...continued AMD vs Intel

Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 1:29 pm

OK, I'm narrowing my choices for the new computer and I have one more line of questions.

Which one is better and why? AMD Athlon Dual Core or Intel Pentium Dual Core?

When I bought my last computer, I was talked in to an AMD, having only Pentiums in the past. I thought I would give them a try, but as I stated in the other thread, after 4 years, my AMD is getting r e a l y r e a l l y s l o w ! ! !

So is there a real difference? their stated performance and specs seem identical so why choose one or the other?

Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 1:38 pm

Hands down AMD.

Check out this article CNET

Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 6:27 pm

tyedyeskyguy wrote:

after 4 years, my AMD is getting r e a l y r e a l l y s l o w ! ! !

The key there is the age. I don't think you will find many Intel users bragging about the speed of their comparable 4-year-old systems either. That is just how it works with PCs Smile

The last PC I built about 3 years ago was AMD, and I was quite happy with it. And up until recently I would have given you my confident opinion that you would get more bang for your buck out of AMD. But two years ago I tried a Mac, and have not bothered to look back. So, I am not up on the Intel V AMD debate anymore. However, friends in the know tell me that the most recent releases but Intel pretty much bury anything AMD will be capable of in the near future (this was about 2 or 3 months ago).

It sounds like you are putting a lot of thought into this purchase, so as a member of the Mac Cult, I should advise you to go to an Apple Store and at least look at the Macs, and maybe have a salesperson show you what they are like.

Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 8:25 pm

bandits wrote:

Hands down AMD.

Check out this article CNET

That article is from November 23, 2005, they are comparing a pentium D 820 and a athlon 64 X2 4200+..... both of which are not that great compared to newer chips. Also the new intel core2 duo E6420 or higher blow away all the current AMD chips.
I've been thinking about building a new PC to run windows Vista and have been researching all the new processors. The processors I am looking at now are the Intel Core 2 duo E6750 or E6850, they are very fast an not extremely expensive. I know Intel has a few more new chips coming(so does AMD) so I'll probably hold out until these come out.

Here is a more current comparison:
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/showdoc.aspx?i=3038

Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 9:11 pm

Thanks for the update, Hogrod!

I have heard that Apple is looking at throwing Intel chips in their new systems. Anyone have any updates or validity to this????

Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 9:26 pm

bandits wrote:

Thanks for the update, Hogrod!

I have heard that Apple is looking at throwing Intel chips in their new systems. Anyone have any updates or validity to this????

Apple is already using Intel chips

WGA Member Joined: 2006-12-23 Posts: 5951

tyedyeskyguy wrote:

but as I stated in the other thread, after 4 years, my AMD is getting r e a l y r e a l l y s l o w ! ! !

When i was field guy, we had a law firm we put on brand new p1's off of the 286's they had.. you'd think they just bought a new ferrari.

Not 3 months later they said the computers were slow. We benchmarked them and a reloaded one and proved absolutely no difference in speed. They had just gotten used to them.

Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 11:21 am

RSplash40 wrote:

tyedyeskyguy wrote:

but as I stated in the other thread, after 4 years, my AMD is getting r e a l y r e a l l y s l o w ! ! !

When i was field guy, we had a law firm we put on brand new p1's off of the 286's they had.. you'd think they just bought a new ferrari.

Not 3 months later they said the computers were slow. We benchmarked them and a reloaded one and proved absolutely no difference in speed. They had just gotten used to them.

I wish it were that simple. Sometimes it takes MS Word a good 20 seconds to open when it's the only thing running, but most of the time it takes 8-10 seconds. When I got this computer, it was almost instant. Windows media, takes a good 15 seconds to load, and Google earth, well that one takes forever. All used to open without hesitation.

When I open windows explorer. a little flashlight gif pops up now while it searches the drive. Sometimes takes as much as 25 seconds before anything appears.

I should probably add here that this all started happening at the same time, it didn't come on slow. It was like the flip of a switch. I've run Norton several times, also ran my spyware, and nothing has changed.

Here's another thing. A month ago whan I ran Norton, it would scan for about 25 minutes on a full scan, and say that it scanned maybe 120,000 files. Now, it takes about 5 hours and says it scanned nearly 300,000 files. I've looked through my C drive, and it's not any more full that it used to be. Any ideas there???

Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 1:24 pm

Have you defragmented your hard drive? The drive gets fragmented easily and that will always cause application and files to open slowly. The system has to go out and find all the pieces of the application before it opens. Start with a system defrag and see if the response time increases. I also back up my data, format the drive and reload my system about every two years just to clean up all the applications that I have tried and removed. They always leave entries in the system registry. You can also run msconfig from the run line and edit the start-up programs to keep any unwanted applications from executing at start-up and running in the back ground. I agree 4 years is about the life of a PC, but the life can be extended with a little maintenance. If you are not sure how to defrag you system or edit the start-up menu, let me know.

Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 5:46 pm

Mofongo wrote:

Have you defragmented your hard drive? The drive gets fragmented easily and that will always cause application and files to open slowly. The system has to go out and find all the pieces of the application before it opens. Start with a system defrag and see if the response time increases. I also back up my data, format the drive and reload my system about every two years just to clean up all the applications that I have tried and removed. They always leave entries in the system registry. You can also run msconfig from the run line and edit the start-up programs to keep any unwanted applications from executing at start-up and running in the back ground. I agree 4 years is about the life of a PC, but the life can be extended with a little maintenance. If you are not sure how to defrag you system or edit the start-up menu, let me know.

Yup, tried that too. I believe I have the problem solved, though the damage may be done.

I got a laptop a few months back, and I only got it for back-up storage, so it dosen't get used much. I placed my laptop on the side of my computer tower, so it was lclose-by whenever I would need it. Turns out, the laptop has been covering the intake for the towers fan. Wonder how hot the processors been getting?