What AMD CPU is comparable to Intel's Pentium D dualcore?

[Frank]

Yes, there is a reason the top of the bill boards/CPUs/GPUs exist and are much more expensive than their performance allows: the enthousiast segment. The people who want the very best.

On this board, I think that the large minority, or even a majority wants the very best. But they don't like to throw away money, so they need a good excuse. Like, looking at the entry level/mid level/high end level of X2 versus C2D , the C2D performs quite a but (~20-30%) better. Sure, it's much more expensive, but AMD doesn't offer an equal product in their markup at that performance point. They're simply much slower!

But much cheaper as well. And not many people (even most gamers) will ever notice the difference.

It's the difference between performance and price points.



On the other hand: I do have to change my demeanor in this. Becaue, I'm mostly dealing with departments that want nothing more than a good excuse to get all the nice toys nowadays. The more expensive, the better, as long as I can get it done. They want to spend as much money as I can arrange.

 

[ANova]

You seem to be missing the point. A C2D is much faster than an X2, especially if you overclock; you will notice a difference, particularly as games become more cpu dependant with the incorporation of advanced physics. You will also notice a large difference in encoding, rendering or plain heavy calculations. The X2s are not half the price unless you get a low end 3600+, however even a low end E4300 at $169 can compete and often beats an X2 4600+ at stock and thoroughly beats it overclocked.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2903&p=3

 

[Frank]

You seem to be missing the point.

I think you do.

Sure, it's faster. It's great value for people who want the best, and don't care very much if it's more expensive.

 

[swaaye]

I guess that depends on what you consider expensive. X2 is approaching the price where Durons were in the Athlon XP days. I am not out to buy the cheapest possible product. I am an enthusiast and definitely see a 30-50% performance advantage as being worth $50. Especially if I can get a 70% overclock from that $150 CPU which already is nearly as fast as AMD's best.

A 3.1 GHz C2D absolutely destroys my Opteron 165 @ 2.6. In 3dmark05's CPU test 1 it is over 2x faster. And get this: it needs less voltage and puts out less heat doing it.

It seems like you are more out to get the cheapest option than caring about value.

 

[Albuquerque]

I think you do.

Sure, it's faster. It's great value for people who want the best, and don't care very much if it's more expensive.

I think we're taking exception with this quote from you here:

Ok. But I can (and did) buy a board with an X2 for half the price of a board with an C2D. Sure, the C2D will be 30-50% faster, but when do I notice? I don't.

Cool. Find me an X2 and board for $113 -- that's half the cost of a $183 C2D E6600 and $42 system board.

That's not a bottom rung C2D either; you're firmly in "top of the middle" with an E6600. Special cases aside, the prices for an AMD are not "half" as you're suggesting. That's where I believe you're finding the resistance from us. And if you did somehow find an AMD rig for $113 with board and processor -- would that be a rig you really want to play any games on?

 

[ANova]

I think you do.

Sure, it's faster. It's great value for people who want the best, and don't care very much if it's more expensive.

You have to ask yourself, is twice the price worth more than twice the performance?

 

[Frank]

I checked out the prices, and I'm wrong: they're not much more expensive.

 

[Zengar]

I recently bought a new setup, C2D E4300 with GA-965P-DS3 board and 2Gb DDR667 RAm, this for about 380 Euro. The CPU was easily overclocked to 3 Ghz(with slight core voltage increase to 1.35V), making it faster then a 6800 EE oO. The maximal temperature under load is 40 C, with stock cooler. With increased voltages I should be able to reach about 4 Ghz ^^ This is amasing! I can only reccommend it!