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please help me choose computer
- Thread starter mdarsot
- Start date
Close call
Between 3 and 4 but 4 has it slightly with a bigger hard drive and slightly faster graphics chipset.
No5? with the faster CPU is far more expensive with little extra to show for it.
Yup, I know...Intel versas AMD but as a straight budget bogey basic unit without overclocking it's the AMD rig that wins by a nats scrotum (in my opinion)
Martin
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Between 3 and 4 but 4 has it slightly with a bigger hard drive and slightly faster graphics chipset.
No5? with the faster CPU is far more expensive with little extra to show for it.
Yup, I know...Intel versas AMD but as a straight budget bogey basic unit without overclocking it's the AMD rig that wins by a nats scrotum (in my opinion)
Martin
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PC #2 and #3 are the same PC, only #2 costs $9 more. So #2 is out.
PC #4 and #6 cost the same, and are identical except for the hard disk size. So #6 is out.
That leaves you with #1, #3, #4 or #5. You have three price points at $200, $260, and $549.
If you can only spend $200 then get PC #1. But that's my last choice. I doubt that's your price cap since everything else is higher.
At the $260 price point I'd go with PC #4. It has a larger hard disk, slightly faster graphics, and the CPUs will perform very close to the same.
If you don't mind spending more money, then PC #5 takes the win. Especially if you're going to run Vista, you'll see a definite difference with the extra memory and CPU speed.
PC #4 and #6 cost the same, and are identical except for the hard disk size. So #6 is out.
That leaves you with #1, #3, #4 or #5. You have three price points at $200, $260, and $549.
If you can only spend $200 then get PC #1. But that's my last choice. I doubt that's your price cap since everything else is higher.
At the $260 price point I'd go with PC #4. It has a larger hard disk, slightly faster graphics, and the CPUs will perform very close to the same.
If you don't mind spending more money, then PC #5 takes the win. Especially if you're going to run Vista, you'll see a definite difference with the extra memory and CPU speed.
- Thread starter
- #4
Thanks Kmcferrin
I wonder which processor is better Intel or AMD among following.
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+
Processor Speed 2.3GHz
Intel Core 2 Duo E4400
Also there is one more sysem from ACER the price of which is same as #5 around $549 here is configuration.
$580 brand ACER
Processor Type Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q6600 AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+
RAM 2GB DDR2 SDRAM 1024MB DDR2 RAM (Up to 4GB)
Hard Drive 320GB (7200RPM) 250GB 7200RPM
Optical Drives 16X DVD+/-RW DVD+/-RW Dual Layer
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
I wonder which processor is better Intel or AMD among following.
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+
Processor Speed 2.3GHz
Intel Core 2 Duo E4400
Also there is one more sysem from ACER the price of which is same as #5 around $549 here is configuration.
$580 brand ACER
Processor Type Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q6600 AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+
RAM 2GB DDR2 SDRAM 1024MB DDR2 RAM (Up to 4GB)
Hard Drive 320GB (7200RPM) 250GB 7200RPM
Optical Drives 16X DVD+/-RW DVD+/-RW Dual Layer
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
You never mentioned how you plan to use the system, this is important to making a decision like this.
Another thing...have you ruled out building a system??? You can get EXACTLY the hardware that's best for your intended use, get the OS you really want, and have a better upgrade path.
Tony
"Buy what you like, or you'll be forced to like what you buy"...me
Another thing...have you ruled out building a system??? You can get EXACTLY the hardware that's best for your intended use, get the OS you really want, and have a better upgrade path.
Tony
"Buy what you like, or you'll be forced to like what you buy"...me
- Thread starter
- #6
Between the Athlon X2 4400+ and the Intel E4400 you probably won't see much difference at all. The Intel is faster on a clock-for-clock bases but since the AMD runs at a higher clock speed it will probably be a wash.
If that Acer system is the Core 2 Quad then it will probably be as fast as or a tad faster than the Athlon X2 5600+ system, but it has two more execution cores (4 instead of 2) so it has more headroom if you're running lots of apps at once (or heavily multi-threaded apps). Of course, it has less memory and hard disk space, and I'm not familiar with the Intel 3100 graphics, so it's hard to say. Since you're not doing heavily multi-threaded apps then I'd probably stick with the AMD with more memory and disk.
If that Acer system is the Core 2 Quad then it will probably be as fast as or a tad faster than the Athlon X2 5600+ system, but it has two more execution cores (4 instead of 2) so it has more headroom if you're running lots of apps at once (or heavily multi-threaded apps). Of course, it has less memory and hard disk space, and I'm not familiar with the Intel 3100 graphics, so it's hard to say. Since you're not doing heavily multi-threaded apps then I'd probably stick with the AMD with more memory and disk.
- Thread starter
- #8
- Thread starter
- #9
Seems the website is now closed as boxing day offers are about to hit.
Q6600 is the best of your sellection so far and X3100 graphics are Intels latest and best integrated offering based on the 965G chipset.
Trouble is with integrated graphics, even the 'best' is still pretty poor for gaming, so don't expect to be able to play anything very new with good frame rates.
TV/FM tuner? is that important to you? and is it analogue or digital? I know here in the UK anologue is being switched off.
Martin
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Q6600 is the best of your sellection so far and X3100 graphics are Intels latest and best integrated offering based on the 965G chipset.
Trouble is with integrated graphics, even the 'best' is still pretty poor for gaming, so don't expect to be able to play anything very new with good frame rates.
TV/FM tuner? is that important to you? and is it analogue or digital? I know here in the UK anologue is being switched off.
Martin
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That's because Intel's CPUs use a frontside bus design while AMD's use Hypertransport and an integrated memory controller. Using the FSB means that the same bus is used for access to the northbridge (memory controller) and southbridge (PCI and PCI-E bus).
For example, on an Intel CPU with an 800 MHz FSB, you get 6.4 GB/sec of bandwidth shared between the northbridge and southbridge. That means that data going to/from the CPU (or each CPU core in this case) is contending with data going to/from the southbridge (video cards, sound cards, hard disks, etc) for a slice of that 6.4GB/sec of bandwidth.
However, an AMD CPU uses Hypertransport 2.0, which provides 22.4 GB/sec of bandwidth. That's roughly three times as much as on an 800 MHz FSB Intel chip. Not only that, Hypertransport isn't a bus, its a point-to-point protocol. So that bandwidth isn't shared. On top of that, the AMD CPU has an integrated memory controller which provides low latency access to memory.
On the Intel side, the only way that they can keep from starving the CPU for memory is to either up the FSB to get more bandwidth, or use lots more cache memory on the CPU. Intel does both, but their entry-level CPUs are still limited to 800 MHz FSB. You have to go to their top of the line to get 1333 MHz, and even then it's still slower than Hypertransport, so they pile on even more cache.
If you don't believe me, check out Tom's:
You'll note that in most cases the CPUs are very close in scores with the notable exception of memory-related benchmarks. Cache improves memory performance, but even with 4x the cache as the AMD the Intel CPU still falls far behind on memory benchmarks.
- Thread starter
- #12
So kmcferrin
it looks like you are leaning me towards AMD, i dont like the memory benchmark of Intel. hence i think AMD will be the right choice. One more question.
Should i go for
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+
or
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+
the 5600 one is $200 more but it has 60gig bigger hard drive, 1 gig more ram and TV/FM tuner
it looks like you are leaning me towards AMD, i dont like the memory benchmark of Intel. hence i think AMD will be the right choice. One more question.
Should i go for
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+
or
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+
the 5600 one is $200 more but it has 60gig bigger hard drive, 1 gig more ram and TV/FM tuner
But then that pushes the price range up into the area where you could afford an Intel E6550 or similar and a no win for AMD.
Given that we are just about to have lots of great boxing day bargains thrust upon us I say, wait to see what other deals materialize and look towards a low end 6000 series Intel with an reasonable addon graphics card already installed (not onboard) if you really want this rig to fulfill your stated needs.
Martin
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Participate and help others.
Given that we are just about to have lots of great boxing day bargains thrust upon us I say, wait to see what other deals materialize and look towards a low end 6000 series Intel with an reasonable addon graphics card already installed (not onboard) if you really want this rig to fulfill your stated needs.
Martin
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Participate and help others.
I'm not exactly trying to turn you to AMD. It's just that you have two systems listed at $260 each, and I know the CPUs will perform similarly but that the AMD has a bigger hard disk and slightly faster graphics.
If you want to shop in the $560 price point you could probably get a faster Intel for the money.
I don't know which country you're shopping in, but the US economy is going into the toilet right about now, and the holiday season that usually provides a big boost has been weak. Shortly after xmas you'll probably see some drastically lowered prices as people try to move stock that didn't sell.
If you want to shop in the $560 price point you could probably get a faster Intel for the money.
I don't know which country you're shopping in, but the US economy is going into the toilet right about now, and the holiday season that usually provides a big boost has been weak. Shortly after xmas you'll probably see some drastically lowered prices as people try to move stock that didn't sell.
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