Intel or Amd

[jseamless]

I need to get a new pc. In preparation for Vista I know I should go with a 64 bit processor. Which platform would you recommend I go with? Intel or Amd? Cost is a factor. I want at least a gig of ram. I also want to keep the cost around 800 or so. I will be working with big audio wav files (over a gig). Any feedback would be much appreciated!

 

[raincityboy]

Conroe is looking pretty good. I am looking at getting one myself, but I want to see real life performance first.

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: raincityboy
Conroe is looking pretty good. I am looking at getting one myself, but I want to see real life performance first.

I can echo that. But, past history tells me that as soon as one rolls out something new and awesome - the other will respond in a few months and the beat goes on. Competition is wonderful. What ever you get will probably be overtaken in a year. So, my advice is go with which ever gives you the best deal and bang for the buck.

I have been a long time AMD user, but changed to a P4 system. I find that workplace software runs better on intel - never a lockup or freeze - sort of bullet proof.

Gamers might opine otherwise - but I don't have time for games.

 

[Bobthelost]

Wait a few weeks, there's a price cut for AMD and a new generation for intel. Either way you will get more performance for your money, if you want to wait.

Is this 800 for the unit alone, no monitor, no software?

Are you going to be gaming on this machine (a little, a lot, a hell of a lot?) and are you going to be overclocking?

If you're not gaming then onboard graphics will be sufficent, if you're not overclocking then you can just get the cheapest motherboard from Intel/Asus/MSI/other that has the right number and range of connections for you.

 

[jseamless]

No gaming. The most cpu intensive work will be the editing of large wav files. 800 for the hardware, no software or moitor needed.

 

[Twsmit]

AMD is only going to be competitive on price. K8L the next generation AMD architecutre is 18+ months away, so for the time being Intel will recapture the performance crown with AMD playing catchup and only truely competitive if it lowers its prices.

 

[rcalzada51]

I have several Pc's at home, both intel and Amd. For business Apps, Intel is the king... However for Multimedia applications and audio file editing I always use my AMD Athlon 64X2 System. I edit audio wave files that range from 300MB - 1230mb. My AMD system always handles the audio files much more efficiently. My P4 system, although with more memory and a faster hard drive, takes almost twice as long to re-process the wave file when I make changes. Waiting for Conroe to come around and then waiting for several software and hardware re-releases for the new platform and then waiting for applications to become stable enough to run properly and take advantage of Intels new processor power, could take months. I would recommend finding a great deal on a nice AMD Athlon64x2 rig now so you can get going on your projects and when its time to upgrade again, you'll be able to make a much more informative decision to use Intel's platform or continue to use AMD. But thats only my opinion

 

[Bobthelost]

Originally posted by: rcalzada51
Waiting for Conroe to come around and then waiting for several software and hardware re-releases for the new platform and then waiting for applications to become stable enough to run properly and take advantage of Intels new processor power, could take months. I would recommend finding a great deal on a nice AMD Athlon64x2 rig now so you can get going on your projects and when its time to upgrade again, you'll be able to make a much more informative decision to use Intel's platform or continue to use AMD. But thats only my opinion

I'm afraid your opinion is wrong, conroe will be faster with current software than the current intel lineup and by the looks of things faster than the AM2 lineup too. No hardware re releases (what are you refering to there, i'm confused) and no software re releases will be needed. If you're refering to support for SSE4 then there won't be programs using it for years, but that doesn't matter. Current apps will still be improved.

Even if the OP does chose to go AM2 then the price drops on the 24th should be considered.

My rough budget/build:

CPU (Which ever you find at the time): 350
Motherboard (wait on comparitive AM2/Conroe reviews, they've already been written, but they can't be published till the 24th): 100
RAM 2GB (Value RAM, expensive stuff is not cost efficent): 150
Case + PSU (P150 with antec NeoHe 430W, it's pretty): 120
Hard drives : How high is up?

If you're not inclined to wait then you can get a steal on a high end P4 D, for audio stuff intel is fairly competitive with AMD's line up. Also if you get the right motherboard you can upgrade the CPU in a year or so to a conroe if you need to.

 

[acegazda]

for such simple tasks you might want to consider a pentium D processor. Intel should (doesn't mean they will) cut the prices of their previous generation as well. The 930 should be an escpecially good value.

 

[Baked]

Can I get a free Nintendo DS Lite?

 

[RebateMonger]

The question for me is always:
Intel CHIPSET or non-Intel CHIPSET.

Having been burned with various non-Intel chipsets (VIA and other such nonsense) in the past, I stick with Intel because I can count on it working and not having weird glitches. I don't think there's anything wrong with AMD PROCESSORS. But the support chips have sucked in the past. Even the (much-better) NVidia chipsets seem to have their glitches.

For me, reliabiliity and predictability is much more important that raw speed. YMMV.

 

[Mem]

The question for me is always:
Intel CHIPSET or non-Intel CHIPSET.

Having been burned with various non-Intel chipsets (VIA and other such nonsense) in the past, I stick with Intel because I can count on it working and not having weird glitches. I don't think there's anything wrong with AMD PROCESSORS. But the support chips have sucked in the past. Even the (much-better) NVidia chipsets seem to have their glitches.

For me, reliabiliity and predictability is much more important that raw speed. YMMV.

FUD,nothing hard getting an AMD board/CPU rock stable with 0 glitches in my experience,support chips have been ok,we have been really spoilt for choices.

As for AMD or Intel,I have no interest in a new CPU until quad core processors arrive next year,so I can sit back and relax and save my pennies ,now where is my DirectX 10 video card .

 

[Twsmit]

Originally posted by: Mem

The question for me is always:
Intel CHIPSET or non-Intel CHIPSET.

Having been burned with various non-Intel chipsets (VIA and other such nonsense) in the past, I stick with Intel because I can count on it working and not having weird glitches. I don't think there's anything wrong with AMD PROCESSORS. But the support chips have sucked in the past. Even the (much-better) NVidia chipsets seem to have their glitches.

For me, reliabiliity and predictability is much more important that raw speed. YMMV.

FUD,nothing hard getting an AMD board/CPU rock stable with 0 glitches in my experience,support chips have been ok,we have been really spoilt for choices.

As for AMD or Intel,I have no interest in a new CPU until quad core processors arrive next year,so I can sit back and relax and save my pennies ,now where is my DirectX 10 video card .

Since Nvidia knocked Via out of the equation, I would say that AMD chipsets are equal or nearly equal to Intel. However rebate monger is correct, via, and Sis chipsets during the Athlon era were not very competitive with Intel, and Via famously always have a "revision A" version of its chipsets after the first flawed design came to market.

EDIT: typos

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: Mem
FUD,nothing hard getting an AMD board/CPU rock stable with 0 glitches in my experience....

Well, you are better at it than me. And I've been building and troubleshooting PCs since 1986.

I owned two VIA-chipset P3 boards and one SIS-chipset P4 motherboard:

Both the VIA boards had identical problems. You'd go to calibrate a USB joystick and it'd freeze the computer. They also had problems with a Microsoft USB mouse and with a Soundblaster Live sound card. I spent a couple of weeks trying all the available VIA "patches" and finally gave up and sold both boards. I don't have time for that nonsense. The replacement Intel-chipset boards worked perfectly out of the box.

The SIS-based P4 board actually worked. But the SIS chipset had known speed problems with the memory controller. Its benchmarks were considerably below those of a similar Intel-chipset board.

Like many PC-related issues, each person makes judgements by a combination of experience and research. My experience has been that I've been burned too many times by non-Intel chipsets. YMMV.

 

[Mem]

I owned two VIA-chipset P3 boards and one SIS-chipset P4 motherboard:

Both the VIA boards had identical problems. You'd go to calibrate a USB joystick and it'd freeze the computer. They also had problems with a Microsoft USB mouse and with a Soundblaster Live sound card. I spent a couple of weeks trying all the available VIA "patches" and finally gave up and sold both boards. I don't have time for that nonsense. The replacement Intel-chipset boards worked perfectly out of the box.

I have had several VIA,SiS,Intel and nForce, boards ,only problem I had was the famous leaking caps a few years back on my VIA board,however I think we can say VIA,nForce etc...nowadays are very stable,even Intel had some minor problems in the past with some of their chipsets.

 

[orangat]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger

Originally posted by: Mem
FUD,nothing hard getting an AMD board/CPU rock stable with 0 glitches in my experience....

Well, you are better at it than me. And I've been building and troubleshooting PCs since 1986.

I owned two VIA-chipset P3 boards and one SIS-chipset P4 motherboard:

Both the VIA boards had identical problems. You'd go to calibrate a USB joystick and it'd freeze the computer. They also had problems with a Microsoft USB mouse and with a Soundblaster Live sound card. I spent a couple of weeks trying all the available VIA "patches" and finally gave up and sold both boards. I don't have time for that nonsense. The replacement Intel-chipset boards worked perfectly out of the box.

The SIS-based P4 board actually worked. But the SIS chipset had known speed problems with the memory controller. Its benchmarks were considerably below those of a similar Intel-chipset board.

Like many PC-related issues, each person makes judgements by a combination of experience and research. My experience has been that I've been burned too many times by non-Intel chipsets. YMMV.

The sounblaster live series + VIA is a well known issue. It is a Creative problem since its live card hogs the pci bus by saturating it with null bytes.

VIA has come a long long way since the KT133A/KT266A days. The K8T800/pro chipset run very well.

 

[rcalzada51]

I appreciate your argument, however being that I have been in the industry long enough to have "Real World" experience with almost every generation of processor released by both Intel and AMD since before the XT, I know that comparitive "reviews" contain a lot of hype. Although many reviews contain solid information (please don't assume that I am telling anyone that they are all nonsense and hype) However, until it is out and on the desktops of the thousands of users who are anxiously waiting to get their hands on the latest and greatest, we can't asume that it will run flawlessly with absolutely every application and piece of hardware we install on the new platform. Remember when the first Pentium was released? using the first Pentium 60 and 90 was painful, to say the least. All I was saying was to take his time and wait until the dust settles. In the mean time, look for a good deal, save a little money and get moving on some REAL projects.

"Anyone who calls themselves a computer expert, isnt."

 

[Bobthelost]

rcalzada51: I think we'll have to agree to disagree, you do run into trouble with the first generation of new hardware, but it's also normally located in the more interesting or unusual systems. By going for an Intel board with integrated graphics and no frills components for the rest i think it's pretty safe to say that it'll all work. There could be problems with the software not liking the CPU itself, i've never seen it happen (Pentium predates my interest in computing) but i can see that it could.

My vote is to wait for the price drops / Conroe and look again then, find three comparative reviews from good sites and look at the non gaming benchmarks. Then you can work out which CPU offers the most power for your money.

 

[rcalzada51]

Originally posted by: Bobthelost
rcalzada51: I think we'll have to agree to disagree, you do run into trouble with the first generation of new hardware, but it's also normally located in the more interesting or unusual systems. By going for an Intel board with integrated graphics and no frills components for the rest i think it's pretty safe to say that it'll all work. There could be problems with the software not liking the CPU itself, i've never seen it happen (Pentium predates my interest in computing) but i can see that it could.

My vote is to wait for the price drops / Conroe and look again then, find three comparative reviews from good sites and look at the non gaming benchmarks. Then you can work out which CPU offers the most power for your money.

I agree to disagree The Conroe actually shares some of the core technology from the PentiumPro processors introduced back in November of 1995. The Pentium Pro was a superior processor over the previous Pentium processors of the time. However, when it was introduced it was discovered to have a "Bug" that occurred during integer to floating-point conversions that caused an overflow error in many high end applications. An unfortunate beginning for such a truly great processor which featured an array of advanced RISC technologies (engineered from Digital's Alpha Processor) and used for the first time in an x86 CPU.

 

[xgsound]

Conroe is very promising, but if your need is immediate, an AMD64 X2 has the currently proven track record. These are avaliable in retail towers (no monitor) with 200+ Gb hard drives and 1 or 2 GB mem from HP, Compaq, Acer, and others for $850 and under for the whole tower. As a stopgap measure a single core AMD64 with 1 Gb tower can be had for around $500 and update later to the fastest X2 it can hold when they're cheaper. If you build your own, rcalzada51 says he does audio now on an X2 and is happy.

rcalzada51 ? post your specs for the OP so he can price out an upgrade to your specs.

If you can wait a short while, you'll at least get more for your money as AMD price drops (maybe large ones) are due within 2 weeks and Conroe systems may be in stock then. The Conroe may also have some user feedback by then and cannot be ignored.

If your main concern is for working with 64 bit Vista, I heartily suggest that you try to wait until Vista and the 64 bit version of the program you intend to use has been out for at least 1 month and reevaluate at that time. Conroe should have a user track record by then; AMD processors should be even cheaper than now, and you'll get more for your money the longer you wait regardless of which brand you chose.


Jim

 

[jseamless]

How do you guys know AMD will have a price cut in a couple of weeks? If so how much of a cut are we talking about?

 

[Tsuwamono]

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=27&threadid=1893289&enterthread=y

 

[Mem]

How do you guys know AMD will have a price cut in a couple of weeks? If so how much of a cut are we talking about?

Read this,

CPUs AMD has confirmed to us earlier today that indeed they will be bringing price cuts in response to Conroe. Their goal is to price the CPUs so that they retain the performance per dollar leadership. A clear date was not set, but we know that they will be coming later this month. As soon as prices change we will let you know.

Link.

Personally I'm more exited over this about AMD's 4x4,

CPUs AMD has provided us with the following 4X4 update. We still have no solid information on when it will be released. We only know that the solution is in development, which leads us to believe that motherboard designs are being worked on.

Before I get to the "ee" specifications, I want to give everyone an update on how things are going with AMD's 4x4 project. As you know, we are developing a new platform for the PC enthusiast market. We see the future as decidedly multi-core and multi-threaded. In our technology development, we are seeing an 80% average performance uplift from four core over two core AMD64 processor-based systems on multi-threaded benchmarks including Futuremark 3DMark 06, Maxon Cinebench R9.5, and WinSAT running on the latest beta release of Windows Vista. So results are promising! Looking forward to sharing more as things develop.

So there you have it.

.


Link. Yes I can wait,just about .

 

[Tsuwamono]

Originally posted by: Mem

How do you guys know AMD will have a price cut in a couple of weeks? If so how much of a cut are we talking about?

Read this,

CPUs AMD has confirmed to us earlier today that indeed they will be bringing price cuts in response to Conroe. Their goal is to price the CPUs so that they retain the performance per dollar leadership. A clear date was not set, but we know that they will be coming later this month. As soon as prices change we will let you know.

Link.

Personally I'm more exited over this about AMD's 4x4,

CPUs AMD has provided us with the following 4X4 update. We still have no solid information on when it will be released. We only know that the solution is in development, which leads us to believe that motherboard designs are being worked on.

Before I get to the "ee" specifications, I want to give everyone an update on how things are going with AMD's 4x4 project. As you know, we are developing a new platform for the PC enthusiast market. We see the future as decidedly multi-core and multi-threaded. In our technology development, we are seeing an 80% average performance uplift from four core over two core AMD64 processor-based systems on multi-threaded benchmarks including Futuremark 3DMark 06, Maxon Cinebench R9.5, and WinSAT running on the latest beta release of Windows Vista. So results are promising! Looking forward to sharing more as things develop.

So there you have it.

.


Link. Yes I can wait,just about .

OR they cut the prices because they are phasing out alot of CPUs... Just a thought since thats what AMD told the world.

 

[Omizzle]

Get an AMD after the price drop July 24th