Building an affordable rig (AMD vs Intel)

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BLaZEjjp

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 30, 2003
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Ok, a friend of mine and I are getting back into PC gaming and decided to build ourselves similar computers. We haven’t built our own in about 4-5 years, and back then AMD was the gamer’s choice. Now I hear that Intel is blowing AMD away and I argued that it was time to make the switch. Well, after a week of research we each had a wishlist with comparable alternatives. Keep in mind we both want <$1k computers, so we aren’t getting the best of the best.

After comparing our 2 systems, I don’t know if I am sold on Intel. It seems like I will be paying ~$200 more for an Intel motherboard, and I don’t know if the slight performance boost between systems is worth that.

We both agreed that we may be out of the loop, and that better experience may be required. So please let us know why, or why not, we would want to go with Intel.

AMD: https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.aspx?ID=11726967
Athlon x2 6400+ Windsor 3.2 ghz,
Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H AM2+/ ,
Gigabyte GeForce 8800 GT,
and Corsair Dominator 2x2gb DDR2 1066

Intel: https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.aspx?ID=5081689
Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0ghz,
Asus Striker II Formula Nvidia SLI 780i,
Asus Geforce 8800 GT,
And Corsair Dominator 2x2gb DDR2 1066

Although we have OC’ed in the past, I think those days are behind us. Also, I should add that we will mostly be gaming, with some time spent in graphics/video editing.
 
I'd say go with a cheaper Intel mobo, plenty of them under $100 out there, especially if you aren't overclocking.
 
Yeah you don't have to spend that much money for a decent Intel motherboard. I recommend any of these other motherboards:
Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L Intel P35 Motherboard - $90
MSI P35 Neo2-FR Intel P35 Motherboard - $110
DFI BloodIron P35-T2RL Intel P35 Motherboard - $110
Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3R Intel P35 Motherboard - $120
DFI LanParty DK P35-T2RS Intel P35 Motherboard - $130
Asus P5K-E Intel P35 Motherboard - $140
Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3P Intel P35 Motherboard - $150
Asus P5K-E/Wifi-AP Intel P35 Motherboard - $150
Abit IP35 Pro Intel P35 Motherboard - $170
Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS4 Intel P35 Motherboard - $170
Gigabyte GA-EX38-DS4 Intel X38 Motherboard - $207

Just to help you out: If you don't need RAID, more than 4 SATA ports and only need semi-decent overclocking, check out the DS3L. If you need 5 SATA ports, 2 eSATA ports, slightly better overclocking, and a second PCI-E x16 port, then get the Neo2-Fr. If you want heavy overclocking options and six SATA ports, check out the Blood Iron. If you like the BloodIron but want significantly better overclock stability and options, go for the LanParty. If you want 8 SATA ports, RAID, legacy ports and high overclocks and optional eSATA, than the DS3R is a good choice. If you want the DS3R but need Firewire and a second PCI-E x16 port, then go for the DS3P. If you like the DS3P but need 3 PCI slots instead of the DS3P's 2 PCI slots and like having non-optional eSATA, go for the Asus P5K-E. If you like the P5K-E but need wifi, then go for the P5K-E/Wifi-AP. If you want something that can overclock pretty damn high along with RAID, eSATA ports and firewire connections, than the IP35 Pro. If you like the DS3P but want better cooling for overclocking, then go for the DS4. Do note that the Asus website can be slow sometimes.

Also ditch the Dominator RAM. That RAM is overpriced considering that you can a 66mhz slower RAM for $65 less:
G.SKILL F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ 2 x 2GB DDR2 1000 RAM - $85

Also, if you're not adversed to buying from a different site, I recommend getting this other Corsair PSU instead:
Corsair 750TX 750W PSU - $99

As for the two 250GB drives in both builds, are you going for some sort of RAID0 setup? If so, don't. This single WD6400AAKS drive performs on par with that 250GB RAID0 setup yet offers more storage as well:
Western Digital WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $100

As to go with either Intel or AMD, I recommend going Intel. Clock for clock, most C2D derived CPU will beat any AMD CPU. So even though that X2 6400+ is clocked in at 3.2Ghz, it'll still get its ass handed to it by the E8400. Hell, the cheaper E7200 clocked in at 2.53Ghz will perform better than the X2 6400+.
 
Danny Bui, I like a lot of what you said there, and its just the information we were looking for. However, I noticed none of your suggested motherboards had PCI Express 2.0 x 16. And thats what the graphics card is listed at... Is this a problem? Because I think that's why all the motherboards I looked for on newegg were >$200.

Thoughts?
 
BLaZEjjp said:
Danny Bui, I like a lot of what you said there, and its just the information we were looking for. However, I noticed none of your suggested motherboards had PCI Express 2.0 x 16. And thats what the graphics card is listed at... Is this a problem? Because I think that's why all the motherboards I looked for on newegg were >$200.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Don't worry about it. All PCI-E 2.0 video cards are backwards compatible with PCI-E 1.1, which all of the motherboards I recommended have. Current video cards don't even saturate PCI-E so by the time PCI-E 2.0 is truly needed, PCI-E 3.0 will already be out and it'll be time for a new motherboard anyway. So don't worry too much about PCI-E 2.0

With that said, if you can wait just a few more weeks, the P45 chipset versions of the motherboards I recommended (which are based on the P35 chipset) will be released then. The only major difference between the P45 and P35 is that P45 has PCI-E 2.0. So if you're worried about future compatibility, definitely wait for more P45 motherboards to come out.
 
I think Danny keeps that list saved somewhere, Good list and top notch at helping people( helped with my new system) Thanks,
 
PCI-E 2.0 video cards like the 8800GT you chose will work in PCI-E 1.1 slots with no measurable loss of performance.
 
Rydawg5143 said:
I think Danny keeps that list saved somewhere, Good list and top notch at helping people( helped with my new system) Thanks,
Click to expand...

You're welcome. :D I do keep a list of my recommended parts saved in a Google Docs file online. So useful since I browse [H]ardforum from multiple PCs in a day.
 
Looks like Danny's got you covered. Don't forget to post pics when you're done. :)
 
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