What's the best bang-for-buck CPU right now?

[Ken90630]

Okay, I haven't really been living in a cave , but I've been recovering from a back injury and haven't been able to sit at a computer for months. I kinda feel like I went away on 'vacation' and the whole computer world changed on me.

Can any of you guys tell me what the hot ticket right now is in CPUs? A friend of mine (and fellow AT member) told me the Intel Core 2 Duos (is that the right name?) are beating AMD's best right now in terms of temperature, price & performance. I had an idea that might be the case, but I thought I'd get you guys' input as well. Would there be any reason at all to go AMD right now?

Reason I ask is that an acquaintance of mine wants me to build him a new computer. Since I have some down time (and 'cuz I need the money), I reluctantly agreed. Basically he just surfs the Web, does e-mail and a little WordPerfect, and stores pics from his digital camera. No gaming, no graphics stuff to speak of, no movies .... I know a Sempron or Celeron rig might suffice for his basic needs, but we don't wanna go there. He wants this new machine to be "snappy" & noticeably faster than his old P4 1.7 GHz rig, and also be "Vista ready," so I'm gonna try to build him a fairly fast machine without going overboard. (No o/c'ing, incidentally.) Any info you guys can pass along, particularly in terms of maybe an Asus mobo/RAM/Intel chip combo, would be much appreciated.

 

[Kromis]

Before anyone else says it...

E6300/E6400

 

[myocardia]

I wouldn't go with an E6300, since he's sure he won't be overclocking. The E6400 is noticeably faster, and is only $40 more.

edit: Either would be 5 times as fast as he needs, though, for what he's planning on doing with the computer. Of course, so would any A64, for that matter.

 

[Avalon]

If he's just browsing the net and using wordperfect, he really won't need more than a Sempron or Celeron. Give the system a fast hard drive and sufficient RAM, and it'll feel "snappy" to him. But if you're going to get a Sempron/Celeron, might as well spring for an Athon 64. You can get them for well under $100...it's practically Sempron/Celeron price range. I don't see a need for dual core here.

But yes, Core 2 Duo is generally the price/performance leader over AMD's X2 processors.

 

[dexvx]

Depends on your budget:

< $100: A64 3200
< $150: X2 3800
< $200: E6300
~ $300: E6600

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: dexvx
Depends on your budget:

< $100: A64 3800
~ $150: X2 3800
~ $220: E6400
~ $300: E6600

Corrected.

 

[harpoon84]

Originally posted by: dexvx
Depends on your budget:

< $100: A64 3200
< $150: X2 3800
< $200: E6300
~ $300: E6600

X2 3800+s are actually closer to $160 atm.

As such, it pales in comparison to an $183 E6300.

Of course, AM2 mobos are cheaper than C2D mobos, but C2D doesn't require DDR2-800 for good performance, unlike AM2.

 

[mikeford]

It sure is fun to spend other peoples money, but annoying when they don't obey.

I suppose a $59 Fry's combo and pocketing the rest wouldn't work out?

 

[Ken90630]

Originally posted by: mikeford
It sure is fun to spend other peoples money, but annoying when they don't obey.

I suppose a $59 Fry's combo and pocketing the rest wouldn't work out?

Heh heh -- no, my annoying code of ethics will prevent me from doing the "Fry's combo & pocketing the rest" thing. I know what you mean, though -- I see those ads for ECS mobo/chip combos all the time in the paper.

Thanks, guys, for bringing me up to speed and for the pricing info. I'm gonna be talking to my friend tomorrow, and I'll run his options by him & let him decide. Thanks to you all, I'll look like I know what I'm talking about.

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: Ken90630

Thanks, guys, for bringing me up to speed and for the pricing info. I'm gonna be talking to my friend tomorrow, and I'll run his options by him & let him decide. Thanks to you all, I'll look like I know what I'm talking about.

Just to give you an idea I got E6400 to replace my P4 2.6ghz with hyperthreading (2 threads) overclocked to 3.2ghz. Replaced 80gb 8mb cache Western digital drive with 320gb Seagate 7200.10.

Right now I am mostly concerned with general usage like extracting files, installing programs and loading things.

Winrar:

P4 3.2ghz = 420Kb/sec
E6400 = 985kb/sec (more than 2x faster)

Hard drive:

80gb 8mb = 38mb/sec
320gb 7200.10 = 64mb/sec (almost 70% faster)

that's not taking into account that it can be overclocked and generally dual core will be smoother.

 

[Captante]

I'd simplify the choice even more & say either go with a sub-$100 single core A64 or step up to the E6400 for dual core... nothing in between is really worth the money saved vs performance drop-off.