BUYING NEW PROCESSOR.......

[EdzAviator]

I am considering buying an X2 3800+(AM2) or C2D E4300......

Which would you guyz prefer i should buy??????

Considering the fact that I will run either at stock speed............

 

[DrMrLordX]

If you're planning on buying an AM2 processor, I'd recommend the 3600+ over the 3800+, but that's just me.

Nevertheless, the E4300 should be faster at stock speeds. It really comes down to price. You could get a 3600+ for around $100 less. Motherboard costs should be nearly identical so long as you look at the cheaper chipsets for the E4300 (i945). AM2 boards are overall cheaper.

Either chip will be well-served by some of that Super Talent DDR2-667 that is probably still cheap.

 

[BladeVenom]

The E4300 is the better performer, but it's also more expensive and motherboards for it will also be slightly more. An X2 4400 is the closest in price to the C2D E4300.

 

[MADMAX23]

Get a C2D 4300 for sure and overclock it.....no AMD performance contender for that low price....trust me.
Good Luck!!

 

[A554SS1N]

For stock speed, the difference in performance isn't really enough IMO to justify the increased cost of CPU and motherboard, and for non gaming or light gaming, I'd go with the X2 - purely to save money. However, if you can afford the E4300 and want to have it last a little bit longer, then by all means get that.

 

[f4phantom2500]

Originally posted by: MADMAX23
Get a C2D 4300 for sure and overclock it.....

Originally posted by: EdzAviator
Considering the fact that I will run either at stock speed............

:roll:

I must go with the general consensus that the E4300 is better, but the X2 3600/3800 are still good processors, honestly I don't think the E4300 is worth the price difference. If you're gaming, use the extra cash on a better video card. If you're editing/encoding use it on more RAM. If you need a lot of storage use it on another hard drive. If you're doing general tasks save your money and get the X2 3600. However, if you were overclocking I would definitely recommend the E4300.

 

[nyker96]

stock speed maybe go with AM2, they tend to be cheaper with comparable speed.

 

[mithrandir2001]

You'll get better price/performance out of the X2 3800+ but the reason to go for the E4300 is that you will be on a platform which will allow you to drop in a much more powerful C2D later, if the need arises. AMD K8 is nearing the end of its lifecycle.

 

[imported_Truenofan]

im not an intel fanboy, nor am i an amd fanboy, i go for whoevers best, right now, i love my e6300, its a beast i just got to overclocking lately, and i'd imagine its going to get considerably faster, im a gamer, so im gonna need to squeeze as much as i can for further gaming....i do encoding(for my ppc and desktop) and it tears my old athlon 64 to shreds on that. if your not a heavy gamer then go with the amds...i love em because they are very affordable and are still useable, yes the k8's are ending the lifespan, so you can always wait, but if you pick intel or amd, be ready to fork over a chunk of change on ram, and a decent video card to match the system as well as a power supply.

 

[BladeVenom]

Originally posted by: mithrandir2001
AMD K8 is nearing the end of its lifecycle.

The one nice thing is that AM3 processors are suppose to work in AM2 motherboards. So if AMD's next processor is better than C2D, going with AM2 right now would be the better choice for upgrading.

 

[stickybytes]

Originally posted by: BladeVenom

Originally posted by: mithrandir2001
AMD K8 is nearing the end of its lifecycle.

The one nice thing is that AM3 processors are suppose to work in AM2 motherboards. So if AMD's next processor is better than C2D, going with AM2 right now would be the better choice for upgrading.

True, but how many people are actually going to keep the motherboard they bought for use with the AM2 chip?

 

[DrMrLordX]

Actually, I think it's AM2+ chips that will run in AM2 boards. Some of the current AM2 boards are quite good (such as the DFI NF UltraII-M2) and would probably be worth keeping unless the old version of HT on them proves to be a significant bottleneck for AM2+ chips.

 

[BladeVenom]

From Wikipedia, "AMD has announced that Socket AM3 processors will be able to run on Socket AM2 motherboards, but not vice-versa. AM3 processors will have a new memory controller supporting both DDR2 and DDR3 SDRAM, allowing backwards compatibility with AM2 and AM2+ motherboards. Since AM2 processors lack the new memory controller, they will not work on AM3 motherboards."

 

[harpoon84]

In you will be strictly running at stock speeds with no intention of ever overclocking, I would suggest the AM2 option over the C2D based purely on price/performance.

The E4300 is ~10% quicker than the X2 3800+ but is priced about $50 more. To me, the X2 3800+ has more bang for buck, at stock speeds anyway.