Buying decision; Dual Core Pentium 4's or athlon 64

[ravalox]

Okay, so I am building a computer for someone as a christmas gift. I have to decide between buying Dell(usually the lowest cost) or building it on my lonesome. What I think gives me pause is that I think the pentium4 dual core's don't have all that long a lifespan as far as future cpu's that would use the same motherboard. I am leaning towards building an Athlon 64 system because I feel while I may pay more upfront, it would save money in the long run because it would be more upgradeable to extend the PC's lifespan?

 

[AppaYipYip]

Agreed!

 

[fatty4ksu]

What are you using the PC for?

 

[ravalox]

Well it's for my brother and he has gaming on his mind.

 

[AMDnAsus]

neither 775 nor 939 will last long. amd is changing to socket m2 / ddr2 memory soon. it doesntreally matter. i like amd tho.

 

[Markfw]

X2 is the way to go. OC'ed, as fast as single core, and in dual-core/multithreaded apps, can't be touched.

 

[mUcHiLuS]

don't even think about it!!, buy amd x2. the best for the money and range performance ratio is the 3800+ x2. you can oc to 2.6-2.7 and cost the quater of the 4800+

 

[Markbnj]

These guys are correct about the AMD X2. But have you thought about support? I build rigs for myself, but I would seriously consider a brand name if I were giving one as a gift.

 

[DrMrLordX]

I agree with Mark. Gifts, when hand-built, come with expectations. At least if you buy them a Dell, they have Dell support they can cry to when something goes wrong. Who cares of the support sucks? They can't justify annoying you about it. But if you build it, who is the support mechanism? Yep, that's right: You!

An X2 would obviously be superior, but uh, erm, can't you find an OEM that will sell you a good X2 box or something? Or get a PC from Monarch? Best of both worlds.

 

[stevty2889]

Pentium-D and gaming shouldn't be in the same sentance. Pentium-D's are at the low end of the clock speed spectrum for Intel, primarily due to heat and power issues. Getting a pentium-d for gaming would be the same as getting a 2.5 year old low end single core, because the second core will be mostly sitting idle. If you don't mind supporting the gift for them, A64's are superior in gaming, and run a lot cooler than P4's and Pentium-D's..

If you would rather still get them a dell, then you would be better getting a higher speed single core P4 than a Pentium-d. With a decent aftermarket cooler, my Pentium-D 830 is 2c below the throttling temp(throttling usualy kicks in around 72c at stock), and idles at 50c, while my overclocked X2 @2.618ghz with the stock AMD cooler only hits 51c under full load..

 

[rsatat]

Originally posted by: Markbnj
These guys are correct about the AMD X2. But have you thought about support? I build rigs for myself, but I would seriously consider a brand name if I were giving one as a gift.

Whats anandtech for?

 

[carlosd]

HP-Compaq has A64 systems.

 

[jEnus]

If you need a space-heater go for the Intel system. If you need a long term PC, go for the AMD>

 

[Duvie]

Its for his brother, which means tech support is implied anyways...family thing...Might as well build him a computer that will work..dell sucks (I know) and the P-D is a POS (I know)....sorry it is quite simple...

Friends dont let friends drive drunk?? Family dont let family buy Intel P-Ds...or celerons!!! LOL....

 

[Viditor]

Monarch Furia Custom Workstation (PCI-E) $89.00
Case: PS 400W - Antec SLK3800B ATX 2.0 Mid Towe $92.00
Motherboard: Abit KN8 Ultra nF4 Audio/GB-LAN/USB/PCI-E $99.99
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Dual-Core 512K Per Core $322.00
Memory: DDR (400) 3200 - 1 GB (2 pcs 512) OCZ $95.00
Hard Drive: SATA3G - Western Digital Caviar SE 160 GB $87.00
CD-RW/DVD-RW: DVD±RW - Lite-On SOHW-1693S 16x8x16x-DVD- $48.00
CD-RW Software: Ahead Nero 6.3 Suite DVD+-RW Software $7.99 Floppy: Sony 1.44MB 3.5? (Black) Floppy Drive $19.00
Video Card: 190465 - eVGA GeForce 7800 GT 256MB DDR3/PCI-E/VIV $320.00
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Professional w/SP2 $150.00
Warranty: 6 months - Parts & Labor - No Software Support

Subtotal $1,329.98

Or you can just buy a ready made gaming box from Monarch...

 

[DrMrLordX]

I second Viditor's recommendations. There's really no reason to get a Dell with Monarch as an alternative.

 

[Ketchup]

AMD is definately the way to go. Since he is a gamer, why don't you get him a Venice 3800 or 4000 instead. For similar money as the X2 3800, the extra 400 MHz would be a lot more noticeable for a gamer than the dual core would.