Stick or Twist?

[wiv1728]

Hi all,

The simple question is should I sell the 2nd hand Intel e6550 2.33Ghz (@2.8Ghz OC), ATI HD4850 et al. hardware for some shiny new AMD Athlon II X 2 2.8Ghz (with whatever OC I can get out of it) and a ATI HD 4770?

Here's a bit of background.

I had been meaning to construct a PC for a good while now. I will mainly use it to play films and music but will also play a fair few hours a week of the latest and greatest games. I had done my homework and decided that the aforementioned AMD cpu would be the basis of the build, with a mid-range ATI graphics thrown in for good measure. The total cost of this PC with case RAM, M/Board, DVD-RW, and Vista was to be £338.

I then came across this on ebay for £235:

* Abit IP35-E Motherboard (Supports both Intel Core 2 Duo & Intel Core 2 Quad
* Intel 2 Core Duo E6550 @ 2.33ghz
* 4 Gigs DDR2 (800mhz) RAM OCZ Reaper X (Motherboard holds up to 8 gigs worth)
* Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB (GDDR3)
* 320 GIG Western Digital Sata HDD
* 5.1 Onboard Sound
* CD+DVD RW Combo Drive
* Antec Super Mini Tower Case (KSK4480B)
* Windows Vista 32-bit Home Premium - Original Disk (Operating System)

It had everything that I wanted so I bought it. All the components are high quality and it runs everything I can throw at it. But...

I was really looking forward to getting the parts and creating the PC myself. It doesn't feel the same with a "professionally" build PC. From my research it seems that both the AMD and Intel builds would be similar speeds. Well, at stock at least. Is it worth going through all the hastle to sell the Intel stuff to end up with the new (and warranty backed) AMD stuff?

I thought I knew exactly what I wanted when it comes to PC's. I put a huge amount of time comparing benchmarks are reviews for this one, but this one has stumped me. In depth and exhaustive pro's and con's on this would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards

wiv1728

 

[Kenmitch]

I'd vote for swap out the CPU for something more overclockable

You get to play around with the system and depending on how important VT is to you maybe even get a faster CPU and a couple bucks in your pocket if you sell the e6550.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

You don't need to sell unless you want to build your own or you want to lower your energy consumption (Athlon 240 + 4770 will use less power than what you currently have). In some cases the HD4770 is faster than the HD4850, but in the more demanding scenarios the HD4850 is usually faster. At stock speeds the Athlon 240 is faster than the E6550. In general both systems will perform about the same.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: Kenmitch
I'd vote for swap out the CPU for something more overclockable

You get to play around with the system and depending on how important VT is to you maybe even get a faster CPU and a couple bucks in your pocket if you sell the e6550.

Seconded. Drop in an e5200, change the voltage to 1.4v, the FSB to 300, and sit back and enjoy.