I am a real idiot when it comes to AMD v Intel and nVidia v ATI.
In the end, I just get both.
Right now, I am torn betwee what PC I want to use as the Living room PC.
Currently using a Sabretooth 990FXR2.0 & AMD 8350 with 4x4GB GSKILL
Wanting to use the Saphire Black Mobo with the 6 Core I7 980 purely cos I got 24GB in it.
Plus, the AMD will allow me to use the 2 nVidia cards and the Intel can only do Crossfire. ( Currently the Intel is sat doing nothing and there is 2xGTX470 cards on the shelf, while the AMD is using the 2xATI )
Which one is better? I dont really know ?
Im in a similar state with my Meda Centre PC.
I knocked up a simple Intel and then decided to try out one of the new AMD CPUs and so went AMD, but then wanted a bigger case so I got a Zalman Media Cenyter case, but this could take full size boards and so I am using my Hexcore 3.2 AMD in there right now but then now that I can, I now also want to use my Flaming Blade Mobo and I7 again...Just because!
Again, I am an idiot.
The end of teh day mate, DONT spend any more when the upgrades that you buy, will only be a little bit better than what you already have!
You have to ask yourself, will the Games play a little bit better, or will it make the games play a whole load better?
More importantly,m will the ga,es you play, play over £600 worth better?
The AMD CPU is more tyhjan capable of playing anything you need it to.
Hell, my slowest Gaming PC on my Network is a 2.8 Ghz HexCore AMD with only 8GB and it plays games EXACTLY the same as my best PCs do.
I think perhaps Splinter Cell Blacklist, BattleField 4 and the COD series are maybe the most power hungry and they play absolutely the same.
Sure, if I benches them, you will see they dont, but as far as the actual game play... I have never seem bottlenecking of any kind, in fact come to think of it, the one and only time I ever saw any kind of BottleNecking was when I first bought UnReal Tournament 2004 and I had a glitch or two in the Junkyard level. I hada 9500 Radeon and it was a model that could softmod to 9700 and so I did it, it benched better but the game did not play any better... It only played better when I upped the RAM from 512MB to 1GB
Since that day, I have NEVER seen ANY form of bottlenecking at all on ANY of my PCs and I currently own 12 PCs and 7 Laptops.
Of course, I do see limits of the power of the machines, of course I do, but nothing that could be called bottlenecking based on the CPU as is often described here and in other forums... I often think that there is no such thing.
What I am tryign to say and failing cos Im waffling is stick to your AMD and dont fall for the thinking that the grass is greener because it sometimes simply is not... Its a placaebo and nothign more. Take it from me... I have 6 I7 PCs that are sat in my attic doing nothing but collecting dust!
( Ah, another reason I wanted to swap them for these two here )
(hilarious really)