AMD v Intel - mATX

[Jack_Pepsi]

Hey everyone!

Nice forums y'got here, thought I'd sign up considering I've been a long time reader of THG!

I'll save y'all the adverts and get straight to the point. A friend recently asked me to build a specification for a new rig a friend of his wants. He asked me to make it as future proof as I can with a budget of £500 (GBP).

However, unfortunately for him I don't buy cheap crappy components and I suggested his friend holds out and saves a little more mo-honey so that it would actually be worth the wait... and the mo-honey!

Whilst browsing my favourite e-retailers for a decent chassis I feel in love with SilverStone's fantastic looking TJ0B.
In silver it looks great, but in black it looks fantastic. So this got me going down the mATX route. - Not really a good start for a cheap rig that needs to be as future proof as possible for cheap as possible.

So now you've seen the chassis, and you now my situation, if you were planning a specification based around an mATX board would you go, AMD or Intel.

Thank you in advance for any comments/suggestions et al!

 

[everett]

So now you've seen the chassis, and you now my situation, if you were planning a specification based around an mATX board would you go, AMD or Intel.

This is what I think.

 

[BUFF]

nice case, I've got 1.

By the time that you add a decent PSU, optical drive etc. & a copy of Windows you're talking about £200 gone already.
the important question though is what is your friend going to use the PC for?

 

[Jack_Pepsi]

Thanks for the input BUFF.

Well, he wants to it for everything including gaming. Now I wanted to go down the Intel route due to him being able to plonk in a Core 2 Quad when the time would come. That and maybe replacing the GFX if needed.

I think I'll have to bite the bullet and not go down the Intel path and concentrate on an AM2 spec.

AMD would be cheaper and hopefully the socket/chipset will be compatible with the upcoming AM2+/AM3 chips. I hope so, as this will bring the future-proofing up on par with the Intel route.

Thanks again BUFF!

 

[ATIisGhostlyblue]

Go AMD. You wont regret it. I know several people who have built successful systems in with AMD in MATX cases.

 

[Julian33]

Well I built a new machine based around this case in November. It's a great case to be sure - looks great, and excellent cooling for a mATX case. Only thing I would say on the bad side is that the top of the case is a little cramped inside once you add a PSU and something in the top drive bay. Heres a couple of pics of my rig:





As you can see the wiring is a bit of a mess

I went for an AMD S939 based system, primarily because it was cheap, could get some decent overclocking out of it and could reuse my existing DDR RAM. My build cost about £550 in total, but I reused my RAM, HDs and DVD drive from my old rig.

For a more futureproof system, I'd recommend going AMD AM2. Sure C2D is better, but its also much more expensive. You could get the 3800+ here which is a steal atm. I went for the Seasonic 380W PSU in my build - not too expensive, and is rock solid with my overclocked 4200+ system, 3HDs and a Radeon x1950 Pro, which I'd strongly recommend if you can afford it. AM2 is definitely your best bet though, as you can get a cheap decent dual core system now, with the potential to upgrade to much faster dual cores or quad cores in the future.