Would You Buy A Core 2 Duo System Today?

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Would you buy Core 2 Duo today?

  • Yes, right away

    Votes: 103 25.8%

  • Yes, but with my next upgrade

    Votes: 158 39.6%

  • No. I''ll stick with AMD

    Votes: 83 20.8%

  • I don''t intend to buy anything

    Votes: 55 13.8%
  • Total voters
    399
I have to agree with DrCroubie (3 reasons, powerhungery, have 939/775, old pos).

I have a number of people that I am making systems for right now. You really have to ask what do you want out of your system and what are you using it for. One wants a powerhouse gaming machine... Intel and 7950! Most people have no clue about what hardware to get they only look at the price tag. 2 questions, do you want something that has decent power now, is low cost and can live with replacing in as early as 2 years or do you want something that will have a little more upgradeability. People who want cheap can flip a coin. If you want something you can upgrade in 2 or 3 years get AMD. AM2 cpus are currently slatted to be around for 18 more months, a 4 to 6 month transition peroid to AM3 which should be around for at least another year. Since AMD has already said AM3 cpus will work in AM2 slots you can make significant upgrades 3 years from now drastically extending the systems life. My mother will like that =)
 
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"Core 2 Duo will unlock the system side of many video games that are performance hindered by current CPUs. This will put the onice back on the graphics cards and I should see better frame rates in the games I play. "

Onice: Synonym of onyx.

Onus: o·nus (ns)
n.
1. A difficult or disagreeable responsibility or necessity; a burden or obligation.
2.
a. A stigma.
b. Blame.
3. The burden of proof: The onus was on the defense attorney.

Sorry, I just had to laugh when I saw that. The black rock is on the graphics industry now.
:lol:
 
Well, that depends on my moneylender's (mom and dad) disposition on upgrading my system (I sorely need to 🙁 )

The thing that still isn't clear to me is the motherboard compatibility of Conroe. 'Cause I've seen Socket T mobos for just 'bout $300 that state Core 2 Support. But the cheaper ST mobos are a gamble, and I haven't found comparisons between a 2MB-cache version of Core 2 paired with a "not-Ultra-Premium-Deluxe-$300+" motherboard. Although you could argue that upgrading from my current rig to ANYTHING will give me ASTONOMICAL improvements, since I don't live in the US, it's quite possible that your $186 Core 2 CPU will cost me (if i buy here) almost $600 :x and it will all come down to weather I can buy the whole system (CPU-mobo-ram-vid.card-HD) for less money, and still have a relatively easy upgrade path. (Not like my current mobo thar PCB HAD to be 1.05. to work with XP cores :x )

Suggestions accepted.

LichoCPU
---------------Current Rig---------------------------
AMD Athlon 1200MHz (Thunderbird Core, 266FSB)
ASUS A7V133 (VIA KT133A, PCB 1.05)
512MB SDR-SDRAM (256 PC133;256 PC100@133MHz)
ATi All-in-Wonder Radeon 9600XT 128MB (TV Part damaged :x )
Western Digital Caviar WD200BB 20GB 7200rpm HDD (ATA100)
Western Digital Protegè WD200EB 20GB 5400rpm HDD (ATA100)
Lite-On SOHW-16936S DVD+/-RW
LG GCE-8526B CD-RW
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! 5.1OEM
Netgear FA310TX 10/100 NIC
Realtek RTL8139 10/100 NIC
--------------------------------------------------------
 
No need to upgrade - got an A64 3500+ which is easily fast enough for my gaming needs.

Maybe early next year, but I'll probably get an X2 because then I won't need a new mobo / RAM and all the hassle / cost associated with that.
Click to expand...


Exactly what I'm saying. People that will need to upgrade are the ones that have a socket A amd or old school p4. The cpus right now are more than sufficient for the joe++
 
I'm buying now . . . but only because I'm on the falling edge of what makes for a decent gaming computer. My MSI k8t neo A64 3000+ (skt. 754) nvidia 6600 gt agp card, 1gig of corsair ram was pretty nice for about 2/12 years (with the video card being the last upgrade a little over a year ago), but sadly I'm about to drag the poor bastard out behind the barn and put a slug in its northbridge.

It probably doesn't hurt that I know a person who works in Intel's R&D dept (who does mass spectrometry) and gets one helluva a discount on chips, otherwise I'd consider myself more of an "AMD guy."

This is probably the first time in five years I've purposefully gone out and built an intel based system - I feel almost dirty in a way 😳
 
I dont see myself getting a new system anytime soon!

Possibly a upgrade but an AMD it will be as spending $200 ~$300 on a new dual core AMD is still cheaper than $500 ~ $600 for a Conroe + MB + two 1GB sticks of memory..........and it will only be a little bit quicker (the Conroe) as I wont be purhcasing top of the line CPUs....

But if I had to get a new system now......A Conroe machine it will be!!
Getting a new machine later on..........which ever CPU has the best performance/ value at that time!!
 
Building my conroe system oct-dec timeframe. Waiting for a few more
parts to be released/benchmarked - RD600 chipset - hopefully R600
graphics card.
 
Ok here is the cheap of the cheapo upgrades for me. I am running an Athlon 64 3200+ in my ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 Socket 939 ULi M1695 ATX AMD Motherboard. This has full a speed agp and pci express slot. No SLI but I don't care. Now for upgrades. With a bios flash and a $30.00 adapter for the board I can run any X2 chip with DDR2 memory. not bad for a $67.00 board. As for video cards I can continue to use my AGP X800GTO until I upgrade to a decent pci video card. I love this board and chipset. I hope that AsusRock continues to make products for cheap geeks like myself. Hey and it has SATA too:!: Watch out AMD and Intel a company called ChaoLogix is working on the Chaos chip. The company is looking to put out a working chip some time in January 2007. Sounds pretty cool :!: Could be the next big thing :!: If this chip works the way it is supposed to you will no longer need separate chips for the CPU, memory, video ram, graphics accelerators, or arithmetric processing units etc. One chip will do it all. 😀
 
well, i'll put it this way. it is worth getting a core2 if you are looking to build a new computer anytime between now and the foreseeable future. i am a person who sides with the best performance, not fanyboy hype.

right now, i built a computer less than a year ago (4200+, asus sli-premium, x850 xt, 1 gig value ram), and i do not plan to jump to a core2 system anytime soon. i plan to get a good 2 gig kit of ram, and maybe a new video card(s) (possilby the next line of nvidia's, if they support the nforce sli chipset). i see the gaming market moving towards better dual core efficiency, so i think i will get any extended gaming performance life on my cpu and i will ride out my comuter as long as my cpu is still usuable.

but when i plan my next rig, i will certainly buy what offers the best performance. as it lies now, the core2 kicks the crap out of any amd offering, so i would go with the core2.
 
Would I buy a Core 2 processor today? Of course not. right now, I have a perfectly good, overclocked Athlon64 2800+ (Socket 754 and all) I didn't toss it out when socket 939 (and PCI express) came along, and neither when Socket AM2 and DDR2 came along. The same would go for Core 2.

Like many "true" hardware enthusiasts/freaks, it is not necessary for me to leap up and always buy the best technology when it comes out. Rather, I shoot to have high-level performance at a low price. My complete system came well under $1,000US, yet it handles the latest and most intensive games (like Oblivion and F.E.A.R.) better than even the Xbox 360. Plus, it handles everything else one a serious PC user expects, from modding/editing to more mundane tasks.

Granted, I will agree that I've been salivating over the prospects of Core 2 just a little over the past year, when Conroe was announced. Converting the Pentium M arcitecture to be a full-fledge, dedicated desktop PC design was a prospect that sent all sorts of thoughts racing through my head; I already truly admired the Pentium M for the high performance-per-clock cycle ratio it achieved in gaming, (roughly 1:85 compared to NetBurst) all while maintaining a rather low thermal envelope.

I'll agree that the Core 2 is a modern marvel of PC microprocessor engineering. In fact, I'd recommend it for anyone who's making a new machine, and has enough cash earmarked for it. However, it is like any other new "top dog" processor: an improvement over its predecessors. One can live without it, and I'm pretty sure many will. It's good enough to supplant all of the other brand-new high-end processors, but not enough to supplant the usefulness of the ones we already own.
 
At the moment, no because I can upgrade my existing 939 A64 to an X2 after the price cuts take place.

On the other hand if I was looking to start from scratch then i would go with a core 2 system.
 
My System is more than enough for my gaming and rendering needs. Besides
I would not upgrade just for a nice processor. AMD is not finished, but just adjusting, there is more components to contribute to a fast PC besides a CPU.
Ram is # 1 priority in a nice PC, my answer is no.

Asus SLI premium, X2 4400+
2Gigs Corsair XMS, X1900XT 512MB
Creative XFi Xstrmusic,550 Watt PSU
250 Gig HD.
 
Rather than buying the new Core 2 Duo, I'll just see if overclocking my current PC will help it keep up. Maybe with liquid nitrogen cooling I'll finally be able to push this lil' 486 past 150MHz (AMD 486 to 586 133MHz Upgrade)
 
I'm with the group that says...

If you were going to upgrade to a mid to high level computer then core2duo is definitely the choice.

If you want a budget build, man the AMD price reductions look good, go AM2 though.

If you want just a boost and you have a 939 board then a new amd processor is the way to go.

Me? I'm good for another year I think. Probably start looking after all the Vista kinks are worked out (well not all that would take forever, just he major ones).
 
Rather than buying the new Core 2 Duo, I'll just see if overclocking my current PC will help it keep up. Maybe with liquid nitrogen cooling I'll finally be able to push this lil' 486 past 150MHz (AMD 486 to 586 133MHz Upgrade)
Click to expand...

you should instead oc your pda with liquid nitrogen. Id like to see solitare running at 1ghz
 
A cool article overall, and for newcomers it sure beats reading through 9 pages of posts on the original articles... sums the opinions up fairly nicely I think.

Now to quote some people whose opinions I can relate to:

For my part I sure ain't gonna forgive that easy about Intel's crapy products for the last couple of years. And now the bastards are slicing their own throats by lowering the prices, just to hurt AMD.

Maybe I'm a little sentimental here but this would't have happened if it wasn't for Intel's monopolistic behaviour.

Also for a verry long time now AMD has proven to be an inovative company who brings a lot of new ideas and technology to the market. I belive in them, and Intel will definatly have to keep the leadership for a while to redeem themsels.

The rummors I've just heard today speak about 80% perf gains for 4x4.
So the answer is NO. I won't jump boats. AMD has won a lot of comitement from my part because of theyr comittement.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say they're slicing their throats in the effort to hurt AMD, but I do very much support the little guy in this situation. As a consumer, brand loyalty is something that should be avoided--buying something "just because" it's the company. The better company should be the one to survive, however I don't just judge them based on their product. I also take into consideration their marketing, (anti-)competitive practices, and the general attitude of the company. AMD really impressed me when they went from being the bargain chip to the performance king with the Athlon 64 and FX series. Intel's response: "Clock speed is where it's at! 3.06, 3.2, 3.6 GHz, keep revving it! Uhh... what? They're putting out too much heat? Well then they'll be HYPERTHREADED! The coolness factor of the word will get us more added income than the measily performance gain. Crap, they're still ahead? Well then we'll make EXTREME EDITION! A Hyperthreaded Pentium 4 Extreme Edition sounds like a mighty powerful product." All the while, AMD just said "Oh, they've caught up? Put out a new chip, 200 MHz faster... that should do it." I watched the high-end enthusiast gaming PCs go from being all P4 (3.06 GHz, 2x1 GB Rambus, anyone?) to being all AMD (FX 5_, 3x1 GB DDR400). Oh, Intel was entertaining, I got a good chuckle when I booted up a game with an ad, telling me how I needed Intel processors.

What it all boils down to in the end when you've spent $xxx on an AMD processor and $xxx on an Intel processor is usually is just a few frames per second or seconds of encoding time difference, if AMD drops prices and gets new products out there then that's how things will stay. Thus with just a small percentage of performance gain at stake, I tend to support the company I like more, which is usually the innovative, small underdog (why innovative? If the products were not well known AND worse in most ways, the company would be dead in a flash). Furthermore, remember that Intel doesn't really have any other rival, and the worse AMD does, the less Intel has to work to improve their products--and if AMD goes under entirely, Intel can be as lazy as they want. As sappy as it sounds, it's times like these that AMD needs all the support they can get. This logic will cease if or when AMD reaches the same percentage market share as Intel (or if AMD does a really really unforgivably stupid and crippling blow to itself), in which case the "underdog" tag ceases to apply and the company's products and attitude determine who gets my hardware dollar.

Seeing new technology beat out old is to be expected. I just upgrade to a 3800+, 2GB, and x800gt for a very modest price. Does this computer run blazing fast? Yes. Good for gaming? Yes. Value? High.
Click to expand...

😉 My point exactly. I was very happy to see that somebody noticed my post and put it in the article.
 
Is the fact that Intel has installed the "Trusted Platform Module" escaped everyone's notice, including the media and reviewers ????

Public opinion has beat this idea down every time it pops up, now Intel has married it to one of the most desirable chips in many years and managed to keep the whole thing quiet.

Now think about this... Apple will soon start using this Intel Core 2 Duo chip as well and that leaves only AMD as the lone holdout that has refused to install this "Cop on a chip".

Want to install your purchased copy of something on your other pc too? NOPE, none of that.
Did your brother drop by to install something he bought?
NOPE, none of that.
Got Media Licenses to match all those media files?
NOPE, none of that.
No telling what other uses the Movie, Record and Software industry has in store for us. I just know I dont want to be a part of it.

I for one, do not want anyone to be able to reach in my system and start disabling software. I buy tons of software and register almost none of it, that would probably set off a flag too.

Sure there's good reasons for having "Trusted Computing" on my PC. All the other crap they stuck in there has the smell of big Media and large Corporations all over it.

I've been waiting for months for the Conroe to be released, but now, I wouldnt touch it.

I'm buying whatever AMD is selling now.


Wake Up People - Google "Trusted Computing" and "Trusted Platform Module" if you want to get a taste of what Im talking about.
 
Just adding my two cents here . . .

I loved it in '99 when Athlon first came out.

I didn't love it because I'm a fan of a corporation, only because what no one really talks about too much is that the high end Pentium back then, which I believe was about a 500 MHz Pentium III cost approximately $1000, and that was at its cheapest price off of pricewatch, before newegg was the phenomenon they are today.

Intel was forced to slash prices on all of its processors and AMD followed suit. We, the consumers were graced with the ability to buy processors which were priced in the $1000 range the month before at a price under $400. It was an awesome time.

Now, its the same story. AMD has had the performance lead for such a long time that the market prices had gone up to ridiculous levels. I always said back then that AMD wasn't our friend because they are a publicly owned corporation and the only friends a publicly owned corporation cares about are its stockholders.

Intel isn't our friend either, another publicly owned corporation who doesn't care one iota about its customers, only its stockholders.

Anyone who says any different about either company is just plain naive.

So, basically what has happened now, is awesome for us, because where top of the line processors had once again drifted up above the $1000 range, now they are back down into the sub $400 range. An exciting time for anyone who is in the market for computer components.

Neither time was fueled by a company who wanted to do something great for its customers, but fueled only by the respective companies' needs to satiate the needs of their stockholders. If AMD had never done what they did back in '99 we'd probably all be happy with 2 GHz "top of the line" machines right now in 2006 and we'd be paying about $1000 for a 2 GHz level CPU for that machine right here and now. If Intel hadn't done what they've done this year, AMD would have ridden the Athlon64 wave as long as possible, as evidenced by their relentless pricing right up to Core 2 Duo launch, and we'd be forced to be happy with the FX-62 well into 2007 and beyond.

So, in conclusion, I'd strongly implore the foolhardy to refrain from foolish "fanship" of publicly owned corporations. Corporations are evil by nature. They don't care about you at all. (As a side note, I laugh at Google's motto now, "don't be evil". Yeah right, that motto became meaningless the second they became slaves to their stockholders, who care only about making money)

Just rejoice that we finally have another time where we can actually come close to getting our money's worth for a while. It won't last long, I can guarantee that, so we should take advantage of it while it lasts, whether you upgrade your current AMD or Intel system(s) or buy (a) new AMD or Intel system(s), or whether your a system builder like I am, now is the time to do it where you'll actually get your money's worth.

One thing Tom's CPU chart is horribly lacking is the retail cost of each CPU at the time it came out at its launch. If Tom's CPU chart showed this, you'd see just how much these corporations "care" about you, which is absolute zero. You'd see that as each company gained a significant lead, performance wise over the other, they would work quickly to jack the prices of their products to ridiculous levels. Basically as absolutely as high as they could possibly get away with, i.e. AMD Athlon 64 FX-62 at over $1200 just this month, and Intel Pentium III 500 Mhz at over $1000 back in '99.

This is the actual reality of this topic. Hopefully the sober minded will agree.

And no doubt, whether you agree or not, I think all would agree, the time to get our money's worth from buying computer components is now, and that is definitely something to be happy about.


Cheers
 
I would possibly buy a core 2 duo in my next upgrade. It wouldn't be a sure thing, and I would probably actually buy an AMD chip. My concern is that I would want to buy a computer to last me many years. Right now, the processing capabilities of say, a 4400+ x2 amd chip are beyond my needs. Now I know that the AMD chips last, are reliable, and plenty fast. So why would I really want anything else? I'd rather purchase a chip which I know to be fast and reliable than buy the latest and greatest and possibly have issues with it in the future. I just don't have the money to go around buying another new computer six months down the road if this one crashes. Otherwise, the Core 2 duo chips look amazing, and if I had the extra money to do so, I would certainly buy the latest and greatest and go with them at this point in time.
 
In all honesty I would with my next upgrade, however my next upgrade should be around the time when quad cores are emerging. I realise they may be overkill but seeing as I am still running a gimpy single core (all be it OC'd fairly well) it seems like a reasonable jump to me.

Go go Core 2 Quad!!!!! lol
 
We use dual-core and dual CPU setups at my work and the truth is, while they offer advantages for serious networking, databases, and data crunching, for games and most of what people usea computer for, it's just not that effective.

Comparing a Core 2 Duo to an overclocked 805 should give us interesting results. I suspect that it's a moderate gain for the new chip at best, for twice the price. $300+ is a lot of money for most of us, afterall.
 
Lets see, $350 (6700 ?) for a CPU, $250 (or slightly less) for a decent motherboard, and thats 600 bux right there, for just the CPU, and motherboard . . . I dont care if it outperforms the FX-62, theres a reason I buy mid range parts from AMD, and thats cost effectiveness (at a fairly cheap price tag).

I think Intel perhaps may be getting closer to a reasonable price for thier CPUs, but I dont see any justification spending that kind of money on thier CPUs JUST BECAUSE they outperform 'anything' AMD (just as you'll probably never see me buy a FX series CPU).

This however is a good thing, even for pure AMD fans, because, this means, that around the 27th of July, X2 CPU prices will be dropping :)

[EDIT]

Ah yeah, lets not forget that AMD still owns in the memory bandwidth department :)
 
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