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A change from AMD to Intel?

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Highroller

Registered
Joined
Oct 7, 2005
I guess I need a little justification from you guys that I should switch (upgrade) from my AMD rig to an Intel one. I'm running a 4800+ AMD rig with 2 gigs of memory at 2.66 ghz.

I'm just looking for something that I could throw some memory at (4 gigs at least) that would run pretty well. I'm completely lost when it comes to intel stuff (been AMD for a while now). I guess I could drop somewhere between $600-1500. Depending on parts. Maybe you could give me a cheap option and a bad-*** option. Thanks guys.
 
Why do you need to upgrade

is your current rig underperforming?

if not why change from a perfectly working rig?
 
The most important question - what will it be used for? what app's will you run?

I would stick with what you have now, unless, as Mr. G said, you find your rig underperforming on a certain task.

Have you considered that to use 4gigs of RAM or more you will need a 64bit OS?
 
I guess I need a little justification from you guys that I should switch (upgrade) from my AMD rig to an Intel one. I'm running a 4800+ AMD rig with 2 gigs of memory at 2.66 ghz.

I'm just looking for something that I could throw some memory at (4 gigs at least) that would run pretty well. I'm completely lost when it comes to intel stuff (been AMD for a while now). I guess I could drop somewhere between $600-1500. Depending on parts. Maybe you could give me a cheap option and a bad-*** option. Thanks guys.

Well, like the two before me said, the cheap option is definitely keeping your current rig.

For the "bad ***" option, you could always salvage anything you could use out of your old rig, get a new CPU/Mobo/Video/Ram and combine the two together.

Now I have no idea what video card you have etc, but you could go with something like an E6850, or Q6600 (depending if you want dual or quad core), Crucial Ballistix PC8500 2Gb (If you are running 2gb of PC3200 as it says in your profile), eVGA 8800 GTS 640Mb or GTX, and I'm not 100% sure on a motherboard but possibly an Asus P5K? (Might wanna double check on that with someone who knows more.)

So those 4 pieces depending on which route you go should run you around $1000-$1200. This all assuming you can fill in the rest with your other pieces from your current rig. Hope this helped! :beer:

*EDIT*
If you can post what else you have in your current computer, we will be able to help you further. And let us know what you plan to do with your future rig, (Gaming, Overclocking, Etc.)
 
Have you considered that to use 4gigs of RAM or more you will need a 64bit OS?
Replace "OS" with "windows XP/Vista". 32bit Linux bigmem kernels and windows servers can handle up to 64GB RAM.

Back to the topic.. OP, You should go quadcore to justify an upgrade from you current CPU. The total price will depend on what you use your rig for, if you're a gamer the GPU will add quite a bit to the total.
 
Replace "OS" with "windows XP/Vista". 32bit Linux bigmem kernels and windows servers can handle up to 64GB RAM.

Back to the topic.. OP, You should go quadcore to justify an upgrade from you current CPU. The total price will depend on what you use your rig for, if you're a gamer the GPU will add quite a bit to the total.

LOL around the hardware forums it is always windows unless you state otherwise
 
Unless you're doing video editing or stuff like Cinema 4D and photoshop, you aren't going to notice an enourmous difference. Your rig is very capable. Spend the extra money you were going to spend on the rebuild, and get yourself an 8800 Ultra and then mod it with some great cooling. If I remember correctly, ViperJohn (I think) does cooling solution services and volt mods for graphics cards and from the pictures I've seen, he does a fantastic job. I've actually been thinking of maybe having him do a card for me if I ever get the money up.

If you do edit video or do other things that fall into the realm where there is literally no such thing as too much power, like th3 said, get yourself a quad core. I got one not too long ago and I can't tell you how happy I am editing video now. If you simply have money to burn and want to change things up, then go for it, but I see no reason to rebuild unless your rig is no longer satsifying your performance needs.
 
Why do you need to upgrade

is your current rig underperforming?

if not why change from a perfectly working rig?

I'd ask the same thing. Are there games, that you want to play/run? Are there apps that you want to use quicker?

Baddass Option:
Q6600
gigabyte DS3R
4 x 1 ddr 800
8800GTX
corsair 620hx
raid 0
 
I put about $1500-$1700 into the setup in my signature. It's a screamin retard-I play stalker with literally everything turned all the way up, and it's like watching a movie in terms of framerate. It might be a little more than you want to spend, or you may have different needs, but my setup sure does well for me.
 
I guess that I'm planning this for pretty much every reason you described. I'm bored with my system and have money to burn, I've built a few AMD rigs and want to try intel, I'm planning on making this a decent gaming rig...you name it.

And I'm looking at doing some hd editing. What kind of software/hardware will I need to make it decent? I'm assuming I'll have to get a new graphics card, add that in with the price. thanks again guys.
 
The fastest card available that I know of is the 8800 ultra. The 8800 gtx is pretty close, and can often be overclocked to or very close to ultra specs. However, if you want the fastest card stock and with a good chance of more overclocking room, the ultra is it. I paid $600 for mine, so it's sure not a budget card.

When it comes to cpu's, the c2d just plain has intel in the lead-period. No amount of "dark side" and hissing snakes is gonna change that.

My setup is FAR from the only one that can produce great results. One thing in particular that I'd advise you to do, if you don't run raptor drives, is to try the newest perpendicular drives. I forget the exact model number, but they end in .11 instead of .10. Seagate apparently put out some dumbass firmware on a bunch of the .10's, firmware that seems to limit transfer speeds compared to the same drives with different firmware. All 4 of my 320 gig drives have the dumbass firmware, technically known as AAK. I'd imagine if you stepped up to the .11 drives you'd not only get whatever improvements come with the newer drives, you'd also get the improvement of not having your drives "ate up with a case of the dumbass", as we say in the south.

The matrix raid is the schiznit-I wouldn't recommend building an intel system without it. There's a 6000 page sticky discussing it in the storage section-set aside a few centuries and read it.

On power supplies, you probably want something made by seasonic. There seems to be a consensus that those are perhaps the best made ones right now. I think they not only make seasonic-branded units, they also make at least some for pc power and cooling, and one or two others. Drooping voltages and poor regulation are an excellent way to hobble an otherwise good machine-see that this does not happen to you.
 
V8440 said a lot of what I would of said. AMD has nothing that can compete with Intel right now.

CPU: E6750 core 2 duo or if you can afford it the Q6600 quad core
Motherboard: P35 chipset in the Asus or Abit flavor.
RAM: Crucial Ballistix DDR2-800 is probably the best bang for the buck.
Video: 8800GTS or if you can afford it 8800GTX
PSU: PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610 or Corsair 620HX. Seasonic and Silverstone both make decent PSUs too. If you are on a budget, then the Corsair 520HX from ClubIT is a good bargain.
 
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