Why AMD over Intel?

[MeMiMo]

Why do so many forums promote AMD processors and motherboards over Intel? I'm looking at buying a new computer so I'd like to know more about what CPU and motherboard to buy.

I want to use this machine for a long while, so PCIe is a must.. I was thinking 3.2ghz Intel or an AMD 64 3500+.

I've read that gamer's shouldn't even bother with Intels -- why? I want to play games like VTMB and half-life 2 on it with fairly good graphics. Any advice and explanations would be very welcome.

[sr4470]

Re: Why AMD over Intel?

AMD offers the best bang-for-buck almost all the time. First of all AMD cpus are much cheaper than their Intel equivalents. The athlon 64 (i would recommend the 3200+ 90nm Winchester model) offers good performance thanks to hypertransport (no more fsb bottlenecks) and onboard memory controller.

In most games, and nearly every common application, with a few exceptions such as video encoding, the athlon 64 offers superior performance, you'll see this in reviews such as the one at Anandtech (i dont have a link, but you can look up the articles on the P4 3.8, and athlon 64 4000+ and FX-55 at www.anandtech.com)

If you really want PCI Express, well, there seems to be a supply issue with AMD mainboards with PCI-E at the moment. Unless you're planning to get a new video card i would just stick with an AGP board, such as the MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum (PCI-E version of this is the Neo4), or you may be waiting a while for the PCI-E equipment to show up at retailers. Your choice of video card will affect gaming performance just as much as the CPU, for the mid-range a Geforce 6600GT is good, or for high-end, geforce 6800GT.

[Zeeg]

Re: Why AMD over Intel?

lol omg i was just about to make a new post about this. Luckly someone else did, i spam to much on this forum.

[Amd_Lover2004]

Re: Why AMD over Intel?

Here is the link that sr4470 was talking about, thought I would share it as I was there anyway.

[Zeeg]

Re: Why AMD over Intel?

thanks all this helps alot, next time im going amd.

[Yawgm0th]

Re: Why AMD over Intel?

I want to use this machine for a long while, so PCIe is a must..

Pretty much. As long as you understand that needs a new, expensive video card, that's right. I'd still recommend it, but it is more expensive than continued use of an existing card.

To sum up why you would want AMD over Intel:

1. Better performance at all price ranges in most applications, especially general/office use, gaming, and compiling software
2. Better upgradability since the above should remain true for quite some time
3. Better overclockability at most price ranges (that is, the advantage gained from overclocking is better, even if the clock speed doesn't increase as much as the Intel equivelents)
4. Less power and heat used, for the most part (in this case)

For a motherboard, you should be looking for an nForce 4 Ultra or nForce 4 SLI motherboard. These are widely available, but frequently out of stock.