AMD vs Intel
Choices, choices, choices... trying to get my next desktop.... and ran into choice decision. AMD or Intel. Not much of a difference but from the benchmarks it proves that I could save 100 bucks :P Similarly performing systems should differ by 100 bucks in favour of AMD. Tho Intel sounds more interesting... is more compatible with OSX (that I currently run) there is less problems with ANY drivers even for WinXP (for Vista there is possibly no drivers for anything). Hard decision... Technology wise E6600 (Intel Core2Duo at 2.4GHz with 4MB Cache) and X2 5000+ (AMD at 2.6Ghz with slightly more than 2MB cache)... are performing same... Intel is slower but has more cache. AMD is faster but with less cache can get comparable results to Intel.
Anyway... I still do not know what to buy :) The difference in price is like 60 bucks.... better invest it in beer... or not?
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No one ever got fired for buying intel....
But hey, if you buy AMD you will have more fun with finding/hacking/making drivers for that VIA/ULI/SIS/ATI chipset (does ATI still use the ULI southbridge ?) :)
The chipset is another story
I even do not know what chipset is good for AMD. nForce4 was decent. But the nForce430+GeForce6150 (nvidia calls it probably MCP61 or something) is garbage. AMD + ULi is shit :) ATI chipset was decent for Turions... now I do not know. Did not see any machine since then with ATI chipset...
And so on, and so on. Intel chipsets always work. But they are more expensive.... bleh...
I really do not want to invest in computers anymore so much. For all the machines in my life I could have house or so :)
So save money
Dont you already have a house ? Do you need another one ? :)
You could just get the low to midrange system, its probably still fast enough. Oh, and what about the savings if you never spend money on alcohol and cigarettes ? Probably you could buy a ferrari now eh ? :)
Yesterday I did a quick calculation on Newegg. Seems like I can build my next system for around $900:
-Intel E6420 2.13Ghz Core2Duo
-Gigabyte GA-965P DS3 intel board
-Gigabyte 8600GT
-2 GB 800Mhz DDR2
-1 TB HDD (2x500GB Seagates)
And thats not exactly 'low end' is it ? :)
But my best suggestion for you is to keep thinking about buying a new system but not actually doing it :) Its by FAR the cheapest solution!
Thinking...
Oh... you know I am excellent on this :)
BTW. My target system looked almost identical to your, except the HDDs... recently I do not have any space shortage anymore, seems like I have finished downloading whole internet :P
AMD+nVidia
Currently the Core2Duo beats the best AMD, but amd's next cpu might change things back in their favor again. I personally prefer AMD. I had intels until I bought an amd xp, then I kept on it.. amd64.. now amd64 X2 dual core 4600+.
Drivers: I think the situation is much better. Intel boards usually have intel chipsets (nvidia's for intel have some issues afaik), and it's a PITA to get the correct chipset drivers from intel's site. On the other hand, amd boards with nvidia chipsets are a charm, chipset is very easy to identify and nvidia's driver download site is superb.
Vista drivers? The only think I'm lacking drivers for are a Terratec soundcard (they've been making drivers for their whole line though so I should expect it soon), and an ASUS bluetooth usb dongle.
Note about ASUS: their website SUCKS, they have no drivers for Vista, their download speeds make you think they have the servers in africa or that your ISP suddenly switched you back to dialup. Their support? hahaha, they reply ONCE a week, literally. I had this guy reply my ticked THE SAME DAY EVERY WEEK, for a total of 4 times. Yes, 4 replies in 30 days.
Chipset drivers, onboard audio/video, etc etc, all work nicely with Vista.
Drivers hell
That's another story with drivers. The best support I believe has Gigabyte and the best boards... but not sure anymore. ASUS dropped quality like hell.
AsRock is not bad. But I do not trust them because they try to aim at price rather than features, however I did not have quality problems with them, I still prefer to have companies aiming a little higher.
With Intel it would be easy. Intel board and Intel CPU....
Tho I am really big fan of AMD. Since 486DX2 66MHz I have betrayed AMD only once for Pentium2 on BX chipset (the machine still works like a charm :))... but again, I have the pricing problem with Intel....
EPOX
I've been using EPOX motherboards since my very first computer up to nowadays. They are rock stable, fast (there have a been a few well known ones which were best performers), and their support actually replies your tickets in a timely manner. Their website is ok too.
This is my current mobo: (with nForce 570 sli chipset)
http://www.anandtech.com/printarticle.aspx?i=2787
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=33978
It's on par with ASUS and most other top brands.
Now you might say I'm Biased because I've always had this brand, but I've been fixing and assembling computers for like 10 years; I've had many brands pass on my hands and experienced many different results with each of them. I think the most sucky one are Asrock (big time sucker) and MSI.
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At about half the price of the 590 boards the Epox performs almost exactly the same as the top-performing ASUS
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RAM:
For most applications.. wouldn't it be so much better to install 32GB of RAM and some aggressive lazy cache system (any hints ?) ? ..basically floating on a RAM disk that from time to time actually saves stuff on the HD.