Best processor for pc gaming?

[beau850]

Heres the 411: I am looking to build a new computer and have had many different opinions thrown my way about which processor is best for games. Statistics and most people say AMD Athlon 64 is the way to go but others say Intel P4 is better. Now i dont know what to think. I had my mind set on a AMD Athlon 64 4000+ but then a technician told me to get and Intel P4 3.4Ghz as Amd may have better specs onscreen but when it comes down to biting the bullet, they fall behind the Intel P4. Links, suggestions, personal experiences would be great to help me with my problem. ty in advance.

Beau :dD

[ExecutoR]

ohhhhhhh one of the greatest debates in the world of computing... i will say defineately have to say the AMD64 over the pentium... i am not the biggest wizz when it comes to hardware (i'm a software man) but i know enough to know that my P42.8ghz gets booted by my 3200+AMD64... so yeh...

but if you wanna ask some serious techies... go here...

http://forum.pcvsconsole.com/

ask these guys, they seem to know what they are talking about and will let you know with alot of technical jargon if you want lol...

[linton]

You've listed the main PC use as gaming, and so my answer is definitely the 64bit AMD's.
Developers are beginning to program for the 64 bit processor a lot more and expect this to play a large part in framerate and quality levels (of course video cards play a large part in this too, go a 7800 :D).

If your main use was multimedia and multitasking however, the newer series 6 P4 cpu's with the 2mb cache is the way to go, with better stability, much faster processing and abilty to run and switch between a larger amount of programs.

[michaelhaynes11]

ohhhhhhh one of the greatest debates in the world of computing... i will say defineately have to say the AMD64 over the pentium... i am not the biggest wizz when it comes to hardware (i'm a software man) but i know enough to know that my P42.8ghz gets booted by my 3200+AMD64... so yeh...

but if you wanna ask some serious techies... go here...

http://forum.pcvsconsole.com/

ask these guys, they seem to know what they are talking about and will let you know with alot of technical jargon if you want lol...

Comparing a p4 2.8 and a amd 3200+ is not a fair comparison. The reason why amd dont do the clock speed in the name is becasue a 2800+ is comparable to a p4 2.8. My p4 2.8 smashes my amd 2200+ but that as you can see is not a fair comparison.

[ExecutoR]

i gave that comparison because he was asking a P3.4 vs AMD4000, and i was giving an example of mine... another thing you could say about my post as well is that it is COMPLETELY unfair comparing a 64bit processor versus the petium one...

[linton]

another thing you could say about my post as well is that it is COMPLETELY unfair comparing a 64bit processor versus the petium one...

I know you've said it toungue-in-cheek, but that's the whole reason that the AMD has it over pentium, it went for 64bit core, where-as all that intel have been able to do with their Pentium chip without redisgning it from ground up is double the cache from 1mb to 2mb in an attempt to stay competitive.

Bring on the 64bit programmed games already. :D

[ExecutoR]

I know you've said it toungue-in-cheek, but that's the whole reason that the AMD has it over pentium, it went for 64bit core, where-as all that intel have been able to do with their Pentium chip without redisgning it from ground up is double the cache from 1mb to 2mb in an attempt to stay competitive.

Bring on the 64bit programmed games already. :D
yeh lol... i have a 64MB processor of which i cannot really see the full advantages of it... i have considered downloading (it is free) the 64MB Version of WindowsXP but there isn't enough software supporting it sompletely yet.

[beau850]

thanks guys you have helped me a lot. Now ive just got to decide whether i should sacrifice gaming quality for increased multimedia and multi-tasking power or just go all out gaming, by the way is the AMD's multitasking and multimedia really that bad, i mean would an AMD get me by on the basics? Can you list roughly what im sacrificing in multimedia +multi-tasking if i go with AMD, and what im sacrificing with gaming quality if i go with intel. just a rough answer will do, u can be explicit though if you need to. thanks again.

beau

[linton]

The multitasking/multimedia etc arn't too bad at all on the AMD64's in my opinion, but from what I've read (never owned a P4, just seen them running etc.) the P4's larger cache just seems to handle it a bit better.
I'd go ahead and buy the AMD, it'll get you through ;) :)

[beau850]

thanks mate your a real champion, all of u!