Well, I did it.

[Dolorous Dave]

So, a few weeks ago I ordered a new PC and figured, hey, I should go check out what all the tech guys on the Anandtech forums think of what I bought. I bet I got the best stuff EVER!

Wrong.

I bought an Athlon X2 4600+ instead of a Core 2 Duo, oops.

So, a few eBay auctions later and much explaining to my wife, I have officially unloaded the X2 and AM2 mobo and purchased my "real" new PC from Newegg, at a loss of only about $50 (Bought the X2 & mobo for about $300 total, sold for $250).

Here's the skinny (items marked with a star I kept from the AMD build):

Intel Core 2 Duo E6400
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 mobo
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro w/ a tube of Arctic Silver 5
2GB GSkill DDR2 800Mhz RAM*
250GB Western Digital SATA drive w/ 16MB cache*
Corsair HX520W Modular Power Supply
BFG GeForce 7950GT 512MB DDR3 PCI-e graphics card*
Soundblaster Audigy (the only holdover from my Athlon 3400+ build from a couple years ago)
Antec Sonata Case*
Dell 1905FP Monitor*

I really should have checked here in the first place but I think I'm on the right track now.

A really big thanks to the people who pointed me to the good deals and the appropriate threads in my research.

 

[stevemedes]

I like that configuration. Nice job!

 

[SuperNaruto]

well if this was 1 year ago, x2 was great.. at least you didn't lose much...

 

[Sarsoft]

You picked wisly. It will suite you nicly. The Corsair PSU will be more then enough for your sig and even OC preaty well.

 

[Conky]

Very nice system! :thumbsup: It's just like my rig except with a better videocard, better monitor, better power supply, better sound card, and twice as much RAM! :laugh:

Crank it up to 3.2GHz and enjoy! :beer:

 

[SparkyJJO]

I'm curious to see whether the difference between the 4600+ and that C2D are really gonna be all that noticeable except maybe in benchmarks and superpi

OK OK fanboy statement there but I am honestly curious, I've asked before, but haven't gotten a "yes in my everyday tasks and games there is a noticeable difference" or "well there isn't that big a difference as I thought there might be" or anything like that. Rather something along the lines of "Hey stupid AMD fanboy all the benchmarks say 20% better!" or "they say its better so it must be" or whatever. All I'm asking is for you to come back here afterwards and just say "yes it is a noticeable difference" or "no it isn't really noticeable."

 

[n7]

I highly doubt anyone would "feel a noticeable difference" in day to day tasks between an X2 4600+ vs. an E6600.

I know i didn't really between my Opty 165 & my E6400.

Then again, perception is a confusing thing.

Hence why benchmarks come in handy

 

[mcurphy]

Nice system! :thumbsup:

 

[Roguestar]

:thumbsup: You don't deal well with buyer's remorse then?

 

[HannibalX]

Well... not much I can say really. If thats what you wanted then ok, I think you wasted a bunch of time and money though. There is nothing wrong with the AMD system. I could see swaping parts if you were buying the SUPER HIGH END parts but you went from average AMD parts to average Intel parts.

 

[Aikouka]

I thought you were going to end up with two separate PCs from the title... I was going to say, "Jeez man... you upgrade more than even I do :Q" But I see that's not the case . Have fun with your new PC!

 

[Dolorous Dave]

Originally posted by: Pale Rider
Well... not much I can say really. If thats what you wanted then ok, I think you wasted a bunch of time and money though. There is nothing wrong with the AMD system. I could see swaping parts if you were buying the SUPER HIGH END parts but you went from average AMD parts to average Intel parts.

Most of the fun for me is building new PCs, so I haven't wasted any time. And what you're not getting is that average Intel parts smoke average AMD parts when overclocked. Hell, the e6400 smokes the high-end AMD parts when overclocked. So I'm not sure how I wasted a bunch of money. $50 loss is a couple of meals out.

Besides, I'm always excited to try out new hardware--I probably would have bought a C2D in the next 6 months anyway.

 

[Dolorous Dave]

Originally posted by: Roguestar
:thumbsup: You don't deal well with buyer's remorse then?

No, not at all.

 

[Rike]

You're real accomplishment is would be if, after all of this, your wife still believes you know what you're doing.

Nice job switching the parts out by the way. Not everyone can admit they made a mistake and have the will to fix it.

 

[Dolorous Dave]

She's seen me sitting on the floor surrounded by computer parts way too many times to think I know what I'm doing. = P

 

[Rike]

Sounds familiar.

 

[Roguestar]

Originally posted by: Dolorous Dave
$50 loss is a couple of meals out.

Maybe don't phrase it like that when explaining it to the wife .