ATHLON OR PENTIUM>>>

[Yellow]

I personally don't think you can say that "Intel is better than AMD" or vice-versa. There are so many CPUs available with a mamouth amount of chipsets and mobos to choose from, even the latest and greatest Intel CPU can be bettered by an AMD chip if it is implemented wrongly and of course the opposite is true too.

What is important, is to buy the fastest CPU/mobo/RAM combination that you can afford. Dual-Core is the way to go now, and even CM has shown over the last couple of issues that a dual-core PC with some fast RAM can obliterate any of the old-school single core chips, when it comes to using a sequencer and VSTi's.

I would be very happy to have either an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ or one of the Intel Pentium D CPU's in my PC. Use a well known mobo, and at least 1Gb (preferably 2Gb) of QUALITY, fast PC3200 or faster DDR2 RAM, and you'll have the making of a fine DAW.

Next think about a couple of silent SATA drives, all housed in a nice case with silent fans. (use a dual head graphics card with just a heat-sink. Top end graphics are for gamers, and are way over the top for a DAW) An nVidia FX5200 is plenty for ordinary use.

Good luck,

Neil.

[esa1234]

Yes, you can.

AMD processor architecture is VASTLY superior to Intel. There is a reason most after-market CPU coolers are designed first for Intel, and then re-designed for AMD. Intel's chips are less efficient in power usage, and logic functions. Therefore, they run MUCH more hot, thereby decreasing lifespan.

There's a reason that an AMD 2.0Ghz processor runs "faster" than an Intel 3.0Ghz processor.

A while ago I put together a few machines for one client. An AMD X2 4400, an Intel Pentium D 840, an AMD 64 3000, and an Intel P4 531. Benchmarking commenced, all systems used Asus boards and x16 video, identical RAM and hard disks. The results....

The X2 4400 benched almost 15% better than the Pentium D. The AMD64 scored nearly 20% better than the P4. The X2 ran about 10 degrees cooler than the Pentium D, and the AMD64 ran about 12 degrees cooler.

If Intel catches back up to AMD, maybe I'll buy one, for the first time.

[kamina]

I have an X2, and like it very much, but I am fully ready to give Intel credit where it's due.

The differance in performance depends fully on what application is being used. For example Cubase has traditionally performed pretty much as well with P4's or A64's. Dualcore processors will surely differ as Intel's current solution is just not very good. One reason has been the speed in which Steinberg implemented SSE2 and lately SSE3 support. A64's support SSE3 (new ones anyway), but it's not close to as beneficial as it is in P4's.

Intel has better motherboards. I don't think there is any question about it. Nforce4 motherboards are pretty much missing from the music scene, and there is a good reason for it. Nforce3 was better, as is Via's K8T800 Pro. The problem is, AMD does not have the resources to make chipsets for all platforms, hence they concentrate on the area where they need the credibility the most (servers). A majority of Amd systems are sold either as (cheap) home computers for the uneducated, or higher end gaming computers young people. This show's in the motherboards, as they are tweaked rather for maximum graphics performance rather then compatibility with everything. Exceptions exist, but it's stressing how much you have to study beforehand to be sure you will really get something that works well.

Intel will have some "cooler" processors coming out from the beginning of next year. While the differance won't be groundbreaking, there will still be a differance. I don't expect them to take over in performance (atleast till the end of the year), or catch amd in power consumption, but things will get better all the same. Towards the end of the year there will be a dualcore desktop processor based on the pentium -m which will kick ass (but what will Amd have out at that time...).

I also consider Intel's mobile solution to be better then Amd's. While not better in performance, the chipsets are superior, and manufacturers mainly build budget rigs out of A64's. (with Acers ferrari and some exotic unavailable notebooks being an exception).