X2 3600+ or E4300

[x2 3600 rules sazakky]

I currently have an AM2 board and Athlon 64 3500+ on 90 nm base and thinking to upgrade my CPU. I can either get a 3600 x2 on 65nm base(brisbane core) or a core 2 e4300 with a gigabyte 965p-s3 board. which upgrade would be better economically and performance wise.

 

[NoStateofMind]

Option #2.

 

[yuppiejr]

At stock speeds, the X2 - 3600+ is slower, however since you can re-use your mainboard you're only out the $65 for the AMD upgrade. If you go with the $115 e4300 retail + the $99 Gigabyte P9954-DS3 board ($10 cheaper than the S3 at newegg with shipping right now) you are talking more than 3x the cost to go C2D. You will not be getting 3x the performance moving over to the C2D platform from your current AM2 rig so the better balance of performance/price is in favor of replacing your current processor.

In your situation, I'd do the X2/3600+ CPU upgrade now (no O/S reinstall required either!) and wait until Penryn and the lower-power C2D quads hit the sub $250 mark later this year to make the Intel jump.

 

[MikeyLSU]

I agree with yuppie jr. I have the e4300 and love it, but look at the cost comparison, you would have to spend nearly 3x the price to get the C2D setup. If you didn't already have the board, I would say go e4300 all the way, but for the price, you can't really go wrong with the X2.

 

[Keysplayr]

Economically? X2 3600. You already have the platform. E4300 platform would be faster but it's more expensive to go that way in your case.

But I really don't know why you would ask this question. The cost difference between your two choices is vast. Anyone can see which one is more economical.

If you were even considering going to the Intel platform and spend that money, why not just go with a much faste X2? like a X2/5000+ or better?

 

[BladeVenom]

Get the X2 - 3600+, and then you'll have more money for more RAM or a better video card.

 

[A554SS1N]

Another vote for the X2 3600+, they overclock pretty good anyway if it were needed, and would save a ton of cash

 

[f4phantom2500]

hm...i have a question for all you guys. not to hijack the thread, but what if he didn't already have an am2 board? my situation is that i already have 2GB of ddr2 RAM (667) and a freezer 64 pro (current 939 rig). would the extra ~$70 spent on the e4300 and mobo be worth it? i mean, really, $70, that's like a second x2 3600. also note that i'd have to either buy the e4300 retail or oem with an aftermarket heatsink, whereas i already have a good heatsink that would work for the 3600.

basically, assuming they're both overclocked to 3ghz (just for argument's sake), would the e4300 be worth the more expensive motherboard (i would get the tforce 550 for the 3600), the much more expensive processor, and (possibly) the heatsink? which will offer a better price/performance ratio? i mean it would cost about 60% more to go with the e4300. unless i get a dud overclocker for the 3600 or an amazing overclocker for the e4300, i wouldn't get 60% more performance, would i?


oh man, i just hijacked this thread. XP

 

[MarcVenice]

stupid hijacker

"In your situation, I'd do the X2/3600+ CPU upgrade now (no O/S reinstall required either!) and wait until Penryn and the lower-power C2D quads hit the sub $250 mark later this year to make the Intel jump."

with his board he could even stick with agena later ^^

 

[richardrds]

I agree with Marc, just do the upgrade to the X2 3600+ now. If you find you need more power it can be easily overclocked to 2.7-3.0Ghz. The new K10 Agena (quad) and Kuma (Dual) cores will be out by the end of the year. There is a good chance they will spank the current C2D's. The Agena and Kuma will also be able to run on the same AM2 mobo as the current Brisbane/Windsor desktop CPU's, even though they are designed as AM2+ CPU's and will also work with the new AM2+ mobo's.

I would wait until the performance numbers come out on Barcelona (K10 Quad Server cpu) before making the decision to dump your AM2 mobo and go with Intel.

The upgrade path with Intel is not as clear. To upgrdae to Penryn it looks like you will need a new bearlake mobo P35/X38 and the are going to run $200+. Also the next Intel upgrade after that (Nehem) will have an integrated mem controller and will need another mobo upgrade.