P4 dual core or A64 AM2?

[c0caine]

Im building a computer for a friend and I have about 350-400 to spend on just the tower. It needs to include everything. The computer will not be used for games just yet.(gfx will be updated later). Which would be better an AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 2.2GHz or a Intel Pentium 4 805 Dual Core "LGA775 Smithfield" 2.66GHz (533FSB) and which boards would best suit these cpus? This computer will not be overclocked so a top end motherboard will not be required.

I am currently using an opty 146 and i have never owned a p4 so i dont really know what these are like. I am thinking that the p4 will be better as its dual core?

 

[bbreezeuk]

AMD

 

[Murzo]

I would go with AMD, as for motherboards either an MSI or ASUS board. I would say DFI but they are a bit pricey and also he will not be overclocking.

 

[c0caine]

is there any boards that i could use for an AM2 chip that have onboard graphics?? or would i be better with a cheap gfx card that could be upgraded later?

 

[GhostRider]

is there any boards that i could use for an AM2 chip that have onboard graphics?? or would i be better with a cheap gfx card that could be upgraded later?

Asus M2NPV-VM Micro ATX (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-144-AS)
M2NPV-VM provides rich multimedia features for entertainment and advanced specifications for performance. Its unprecedented integrated video quality, Dual VGA out(DVI-D & RGB), HD audio, HDTV out interface(with TV out module) and 1394a support. The NVIDIA® GeForce™ 6150 GPU Northbridge supports Microsoft® DirectX 9.0 Shader Model 3.0, dual VGA out ( DVI-D and RGB), NVIDIA® PureVideo Technology with unprecedented integrated video quality, TV-out, and PCI Express interface. The NVIDIA® nForce™ 430 MCP Southbridge delivers NVIDIA® Gigabit LAN, and NVIDIA® MediaShield storage management technology allowing easy RAID configuration (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1, RAID 5 and JBOD) for Serial ATA 3Gb/s. The motherboard features the NVIDIA GeForce 6150 chipset that supports superior HDTV-out functionality with a higher resolution to1080i and 720p formats, which are clearer than traditional formats allow. ASUS M2NPV-VM motherboard bundles a HDTV-out module that helps you enjoy the high-quality scaling and filtering technology.

- AMD Live!™ Ready
- NVIDIAR GeForce 6150 + nForce 430
- Dual-channel DDR2 800/667/533
- PCI Express architecture
- Integrated GeForce6 GPU
- Dual VGA Ouput: DVI-D & RGB
- HDTV out interface (HDTV/AV/S output module was bundled)
- 2 x 1394a Support


Full Specification

Price: £54.95 (£64.57 Including VAT at 17.5%)


I reackon your best off getting an onboard one. Was looking to do something similar for one of my friends

 

[c0caine]

thanks. I think thats what ill get. I should be able to spend a bit more on the cpu now as i wont have to buy a graphics card.

 

[uk_sam]

I'd go AMD particularly because the Pentium D805 is quite slow if you're not overclocking. However since you're not playing games yet the 805 shouldn't be that bad but the AMD chip would be better if you plan to turn it into a gaming rig in the future.