craul87 :
You are correct and wrong at the same time... YES some differences in performance are hard to "see" but what about long term viability? what about when time goes by and games come out that for ex run at 60fps on the intel but at 40fps on the AMD?? I'm sure the user will be able to see the difference then.
And what about getting the best bang for your buck?
I have been an AMD fan for a long as I can remember but I never owned any AMD systems... WHY?? Because every time I would want to buy a new system it just so happened that Intel had the performance edge within my price range... if I would have spent my money on an inferior product just cuz of being an AMD fan I would not be able to live with myself.
I love AMD and yes Intel did some shitty stuff in the past, maybe still do but who knows? at the end of the day it's AMD's fault for what has happened so far...
Fair enough, although I tend to look at computers as having a 3-4 year lifespan. Games really don't evolve that fast in terms of their CPU usage. At least for the PileDriver CPUs, its the games made to the newest standards they do okay in. That would be your DX11 games like Battlefield 3, so I actually don't see the PileDrivers trailing that far behind as time goes on, Skyrim for example (and yes, I do own it), since thats one we've put benches up where it takes a hit. Its actually a console port, and a lousy, hastily done one at that. Just by playing the game, you can tell its made for a console, they didn't even bother to change the menus around to make them more PC-user friendly. Now with the Phenom II,, well its an $85 processor, how much life are you expecting from it? lol
As far as AMD being at fault for their current state of affairs, yes part of it is their fault, but actually Intel is to blame for a large portion of their problems. I know this starts an entirely different discussion/debate. Although theres not much debate about it, Intel has been fined by both the European Union and the Federal Trade Commission, as well as settled a lawsuit paying AMD 1.25 billion dollars. Its not really a debate, its now academic, Intel engaged in illegal competition practices. Intel has a much bigger warchest, and spend far more in Research and Development than AMD makes in profit per year. AMD has had to layoff thousands of workers because of the trouble their in. If it makes me an AMD fanboy by pointing it out, if you think that Intels corporate bullying of computer companies to exclusively carry their CPUs didn't play a role in that, you're kidding yourself.
But once again, back to the topic, just to reiterate, I have no problem putting a system configuration together based on any person's needs. If they prefer an Intel CPU, I have a gold badge in the homebrew section of these forums, I'm interested in giving a person what they want and giving objective advice about the differences between the two.
On the subject of owning Intel CPUs, my family for years bought exclusively Dell computers, they in turn exclusively use Intel CPUs in their desktops and laptops. I personally have owned 3 computers with Intel CPUs, between the 6 members of my immediate family, we've owned more Intel systems than many of you may ever own in your lives. When I was growing up, our family was better off financially, computers were bought more or less yearly.