i'm starting to shop around a bit with the intention to build a completely new gaming desktop. i've been reading about the new AM2 that AMD has come out with and i've been reading about what Intel has been up to. now the question i'm stuck with is: should i upgrade now or wait until quad cores come out for the best bang for my buck? i'm really in no rush to build a new one but i dont know what kinda time frame there is til quad cores are released. i'd appreciate any feedback from you guys.

7/23/2006 1:21:24 PM

Quote :

"completely new gaming desktop"

if you are building a gaming desktop, multi-core cpu's need not apply

7/23/2006 1:49:26 PM

Waiting for quad core isn't the issue, waiting for intel's Core 2 is. Core 2 looks to completely obliterate AMD's whole line. Wait for that to come out and if you still want the AMD chips, they'll probably drop a good amount in price.

[Edited on July 23, 2006 at 1:50 PM. Reason : ]

7/23/2006 1:50:13 PM

^^ o really? how come?

^ ah yea, good point. since we dont know prices yet for Intel, can we assume to say that the price for Intel's will be worth it compared to the AMD?

7/23/2006 2:01:12 PM

A lot of sites have already posted intel retail prices. It'll be hard to get chips initially, but AMD has already stated they will be dropping prices too. Whether you'll be able to actually get an intel chip somewhere or by how much AMD's chips will come down, you'll have to wait and see. My money is on it being worth the wait though. Just a couple months though.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2795&p=2

[Edited on July 23, 2006 at 2:04 PM. Reason : pricing link]

7/23/2006 2:04:07 PM

Well make sure you can play Crysis with it:

Minimum Requirements
CPU: Athlon 64 3000+/Intel 2.8ghz
Graphics: Nvidia 6600/X800GTO (SM 2.0)
RAM: 768Mb/1Gb on Windows Vista
HDD: 6GB
Internet: 256k+
Optical Drive: DVD
Software: DX9.0c with Windows XP

Recommended Requirements

CPU: Dual-core CPU (Athlon X2/Pentium D)
Graphics: Nvidia 7800GTX/ATI X1800XT (SM 3.0) or DX10 equivalent
RAM: 1.5Gb
HDD: 6GB
Internet: 512k+ (128k+ upstream)
Optical Drive: DVD
Software: DX10 with Windows Vista

7/23/2006 4:56:01 PM

Quote :

"^^ o really? how come?"

as far as i know very few games are multi-threaded.... i game on an X2 4600+ and i don't notice any significance difference, just most people swear that single core cpu's are just as fast or faster than dual/multi core cpu's for gaming.

^and i would change that Pentium D to Core 2 Duo, since we all know Pentium D's don't compare to the X2 nor the C2Duos, unless of course you need something really cheap

i'd say the X2 4600+ or the Core 2 Duo E6400 are your best price/performance cpu's right now (as of tomorrow)

[Edited on July 23, 2006 at 5:54 PM. Reason : .]

7/23/2006 5:51:08 PM

Quote :

" Well make sure you can play Crysis with it: Minimum Requirements CPU: Athlon 64 3000+/Intel 2.8ghz Graphics: Nvidia 6600/X800GTO (SM 2.0) RAM: 768Mb/1Gb on Windows Vista HDD: 6GB Internet: 256k+ Optical Drive: DVD Software: DX9.0c with Windows XP "

well i def meet the minimum...now for the recommended lol

^ very interesting. i didnt realize that games couldnt really optimize the dual core. but i mean i prob would go with dual or quad just so i wouldnt have to upgrade for awhile after that.

7/23/2006 6:02:35 PM