Which one, AMD or Intel?

[[AR]^Bender^]

Hi All,

Right, here goes. i have been out of the race for some time now with regards to gaming/PC's. I used to be an AMD and ATi man myself years ago, but now in two minds on which one to go for.

I am looking at the following CPU's, Motherboards to go with with my BFG 8800GT 512MB and my 4GB Crucial Ballistix 1066Hz.

Should I either go for the;

AMD Phenom Quad Core 9850 2.50GHz Black Edition and the Asus M3N78-EMH HDMI nForce 8200 Micro-ATX (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard

or

Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 2.40GHz Guaranteed to run at 3.00GHZ (1333FSB) and the Asus P5K-VM Intel G33 Micro ATX (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard.

Am I still correct in thinking that AMD still have direct memory access, but Intel have the slight upper hand. I would like the Hybrid GFX that the 8200 comes with but unsure if it really is worth it? Just want something, small (mATX) and fast.

Cheers.

 

[[AR]^Bender^]

Well, many thanks for the advice. I have gone with the Intel Q6600 G0 and the Asus P5K-VM.

My system therefore stands at the following:

Antec Fusion HTPC Case, Asus P5K-VM (mATX), Intel Q6600 G0, 4GB Ballistix 8500, BFG 8800 GT 512MB, 600W PSU, WD Raptor 150GB, WD 750GB and a 22" LCD. OS is Vista Ultimate.

I'd say a nice little media setup there and enough power for the odd game now and then.

One last thing, I know these new/getting old 8800's are thirsty for power. Having the original PSU in the case the 430W. I found the GFX worked fine in windows, but as soon as gaming started, bang, either back to desktop, froze and even a few times, loaded, but god did it hurt my eyes. It was like looking at a TV not tuned in correctly.

So my question is how hungry are the Q6600 and is a 600W enough to run it along side the 8800 GT, clocked?

Cheers.

 

[[AR]^Bender^]

Well, tested and ran HF2 and TF2, getting 90-120fps, everything on full @ 1680x1050, all clocked nicely. Well, I can say, no issues yet and all running smooth.

CPU is topping 48'C, will see how it scores in 3dMark, and post results.