Intel or AMD for gaming rig?

Well the Intel vs AMD debate; there's probably like 1million of those topics if you search around here, or even google it.

Now, more specifically, you state Intel vs AMD in GAMING.

Well, if you google or search these forums for user reviews or benchmarks, you will see that, for example, the AMD Phenom II x4 965 @3.4ghz performs similiar to the i7 920 or i7 860 in GAMES as far as FPS as concerned.

If you do more researching though, you will find that the i7 920 or i7 860 vs the Phenom II x4 965, are generally BETTER in general CPU tasks like multitasking or video encoding.

But in games, they perform very similiar.

Now you figure the AMD Phenom II x4 965 is around 190$ and the i7 920 or i7 860 or around $279.99.

Then it becomes your choice what you want to do.

Now the i7 960 would most likely be a faster processor, since the 965 is usually compared with the i7 860 or i7 920.

If you have the money, and want to do other CPU tasks, very quickly, and don't care about paying a premium for the Intel, then go intel.

If you want to mainly game, and still want a strong CPU, and want to use the extra $100 for a GPU, then definately go AMD.

I would Go for And Intel I7 CPU (920 Model cuz' It has huge OC headroom and there's not much point in going much bigger) They have all The fun stuff, like hyperthreading and Dynamic energy saving tech.

But For the love of all things good and green GO FOR AN ATI (AMD) GPU

I would go for the 5850 or 5830 If you have The cash. My personal brand preferance is Sapphire Because I have only had Good Times with all of my Sapphire cards

Mobo Wise i'ma Gigabyte Nut So naturally Id go for the GA-X58A-UD7

Good Luck  

Depends on your budget

<$1000, AMD
$1000-$1300, Depends
>$1300 Intel.

I have to agree with megaman but unless your going into a uber cheap budget rig, then intel + amd(ati) is way to go ;D

Many have stated the same things that I agree with. If money is no object and you want the fastest CPU out there, then go Intel.

However, if you want to just primarily game and save money, go AMD all the way. I've been using AMD since my K6 days. The last Intel chip I ever owned was a P133. I haven't looked back since.

i'd go for a phenom ii 945, it depends on your budget, it seems AMD are really mainly good for gaming i mean their strong point as compared with Intel for other multitasking duties it's not their strong point. If you want to overclock and have a bigger case for cooling go for a 955 or 965, which ever is priced well. Make sure it doesn't come near the price of an I5 750, because i admit those cpu's look very attractive. If the 955 comes near the price of an i5 750 buy the i5 750 because it is better for gaming. Also to be honest buy ATI, they're better for value, and their technology is actually better, in terms of performance per watt, example ATI 5870 188watts versus GTX 470 215watts. ATI and Nvidia have more or less the same performance, because in most games with either gpu from ATI or Nvidia, you will get over 100 FPS for sure. So get ATI for less overheating and cheaper price, cleaner technology. Intel/ATI AMD/ATI. My system contains a phenom ii 720 and a GTS 250.

I based my choice on a lot of benchmark results as well as general reviews. I picked the i5 750 and it is fantastic. If you need to budget, an AMD CPU is totally fine for gaming. I partially chose the i5 because it is in fact slightly faster and this means a longer life (I mean it won't need upgrading - if I don't burn it out). As for video cards, I went with an ATI 5850 and again it's great, and super easy to Overclock (I took it from 725/1000 to 975/1200 easy, and some people are going higher but my Sapphire card can't really get much faster - these speeds are faster than a stock 5870). The 5870 is better but imo not worth the extra $100. From what I've seen of the newer nVidia cards, they are good but they don't have anything comparable to the 5850 in both speeds and cost.
Also since I got the MSI P55GD65 mobo, I can easily crossfire a second 5850 when needed and I won't be bottlenecked by the CPU.

Still, AMD are great and generally a bit cheaper, but the i5 750 is my recommendation because it's what I have and I really, really like it.

Doogie,

You didnt mentioned your budget. Basically the difference in price intel vs amd (medium rig) its about 200-300 bucks. Intel has slight advantage for gaming not talking about apps cuz its a different story. Since you didnt mentioned budget i'm guessing its not important so in this case go with intel.

Awesome gaming system:

1) 1156 motherboard
2) i5-750 (and good Heatsink/Fan)
3) 2x HD5870 (Sapphire Vapor-X is more expensive, but extremely quiet)
4) 8GB DDR3
5) Windows 7 Premium 64-bit OEM

Note:
Anything more than the above provides a rapidly diminishing return for the money. In fact, a single HD5870 and 4GB would be awesome for most games.

It would be best to invest in a system like this and bank the difference or put that money into a better monitor or speakers. While just over $1000, the U2711 is a truly incredible monitor. It is 27" and 2560x1440 (16:9). It has great blacks (for LCD), a great viewing angle and no issues worth mentioning.

For speakers, M-Audio AV40's (stereo) are really great and well worth the roughly $200. A quality onboard audio chip provides very sufficient audio.