Poll: AMD vs Intel (2008)

[Choose between an AMD CPU in your next system or an Intel CPU powering it?]

Choose between an AMD CPU in your next system or an Intel CPU powering it?

AMD CPU

 31 (44.3%)

Intel CPU

 39 (55.7%)

Other

 0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 69

[Anthony]

AMD is working on LeapFrog technology, I'm guessing.

Both companies are working on reducing power consumption, which is important in the aggregate.
Cost, as well, will always be close to the fair price for any given time.

So, it comes down to technology and timing, for me. Corporate secrets are always about that... I Prefer AMD because they have the historic momentum & scientific values -- for the long term. Tom Yager, has a very good points about AMD/Intel. See, http://weblog.infoworld.com/yager/

[Bon Bon]

  I would probably go for the AMD processor in my next build. As a matter of fact I just built up the AMD 6400 and like it very much. I do use it for gaming and am using the EVGA Nvidia type card w/ 512 Megs of DDR2 on it. I have been using the All In Wonder type cards from ATI for a number of years but due to more recent non support from ATI am having to go a different direction.

I find little need for a few silly extra fps but am not swayed at all by the "Intel Inside" way of life. It has been obvious for a number of years that Intel and Microsoft would keep us secure and in cages as long as we send them the money. So let's continue to support the little guy.

Bon Bon

[Euphonium]

Right now, from everything I read, I can get an Intel chip that will out-perform anything AMD can offer at the same price point, so I'd be foolish to buy anything else.

I am a bit of and AMD fan, but not to the pointof buying an inferior product.

In a year's time, who knows

[trashy]

As others have said, I use whichever one gives me better value.  I don't do any gaming, but I do some video editing and other resource-intensive tasks on my pc.  At one point I might be compiling a program, converting a video to DVD, listenening to music and surfing the internet all at the same time.

[NeoPlasmaX]

My first decent computer had an AMD K6-2 in it and the ability to overclock it substantially and it still operate normally was impressive at the time...  Pushing 300Mhz close to 400Mhz before 400Mhz computers were out...

AMD seemed to add a new variable in marketing by this...

But every other computer after this one, I've owned Intel...  And not every Intel chip based computer thereafter was necessary better than the AMDs currently on the market, I just found more availability at the time with a larger range of variety...   This last computer I built for gaming had nothing of marketing in mind but performance and performance only and the clear winner was Intel...   

AMD did offer the computing community a huge service when they first came out it seemed...   Intel before AMD came into the game seemed to be milking the market and computer speeds were creeping coming out like 33Mhz, 66Mhz, 100Mhz...  Then AMD added some pressure to compete and in like 1 year or a little over (1999) speeds when from 200Mhz to 1Ghz (not sure exactly but was something like that)...  And now combining increased L2 caches and crazy bus speeds, Intel has shown they can raise the bar and keep raising it even when they still have a clear lead...

I'm not a computer expert, just an observationalist...

[coneman]

Intel all the way!

Ditto

[Dakota]

The only reason I have chosen Intel, for the first time is, right now Intel is ahead of AMD, plus the the CPU fans are too loud on AMD.  Mine runs at 5000 RPM and it is noisy for sure, and I am only running a Mobil Athion XP 2600+...... Temps are in the high 30C.

[Wildrat]

Intel from now till I go to see the LORD. I was an AMD man but they always seemed glitchy, blue screens that seemed to get blamed on that MicroSoft, since I've been using Intel starting with P4 and now with the Core 2 Quad I have had no blue screens for unexplained reasons.

[BigMac]

My new build, just finished last week, has an Intel E8400 Wolfdale 3Ghz. Absolutely flys running CoD2 and MoH Pacific Assault. CPU runs in the low 40's under load.

I too, hope that AMD can get back into a competitive mode. I used their CPU's in a number of builds, including a budget box for my golfing buddy's wife that I'll assemble this week. I still prefer ATI over nVidea VGA cards - put a HD3870 in the new build.

Mac

[Boomer]

I just finished my new build last weekend. I went with the AMD 6400+ Dual core etc. etc. I did so for a couple of reasons, price is part of it but not all of it. I can honestly say that money did not drive my build this time as it has in the past 7 like most of us I try to upgrade about once a year. Always have a couple of others in the workes I tinker with.

 I purchase most of my stuff that I can not wait until tomorrow at PC Club. They offer most anything you need in my area at affordable prices. They also have a nice web site that can ship anything you want to your local store free of charge.

  This time around I was not really sure which way I wanted to go, albeit Intel or AMD and my choice was made pretty much last second due to the salesperson I had. He was a younger kid, (horrible case of Psoriasis) and I asked up front if they were commisioned sales and he said no, they were not so I felt like I would get some honest answeres to my questions based on perfromance, stability, reliabilty, warranty, price. Right away I figured he would push the Intel just becuase most people do. I was correct, he did.

  He immediately wanted to go to Tom's hardware and do all the comparisons on the various CPU's I was looking at. I wanted upper models of which ever I went with. While the AMD 6400+ was the highest model they offered in stock, aside from the Phenom, I already decided I would not go with the Phenom due to the stability issues I have read about it so far however, if I decided to go with AMD I wanted a mobo that would support the phenom in the future becuase I suspect eventually they will correct the snafu's they are having with the chip as they do with any newer product most of the time, lol. Anyhow, we went to ted's and compared practically every processor in stock they had. I am not a huge gamer BUT, (always a but) I do play. I play Cod4, MOHAA, Splinter Cell and some ancient ones that any processor will drive. At the time Tom's didnt offer a CoD4 drop down menu to compare but we did do the Crysis (which challenges any thing put in front of it.) I think we did a game celled Warhammer or something close to that, Quake and various others and hands down, Intel came out on top in just about every one if not every one BUT, (always a but) in some of the day to day tasks like Photshop or similiar the AMD would edge out Intel. Here is a link to Ted's for Price\Performance at 50% games and 50 % applications. I think it will come as no suprise that AMD wins in the best bag for the buck as far as money is concerned. To me it came down to the drop down menus he chose, not me, that AMD would be so little behind in applications that I would use more often that it was more of a "its not THAT much better" and I think he agreed.

 http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=921&model2=1096&chart=444

 Bottom line ~ IMO, if your a die hard gamer and a few dollars to throw around, go with the Intel. If you are a daily cruiser like myself that does some surfing, casual gaming and simple tasks, AMD will suffice. I think that Intel is probably a little more stable overall than AMD, not a lot but some, just my opinion mind you. I think if you put together a system using AMD and use other good quality parts then you will not be disappointed. I certainly am not. I went with;

 Gigabyte MA790FX-DS5 mobo
 AMD 64 X2 Dual core 6400+
 EVGA 8800 GT 512 Superclocked edition
 Enermax Liberty 620 (nice you only plug in what you need)
 CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2-800 CL 4-4-4-12 EPP & SLI

 the mobo has decent on-board sound but I was bored and went and bought the Creatuive Soundblaster Fatal1ty card and am glad I did. It rocks. If you have some extra cash, it makes the sounds it says it will and more.

 Sorry for the long winded post and I may be off on a thing here and there, I am no pc guru but I love working with them and learning, maybe this will help your choice, but thats my take on AMD vs. Intel....[/font][/font]
 

[Volt]

@ Boomer

 When I rebuild my PC, which is pretty often, I go with whoever gives me the better performance. Therefore, I'm going to have to point out that you can get an Intel C2D chip for about $20 more than your AMD. And it will outperform it. It even beats some QC's in some tests.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/11/08/dual_vs_quad/index.html

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115029

 Like I said, I'm not brand specific when it comes to purchasing hardware, but these days you can't beat an Intel in price/performance. I'm hoping AMD will do something about it so it forces Intel to keep putting out these awesome chips.

[Boomer]

 Volt,

   Thanks for the post. That first link is about 40 pages    it will take me a few to look thru it but I can already tell where it is heading. I appreciate it too. Question. The Intel unit you mentioned, now will it just flat smoke what I have? You know what I am saying? Sometimes when people tell me that this Intel unit or that Intel unit will outperform my AMD it almost has me getting a complex that my poor little AMD is straight garbage, lol. I know its not all that bad, heck I am on line now and at least it got me that far, lol. I mean I know what you are saying, KINDA. By outperforming though I would love for Ted's to compare the two. Right now mine is not even available on his charts, and that stinks. For comparisons when I bought this last weekend we were suing the 6000+ vs. a compable upper Intel and it would just barely beat my chip, and in some it didn't. The particular chipset he was showing me and comparing with was a good 150 bucks more than my 6400+. Now when I said money was truly not the object in my choice I meant it, it wasn't but I am also not silly when it comes to parting with it either, lol. for 150.00 I just simply did not see that big of an improvement in the particular CPU he was showing me. I need to look at the chart sop I can tell you which one it was. I do know the price was way out of range for what the results showed. In most upper end games is where I noticed Intel would pull away quite a  bit.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

[tonster]

Boomer,
The real advantage of Intel is in overclocking.  Yes, Intel is faster right now at the same price points, but when you overclock those 45 nanometer chips, woah!  If you run things at stock and aren't into REALLY HIGH END GAMING, then no worries.  For the record, I'm running a 3400+ and it does everything I want it to do right now (except play Crysis).  I'm poor, but will upgrade eventually.  Of course my chip is quite overclocked (about 30%).  Anyway, for you, I think with your 8800GT and a decently fast AMD, you are doing fine, bud.  Happy gaming.
Tony

[Volt]

 Boomer, when you read the review I linked, you'll see that your current chip is included in the tests. So it's compared against the chip I'm talking about. It's been a couple of months since I read the whole article, so I don't remember all of the results, but I don't think the Intel E6750 "smoked" your chip, or any chip for that matter. Even though the E6750 placed high on the result charts, you'll notice that the difference in FPS between the chips in the top part of the bracket is negligible. Sometimes the difference in FPS is less than 5, or 10, which you won't notice while playing a game, only if your benchmarking.

 If you're happy with you current chip, stay with it. I only posted what I did for others out there thinking of buying at this time. You simply can't beat an Intel for price/perfomance at this time.

 Like I said though, it's been a while since I've read the whole review, and I may be mistaken on the difference between your AMD and the E6750. I recommend you read it yourself. I'd hate to give bad advice.

[cryofreeze666]

well for me i had used intel on my first computer... a dell 8300... yes i needed the customer service quite regularly i loved going where i shouldn't go in there.  anyhow, i've never been much of an overclocker, never saw the reason for it.  i am currently building my first computer so i can get rid of this p.o.s. 8250 i needed to buy after my original a beautiful machine after i got rid of most of the original dell installs was stolen.  i've decided to try a combination of amd the 2.5 quad with the asus motherboard that will handle the 2k front bus speed.  plus i figure on using patriots ddrs since it aslso performs at 2k mhz.  with that as my core of my machine i figure overclocking would be foolish.  as for amd this dell has it in there and i'm impressed with the way it also has handled since it is a 5 year old machine.  so the new machine once i finish will cast the finishing vote for me once i get the bugs out of it.