Intel or AMD ??? Help me choose !!!

I am in the process of gathering up a list of parts for my new computer.
Some of you might have seen my other post, ~~~ Project ECHELON ~~~

I am having a very hard time choosing which processor to go with.
I need very good game play, and very good video playback. All around great multimedia is what I am after.
Looking to get about 3.4Ghz.

So, what Brand should I go with? and why?

I've always used Intel chips in the systems I build and never had any issues. I have never experienced any compatibility issues either. I've successfully overclocked Intel chips and haven't had any meltdowns. Either processor will do the job for you. The majority of items you are looking for are going to be taken care of you by the other components of the system you are building. A good video card will give you the benifits for the games, tv, and videos. Tons of RAM to gobble. Fast drives...

AMD64 is the way to go.... 64 bit instructions, faster for less money better at most games and perhaps a litttle better or at least the same on video playback. Also about $60 cheaper or you can get a 3500 90nm version for the same price as an older p4 3.4Ghz. I would recommend reading reviews at places such as Tomshardware.com Anandtech.com and other sites if you are unsure. They do benchmarks which is a fair indication of performance under current 32 bit windows. I expect when they get 64 bit windows going and drivers mature it will in many aspects be faster and for now the P4 doesn't support 64bit instructions.

Big AMD fan here. Never had any issues with any AMD processor. In fact, thats all I own.

I would choose the brand with the cheapest components.
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Free E.T.

AMD, faster & less expensive.

Theepdinker

g5 dual. oh sorry ;p

Man that is like asking Ford or Chevy. My observations thruout the past few years is that AMD has caught up and perhaps even surpassed Intel in many ways but also they aren't the bargain they once were. But still especially on the lower end, you'll get more performance for the buck with AMD.

They say Intel favors video editing while AMD favors gaming. Or you can just get the fastest version of either and it doesn't really matter. I use an overclocked AMD in my lappy and very happy.

Greg.

Power PC dual G5's

I'm here on a K5-166mhz AMD that was built in '98.

When we got the Gateway for the office, (and overpaid something AWEFULL!) it had and I guess still has an 1800+ Athlon (after a lightning strike failure getting us a new Mobo, Case, PSU etc.)

When I bought my HP I was gonna get a Pentium but they were out. So I got a 3200+ Athlon XP instead, and have found it play DVD just peachy.

However I am not a heavy user/gamer so I don't REALLY know if I've been ANY help in this matter!

Just read Toms cpu shootout parts I and II posted yesterday and today at www.tomshardware.com and AMD rules at the very high end. Who would have thunk it back in the days of the k5 and k6.

I do a lot of video editing on my PC with Avid and have an AMD Athlon XP 2700+ 2.17GHz. Have been happy with it so far.

As long as you are sticking with the 32 bit processor, there's not enough difference to notice. To see a big difference the games, drivers and OS all have to be written to take advantage of ALL the special features.

Intel and AMD used different approaches on the 64 bit processors, but again the value is determined by how teh OS and other programs take advantage of the hardware.

A challange for you. Configure your favorite game to it's optimum settings on your current system. Play it for a while. Then go into your bios and UNDERCLOCK it by 10 percent. Come back an hour later and play the same game.

I predict that you will not be able to tell the difference in a blind test.

I usually buy the very best there was, as soon as the next generation is introduced. That generally gives me %50 off for technology that's only 6 months out of date. It also gives me drivers that have been fixed and a bios that's optomized. I figure if I'm going to use it for 2 -5 years, it does not matter what today's bleeding edge machines are.

Oh, and when it comes to the gamer's bragging about overclocking, polygons per second, etc, just lie. It works for gas milage too. Most people do it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Daniel

I stick with AMD because I have found they are easier to upgrade. With Intel you need a new motherboard to take advantage of the new chips.

Also, Intel is playing games with processor speeds. In fact you can buy slower Intel CPUs that run faster then the faster ghz CPUs. Does Intel tell you this, no. You have to research a lot to find this. But AMDs speed ratings are more based on benchmarks, and are more relistic. I find the company is more trustworthy on this.

So I pay less for AMD and I get a better product from a better company. Oh, and I have been in the computer technical field for twenty years. I have ahd Intel before, but now both my computers at home are AMD.

If you want all out performance, I'd look at the 64 bit AMDs. If you just want good price performance, look at the 32 bit AMDs.

-john

I do image editing.

It may not be as heavy as many, but I often resize, Raise contrast and brightness, and sharpen using IrFanView.

My K5-166 with it's meager 48M of RAM and ??? video card will do perhaps 50 really big images then starts wigging out video wise.

I have never hit the limit on the former Gateway Athlon, and haven't given the HP much of a workout yet.

I only wish my very nice Viewsonic 17" A75F CRT was here instead of this Gateway EV700!

It's funny, I just had to make the same decision... I just graduated from college, and came across some extra $$$, so I thought I'd spend it on a MUCH NEEDED computer upgrade. My goal was a moderatly priced gaming machine. After some very extensive research, here's the set-up I decided to go with:

AMD 64 3500+ ATHLON 64 939P RT
Mobo K8N NEO2 PLATINUM MSI (Socket 939)
2 x 512MB RAM (1 gb total)
ATI 9800Pro 128mb 8x AGP Video Card
DVD+/-RW 16x DVD Burner
52x CD Drive
Floppy Drive
120 Gig SATA Western Digital Hard Drive
EnerMax 470 watt Power Supply
Zalman Aluminum/Copper Heatsink
Logitech MX1000 Laser Mouse

Plus the case, and a couple other goodies... the total came to about $1200 from newegg.com. Everything BUT the case arrived yesterday, so I'm eagerly awating it's arrival!

Another AMD fan here. I think they provide much more bang for the buck. The main downside is that they must have adequate cooling, so the machines that I build tend to be noisy because of the additional case fan, a small price to pay.

John... get a Mac /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif