Noob needing explaination...

This is simply because Intel's CPU is superior in almost every single way than AMD 6400. It runs cooler, it runs faster, and it requires less power to do so.

Intel's CPUs perform exceptionally well in games, against their AMD counterpart. While it will not significantly affect your FPS, it will affect your load time.

Taking Q4 for example,



6400+ => 109FPS
E8400 => 136FPS

I think you miss the point yomamafor1, he is not asking which is faster, but if the E8400 is worth the extra cash over the 6400+, atleast that is what I gather. Even though the E8400 is a good deal faster than the 6400+, the 70-120 extra dollars does not make much of a difference unless overclocking is involved. Since the original poster stated that he had no interest in the Black Edition, that would give me the idea that he does not intend to overclock much, if at all. If I assume right then purchasing a faster video card, or a second video card would make a much more profound difference in gaming. The CPU will only become the bottleneck of the system if the video card is overstressed. In the end it depends on the actually specs of your system, so many people assume the faster is better but fail to realize that the relationship the components have with one another can be much more important.

Hope this helps.

Lets see if we agree on "Gaming Machine" definition supposing you have a fixed budget for it:

"I would get a cheap CPU and save money to use it on the best video card I could get, o more ram why not"

I'm pretty sure a A64 X2 6400 paired with a 8800GT can kick severe on any Intel running an 8500GT.

I didn't calculate the numbers exactly but I assume you know what I mean.

True enough, if a little blunt.

yomamfor1 is right, the E8400 uses less power, runs faster and cooler so directly compared to the 6400+ it is better.
But, my 6000+ is never going to really lag me in games, it is more than fast enough for any modern game. It (and the 6400+) are significantly cheaper (as has been said) and the boards are cheaper as well.
For a budget gaming build (and if you don't plan to OC - I don't) then the 6400+ is a great choice  

The performance in games is primarily determined by the power of the vga card. A few games like FSX are more limited by the CPU. As you get stronger vga cards, then you will start to see the cpu being more important.

What vga card are you considering? If you are looking at a 8800 class card, then I would be thinking about a E8400 to be balanced. If your vga card is less capable, then a AMD 6400 would be ok.

Actually the speed of a CPU will not directly effect a faster video card. If you buy a new CPU with the newest architecture, then it will actually help a faster video card over over a faster CPU with older architecture. Nothing is ever simple in the gaming world. Also at the moment if he gets a 6400+ and a 8800 GTS G92, it will far be slightly faster than a E8400 and a 8800 GT, also a 9600 GT would most likely be what he could best afford, not an 8800 GT.

Well the Graphics Cards that I was looking at were the 8800 gts or the 8800gtx...if that helps any...

Thanks much for the informative stuff, How hard is it to overclock for someone with very little experience messing around with a bios (I have really only installed my videocard and soundcard on my emachine) to get it done on air what is it going to cost me in fans and whatnot?

If you get a 8800GTS-512-G92, then get A E8400. You will not have to overclock the CPU. The 8800GTX or ultra is a bit stronger, but is not worth a new purchase today. Look at the EVGA units, they have an option to "step up" to a stronger card within 90 days.

You could concieveably overclock a lesser cpu to 3.0, but it would not run as fast or be as cool as the 45nm E8400. To overclock, you would need a well ventilated case and an oem cpu cooler, and possibly a better psu. The expense would be more than you save with a cheaper cpu. It's not worth it in my opinion for gaming.

at newegg the E8400 costs 240$
the Athlon X2 6400 costs 165$

Anyone would have to forgive me but I don't know how long will the socket 775 and AM2 be around. So its more like "get whatever you want, why worry, in 2 years you'll have to dump it anyway".

so with this philosophy I get 2 ideas...

1)To get the E8400 which we all know it can overclock easily, meaning that it could serve you more time. Maybe its a better investment.

2)To get the 6400, it won't hurt too much to dump it at such a price.

Then a 3rd and definitive idea comes to my mind:

3)Get a cheap 5000 black edition and overclock it to 3.0. which is near 3.2; near enough to not even notice the difference to the 6400. It will serve you well at stock clock too. And it only costs 95$... that's a steal and its easy to dump. Your wallet won't hurt you.

Don't forget to get the best video card you can get putting the money you save on the CPU. That will make the difference and means you can play today's games better.

Also, 2GB RAM or more is a must if you haven't it in mind. RAM usage goes to 1.5GB when playing Silent Hunter 4.... don't even want to mention the newer games...

Just my 2 coins.