Todays' Intel vs. Today's AMD?

[kyosuke]

Ok, so it's that time for me to really dig down and start looking at a new system. One of my main concerns is always the processor because of the gaming I like to do. I want something that can run pretty much anything out there on max settings without worry. Now while this has become a GPU world, CPU is just as important, especially for those of us who like to multi-task while gaming sometimes.

My question being is where to go? I was a loyal AMD fan until this last system I bought. I went core 2, because 3 years ago, it was the thing to do.

What about today though? Where should I look? Has AMD bounced back or is the current intel generation the way to go?

I'm looking for a good and capable processor (one that doesn't necessarily need to be OC'd) in the $200 - $300 range.

What would you guys suggest?

Thanks much!

 

[g00fysmiley]

intel still has the performance crown and did a die shrink to 32nm vs the amd 45 nm but imo in your price range i might consider an amd as well because of6 physical cores in that range vs. you'd be looking at a quad core intel with hyperthreading that does out perform the amd chips in almost all benchmarks

in the intel lineup for your price range you have 4 core intels which will offer very good performance and hyperthreading for a theoredical 8 threads per chip . you'd be looking at Core i5-750 on your low end and Core i7-930 on your high end pricepoint, these will be more energy efficient with the 32nm design with the added advantage of producing much less heat making the intels more overclockable

here's a link to latest cpu toms link but i bet a july one will be out soon
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-phenom-ii-corei-i5,2647-6.html

in the 2-300 range amd offers amd phenom II x6 core 1090t at the 300 mark or 1055t which is also a true 6 core thyey are nice chips as well and the physical cores might sway you. plus the turbo on 3 cores is an interesting an noteworthy feature

note either kind of chip in your range will be plenty powerful for all gaming on the market atm

 

[jimmysmitty]

^Actually in about a month or so the price drop on the i7-950 should hit which would put it at sub $300.

 

[simon12]

What graphics card will you be running?

 

[amdfangirl]

For something in the $200-$300 range, it'll be Intel unless the Phenom II X6 catches your fancy. Maybe an i7 920?

If you have $300 for a CPU, I'd want for Sandy Bridge/Bulldozer. All paths seem to dead ends right now.

 

[C00lIT]

I think you are better of telling us your budget for the entire build.

at 300$ an I7 is nice but the motherboard and added ram makes it extra.

If you get an 180$ Phenom II 965 for example, you can throw in an extra 120$ on videocard... makes a big difference.

If it's performance and the budget is limitless I would go for an I7-930, 6gigs ram, 2x320gig raid0 + 1.5terra and a Radeon 5870

A Phenom X6 1090T will still be cheaper due to motherboard and ram costs.

either way with both setups you can probably encode stuff and then click on that badcompany2 shortcut without much framerate loss...



Either way, for gaming and simple multitasking, any 200$ cpu will do the job so the videocard is the bigger player in this... and upgrade paths...