Have I made a mistake in choosing AMD over Intel

[Walter Sobchak]

Upgraded my old Athlon 3000+ system to

Athlon X2 4600+
Asus M2N Sli Deluxe
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C5 800MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit
Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK)
mine cooler


System is used mainly for Windows aps and as a HTPC. After reading about how easily overclockable the new Intel chips are, I think I have made a big mistake. Am now thinking of selling my Athlon and Mboard on eBay and starting again.

 

[Walter Sobchak]

If that is a new AM2 system, then yes.

But as your using it a HTPC system then it's not so bad, were you on a limited budget at all?

I upgraded because my old system was struggling with HD playback. Yes I didn't really want to spend that much. I was happy to pay around £200ish for CPU and MB.

 

[Walter Sobchak]

Does it do what you want it to do? If so then stick with it. Dont chase a dragon

Yeh, I know what you mean, but I wouldn't mind say taking a 20% hit on what I have spent already to swap to Intel. Should have done more research before jumping in.

 

[Walter Sobchak]

how does your new system cope with hd material?

Runs 720p like a dream, but I have a 1080p .ts file that struggles like a bitch, plays 1080p wmv files no problem though. Need to look into that more, maybe its my x800 gc???

 

[Walter Sobchak]

£115 6300
£75 DS3

190 all in


destroys your rig by a huge ammount


should have gone C2D simple.

the fastest PC for our money thats the what we want and C2D gives it currently.

No one can argue this fact

How easy are they to overclock?

 

[Walter Sobchak]

Cheers, would it really hammer mine by such a huge amount?

How noisy are the stock fans?

 

[Walter Sobchak]

Well Ive reordered and have just had a ds3 and 6400 delivered, gonna run 3dmark06 now then rebuilt later today or tomorrow.

Will let you know how I get on.

 

[Walter Sobchak]

Well Ive put it all together and overclocked to 3.2 using 400*8 monstermunchs info temps are 28 idle 57 max load. Wonder what to try next?


The 16 gig .ts 1080p clip now plays smoothly, not sure why though, because when playing on my Athlon rig CPU usage was only at about 50%. It wasnt a codec issue, as they were both fresh installs using vlcplayer.