New System for my nephew

[Samuknow]

My sis sent me some money to replace the system that was damaged in post that belongs to my nephew.

Not a huge budget but enough to build a nice system.

The question is for 650-700 would i be better off going C2D or AMD?

I can get a EVGA 680i board for about 95.00 and a 6550 for 175.00
or I can get a Asus nforce 560ultra for 100.00 and a 5600+ for 140.00

The AMD system is cheaper and will allow more to go to PSu or video but, will the performance be a big difference between them?

Is it worth the 30 bucks more to go Intel..?

[ccperf721p]

I faced the same decision when building my 15 year old nephew a rig. I ended up going AM2 4600+ and paired it up with an 8800GT. Doing most tasks that my nephew does I am never able to tell the difference between his 4600+ and my Q6600. Honestly the only differences I see between my AM2 and my Intel setups is folding and benchmarks. I don't run FRAPS or anything like that when I game so as long as it looks good and doesn't drop frames I'm pretty happy..

My recommendation, if he plays games is to choose the vid card and PSU first, then pick the rest of the parts..

[Samuknow]

I think I have a deal on a 8800GTS. Will the AMD bottleneck this?

And the 5600+ shoud do even better than the 4600 plus I will push the clock a little.

[ccperf721p]

It won't bottleneck it, my nephew plays at the same detail levels I do with the same games on a mildly oc'd 4600. A 5600+ will offload enough to an 8800GTS to keep it mighty happy. If I can barely tell the difference from my sig rig to a 939 X2 with a 7900GT without running benchmarks I think he will be OK with AM2.

Don't be too hard on AMD, Am2 is still a good unit with plenty of power.

[Samuknow]

Believe me, I am an AMD fan...I just worry about getting the best bang for the buck..

I don't think he knows anything about benchmarks. Does a C2D really blow the doors off like everyone says?

[ccperf721p]

I run some automotive programs on AM2 setup at the shop, I have one for predicting how a given cylinder head design will work, It takes roughly 12 minutes on a 2.5Ghz AM2, 8 mintues on a 3.2Ghz Q6600, if all things were equal I would estimate the performance at a 10% increase in a real world app using only the CPU.. (Single threaded app BTW.)

[Samuknow]

But you are also talking about 150.00 difference in price.

[Samuknow]

I think AMD it is. The C2Ds are all good and stuff....just not sure I am ready to build a computer from the dark side yet...

[ccperf721p]

Most of the younger people I build for are into games, torrents, and social networking. Outside of that they may use MS Office for school. Am2 does those things just as well as any C2D..

[Pitch]

The Core 2's really come into their own when it comes to Video and Audio conversion.

[Samuknow]

I think I just scored an EVGA 680i NF68-A1 and a E6400 Core2Duo for 300 shipped.

this and a 8800GTS for 180...This should be a nasty machine...

[ccperf721p]

Did you end up with the C2D stuff or go another route? I've been so busy lately I haven't been able to post. (That and the 13 year old engine in my Mom's race car let go while I was running it Saturday so I have been trying to get something togtether for her to run it in two weeks.)

[Samuknow]

I ended up with the stuff in my last post. Should be quite a nasty rig. I think I spent too much though...Oh well.

[ccperf721p]

My sister gave me $400 to build my nephew a box, I spent 350 on the Vid card and PSU alone so I had to come out of pocket for quite a bit.

I always go over budget when it comes to my nephews.

[dsio]

Originally Posted by ccperf721p

Did you end up with the C2D stuff or go another route? I've been so busy lately I haven't been able to post. (That and the 13 year old engine in my Mom's race car let go while I was running it Saturday so I have been trying to get something togtether for her to run it in two weeks.)

Your mother has a race car?

[ccperf721p]

Originally Posted by dsio

Your mother has a race car?

She has a 79 chevy malibu. I'll throw a pic up in a little while. My father and I figured if we wanted to spend countless hours in the garage working on our toys we would be ahead of the game if we built her one too.

[cloasters]

Originally Posted by ccperf721p

She has a 79 chevy malibu. I'll throw a pic up in a little while. My father and I figured if we wanted to spend countless hours in the garage working on our toys we would be ahead of the game if we built her one too.

Tres cool, not every mom can casually drop "my race car" into the conversation!

[dsio]

Originally Posted by ccperf721p

She has a 79 chevy malibu. I'll throw a pic up in a little while. My father and I figured if we wanted to spend countless hours in the garage working on our toys we would be ahead of the game if we built her one too.

What's its carbon footprint like?

[ccperf721p]

Originally Posted by dsio

What's its carbon footprint like?

Not quite where I would like it to be. For the HP it makes I would like to see another 10% reduction in fuel consumption, but the engine was built around a set of heads I did awhile back. Now technology has advanced and my porting skills have advanced.

I rationalize by looking at the kilowatt hours while folding. Pretty sure my computers will leave a bigger print.

[Daniel ~]

"I don't know anyone who can get through the day without at lest one good rationlization."

(Forget where I got it...":O}