Intel or AMD for gaming? (budget £60)

which processor? Intel or AMD for gaming? (budget £60)

any suggestions & links please.

wesites that i have looked into:

www.ebuyer.co.uk &
www.lambda-tek.com

 

What about a motherboard? Is that included in the £60 price?

Also what other components are you using?

 

£60 isn't much, however...

INTEL (775) -- E2160 = dual cores @ 1.8Ghz are about £50, thats the only dual core you'll get for below £60

AMD (AM2) -- X2 4400+ = dual cores @ 2.3Ghz for £55

you should be able to get faster RAM with the Intel though, which I'd say is a bonus for gaming. you will need to factor in a mobo too (either socket 775 for Intel or socket AM2 for AMD

(prices from cclonline.com)

 

this is what i'm gettin from ebuyer:

Asus M2N-E SLI Nvidia nForce 500 SLI MCP Socket AM2 8channel audio ATX

Crucial 2GB kit (1GBx2) DDR2 PC2-5300 CL=5 UNBUFFERED NON-ECC DDR2-667 1.8V

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ (2.3 GHz) Socket AM2 Energy Efficient L2 1MB (2x512KB) Cache Retail Boxed Processor

total: £153.33 (free shipping)

graphics still undecided..

 

Yea stick with the AMD. In the lower end they seem a bit better, if your not overclocking.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/pentium-e2160_15.html#sect0

 

what is your budget?

Decent buy for £150 but if you had a bit more in the budget i would suggest the Intel route.

Don;t be fooled by 2.3ghz AMD versus 1.8ghz intel - the intel core2duo will wipe the floor with the AMD chip at stock speeds.

 

I agree with Booyaka
Buying AMD is a mistake, the Intel C2Ds are much better than the AMDs (and Intel P4)
IMHO 1.8GHz on an Intel e2160 would equate to 4.2GHz on an AMD

Also you can clock any of the C2D 1.8GHz processors to 2.4GHz on most mobos using the stock fan
so a 1.8GHz C2d will be as good as a 5.6GHz AMD

 

i got my quad core intel @ 4 x 2.4Ghz for £165 - not really a good deal at £150

 

He did get a mobo and ram for that too. Though like you I would spend the bit more

 

I linked to that artical that says the intel is the better option when overclocked but the AMD is better if not overclocking.

I personally would go intel and overclock the mofo.

 

even at standard speeds m8 the intel is far better than amd

 

Just going by what the artical says here.

""Of course, the performance level of Pentium E2160 and E2140 processors doesn’t look as mind-blowing as that of their Core 2 Duo counterparts. Their relatively low clock frequencies and L2 cache cut down to only 1MB do their “dirty deed”. However, in the majority of real applications these processors outperform all alternative solutions. Although I have to specify something here. When we speak of comparatively high performance of these new processors, it is important to keep in mind that they still lose to the youngest Athlon 64 X2 models in most games where the size of L2 cache memory matters a lot.""

 

pile of guff if you ask me!

cache really doesn't matter that much in gaming. i went from a X4400 clocked to 2.6ghz cpu to a E4300 @1.8ghz.

The difference was staggering. Even in just 3dmarks06 my score jumped 30% at stock levels (same gfx card)

Honestly the AMD route is dead for the time being until they release K10 cpu's (incidently look stunning performance!!!)

If you can afford to consider the following:

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/131100 (£70) gigabyte P35 motherboard
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/127248 (£55) Intel E2160
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-088-CR&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=144 (£67) - Ballistix PC5300 ram

Total of £192 - would be miles better than the AMD setup and only a little more than your budget.

 

Agreed. that article appears to differ to most I have read about the E2160, e.g. http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?id=2332&cid=2&pg=9


(SCAN)
Gigabyte GA P35-S3 ~ £64.55
or Asus P5K SE ~ £69.90
E2160 ~ £49.93
2GB Corsair TwinX PC2-6400 4-4-4-12 ~ £66.55

about £180 with faster RAM

Id recommend the 800Mhz RAM as if you want to overclock past 3Ghz you'll need it.
(e.g. 3100Mhz / multiplier of 9 *2 for DDR2 = 689Mhz which is out of spec for the 5300 RAM)
The E2180 has a 10* multiplier so would run fine at up to 3300 with the 667 RAM - it's £57

 

budget gaming upgrade final descision:

1 x Intel Pentium Dual Core E2180 2GHz Socket 775 800MHz FSB L2 1MB Cache Retail Box Processor 132064 £46.75 £46.75
2 x Crucial 1GB DDR2 667MHz/PC2-5300 Memory Unbuffered CL5 Non-ECC 1.8V 106114 £21.27 £42.54
1 x Xpertvision 8500GT Sonic edition 256MB 128bit DDR3 DVI TVO PCI-E 128084 £41.69 £41.69
1 x Asus P5ND2-SE Socket 775 NVNF570 onboard Audio FSB1066 ATX 123750 £40.44 £40.44

£201.44 (inc. vat free shipping)

any other suggestions for arround same price? (needs the 2 pata on mobo)

i will also consider o/c.. is it worthit or will its reduce cpu lifespan & do i req. another fan e.g zalman?

 

Is that a good motherboard for overclocking?

That would be my main concern.

 

i have no idea i'm not too bothered abt o/c i need the 2 PATA slots which most mobos don't have, as i have 3 PATA HDD's & 1 PATA DVD RW

 

you could get an ide to sata convertor thus making your choice of boards better

 

I got an e2160 last week in an ASRock mobo (2x IDE sockets + 2x SATA), it clocked straight up to 2.5GHz by setting the FSB to 275 (x9)
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3024
I also have an e4300 in an ASUS P5B clocked to 2.4GHz with stock fan by setting the FSB to 266 (x9)

The e4300 handles HD-DVD/Blu-Ray without hardware assistance better than the e2160, so the cache does make some difference.
But as you are getting a 8500 this shouldn't affect you.

 

meizumintyboi, where are you getting them from as they seem really cheap? care to post links
thanks

 

hi pjclark,

would that be the only difference between the e2160 and the e4300? if went for a hd2600xt videe card, would i then be better off with the e2160?

tnx

 

the 8500 gt is NOT a gaming card, a gaming card is the x1950 pro at 72 pounds a very good card much much better than the rubbish 8500 gt.

 

www.ebuyer.co.uk

 

this is what i've ordered:

£285 inc. shipping

MSI P6N SLI-F V2 NF650i SLi, S 775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 533/667/800 MHz, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX (apparently good at o/c, saves me having to buy pata to sata converter at has support for up to 4 ide drives, supports: quad core, SLi &8gb ddr2 for future upgrades)

intel dual core e2180 2ghz 1mb (2x512kb) L2 cache (cheap arse will get quad core when prices come down)

ocz 2gb ddr2 pc6400 800mhz non-eec unbuffered (pushed the budget off the cliff on this one, will buy another 2gb of these at a later date)

ati dabs value x1950 pro 512mb gddr3 pci-x dual dvi (amazing card needs 512mb for higher performance at high res)

just to let u know i am on xp pro sp2, only vista home premium on lappy

 

thought that's where they were from.

cheers

 

jason please thank me i'm still a thanks virgin lmao