Intel vs AMD. Dual core or single

[Widowmaker808]

I know this subject could start a fight, it did in the gaming clan I'm in. Should I go with intel or AMD, single core or dual?

I am looking at building my first computer. I have been to IBUYPOWER.com and price match the computers components to newegg prices and I can save $300+. I will use the computer for gaming mostly (BF2, WoW, Fear, etc) but the wife will need it for school papers. I have been researching on this build and have read about some campatibilty issues with software and sound cards. Here is what I have at a price of $2000 form IBUYPOWER

Case ( Raidmax Ninja-918 ATX Mid-tower Case w/450W Power Supply Silver

Power Supply ( NZXT PRC-550 550W Power Supply )

Processor ( [939-pin] AMD® Athlon-64 3700+ CPU w/ Hyper Transport Technology )

Processor Cooling ( [New !!!] iBUYPOWER Liquid CPU Cooling Fan System Kit --- [for AMD CPU] )

Motherboard ( [New !!!] Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe nForce4 SLI-x16 Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Dual Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, IEEE 1394, Dual PCI-E MB )

Memory ( 1024 MB [512MB X2] DDR-400 PC3200 Memory Module Kingston Hyper-X w/ Heat Spreader )

Video Card ( [PCI-Express 16x] Nvidia Geforce 7800GT 256MB w/DVI + TV Out Video )

Hard Drive ( 200 GB HARD DRIVE Maxtor 200 GB 7200 RPM Ultra ATA-133 8MB Cache Hard Drive )

CD/DVD Drive ( 16x DVD-ROM Drive Silver )

CD-RW/DVD-RW Drive ( [** Special !!! ***] 16X Dual Format/Double

Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive Silver )

Sound Card ( Creative Lab Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit 7.1 )

Speaker System ( [Black] Creative Labs SBS-560 5.1 Surround Speakers
+ Subwoofer )

Network Card ( Intel Pro 10/100/1000 Network Card )

Floppy Drive ( Mitsumi 1.44 MB Internal Floppy Drive Silver )

Keyboard ( Microsoft Internet Keyboard Beige )

Mouse ( Logitech MX™1000 Laser Cordless Mouse Silver )

USB 2.0 Accessories ( Add External USB 2.0 Hub (4x USB 2.0 Ports) )

Meter Display ( Thermal Temperature LCD Display Silver )

Flash Media Reader/Writer ( 12-In-1 Internal Flash Media Card Reader/Writer Silver )

Operation System ( [New !!!] MS Windows XP Professional X64 Edition )

I need to stay under $2500. Is this the best way to go? Also I was looking at the dual cores but was told they are only good for running multi programs and is not good for gaming. I should just save the money or bump up my proc. Thank you for your help and time.

 

[Rugger]

Onboard sound will be as good as the SB live. Go Audigy or onboard. Onboard sound is really good right and is truly a viable option.

Single core unless you do heavy multitasking when gaming or game with a LOT of windows open.

With modern games you might want to consider more RAM like the OCZ Value VX series 2x1GB

I'd go with a less expensive, great quality board like the Abit AN8 Ultra or Epox Ep-9NPA+ Ultra - saves around $100.

Unless you have a sound fetish or are OCing heavy the AMD stock cooler does a good job of cooling the chip - gotta love the price too, $5 more for the retail box. Use onboard network instead of an add-on card.

I like this Super-Flower SF-201T case better.

Go for a 16MB cache HDD like this Maxtor Maxline III, 250GB or the WD SE16, 250GB.

 

[RichPLS]

A suggestion instead of waiting for that SuperFlower 201 to restock, this LianLi is a good alternative

 

[Widowmaker808]

Thanks alot of the input guys. I think I am going to just build the machine, getting my parts only from newegg of coarse. IBUYPOWER doesnt have some of those options for HDD and ram. I will more than likely use a thermotake PS about 550w. I'm not an OCing person. I just want a fast machine that I wont have to touch/upgrade for about 4+ years. (I have my first rugrat on the way) Thanks again.