Age Old Argument: AMD vs. Intel: Which Should I Choose For My Gaming Machine

[TooColdJRH]

In my previous thread I asked for advice about buying components and after searching around I am most likely going to purchase from newegg due to ease of use and high rankings. However I know this is an age old argument but it is a critical one for me and I almost never get a straight answer out of people I ask so I will try here. AMD or P4? I am building a simple gaming machine but I want it to race so I am looking for some good performance. I plan on buying the best video card out at my moment of purchase and since that changes so often I don't know what that will be at the moment. Any suggestions?

[Martoch]

http://www.techimo.com/forum/showthr...t=amd+vs+intel

[Zidane]

go with a AMD i own a amd duron 1.1ghz and the thing rocks, i just need some more ram.one bad thing is everyonce in a while intel makes a pc that can run circles around an amd,i owned one one time,a 233mhz MMX pent1 compaq deskpro 2000. that thing out ran my dads amd 350mhz hp,his had more ram too, i could never figure out why mine ran his into the dirt but it did,tecnically mine should have been very slow,but it ran games that required 400mhz p2's and crap like that. basically go with amd,that compaq died of stress. my dads amd is over 5 years old an it's still running,at a good rate too, like i say "You cant kill a AMD,it will out-last the rest."

[floyddre]

If you use an AMD the only thing you won't be able to do is tell your friends that you have an Intel. If you would like to spend the money that it would take to build with a top of the line Intel chip, my advice is: buy two AMD MP's and hang them on a MSI board. You won't get to brag about your Intel but your performance will be over the top for many, many months. Face up, todays top machine will be this afternoons ashtray. With a duel chip you will have plenty of computer left over to do your taxes while you race and do Doom. (or whatever) Invest wisely, Grasshoppa =)

[chris64]

Or do the XP to MP mod and get the cheaper XP proccesor and run it in a dual system like an MP and save some money.

[EndobioticChaos]

At this point, if you want the fastest processor regardless of cost, you'll probably have to go with an Intel. Since they came out with the Northwood core for the P4, the P4 line has been pretty much neck-and-neck with the Athlon XP line. Where AMD is still far better is the low-end and mid-range market, because in that range you'll get far more bang for your buck. Intel has the corner on the top-end market for the time being. But Hyperthreading and 64-bit chips are not far off, and those could drastically change things.

By the way, Intel chips also have better thermal protection. Not that they put out less heat, they just have a better chance of surviving if the heat sink gets knocked off for some dumb reason. P4s are designed to instantly clock down in such an emergency, to a speed that allows it to function safely with no heatsink. To my knowledge no AMD chips have this kind of protection yet.

Nevertheless, I'm basically an AMD fan myself.

[chris64]

Originally posted by EndobioticChaos
At this point, if you want the fastest processor regardless of cost, you'll probably have to go with an Intel. Since they came out with the Northwood core for the P4, the P4 line has been pretty much neck-and-neck with the Athlon XP line. Where AMD is still far better is the low-end and mid-range market, because in that range you'll get far more bang for your buck. Intel has the corner on the top-end market for the time being. But Hyperthreading and 64-bit chips are not far off, and those could drastically change things.

By the way, Intel chips also have better thermal protection. Not that they put out less heat, they just have a better chance of surviving if the heat sink gets knocked off for some dumb reason. P4s are designed to instantly clock down in such an emergency, to a speed that allows it to function safely with no heatsink. To my knowledge no AMD chips have this kind of protection yet.

Nevertheless, I'm basically an AMD fan myself.

Well the XP proccesors have something where it locks up when a fan fails and the temp gets to hot but it doesn't have anything to protect it when the HSF just falls of and it doesn't work well even when the fan dies.

[joker_927]

I alwasy hear that AMD has a shorted pipeline, and that makes games run faster. I have done some research and discovered that I just like AMD more. But when you buy an AMD chip, a good heatsink needs o come with it. I have a Athlon 1.1 ghz, and just bought an Athlon xP 2400+


I live by: AMD for games, Intel or everything else.

[JiminElkGrove]

I went with AMD on my new rig and used the $200 I saved to buy the monitor. My machine rocks: AMD Athlon 1900 @1.6 GHz, 512 MB DDRRAM, nVidia GeForce4 Ti 4400 with 128 MB video memory, all on Gigabyte GA-7VRX with Via KT333. Jim

[chris64]

Originally posted by JiminElkGrove
I went with AMD on my new rig and used the $200 I saved to buy the monitor.

So you woudn't have bought a monitor if you bought a intel rig.