Which to buy AMD or Intel CPU

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TorturedChaos

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Well for most of my PC'ing life I have like AMD. Seemed to give more bang for the buck, although sometimes running a little hotter.

I know I dont like my Intel Centrion Mobile chip set in my laptop, but I do like the AMD 3500+ in my desktop, and the AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual core 4200+ in the computer I use at work. I have heard a lot of bad things about the Pentium's, and pretty much was a blind follower of AMD CPU's

So now im looking to build a decent machine for myself, and was reading through PC building guide, looking the Entery Level pc (which im liking the looks of, it fits in my budget nicely). Well it recommended intel CPU. Says the "Intel Core 2 Duo E7200: The new budget king" Make me stop and think. So I did some googling, and found mostly in favor of Intel, but most of the results were 4 or 5 months old. And the computer world seems to change so much that its almost ancient history now in "PC years"

So If I'm going to be putting a new pc together in the near future what would guys guys recommend, in the same price range as the Entry Level pc guide had for cpu/mobo, for a dual core cpu. Should I go Intel or AMD? Is the Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 still the budget king??
 
Yep, the E7200 is still the best budget CPU you can buy. For lower than $100 though, you cannot beat AMD's offerings. The E7200 is a cooler running chip however, and OCs happily to 3GHz where it will be fast enough for almost anything. You have noticed rightly however that the guide is slightly outdated, but it's not possible for the TS team to update it every few months, given the other work they're busy with. If you're interested, the ASUS P5Q Pro and the E8400 are available in a combo for $275 on Newegg. Otherwise, this is what I recommend for a budget build with the latest available components:
Grand Total = $779.94 including shipping, but not rebates. A cheaper budget build that has much better value for money. If you replace the motherboard and CPU with the E8400 + P5Q Pro combo (scroll down for it), you'd be looking at a total of $830.94. The mouse and keyboard are entirely upto you.

Good luck and let us know how it goes. :)
 
Yep, the E7200 is still the best budget CPU you can buy. For lower than $100 though, you cannot beat AMD's offerings. The E7200 is a cooler running chip however, and OCs happily to 3GHz where it will be fast enough for almost anything. You have noticed rightly however that the guide is slightly outdated, but it's not possible for the TS team to update it every few months, given the other work they're busy with. If you're interested, the ASUS P5Q Pro and the E8400 are available in a combo for $275 on Newegg. Otherwise, this is what I recommend for a budget build with the latest available components:
Grand Total = $779.94 including shipping, but not rebates. A cheaper budget build that has much better value for money. If you replace the motherboard and CPU with the E8400 + P5Q Pro combo (scroll down for it), you'd be looking at a total of $830.94. The mouse and keyboard are entirely upto you.

Good luck and let us know how it goes. :)

Wow that was more help than i exprected!! thanks.


Although I dont need the dvd burner drive, I have one of those, and i have a monitor I can use, so that trims $229.98 off the total, giving $549.96 for the cheaper version.

What do you guys think though this card though

EVGA 384-P3-N966-TR GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB 192-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card $49.99 after $50 rebate
Instead, Its a lot cheaper ($490 for the entire system) with the rebate. But im not really sure how much performance I would be sacrificing with it.

THANKS!
 
The 9600GSO is a fair bit slower than the 9800GT, but will still give you 60FPS+ in almost every game with most of the eye candy turned on. It's not a bad choice, and if you're gaming at around 1280x1024 or 1680x1050, the card will be more than enough for you. Higher resolutions will lower performance significantly.
 
Well right now im using 1024x768, and probably wont be upgrading my monitor anytime soon, unless I find a screaming good deal on one. I think I will go with the 9600GSO, since its such a good prince.


One other questions: I'm assuming that I am going to have to Install the CPU on the MoBo. I have never done that before. Is it fairly easy? or should I not take the chance of something going wrong and pay $15 to have a local shop put the CPU on Mobo, and mabey put the Mobo in the case. I know I can do the rest of the assembly, its something I have done before, but I really dont want to bugger something up.
 
It will be tricky if you haven't done it before, since for the LGA775 socket, the pins are not on the CPU but in the mobo socket, so bending them is pretty easy if you put too much pressure on the CPU while installing it. If you're willing to try it, there are plenty of guides on the net and you'll also find Youtube videos that will show you how to get it right the first time around. If you don't think you're upto it, let a computer shop tech do it for you.
 
So I havent order the parts yet. Going to this weekend.

But I was thinking of swapping the case for this one:


RAIDMAX Tornado ATX-238WR Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case -$31.99 after $10.00 Mail-In Rebate and Free Shipping with a promo Code I got.

As far as I know this looks like a good case, and it slightly cheaper, and really cool looking, and has 1 more fan than the other case.

Although if someone has an issue with it please let me know.

Thanks
 
IF $ s still your concern, you cannot go wrong with AMD. They still provide the best bang for the buck.
IF you are looking for performance, then Intel is the way to go - though in most applications you really won't notice much of a difference.
 
Sorry, When You Snooze, You Lose.....

That's happened to me more than a couple of times over the years as well.

Basiq is Antec's lowest line of PSU. That said, I'm surprised that active PFC is a feature. Rage might want to ring in on a price comparable PSU to the Basiq. It is unfortunate that you weren't able to take advantage of the sale on the "Earthwatts" unit, they (at least Newegg) have been practically giving them away all Summer. I even bought a spare EA-380, $29.95 + free shipping.
 
The BP500U is actually a very decent unit, being made by FSP. But the Earthwatts unit is built by Seasonic, whose reputation for good PSUs is nothing short of legendary.If you want, you can get the EA500 here for around $65 or so, shipping included. Otherwise the Basiq PSU is a fine choice.
 
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