Processors?

[asterroc]

I'm looking to buy a new PC computer, but I don't know the difference between processors - the names I've heard are Intel Pentium, Intel Core Duo, and AMD Athlon. The computer will be used for office crap, web surfing, and power gaming. I will also probably want to get a good video card.

So tell me, what do I want?

Comments

[sclerotic-rings.livejournal.com]

A Macintosh. (Ducks and runs.)

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

I already have one, and I'm sick and tired of the problems. I appear to be a statistical anomaly though, so that's not what's deciding me. I am not against Macs by any means - I've been trying to get newer ones in my labs for a couple years.

What's deciding me is that I want a computer that can do video games, and I've observed and others have agreed that running games on XP on Intel Macs is slower than running games on XP on PCs.

[blahblahboy.livejournal.com]

In order of goodness, latest generation dual cores should be good:
Intel Core 2 Duo
AMD Athlon X2 64

All the rest are probably relatively worthless and/or will suck the power out of your wall sockets. Be careful that chips without SSE3 (older Athlons - don't know about the current ones) may stutter when trying to play h264 encoded - high definition - video clips.

For example, on my friend's Athlon 64 3200+, it would stutter (100%), but on my Dothan notebook processor (has SSE3), it played fine, eating 50% CPU. On a clock for clock scale I think the 3200+ should beat my 1.7GHz processor in most real world applications.

Are you thinking of getting Vista...?

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Nearly all computers now ship with Vista. (I'm not planning to build it myself, but to spec it out and find what I want pre-built on Dell or NewEgg or something.) I am planning to wait until the first service pack is out, as I've heard about all sorts of hardware/software compatability issues. And if it's still crappy I'll go get XP. :-P

[(Anonymous)]

Honestly Intel/AMD doesn't matter anymore. They are both stable. Mac uses Intel / Windows uses AMD, whatever.

Then among the processors it's all a matter of money. Have you actually done this yet? If you want me and Tony can probably build a great PC. I would definately advise not to buy anything in a store, just build it yourself. Tony and I could definitely help. My last three computers and caitlins last two (desktops) have all been hand built.

Anyway :) Hope this non-informative post helps.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

You forgot to log in kelsin. :-P

T$ says he doesn't know anything about computers and refuses to help me. I haven't yet done it - I had figured I wouldn't buy until the first service pack for Vista comes out, though if I hand build I can go with XP instead. I'm trying to decide between the Intel and Athlon dual cores, and figured I'd pump in as much as I felt gave a reasonable return for RAM and HD. I don't know anything about video cards and should probably get a better one. Yes I'd love help.