Need help on making decision to buy server/PC. 1

[windowsfan]

question is what processor should I go with ? AMD or Intel. Not able to figure out the difference between two.

What processor is good for running SQL, Exchange on windows server 2003? Does all this application take advantage of dual core or x2 processor

What is good for PC, where I use application like sql management studio, visual basic.net, video editing, photoshop and graphics application

 

[djtech2k]

Go with dual-core 64bit no matter what else. In either case, it is not much more money and they are far superior.

As for Intel vs AMD, both are fine. With AMD I would go with the amd64x2 in the desktop and the Opteron64x2 on the server. If you go intel, I would ONLY buy the new core2duo cpu's. The conroe core for the core2duo is a very nice cpu as well, which is comparable to the AMD.

 

[windowsfan]

how does all the apps benefits from dual core?

 

[djtech2k]

Well, some apps are written for multi-threading/dual cpu processing, which makes it run very well on a dual-core processor. For apps taht are not, I have found that they still run well on a dual-core because Windows/AMD automatically spread the application load between the cores. Some old apps have problem with dual-core, but there are patches from AMD and Microsoft that fixes all that.

The bottom line IMO is that dual-core is not much more $$, it is much more future-proof, and runs as good or better in current standard architecture.

 

[windowsfan]

what would you recommend me if have have to go with AMD? There are many options, is x2 dual core like intel?

 

[djtech2k]

Desktop = amd64x2

Server = opteron64x2

Both are dual-core 64 bit.