Need some help choosing the right setup - Intel vs AMD

[1Xtra]

The Intel build:

Gigabyte ga-ep45-ud3p/ASUS p5q pro
e5200 (upgrade to q6600/q9550 later)
Gainward 4870 1024MB Golden Sample PCIe (upgrade to CF avalible later)
2 x 2gb Corsair XMS2 PC2-8500 CL5
Arctic cooling fusion 550R PSU
----------------------------
= 476?

The AMD build:

ASUS M4N72-E
AMD Phenom II X3 720 BE
Palit GTX 260 896MB Sonic 216SP (ugrade to SLI avalible later)
2 x 2gb Corsair XMS2 PC2-8500 CL5
Arctic cooling fusion 550R PSU
----------------------------
= 476?

Both are at exactly the same price point, thou i am leaning more toward the AMD build, since i get more to start with.

The PC s main usage:
design and photo manipulation(AI,PS,Acrobat,Cdr,Picasa..),
office use(word,excel,file & web browsers..),
gaming (1600x1200 for now, up to 1920x1200, since im going for 24" sooner or later)
multimedia playback

Most probably ill be buying from Germany since i can get the best prices there while they still ship in Slovenia, if theres any better suggestion..

I am no fanboi whatsoever - im looking for the best performance/? ratio.

Probably im going to use old 160gb SATA disk 7200rpm / 8mb or 16mb(not sure which is it) and thermaltake xaser 2 or 3(neither here), optical/floppy unit.

I plan on OCing the system in both cases.

Thanks

 

[Lunyone]

Not sure which OS that your going to use, but if your going for more than 4gb's, I'd consider a 64 bit OS (Vista Home Premium 64bit??). The Intel build can be a bit cheaper:
1) if you go with DDR2 800mHz RAM, you wouldn't really need to go any faster (even if you do some good OC'ing). I'd recommend getting CAS4 stuff (4-4-4-12 speeds) if you decide to go with the 800mHz RAM sticks. Also strive to get sticks that run at stocks voltages (1.8v), so if you decide to OC later, you'll have a better chance of gettting better OC's. The other benefit of having stock voltage RAM sticks, is that they will run cooler and not consume as much power.
2) I'd consider not to X-fire/SLI your GPU's, because by the time you want to do it, there'll be a single GPU solution that will beat your 4870's/260 gtx's butt!! Plus the power requirements on the PSU goes up quite a bit too.

AMD build looks pretty good, but like I stated before, I'd reconsider going X-fire/SLI and just get the best single GPU solution available. If you decide to upgrade the GPU later, just get the best single GPU solution available at that time. More than likely you won't need to upgrade your PSU either, thus saving you more $ over time.

Generally AMD builds will be a bit cheaper or will allow you to upgrade one or more parts over a similar performance Intel build. Hopefully I have helped you with some information that will help you decide which way works best for you.

 

[RebateMonger]

To me, the real choice is between chipsets and not between CPUs. Well, Intel HAS had the CPU lead for a while, but AMD certainly makes some interesting processors.

The "problem" (in my opinion) is the chipset. Over the years I'm had (and read o)f too many glitches with non-Intel chipsets. NVidia is certainly doing better than previous chipset makers, but there ARE glitches with NVidia chipsets that'd be a non-issue with Intel chipsets. Life, to me, is too short to be scratching my head over the little glitches that are far less frequent with Intel chipsets. Yeah, I like to support "the little guy" when I can, but lately I confine that to voting for Pat Paulsen for President at election time.

 

[1Xtra]

Thank you for the replies.


I did 2 more intel P45 builds:

ASUS P5Q Pro (15? cheaper than ud3p)
Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 So775 BOX 2x 2.53GHz (42? more than e5200)
Palit GTX 260 896MB Sonic 216SP (30? less than gainward 4870 1gb golden sample)
2 x 2gb Kingston HyperX PC2-6400U CL4-4-4-12 (5? cheaper than corsairs 1066 cl5)
Arctic cooling fusion 550R PSU
-----------------------------
= 476?


ASUS P5Q SE/R (30? cheaper than p5q pro)
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 (42? more than e7200)
Palit GTX 260 896MB Sonic 216SP (30? less than gainward 4870 1gb golden sample)
2 x 2gb Kingston HyperX PC2-6400U CL4-4-4-12 (5? cheaper than corsairs 1066 cl5)
Arctic cooling fusion 550R PSU
-----------------------------
= 489?

In any of this cases, i don't have the SLI option, on the pro there s an open CF slot, but i don't know if its worth sticking a card in there later for physx. The p5q s only 10? less, and the cooling looks much more decent on pro, so i rother take the latter.
The HD4870 is more expensive and as much as i know if ill OC the GTX it should be better anyways.

Btw any thoughts on AMDs chipsets? If i choose not to have the SLI option, i could take AMD chipset too.. (Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4 790X AM3 DDR2 is 3? more than ASUS M4N72-E so it fits into the budget too..)

 

[DaveSimmons]

I have Gigabyte's P43 chipset motherboard and it's been 100% stable since last June. What you lose with it instead of the Asus are firewire, RAID, and (8x-8x) crossfire support.

If you get an E8400 or E8500 you don't need to mess with overclocking and probably won't ever need the quad core upgrade since you have 3 or 3.16 GHz dual cores.

 

[Lunyone]

Either of the Intel builds will work fine. I would personally go with the e5200 (higher multiplier) because it's cheaper and generally easier to OC. The e8400/e8500 option is a good one too, but you pay for the speed. On a budget the e5200 is quite nice. It should be easily OC'd to 2.8-3.4 gHz without too much work.
The AMD setup I'd consider, if you go that way, would be to get a 790gx chipset. It's generally cheaper than the 790x mobo's and still can OC well (for AMD CPU's). You can still use your 260 gtx GPU in the mobo, but you won't be able to SLI them, which I've already commented about. If you want to SLI/X-fire, than getting the AMD 790gx chipset would limit you to AMD GPU's, so I don't know if that is any issue or not for you. I'd personally get the 4870 1gb/260 gtx 216 core (for higher resolutions) and use it until your not happy with the performance. Than upgrade to the latest single GPU on the market (whether it's nVidia or AMD).

 

[oynaz]

@ 1Xtra:

Where are you buying from? I am considering ordering from Germany as well.

 

[1Xtra]

So, after a lot of headbanging and a bit of investigation, i think i ve got it.

Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P
Intel e5200 Box
Palit GTX 260 896MB Sonic 216SP
2 x 2gb Corsair XMS2 PC2-8500 CL5
Arctic cooling fusion 550R PSU
Xigmatek s1283
---------------------------------
= 482?

For now its going to be completed with old:
160Gb SATA 7200 rpm disk
optical and floppy unit
Thermaltake xaser

Settled on p45 chipset. I got flashbacks of nF4 chipset nightmares. I definantly want it to be solid. P5q pro s 15? cheaper, but atm i prefer Gigabyte, 2 friends are staisfied with p35 and x38 chipset gigabyte boards, it looks sexy, and thou that ud tech might not doo much performance wise it might make it last. I ve accepted the fact that most likely i wont do SLI/CF, thou the P is just 3? more then R, so ill go with it and leave the doors open if i decide on CF, or Phsyx actually finds way into more than 1 game worth playing. Since the GTX is 30? cheaper ill go with it and spend the money on the s1283, which should let me get something out of the e5200 if im not extremly unlucky. Btw i hope this board will last 2 years, so i took the 1066 RAMs. I don't know what i might stick in to it after a year, but i can still underclock it. I know i ll have to change the HD sooner or later, but for now its gonna have to cut it since im not going to buy crap as i allready have that. I ll wait it out and buy a small 150gb raptor or a 60gb vertex.

@oynaz : I'm buying it at hoh.de, i know that pixmania.com s good too. Btw if you r going to buy in germany you can use:

http://www.idealo.de/
http://www.gooster.de/
http://shopping.lycos.de/
http://www.pricerunner.de/
http://www.billiger.de/
http://shopping1.t-online.de/
http://preisvergleich.smartshopping.de/

or other pricematching sites, i bet there s more, but more or less the results start doubling.

 

[Lunyone]

Just wanted to let you know that most DDR2 1066mHz RAM is OC'd 800mHz RAM, so if the cost is worth the buy, I'd reconsider getting the 800mHz CAS4 stuff that runs at the stock 1.8v. Your probably never going to go over 450mHz on the FSB (900mHz for the DDR2), so consider that before you buy.

 

[1Xtra]

Its like this:

800 Kingston 4096MB KIT HyperX PC2-6400U CL4-4-4-12 - 2,0 V - 33,53 ? (2 x 2gb)
800 A-Data 4096MB Vitesta Extreme Edition Kit PC2-6400 CL4-4-4-12 - 1,9 - 2,1 V - 38,57 ? (1 stick)
1000 G.Skill 4096MB KIT PC2-8000 CL5-5-5-15 2,0 - 2,1 V (2x 2GB) - 34,37 ?
1066 Corsair XMS2 KIT 4096MB PC2-8500 CL5 - 2,1 V - 38,57 ?

Probably i wont get it from 800 to 1066 by takin the voltage up by 0,1?

 

[oynaz]

Thanks for the links, 1Xtra. I can save ~20% by ordering from Germany, it seems

 

[1Xtra]

Ordered and payed for as said above, thanks for help..

And now the waiting game..

@ oynaz: np, i'm glad it helps.

 

[1Xtra]

Thanks again, just to let you guys know, i bought:

Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P
Intel e5200 Box
Palit GTX 260 896MB Sonic 216SP
2 x 2gb Corsair XMS2 PC2-8500 CL5
Arctic cooling fusion 550R PSU
Xigmatek s1283

the old stuff completing the build:
Maxtor 160Gb SATA 7200 rpm disk
Fujitsu 100Gb SATA 5200 rpm disk (2.5)
optical unit
Thermaltake Xaser II

Its running Windows 7 for a few days now, atm CPU is OC at 3.66ghz (11x333) with max temp on load 60-65°C and idle around 35-40°C, which went thru around 15h of prime, it failed once on blend mode after a bit more than 8h, thou i think its becouse i set DDR voltage to 2.0. Also it happily runs into windows on 4Ghz(12x333) but it BSOD in prime after a min, thou the Vcore was only 1,325, so when ill fix my xigmatek, i think it might even run a stable 4 .. btw inside of the case looks rly sexy.. So all in all im very satisfied.

The only two issues (for now ) are:

Arctic fusion 550R has 2 seperate fan connectors which don't work, it only spins them on the startup and than they are dead, which makes two of my chassis fans chillin themselves rother than my PC. I hope i will find a solution.

Xigmatek cooler doesn't include a backplate, the pin mounting system is to say the least crap, the cooler does stand on, but just. So i'm buying a thermalright 775 bolt thru kit(i cant get a xigmatek kit anywhere here). Im amazed that i read a few reviews and nobody found this as an issue (it isn't even mentioned at frostytech, which i see as trustworthy), and they all recommend it as a great performer not a silent htpc fan that should be standing upwards in laying case. Anyways it is doing the job for now, thou i'm sure that it will work better when it will sit tightly with a backplate, and more important it will stand upright and won't bend the mobo anymore.
Btw with it comes a silicon compound which i bet isn't worth having on a cooler like this. I put in AS ceramique for now. But when i ll get the backplate ill probably get AS 5 or some other top grade paste, since it should fill in the channels, i think it will do a better job than ceramique.

my 5c, i hope it helps anyone..