Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 or AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ for gaming?

[Oto]

'AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ Socket AM2 2.7GHz' or a 'Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 2.20GHz' for gaming rig?

will be running a sli motherboard around the £60 mark
an 8800gt
4gb ram
160gb hard drive
windows vista business
all wrapped up in a nice coolermaster case

plz help guys need to order it all today!!

thanks.

 

[Avenger_K]

The Intel E4500, especially if you're overclocking.

 

[Oto]

what about if im not overclocking?

 

[Ycon]

E4500

 

[zenmaster]

If you are not going to OC, then Buy a Retail System.
The main drawback is lack of an ability to OC.

This is a good starter deal.

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=eep&cs=2236&eep_orig_cs=2236&sm=2&oc=ADDWFB2&link_number=17970622&dgc=CJ&cid=24471&lid=566643

Toss in another GB and a video card and you are set.

 

[epsilon84]

what about if im not overclocking?

Then they are quite evenly matched.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/dualcore-shootout_4.html#sect0

 

[Oto]

thanks guys, thats a great help, i probably will overclock it at some point, so will go for the pentium. Will a 550watt power supply be ok for this build? i will be buying a second 8800gt at some point to sun sli, oh and ive got 2gb ram not 4 cheers

 

[epsilon84]

Yeah, 550W should be enough, but it has to be a quality 550W PSU. None of those crappy yum cha brand PSUs. I can't stress that enough!

I used to be a cheapskate and used the built in yumcha 500W PSUs that you get with cases, my god those are the biggest POS I've ever used. I barely installed Windows, ran a few games and *ZAP* dead PSU.

 

[stonecold91]

if you are not overclocking then i would go for amd 64 x2 5200

 

[stonecold91]

oopps in toms chart i thgt it was e4500 but it was e4300...go with a e4500 for shurree now..gud luck

 

[Oto]

thanks! will a 550watt one for around £20 do ok?

 

[epsilon84]

thanks! will a 550watt one for around £20 do ok?

Hmm, £20, that's about $50 US right? It's a little on the cheap side for my liking.

What brand is it?

 

[polarity]

Why would you not overclock an E4x00? The things overclock really well even with the stock cooler and voltage increase. Get an aftermarket cooler like an AC Freezer Pro (cheap and with good performance) and you can save getting a more expensive CPU. Got my E4300@1.8 up to 3.4 with basic water, and 3.0 with an AC_FP.

Go for more like £45 minimum on the PSU. You should be able to get a good quality one for that, and all the other components will thank you for it by not crashing as often/burning out.

 

[epsilon84]

Why would you not overclock an E4x00? The things overclock really well even with the stock cooler and voltage increase. Get an aftermarket cooler like an AC Freezer Pro (cheap and with good performance) and you can save getting a more expensive CPU. Got my E4300@1.8 up to 3.4 with basic water, and 3.0 with an AC_FP.

Go for more like £45 minimum on the PSU. You should be able to get a good quality one for that, and all the other components will thank you for it by not crashing as often/burning out.

Yeah, my E4400 does 3.33GHz on the stock HSF, I've had it at 3.4GHz @ 1.45V for benching but it gets too hot for my liking, I'm sure with a better HSF I can do 3.5GHz.