The Mother Board

[Nico]

Hey everyone!

I posted awhile ago about building a new system, due to some problems i was unable to get any parts. however im now stuck with a problem. with the new i7's and i5's that have been released and the new piledrivers down the line, should i go intel or AMD?

Im wanting to build a computer that will still be not half bad in 4-5 years time without breaking the bank.

my budget is around £100-£200 for a CPU alone, ($150 - $300).

I could go for a cheap yet underpowered Bulldozer fx-8150, i could wait for piledriver, or i could go for a last generation i5 or i7.

i just dont know what to go for,
any help would SERIOUSLY help!
-Nico

[bdub]

amd offers more value on the low end... you can get boards cheaper. still not exactly sure how the piledriver is gonna fit into the scheme of things though, as they might only be socket fm, and therefore if you get a current am3+ mobo, it may be at the end of its line. usually amd provides a backward and foward compatibility in terms of platform, but the book is still being written on piledriver.
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=695333
the chart in this link i think is pointing to piledriver chips being on the fmx platform. but there is still some waffling on the final thoughts.
_________________
my main rig...
asrock 970 extreme3
AMD athlonII X3 440
zalman cpns5x performa hs/fan
crucial ballistix 2x4gb sport ddr3-1333
powercolor 3850 256bit/512meg vga
antec neo he 650r
kingston hyperx 3k ssd 120GB
seagate 500GB HDD 32M cache
seagate 750GB HDD 32M cache
hitachi 1TB HDD 32M cache
lg wh14ns40 bd burner
optiarc ad-7240s sata dvdrw (nec chipset)

[Mr T]

If you have that budget for CPU alone, think AMD - you will get more bang for buck on that, than on Intel... AMDs FM series are still taking off and will probably become the main platform, it is just a matter of seeing when they end the AM3+ socket... Intel where in the same flux with their sockets too, but at the moment have stabilised.. My Q6600 setup with 4Gbs of DDR2 is still a very viable setup, just need to stick in a card for SATA 6Gbs (only had 4 SATA ports) and a USB3.0 card... It is over 5 years old....
_________________
I have been programming on computers since the ZX81.
I am an apprentice trained Electronics Engineer with qualifications to back it up.
I have been repairing computers since 1996.
Yet to some people I still know nothing...

[Nico]

While i will agree with that for the AMD being high value, realisticly is there very little difference between the amd and the i5,i7's bar a small perfomance drop? would i even notice if i was on a higher-end CPU?

[bdub]

kind of depends on what you do. most people, even gamers, would have no problems running on an amd proc. throw a mid or high end vidcard (or two or three or four) and you are playing the hottest games at reliable frame rates. websurfing... no problem, office stuff, databases - all fine. stuff like high end video editing, or cad, animation... then you might be handcuffed a little.

if you don't so the tougher stuff... the thing that'll show the most noticable performance improvement is an ssd, imho
_________________
my main rig...
asrock 970 extreme3
AMD athlonII X3 440
zalman cpns5x performa hs/fan
crucial ballistix 2x4gb sport ddr3-1333
powercolor 3850 256bit/512meg vga
antec neo he 650r
kingston hyperx 3k ssd 120GB
seagate 500GB HDD 32M cache
seagate 750GB HDD 32M cache
hitachi 1TB HDD 32M cache
lg wh14ns40 bd burner
optiarc ad-7240s sata dvdrw (nec chipset)

[Nico]

So it doesnt really matter unless im doing 3d graphical rendering? but even then surely it shouldnt be that bad? and i do have an SSD in mind for my main boot drive as well as active programs and afew 1T's for storage and backup.

My other concern may be heat and power consumption, i have already a new 750W power supply would that still be fine on any build? even if i had multiple graphics cards?