New budget pc, AMD or Intel?

MadCow809 · April 7th, 2008, 10:03 AM

Building a pc for my aunt... Struggling here to keep the price down below $500 since I need to buy just about everything (HDD, RAM, CPU, MOBO, VGA, Case, PSU, DVD-RW etc..) Anyway, I've got two options here... Please help me to pick one.

AMD :

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+ Brisbane 2.1GHz - $54

ECS A780GM (ATi HD3200, Hybrid Crossfire Option) - $80

TOTAL : $134

OR

Intel :

Intel Pentium E2160 1.8Ghz - $70 (Prob gonna change the FSB to 266 or 300, since the E2160 is extremely overclockable, even with stock factory fan)

GIGABYTE GA-G31M-S2L (Intel GMA 3100) - $67

TOTAL : $137

VGA Card Option :

HD 2600XT 256MB - $75

HD 3650 512MB - $75

nVIDIA GeForce 7600GS 256MB - Old video card that I have, if this 7600GS end up being the slowest card, then I might use this card for the new setup and get one of the above cards to replace the 7600GS.

Gonna settle this on Monday and place my order through newegg. Will expect the parts will arrive on Tues/Wed, my aunt will needs this setup for this coming weekend, so its kind of urgent.

Speedtouch · April 7th, 2008, 10:29 AM

I'd go for AMD. And the second gfx card there.

Viper007Bond · April 7th, 2008, 10:35 AM

AMD is better on the budget side usually and I can't stand ATi drivers (or cards really), so any nVidia card gets my vote.

MadCow809 · April 7th, 2008, 10:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Viper007Bond

AMD is better on the budget side usually and I can't stand ATi drivers (or cards really), so any nVidia card gets my vote.

yeah, ATi does makes crappy drivers. But with the same kind of budget, I can only get a 8500GT if I decide to stick with nVIDIA. And the AMD isnt exactly on the budget side seeing as the Intel option is only $3 more expensive.

Which option should perform better? AMD or Intel?

vikiradTG2007 · April 7th, 2008, 01:55 PM

Well I've got an Intel dual core processor(E2180, I think) and it works very well. But I don't know how to overclock it for better game performance.

PelicanHazard · April 7th, 2008, 02:23 PM

I prefer AMD; my old Sempron worked better than the Pentiums I've had.

As for the graphics card, I'd choose nVidia because it seems you can find all the support you need on the first page of a Google search.

chaos386 · April 7th, 2008, 04:43 PM

If you're going to be using a dedicated GPU, there's no point in buying a motherboard with an integrated one (I doubt your aunt will want to deal with hybrid crossfire/sli. Come to think of it, why does your aunt need a dedicated graphics card?), and I doubt you're going to overclock much with a cheap motherboard, PSU and RAM, even if the CPU has potential.

Crazyjeeper · April 7th, 2008, 07:48 PM

My vote goes to AMD. I've had several of them and they have always worked great.

Jon · April 7th, 2008, 08:32 PM

AMD gets my vote.

jeffy777 · April 7th, 2008, 08:39 PM

I prefer Nvidia, but to be fair, ATI's drivers have really improved over the last few years. Their current gen cards are pretty good.

argatoga · April 7th, 2008, 09:21 PM

I'd say go with Nvidia, ATI has a long history of shity drivers, As for whether to go Intel or AMD, I would go Intel; as of now they have the better CPUs and in general I find their produces to be a bit more stable.

Kip_6666 · April 7th, 2008, 09:27 PM

What is your aunt going to do with the system?

Extra graphics cards and hybrid crossfire are nice, but if she's only going to use the pc for a bit of office work, internet browsing and emails there isn't much between the two.

I'd go for intel and nvidia because it's monday, tuesday is more an AMD day.
(novices won't be able to tell a difference between the two what so ever)

MadCow809 · April 7th, 2008, 10:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kip_6666

What is your aunt going to do with the system?

Extra graphics cards and hybrid crossfire are nice, but if she's only going to use the pc for a bit of office work, internet browsing and emails there isn't much between the two.

I'd go for intel and nvidia because it's monday, tuesday is more an AMD day.
(novices won't be able to tell a difference between the two what so ever)

It will be used mainly for Photoshop CS and Illustrator CS, she does lots of clothing design for customers on these programs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by chaos386

If you're going to be using a dedicated GPU, there's no point in buying a motherboard with an integrated one (I doubt your aunt will want to deal with hybrid crossfire/sli. Come to think of it, why does your aunt need a dedicated graphics card?), and I doubt you're going to overclock much with a cheap motherboard, PSU and RAM, even if the CPU has potential.

Thats exactly why Im puzzled.. Will the onboard G31 (GMA3100) card be good enough for those programs? What about the HD3200 option?

And the G31 board overclocks like a champ, my sister has one, which is why im tempted to give my aunt that same setup, seeing as my sister's pc runs pretty much all her programs without lag. E2160 @ 300 x 9 on stock factory fan, voltage and stock NB settings.

Viper007Bond · April 8th, 2008, 01:38 AM

Onboard != integrated.

Integrated = fake video card. Your CPU and system RAM handles it all.

Onboard = there's a GPU on the board (my mom has a nVidia 6600 for example), but it uses the system RAM.

Go with onboard. She won't need a proper video card, especially since she's not doing any 3D work. Photoshop is all CPU.

MadCow809 · April 8th, 2008, 02:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Viper007Bond

Onboard != integrated.

Integrated = fake video card. Your CPU and system RAM handles it all.

Onboard = there's a GPU on the board (my mom has a nVidia 6600 for example), but it uses the system RAM.

Go with onboard. She won't need a proper video card, especially since she's not doing any 3D work. Photoshop is all CPU.

Not with the HD3200, it comes with its own dedicated memory. Not sure how much though, but the Intel options steals memory away to use as a video card.

So, if Photoshop is all about CPU, should i stick with the AMD option?

argatoga · April 8th, 2008, 03:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadCow809

So, if Photoshop is all about CPU, should i stick with the AMD option?

It won't matter, but AMD has yet to beat Intel's Core processors.

MadCow809 · April 8th, 2008, 03:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by argatoga

It won't matter, but AMD has yet to beat Intel's Core processors.

Thats irrelevant, the pc wont be for me, so AMD's option is very tempting with the HD3200 onboard video and at stock v.s stock comparison, i think the AMD might be a tad better.

chaos386 · April 8th, 2008, 08:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadCow809

It will be used mainly for Photoshop CS and Illustrator CS, she does lots of clothing design for customers on these programs.

Thats exactly why Im puzzled.. Will the onboard G31 (GMA3100) card be good enough for those programs? What about the HD3200 option?

If you ask me, the GMA3100 is overkill for what your aunt needs. Unless she's playing 3D games, all she needs is something to provide a video output. Save money on the GPU/mobo and spend it on the CPU, instead.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadCow809

And the G31 board overclocks like a champ, my sister has one, which is why im tempted to give my aunt that same setup, seeing as my sister's pc runs pretty much all her programs without lag. E2160 @ 300 x 9 on stock factory fan, voltage and stock NB settings.

If you know that particular G31 board overclocks well, then by all means, get the Inte

April 7th, 2008, 10:03 AM	#1
MadCow809 Joined: Feb 23rd, 2006 Last Online: 02:20 AM Location: Durban, South Africa / Los Angeles, California Age: 23 Posts: 3,117 Car: 2007 E87 BMW 130i LFS Status: Rep Power: 32	New budget pc, AMD or Intel? Building a pc for my aunt... Struggling here to keep the price down below $500 since I need to buy just about everything (HDD, RAM, CPU, MOBO, VGA, Case, PSU, DVD-RW etc..) Anyway, I've got two options here... Please help me to pick one. AMD : AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+ Brisbane 2.1GHz - $54 ECS A780GM (ATi HD3200, Hybrid Crossfire Option) - $80 TOTAL : $134 OR Intel : Intel Pentium E2160 1.8Ghz - $70 (Prob gonna change the FSB to 266 or 300, since the E2160 is extremely overclockable, even with stock factory fan) GIGABYTE GA-G31M-S2L (Intel GMA 3100) - $67 TOTAL : $137 VGA Card Option : HD 2600XT 256MB - $75 HD 3650 512MB - $75 nVIDIA GeForce 7600GS 256MB - Old video card that I have, if this 7600GS end up being the slowest card, then I might use this card for the new setup and get one of the above cards to replace the 7600GS. Gonna settle this on Monday and place my order through newegg. Will expect the parts will arrive on Tues/Wed, my aunt will needs this setup for this coming weekend, so its kind of urgent. __________________ Supporting : A.Priaulx, Kimi Räikkönen, J.Button, R.Kubica, P.Solberg, M.Hirvonen, J.Plato & M.Jackson FinalGear's Car/Bike Register 08/09 Currently looking for a car, got any suggestions? 08 Honda Civic Coupe 06 BMW 130i 05 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS 05 Ford Bantam 1.3i 95 Mercedes Benz E320 Sportline Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 @ 3Ghz (333 X 9 @ 1.44v ~ 35°c with ZEROtherm BTF90/92mm Cooler) \| DFI INFINITY P965-S \| Corsair XMS DDR II 800 6 Gb \| GeCube ATi HD3850 512mb @ 800/1000Mhz \| Seagate 500Gb + 500Gb + 750Gb + 1000Gb\| LITE-ON 20X DVDRW \| XION 600W PSU \| Logitech Z-2300 \| Logitech MX1000 \| Logitech G25 \| Dual 22" LCD Display @ 3360 x 1050 + Toshiba 40" HDTV @ 1920 x 1080 \| CoolerMaster Centurion 590 \| Vista 64 Ultimate \| Last edited by MadCow809; April 7th, 2008 at 10:45 AM..

April 7th, 2008, 10:29 AM	#2
Speedtouch Joined: Jul 30th, 2006 Last Online: Yesterday Location: Kent, England Age: 16 Posts: 2,855 Rep Power: 34	I'd go for AMD. And the second gfx card there. __________________ Eyre Photography

April 7th, 2008, 10:35 AM	#3
Viper007Bond Lazy Head Dude Joined: Sep 21st, 2003 Last Online: Yesterday Location: Portland, Oregon Posts: 21,086 Car: Dodge Viper (I wish!) Rep Power: 237	AMD is better on the budget side usually and I can't stand ATi drivers (or cards really), so any nVidia card gets my vote. __________________ Fight back against the evil Quiky by +1'ing this post! There is no replacement for displacement. - Wolfgang Bernhard, Chief Operating Officer, Chrysler Group talking about the Dodge Viper SRT-10 ... I ask Herb Helbig, vehicle synthesis manager for SRT and a member of the original Team Viper development group since day one, if they'd ever thought of adding traction control. "It comes with two," he says, pointing at my feet. "Learn to use them." Got it. - Motor Trend on the 2006 Dodge Viper Coupe, November 2005

April 7th, 2008, 01:55 PM	#5
vikiradTG2007 Joined: Feb 8th, 2007 Last Online: Yesterday Location: Cluj-Napoca, Romania Age: 17 Posts: 2,995 Car: (as soon as I get my license) 2001 Focus 1.8D Rep Power: 33	Well I've got an Intel dual core processor(E2180, I think) and it works very well. But I don't know how to overclock it for better game performance. __________________ BRING BACK THE 3.5 L V12 ENGINES TO F1!!!!! "Racing at Le Mans is the equivalent of cramming an entire Grand Prix season in 24 hours." (Martin Brundle) The history of F1 engine awesomeness: one engine model, 155 GP wins over 18 distinguished years of activity. Mika Hakkinen is the Stig...

April 7th, 2008, 02:23 PM	#6
PelicanHazard Joined: Feb 22nd, 2008 Last Online: 01:27 AM Location: Pittsburgh, PA, USA Age: 19 Posts: 112 Car: 2006 Nissan Sentra Rep Power: 5	I prefer AMD; my old Sempron worked better than the Pentiums I've had. As for the graphics card, I'd choose nVidia because it seems you can find all the support you need on the first page of a Google search. __________________

April 7th, 2008, 04:43 PM	#7
chaos386 .sa = bad driver! Joined: Nov 8th, 2004 Last Online: Yesterday Location: Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia Age: 22 Posts: 3,564 LFS Status: Rep Power: 62	If you're going to be using a dedicated GPU, there's no point in buying a motherboard with an integrated one (I doubt your aunt will want to deal with hybrid crossfire/sli. Come to think of it, why does your aunt need a dedicated graphics card?), and I doubt you're going to overclock much with a cheap motherboard, PSU and RAM, even if the CPU has potential. __________________ "Shit, that's a busy table cloth." -matt2000

April 7th, 2008, 07:48 PM	#8
Crazyjeeper Joined: Nov 29th, 2006 Last Online: 06:56 AM Location: Texas Age: 19 Posts: 2,792 Car: 1985 Jeep CJ7, 1997 Ford F150 Rep Power: 54	My vote goes to AMD. I've had several of them and they have always worked great. __________________ Toy: 1985 Jeep CJ7 Lifted and Locked Daily Driver: 1997 Ford F150 4.6L with a massive 220hp EVGA 780i, E8400 @ 4.0ghz, CM Hyper 212, XFX 8800GT 512mb Extreme SLI, MSI 8400GS, 2x1gb Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800, PC Power & Cooling 610w EPS12v, 1.6tb of HDD, CM Centurion 690.

April 7th, 2008, 08:32 PM	#9
Jon Joined: Dec 30th, 2005 Last Online: Yesterday Location: Wolverhampton, England. Age: 21 Posts: 808 Car: Honda Civic 02 1.4 Yamaha YBR125 Rep Power: 29	AMD gets my vote. __________________ IV - VIII - XV - XVI - XXIII - XLII My Flickr Account

April 7th, 2008, 08:39 PM	#10
jeffy777 Joined: Feb 8th, 2005 Last Online: 06:06 AM Location: US Age: 27 Posts: 5,662 Car: '04 Toyota Sienna, crippled people like vans.... Rep Power: 53	I prefer Nvidia, but to be fair, ATI's drivers have really improved over the last few years. Their current gen cards are pretty good. __________________ A man named Jeffy once said, "If laziness is craziness, then I've lost my marbles...and I don't feel like trying to find them."

April 7th, 2008, 09:21 PM	#11
argatoga Can't Start His Wank Joined: Oct 4th, 2005 Last Online: 02:52 AM Location: Washington State, USA Age: 25 Posts: 2,107 Car: '97 Mustang GT, '78 MG Midget (12a swap) Rep Power: 52	I'd say go with Nvidia, ATI has a long history of shity drivers, As for whether to go Intel or AMD, I would go Intel; as of now they have the better CPUs and in general I find their produces to be a bit more stable. __________________ "Until a President is killed in a 300c, it can NEVER be as awesome as the Lincoln Continental." - thedguy "But to take alobohol rectally... Couldn't that kill a man?!?" - Austere "If you think about it breast implants aren't much different than braces. Their main purpose is to improve one's appearance, at least that's how it was in my case." - KaJun

April 7th, 2008, 09:27 PM	#12
Kip_6666 I Bought This Title :o Joined: May 17th, 2004 Last Online: Yesterday Location: The Netherlands Age: 23 Posts: 2,967 Car: Saab 93 2.0t @ stage 3 now Rep Power: 31	What is your aunt going to do with the system? Extra graphics cards and hybrid crossfire are nice, but if she's only going to use the pc for a bit of office work, internet browsing and emails there isn't much between the two. I'd go for intel and nvidia because it's monday, tuesday is more an AMD day. (novices won't be able to tell a difference between the two what so ever) __________________ http://www.internet-memes.com My Flickr

April 8th, 2008, 01:38 AM	#14
Viper007Bond Lazy Head Dude Joined: Sep 21st, 2003 Last Online: Yesterday Location: Portland, Oregon Posts: 21,086 Car: Dodge Viper (I wish!) Rep Power: 237	Onboard != integrated. Integrated = fake video card. Your CPU and system RAM handles it all. Onboard = there's a GPU on the board (my mom has a nVidia 6600 for example), but it uses the system RAM. Go with onboard. She won't need a proper video card, especially since she's not doing any 3D work. Photoshop is all CPU. __________________ Fight back against the evil Quiky by +1'ing this post! There is no replacement for displacement. - Wolfgang Bernhard, Chief Operating Officer, Chrysler Group talking about the Dodge Viper SRT-10 ... I ask Herb Helbig, vehicle synthesis manager for SRT and a member of the original Team Viper development group since day one, if they'd ever thought of adding traction control. "It comes with two," he says, pointing at my feet. "Learn to use them." Got it. - Motor Trend on the 2006 Dodge Viper Coupe, November 2005