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Intel of AMD dual core?

Associate
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Hi all,
I've been out of the loop for awhile so I'm not too up to spec on the latest cpu's. I'm looking to upgrade my HTPC to a dual core, right now I'm running a AMD Clawhammer but I'm not sure which dual core chip would be best suit performance wise in vista.

I was looking at:

Intel Core 2 Duo E2160 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.80GHz (800FSB) - Retail - £58.74
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ 2.20GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail - £51.69
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4600+ 2.40GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail - £64.61

I'll be watching a lot of HD content too, the board ill be using will be a mATX.

An comments on the differences between the three chips would be great, I'm not overall bothered about overclocking the chip but will if i can get a better performance out of it.

Many thanks
Poggy
 
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The Core2Duos give great bang for buck after overclocking. AM2's give very similar performance out of the box as the Intel's do out of the box when you compare two with a similar price.

Intel have some price cuts on the 22nd Jule IIRC which will make them even better value for money than they already are.
 
Soldato
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Melbourne did a test with an E2160 and at the same clocks it kept up very well with his E6600 (both tested at 3.015Ghz I believe)

The E21*0's clock very well too so are worth it over the AMD counter parts once you enter the realm of the overclocker ;)
 
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OP
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Great thanks everyone for the replys. I think I'll sit back and wait for the price cuts and take it from there.

I'm used to AMD but I might go down the Intel road for a change.

Cheers
Poggy
 
Soldato
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ots3go said:
And we've all seen what an immense difference that makes. :rolleyes:
:rolleyes:

About an extra 4 to 7 FPS in some games

Gaming_03.png


Gaming_04.png


Gaming_02.png
 
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Soldato
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Last edited:
Soldato
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ots3go said:
Am I missing something or are you comparing them at different frequencies? Not just by the cache?

Also see http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17751381
The E4300 & E2160 both run at 1.80ghz at stock..the cache is the only difference between them....

And in them tests it showing between 4fps to 7fps extra just by having 2mb of cache VS 1mb of cache

X3
E2160 1280x1024 = 52.1fps / 1600x1200 = 55.4fps
E4300 1280x1024 = 58.4fps / 1600x1200 = 60.0fps

Quake4
E2160 1280x1024 = 116.5fps / 1600x1200 = 130.5fps
E4300 1280x1024 = 121.4fps / 1600x1200 = 137.0fps

FarCry
E2160 1280x1024 = 88.1fps / 1600x1200 = 88.7fps
E4300 1280x1024 = 92.0fps / 1600x1200 = 92.6fps
 
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chaparral said:
The E4300 & E2160 both run at 1.80ghz at stock..the cache is the only difference between them....

And in them tests it showing between 4fps to 7fps extra just by having 2mb of cache VS 1mb of cache

X3
E2160 1280x1024 = 52.1fps / 1600x1200 = 55.4fps
E4300 1280x1024 = 58.4fps / 1600x1200 = 60.0fps

Quake4
E2160 1280x1024 = 116.5fps / 1600x1200 = 130.5fps
E4300 1280x1024 = 121.4fps / 1600x1200 = 137.0fps

FarCry
E2160 1280x1024 = 88.1fps / 1600x1200 = 88.7fps
E4300 1280x1024 = 92.0fps / 1600x1200 = 92.6fps

Myself said:
And we've all seen what an immense difference that makes. :rolleyes:
 
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HEADRAT said:
These are supposed to be very good

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-125-AB&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=326

GFX on board with HDMI and accelerated HD playback so you won't need an uber CPU.

Very tempted to buy one of these pup's myself, I'd love to build one with a SSD!

I presume the is only going to be using as a HCPC so it will probably suck for gaming ;)

HEADRAT

My original HTPC build was built with gaming in mind but I never bothered as much as I thought I would have, so this time round I'm cutting that part out, so it's just for TV etc.
 
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chaparral said:
I guess your one of them guys that expects an extra 50% increase in FPS by going to the next CPU up.... :p

Damn right, admittedly I did once jump from a winny to a sandy.

Anyway, apologies for the not so on topic-ness.


Duke said:
Someone posted another thread having got it to 3GHz+ on stock cooler :)

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17754599

Was also running my E2140 on the stock cooler at just over 3ghz, it does get quite toasty though.
 
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