Help!... AMD & Dual Core Processors
 

Hi,

I need some advice. A friend is looking to purchase a new computer based around a Dual Core processor. He presently has the following setup in mind:

Intel® Pentium ® D 830 (3.00GHz)
1024MB PC-4200 Dual Channel DDR2 533MHz
x2 160GB (7200rpm)
16X DVD/CDRW
256MB ATI Radeon X850 XT PE

It comes in at just under £1100.0 0

Neither of us is familiar with AMD's product line and so I sugested he post here (but he daren't, so I am having too) and ask those of you familiar with such things for help :) FWIW he presently uses his computer to play alot of games (Battlefield 2\Far Cry\Half Life 2\Counterstrike etc), something he wishes to continue as well as converting his old movie collection to dvd.

Can anyone specify a comparable AMD Dual Core computer for a similar price please?

FWIW, I have spent the last couple of days reading up on dual core processors and come away equally confused as to which one is the best. It would seem for video work its intel for games its AMD but nobody is able to sugest which system would work well for both games and video :dunce:

If you own a dual core processor and play anything like Battlefield 2, Half Life 2 etc then anything you can offer would be appreciated.

Thanks for your help.

Re: Help!... AMD & Dual Core Processors
 

I would go amd all the way,there dual core processors run on a very low voltage,90mn process, Nforce4 boards runs these to there best,

skip ddr2 and go for some nice ddr275 ram 2x512 from overclockers very low latency highly over clockable

I do not own one but I will by xmas,im a system builder myself and Amd are clearly ahead on quality for your cash

Re: Help!... AMD & Dual Core Processors
 

just make sure you get a decent heatsink with a 3.0ghz

Re: Help!... AMD & Dual Core Processors
 

Dual Core, may seem advantageous, but only if you are multitasking. If you are a gamer then ysince you'd normally be doing nothing other than gaming, a standard CPU may offer better performance for the money. Certainly none of the current games, as far as I know, take advantage of dual core.

Some of the higher end AMD FX chips might be better value for money, indeed AMD still price some of these higher than their dual core for that reason.

Re: Help!... AMD & Dual Core Processors
 

1100 quid seems mighty steep

Re: Help!... AMD & Dual Core Processors
 

I think the jury is out on this,AMD market the FX as a gamer chip IMO so they can be selling 2 lots of top cpu's at the same time
My understanding of dual core as we stand now is that they do multi task apps running now
So game running nice on a 2.2 gig core ,whilst avast and friewall and anything else the OS wants to throw at me can run on the second core,I see only benefits myself

I think AMD made a mistake marketing the FX 57 now at 2.8 gig they should have waited and released a 3 gig cpu

Re: Help!... AMD & Dual Core Processors
 

Forget amd 'x2' dual cores. the cheapest x2 atm is the 4200 and its costs over £400, compare that to the middle of the field 830 intel that was suggested which costs £240. Small difference there!
dual core is a thing to come for games. yes there isnt much yet but they are coming big time. The new consoles are multi cpu and intel are pushing hard with aggresive dual core prices (£170 for the basline cpu)
You'll need an i945, or i955x chipset based board to go with that dual core. not an nforce 4 intel edition as they are poor

Re: Help!... AMD & Dual Core Processors
 

Thanks for everyones opinions. After some extensive reading the issues seems to be these. He presently has an Intel 2.4 socket 478 processor which I am informed is "reliable for games" and he doesn't have any issues when using his system to encode videos to dvd's providing the eventual size is kept under 4GB due to using Win98. It has reached the point that if he spends £800 on a new computer, he may as well go the whole way and pay an extra £300 or so to for dual-processing.

The problem arrises when looking at which dual-processor to use. If you, like I have, read through all the various reviews. It just gets confusing, it probably wouldn't be so but for the fact that Intel seems to have secretly included DRM on the chip, which throws up the question what else haven't they informed possible buyers about. Not to mention the obvious question: Does it matter? To be honest, I don't know and neither does my friend :) Another possible thing seems to be judging from this review http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/2005...sstest-28.html that the Intel systems aren't too stable. The one thing that stands out however, is that out of all the Intel chips available, in single threaded mode which most games today seem to use the Intel processor is the slowest http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid...e=expert&pid=7

Needless to say, I am confused as which to sugest which is annoying, as he expects me to sort the wheat from the chaff so to speak and come up with a solution :(

If anyone has the time can they read through the reviews above and let me know which processor you would choose?

Thank You!

Re: Help!... AMD & Dual Core Processors
 

if it's for gaming then you're better off spending the extra dosh on a higher end AMD such as an FX - that's what the reviews I've read say.

Re: Help!... AMD & Dual Core Processors
 

Thats what AMD marketing want us to believe. If you run an FX on a working machine yes it will be fast but it will have to run all processes on a single core so like ive said AV /windows/ game all on one cpu
2 cores means processes will be shared accross the 2,this works now,programs do not need to be written to allow for hyperthreading or whatever you want to call it.The P4 faked this well for a couple of years nows its real

Re: Help!... AMD & Dual Core Processors
 

Thanks for everyones opinions on this. It seems we are going ahead with purchasing a AMD XP X2 system as oposed to the Intel.

Can anyone recommend any vendors to purchase from? Or is this "self build" territory :(
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Hi, I am open to advice on where is the cheapest place to purchase from? As I am sure my mate wouldn't mind saving a little of his cash :)

Edit: I should point out, I enquired with meshcomputers.co.uk earlier today, unfortunately their prices are above the £1100 budget :(