looking for a new pc...what is best bang for $...intel or amd?

[bambam]

looking to get a new PC; and wondered if someone could recommend the best bang/buck for me...should i go intel or amd...and which processor speed /motherboard should i choose??

thanks!

[UtwigMU]

Well best bang for € is AMD

1800-2200+ and a generation behind motherboard like SiS 745, nForce1 or KT333/KT400A.

Still good price performance is Barton 2500+ and nForce2.

P 2.4C and Canterwood or Springdale Chipset is less good price/perf, but the 800MHz FSB pwns and this combo has best upgrade path.

We'd like to know:

What's your budget?
What are you going to reuse from your previous rig (HDDs, videocard, case, PSU, optical drives, monitors, keyboard)

Where are you from - region (USA - Hardware = cheap, Europe, up to 150% USA prices).

What's the usage, work, gaming, what kind of work, what kind of gaming?

Are you going to owercklock?

Any special requirements (case size, acoustics)?

[Kurt]

best bang for your buck right now is the AMD Athlon XP2600+ .Add an nforce2 board with integrated VGA and you're set.

Cost: Athlon 2600+ ~100€, ~90€ for an Asus A7N8X-VM, 55@ for 512MB DDR333 big brand. You can always add 35€ for an Aopen QF50C 300W ATX cases (good quality, good value), 10€ for a floppy, 150€ for a NEC DVD-RW burner, 110€ for a Western Digital 120GB SE drive (7200rpm, 8MB cache). Your choice of KB, mouse, screen for less than 150€...

[Adis]

If you want to have stable system buy Intel (MB and Processor).

[Novdid]

Take the 2500+ over the 2600+ as it is a barton core XP.

And if any gaming is going to happen, get an nforce2 board without integrated graphics and get yourself a good enough AGP board.

[Gurm]

adis,

Please try to have a clue.

AMD+SiS is as stable, if not MORE stable, than Intel+Intel.

- Gurm

[Novdid]

And I can say from experiance that nforce2 boards are also very stable.

[ZokesPro]

Originally posted by adis
If you want to have stable system buy Intel (MB and Processor).

No, if you want to have stable with AMD, then AVOID VIA. Not only does Gurm agree but Dr.Mordrid would also recommend SiS.

[rylan]

Get a new Barton core AMD chip (you can tell since it says 512k L2 cache instead of 256), and go for one of the Epox Nforce2 based motherboards, such as the 8RGA or 8RDA3+ depending on what features you want.

[Gurm]

Novdid,

I know, but nVidia = Evil Inside.

- Gurm

[Novdid]

True...but damn good motherboards...

[Admiral]

Best bang for the buck is AMD as everyone here seems to agree.

As for stability, I have (had, since now it's my brother's) a SIS 735 Leadtek mobo and the only problem on it was to try and make two 256 Mushkin sticks like eachother. Putting them in 2.5-3-3 solved the problem.
If you don't want to overclock, take a Barton for the extra cache and a SIS 746FX/748 board.
If you want to overclock, go for a nforce2 mobo and a 1700+ Thoroughbred B CPU.


The only thing on the Intel route worth might be dual channel and a 800 fsb P4C, it would probably cost you 100-200$ more than AMD.
If yo plan on running PC3200 memory on it just stay clear of TwinX PC3200LL Corsair ram, loads of errors. Try Kingston HyperX if you want dual channel certified, or some other ram.

[TnT]

I'm looking to get the Epox 8RDA+ soon for $85 USD. Chost it over other nForce2 boards around the same price because it has Firewire. Also the guys over at AmdMB seem to be pretty high on it.

Although I'm waiting for rev 2.0 because the current stock is 1.1, and the 2.0 is already shipping out to retailers.

[Tjalfe]

for overclocking, then the barton 2500+ is very nice.. I have mine at 3200+ stable... it has watercooling, but I am sure you can put it at atleast 2800+ speed with air cooling

[Novdid]

No, I have a 2500+ aircooled running happily at 3200+. It's a good cooler though(Alpha PAL8045).