AMD or Intel?

[prescott28]

My motherboard seems to have died but the CPU a Q6600 is presumably Ok but I was thinking of upgrading a but to a newer processor and DDR 3 memory. The Intel I5 seems to be the job for gaming but I was wondering about the AMD Phenom which seems to come as 4 or 6 core.

I will use the machine for some gaming, accounts and MS Office though the latter two don't really need to power. Which of the above processors would be the best choice for performance alone and, if the Intel wins, would I see much decline if I went with the AMD?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[prescott28]

I am thinking of moving on to a newer cpu though I know the possibilities of a new ,motherboard. A warranty is all very well but I don't want to be without the machine for long - I am using a daul core laptop at present with my sin hosting my data on a hard drive.

how about the over clocked bundles from OCUK - they look quite good value, especially the AMD ones?

 

[prescott28]

Thanks for the advice. The motherboard was bought with the other components in November 2007. Is the Motherboard still in warranty?

 

[prescott28]

Gigabyte sent me a sheet to identify the serial number and it looks as though I can get it sorted with them. I'll have to extract the board, though, as the sticky label is really hard to read where it is on the side of the floppy drive connector.

I'll see how things go with them.

 

[prescott28]

sadly this is not to be the case. The gigabyte warranty is 3 years from the date of manufacture and not from the date of purchase which in my case was 27th November 2007. They say I am 1 week over warranty so no repair / exchange.

I am getting an inexpensive micro ATX board for now to get the machine running again.

Thanks for all the help.

 

[prescott28]

True - it is mean. However we all need to watch the small print as I would have expected a warranty to start at purchase not a the manufacture time which could be a long time before that!

 

[prescott28]

Well, the board came from a retailer called OCUK and they only support for a month so I have had that. As I mentioned above, I have got a cheap G41 board fpr now and will probably update the whole system later - maybe after the new processor offereings come out next year.

 

[prescott28]

Sadly the rules are quite strict. The text I was sent says

3 year RMA policy:
Three free labour cost + free component replacement Warranty validation is from the
date of manufacture indicated by the serial number. It all depends on serial number not invoice date.

I don't think I can get around that. Anyway, I have a new board being delivered today but I would suggest people look long and hard at Gigabyte before purchase due to the odd warranty arrangements.

 

[prescott28]

Thanks for the replies! I have not got the machine going again - with the help of a P41 motherboard (and not Gigabyte either!). Sadly, the change of chip-set has resulted in a non-booting machine and necessitated a re-install of windows but that is not done so I ma back nearly where I started.

I'll wait and see what happens with new board and processors next year as, currently, I am hoping to upgrade the graphics card and am hoping the new AMD Radeon cards are out soon so I can choose a new card (that might be an NVidia GTX 460 which I was going to chose before I knew the new AMD cards were out.

 

[prescott28]

Well, I bought from OCUK and I notice that the site does not mention warranties for each product item so, for example, I checked Gigabyte motherboards and warranties are not listed. I suppose that being the case, one could only proceed with the matter by claiming it was not of merchantable quality but 3 years down the line this would probably cost more that it is worth.

My new board cost under £40, my machine is running fine and I can wait it out until the new round of kit comes out next year and maybe upgrade then.