Should I go Intel or AMD?

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Which is the best bargain per bang?

  • AMD

  • Intel

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watdahel

watdahel

Golden Member
Jun 22, 2001
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I'm planning on buying an Atom based computer or perhaps assemble a rig myself. It will be primarily for web surfing and photo editing. My budget is around $200 so I'm looking for the best parts I can get within the budget. My concern primarily is which processor to get, AMD or Intel? Who's winning the best-bang-for-the-buck war currently?
 
richierich1212

richierich1212

Platinum Member
Jul 5, 2002
2,741
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If your budget is around $200, does that mean the whole system itself? Or do you already have a case, power supply, optical drive, and memory?
 
taltamir

taltamir

Lifer
Mar 21, 2004
13,576
6
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you are not going to find a new (as in, non used) system for 200$... nor build one.
AMD has better bang per $ in the 100$ range. Intel has better high end performance... it also holds a solid spot at the "super cheap" arena with the atom (which has piss poor performance though).
Intel has AMD beat in performance per dollar.

which should you buy depends on your budget and needs... your budget is unrealistic... double that amount and get an AMD athlonII machine.

also there is no such thing as "bargain per bang"... there is "bang per buck" (performance per dollar), bang per watt (performance per watt), and bargain (a good deal all around).
 
mb103051

mb103051

Senior member
Oct 27, 2005
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Dude your 200 is unrealistic....go to newegg.com and look at case prices ,power supplies ,a dvd burner,video card etc. you will have an idea how much it will take..cheapest systems ive built latley have been amd and been in the ball park of 350 to put together a respectable system...a board with on board graphics like the 785 series would be fine for you...these systems are athlon 2 .....if your not in a hurry and watch combo deals and sales you might beat 350 a little bit but ill tell you one thing a rig for 350 are very quick for internet use and running programs...there quite impressive and ive been building computers since 1996...they still amaze me...you can build a very good quality system yourself much better than buying a dell or hp or something..plus youve put it together yourself and did all the quality things like running wires nicely and having a professional look to it...buy an inexpensive window case and you can enjoy your work and amaze your friends...you have a conversation piece in the room...
good luck and go to newegg ,mwave ,zipzoomfly ,directron ,superbiiz ,and look at prices for the components you need then you can get help on choosing a mobo ,cpu and ram...you can also price out intel stuff too but your gonna find either one you choose for the kind of use your talking about you will see no difference with either brand .....good hunting dude..........................
 
railven

railven

Diamond Member
Mar 25, 2010
6,604
561
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Sure you can build a PC for around $200, it won't be the fastest thing around but if you just want it for surfing the web and some mundane word processing, here you go:

Pentium Dual Core ~$67
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116076
Any micro ATX LGA 775 mobo should have good enough IGP ~$40:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...e=&srchInDesc=
RAM, one will be slow, two would be nice if board has dual channel small little boost ~$15-30:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...e=&srchInDesc=
Case, can find decent ones closer to $50, but that would be pushing your budget, so ~$25 [note: PSU included while 400w pretend it is a 250w haha]:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811164138
DVD+keyboard+Mouse+HDD: ~$70-80
Buy a cheap hard drive, even at 160GBs should come in under $40
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...e=&srchInDesc=
Buy a cheap Mouse+Keyboard combo for like $10:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16823157010
DVD writer/burner are now under $30, get a non burner $20 easy:

Mix and match, monitor will be another issue, but you can use your TV with the right IGP for that, especially if you have a new fangle HDTV. Also no operating system, that tends to be the biggest expense when building cheap.

I've built lots of cheap PCs for the sole purpose of surfing the net and word processing. Again, this won't be a very fast computer - but enough.

Sometimes at these prices, it just might be safer to go OEM since they include software bundles and sometimes a printer haha.
 
K

Ksyder

Golden Member
Feb 14, 2006
1,829
1
81
whatever you do ... don't go for the atom processor if you are going to do any real computing... you will be disappointed.

i'm looking to sell my acer aspire revo armed with a single core atom if you are interested... :)
 
konakona

konakona

Diamond Member
May 6, 2004
6,285
1
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It really depends if you have access to your local fry's MC's; you really need look at it on deal-by-deal basis - sometimes AMD looks better and vice versa at other times.

In general, I think if you can live with failed unlock, dual core Ph IIs offer best value. If you got an extra $100 or so I would go i5. Currently I have i7 860 and 965BE just because they were so cheap at my local fry's. 965BE was almost like a free upgrade after selling of 8gb ddr2 :)

oops, i thought you meant $200 for cpu/mobo alone..
 
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OILFIELDTRASH

OILFIELDTRASH

Lifer
May 13, 2009
12,333
612
126
I don't think anyone is reading the thread! OP wants to spend $200 total for a build. $200 including case, optical drive, ps, etc.. i7 or phenom II are out of the equation. He just needs to look on craigslist and pray he gets a computer that will boot for $200.
 
M

Martimus

Diamond Member
Apr 24, 2007
4,490
157
106
If you go down to 8 Mile, you could get some good bargain per bang, and on top of that you will likely get some free STDs to go with it.
 
ElFenix

ElFenix

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Mar 20, 2000
102,402
8,574
126
if you're near a fry's you can sometimes get a processor and board for under $50 AR.
2 GB ram ~50
antec basiq power supply $30
cheap hard drive $40
cheap dvd burner $15
cheap keyboard and mouse $15

that's your budget there. it doesn't get you a case. technically you don't really need one. you can short the power pins yourself with a screwdriver, or if you're lucky your motherboard with have a switch on it.

that also doesn't buy you windows or a monitor.


could buy this but it'll be slower than dirt.
 
B

BladeVenom

Lifer
Jun 2, 2005
13,365
16
0
I'd go with an AM3 motherboard so you can upgrade to a hex-core processor later.

And I think you are going to have to spend a bit more than $200.
 
Last edited:
mbevolution

mbevolution

Member
Jun 16, 2006
155
0
0
i suggest u wait until ur budget is at around $400-500 then u can at least get a semi-decent system.
 
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