buck' to go single core here, too.


Carlsberg don't run I.T departments, but if they did they'd probably be more fun.

 

[addy]

I'd probably disagree on the GFX card, modern games are very demanding and quite frankly look pi*s poor or choppy.

I would agree, but I guess it all depends on what you want from your games - are you happy to experience the game and the gameplay itself or do you want the eye-candy with all the bells and whistles.

To me, playing games such as Half Life 2 on a 7300 or similar is like driving a Ferrari with a 1.6 litre engine - it will get you from A to B, but not in the way it was meant to!!

 

[Cwgunder]

FYI

As you don't really seem to be that much into gaming, I just wanted to point out that you really won't need 2GB of RAM. It's DDR2-PC5300 right? It's just an extra $100 you may not have to spend. Because the bus speed of the FSB 533MHz and your RAM runs at 667, the performance increase you'll see with an extra GB of RAM will be minimal, unless your are running graphic intensive games or audio rocessing or recording programs.

Hope this helps

Good Luck!

Chris

 

[Cwgunder]

OK where's the edit post button on this thing.

You know.., I thought about it a little more and to be honest, an extra $100 isn't bad for a GB or RAM. The FSB speed for the board is 1066MHZ so I'd this it would be worth it.

Hope this helps

Good Luck!

Chris

 

[Cwgunder]

hehe, I know you're tired of me now but I've got one more thing to add.

Take a look at this link. It's a side-by-side comaprison of all the Pentium D processors. It's got a lot of good info.

http://www.intel.com/products/processor/pentium_d/specs.htm

Hope this helps

Good Luck!

Chris

 

[BadFrog]

I have been loyal to Intel for some time now but that is about to change. My next PC will be AMD. Back in the day Intel would run circles around AMD in benchmarks but that simply is no longer the case. For speed AMD is the clear winner today.

As far as the video cards go. They can make a huge difference on games imo. Most of the popular MMORPG's chew up and spit out low end video cards.

"Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy"
Albert Einstein

 

[FireDK]

Thanka a lot, guys! It's ben really helpful to hear your opinions. I will think it through and (hopefully) make the best decision. Thsnks again for your help!

Born from The Dark, in the black cloak of night!
And please excuse my spelling...

 

[FireDK]

Ok... I know I spelled Thanks wrong twice, but there is NO edit button!!!

Born from The Dark, in the black cloak of night!
And please excuse my spelling...

 

[addy]

It's just an extra $100 you may not have to spend.

Good point, in fact, going for 1GB of Ram and putting the $100 towards a better video card would give you a more balanced system.

 

[Nelviticus]

BadFrog, if you think AMD runs rings around Intel then you haven't seen reviews of Intel's new Core 2 Duo processors (example: Hexus.net). Even the second-from-bottom E6400 is a match for an Athlon FX-62, and in the UK it's selling for 150 UKP. They also draw a lot less power, which means they're cheaper to run and quieter to cool.

Whatever you decide to go for I recommend that you wait until after 7th August because that's when large supplies of Intel's new CPUs will be available to retailers. Prices of AMD and older Intel CPUs have been crashing down in the last week or so (at least from reputable retailers) and by the 7th they should all be down.

One last thing: FEAR is a very demanding game for graphics cards. In most reviews I've read the nVidia 7600GT has the best 'bang for the buck' ratio, so if you can afford one, get one. I've just bought one for 105 UKP.

Regards

Nelviticus

 

[FireDK]

Thst's some very good advice. I will take it into consideration. Thank you, Nelviticus!

Born from The Dark, in the black cloak of night!
And please excuse my spelling...

 

[attrofy]

Just a thought, I remember the same thing when the 64 bit AMD's came out (btw Intel scoffed at the idea of having a "stepping stone" chip that would bridge 32 bit and 64 bit apps and OS - as they were hell-bent on pushing the Xeons for 64 bit) the first generation AMD's had promise, but the Intel chips still had the nod. It wasn't long after that AMD switched from the 754 pin processors to the 940 pin - or whatever it was - and things took off for AMD.

My personal opinion - I don't think this is the knock-out blow that Intel has been hoping for (needing) for several years. It reminds me of the nVidia/ATI war. I personally like ATi and would like to see them reign supreme - but it seems every other board release, ATI staggers back on top (barely) and nVidia is right around the corner, and holds the title for the next 6-8 months. I believe the same is true with AMD and Intel. Just when Intel gets a leg up for a month or two, AMD comes back for the next year and a half or so.

Lastly, regarding video cards, I missed FireDK's comment about Fear and HL2 - since those are pretty intense 3-D games, I would reccomend something in the $150 -$175 (USD) range, and agree with Nelviticus that the 7600GT will probably give the best bang for the buck. Anything over that will most likely be overkill for occasional gaming. A 6600 might be sufficient - but for the difference in price, and the age of the technology - the 7600 is a far better buy and will most likely carry you further into the future.

 

[Grenage]

Aye attrofy, and the competition is healthy. This one is a little different though, AMD don't currently have anything lined up that can come close to Intel now.

We agree on ATI, however. I've generally had more luck with them. My current machine is a build using all the chipsets I've avoided for the last few year; AMD, Nforce and Nvidea. The AMD needed patching to stop crashing BF2, the motherboard failed working after 4 months and the Nvidia card had to be flashed with the ROM of another manufacturer to get rid of texture corruption!

Still, luck of the draw. Can't get too biased over bad luck.


Carlsberg don't run I.T departments, but if they did they'd probably be more fun.

 

[riverider]

The items you picked will do a great job for you I am betting if later you find you really need a more powerful video card thats not a really big deal. I have the 7300LE and it has worked ok for me. Also nothing wrong with the Intel chip set their prices have dropped so your not gaining a lot by switching to the AMD chip.