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Hello my friend, and welcome to the world of reality :D
Firstly, let me say that you went to a good site in my opinion, as I do rate Tom's Hardware. However, what you are looking at are benchmarks, as opposed to reality.
This is why almost my first question was "what do you want to use it for?" You see, I ran the same comparison and the Intel processor won on "value for money" and on "Multitasking 1" (50% apps, 50% games). You used a gaming benchmark.
I am afraid that you really need to know what you want to do with it, as you are somewhat "budget" in your specifications?.
One thing I would like to draw to your attention is that the AMD processor had PC800 RAM whilst the Pentium had PC667 (superstitious lot aren't we.......I bet it is actually 666 :lildevil:)
I have an old P4/1.7 that will hammer my AMD Athlon 1900s (real speed about 1.6?) even though the Athlons have 1GB of DDR and it only has 768MB...............you see it has RAMBUS RDRAM PC800. That is the RAM, rather than the processor that is having the effect.
I would suggest that you think a bit more about your intended usage and look at benchmarks that reflect that.
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For what it's worth: I got a new desktop today, and it's a Dell. Until this one, I have always built myself; I didn't this time because:
- Dell is cheaper than anyone can build him- or herself
- Vista is around the corner, and Dell (and most other manufacturers) offer free upgrades when it becomes available.
For under $1,500, I got:
- Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 (2.13GHz)
- XP Media Center Edition
- Free Upgrade to Vista Home Premium
- 2GB DDR2 533MHz
- 250 GB SATA 7200
- 16x DVD ROM + 48x CD-RW/DVD
- 19 " digital flat panel
- 256MB Radeon X1300 Pro
- SB Audigy
- Keyboard (multimedia), mouse (optical) - USB
- 650 VA UPS
- 13-in-1 media card reader
- 1394 adapter
I don't think there is any way you can build something like that yourself for that price... I also believe that today is a really bad day to buy computers (unless you don't care about the upcoming Vista); the main reason (other than cost) that I went with Dell is that I'm sure it's going to work with Vista (and I'll get it for free...)
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Well, I have to admit that Negative has introduced a slightly different angle here.
I have purchased two Dells over the past 12 years............. I would say that they cost about $15,000 between them, but they are still going strong. I bought them when they were the best you could buy...............now I build my own or get an ex-corporate, and upgrade.
The secret, in my opinion, is to decide what you want up front. Whatever you buy will be obsolete in 6 months, so I tend to go for stuff that is already obsolete and costs rock bottom.
Neg~ is spot on, now is not the time to buy fancy gear unless you have a clearly defined use for it.
:)
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I figured I should post the parts I have chosen up till now, and see what you guys think. I kinda chose a cheap RAM but i didn't know what to choose, so if you have any better ideas please post.
http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/...Number=4953127
I upgraded from the
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116014
to the
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116213
which is more expensive.
Why does the more expensive one have a lower clock speed? Also, what is the difference between Pentium D and 4? (i know that D is a newer line of processors, but thats about it)
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The case is very tacky.................see through panels and flashing lights = crap!
Get something with 500w (or better), and plain.
One of the processors is single core and the more expensive one is dual core as far as I can see..............I have not looked up their details, mind you.
If I were running MS Office, I would go for the older, single core architecture;)
Dual Core and better still, dual processors are the future, but the software has yet to catch up?
;)
