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

[Capeta]

I'm planning on building a "cheap PC" that's powerful enough for most normal applications and am thinking about going with a Pentium D dualcore. Is there anything from AMD that is comparable that's similarly priced? I can get the 2.66Ghz Pentium D 805 533FSB 2x1MB for $75. I heard you can overclock safely to around 3GHz.

 

[Rangers]

I'm planning on building a "cheap PC" that's powerful enough for most normal applications and am thinking about going with a Pentium D dualcore. Is there anything from AMD that is comparable that's similarly priced? I can get the 2.66Ghz Pentium D 805 533FSB 2x1MB for $75. I heard you can overclock safely to around 3GHz.

I'd just get a X2 3800, (2.0 ghz) they are $109 on newegg I think. Plus, the motherboard will probably be cheaper for the AMD, so it'll be even closer.

There is also a 3600X2 (1.9 ghz) for $95, although it says must be purchased in a combo (presumably with a mobo).

Also I cant remember, but there may be some AMD price drops scheduled soon, although it would be like 10 bucks on the 3800X2.

I know my a64 3000+ is 2.0 ghz (like the 3800X2+), and I know at the time AMD's ratings were pretty conservative, therefore it is probably at least equal to a 3.2 or 3.4 ghz p4.

 

[Mendel]

well, I'd give AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ a serious thought. It might be a 20 or so dollars more expensive (than the pentium d) though.

edit: Rangers beat me to it.

 

[candle_86]

actully my advice is the PentiumD 920 if any PEntiumD its 65nm so not to hot, and it will OC fairly well also, but I do suggest a core 2 ready motherboard so you can upgrade later

 

[Capeta]

What's the difference between the PD 920 vs the PD915? They seem to be the same?

Edit: Nevermind I found the difference.

http://www.intel.com/products/processor_number/chart/pentium_d.htm

 

[ANova]

If you get a Pentium D you'll have a much better upgrade option than with a 939 Athlon X2. The X2s are a little faster but the PDs are cheaper.

 

[candle_86]

the X2 3600 should best the PentiumD 940 easily even maybe the 950, i dont know for sure though, and its about 130 bucks, just you have to go DDR2, PCIe, all at once with it.

 

[Albuquerque]

the X2 3600 should best the PentiumD 940 easily even maybe the 950, i dont know for sure though, and its about 130 bucks, just you have to go DDR2, PCIe, all at once with it.

I believe the point that ANova was trying to make is socket compatibility between the PD950 and the newer Core2Duo processors. The X2 will probably perform better for now, but upgrade options are a different story.

And for the pricetags we're talking about, I still can't believe we aren't seeing someone go for the E4300 or something similar...

 

[swaaye]

Yeah, I don't think P-D is much of a CPU at this point. Certainly not for gaming or media work. I'd grab a low-end C2D over anything else. Power efficient, very fast, and very overclockable (if that's your thing).
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2903

C2D E4300 will utterly obliterate a P-D 805 in simply everything. And be cooler while doing it, lol. At 3GHz that P-D still will not rival it in anything.

Unless you are just totally penny pinching for some reason, I don't think you should buy a P-D.

 

[Iron Tiger]

I just got a C2D E4300 a week ago and I'm running it at 3.2Ghz (78% overclock) right now. It does that on stock cooling with 1.4V and performs nearly twice as fast as my old A64 X2 3800+ @ 2.4 did. The price is inflated right now because of demand, so if that's not within your grasp right now, I'd recommend getting the cheapest P-D and a decent C2D-supporting motherboard and get the E4300 after the price drops (which should be pretty soon with the E4400 taking its current price slot). This is easily the most satisfying CPU purchase I've ever made.

 

[Albuquerque]

I didn't realize the E4300's are as "expensive" as they are. I say "expensive" in quotes because, for the performance, they're still quite cheap.

Rumor mill suggests that by April these should be in the $120 category. It's almost worthless to buy a P-D right now with that pricetag just on the horizon...

 

[Capeta]

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. I think I'll wait a couple more months and if the price for the CD2s don't drop as much as I expect, I'll go with a cheap PD then when the C2Ds are within reach I'll sell the PD on ebay to get some of my money back. I'll be sure to choose a mboard that can accept the C2Ds. :smile:

 

[candle_86]

well thats because K8L is here, the opterons are out what in like may or june? So Intel is dropping price, this year will be rather interesting indeed

 

[Mintmaster]

I don't know if you should take upgradeability into account for a cheap PC. With the exception of C2D on some motherboards, Intel is notorious for frequently changing the socket and limiting your upgrade options with a simple processor swap.

You also have to ask yourself if you'll actually upgrade since it is just a cheap PC for basic stuff. I've rarely found that upgrading the processor alone is worth it. The single exception for me was on Socket-A since it lasted so long.

You can get an Athlon X2 3800+ with a motherboard for $120 shipped.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103561&CMP=AFC-C8Junction

How much would you be spending on a C2D-ready motherboard?

 

[swaaye]

The combo I see is $250. There was a deal on the new 3600+ X2 a few weeks back, though, for about $150 or so I believe. At this price, C2D is totally the way to go instead.

K8L is not here and will not be for months yet. Don't drool over something completely unproven.

 

[Albuquerque]

I see it two ways:

On price alone, AMD is the leader for now. However, on price vs performance, AMD has nothing that can touch the C2D -- even including the cost of a motherboard.

If I can put together a C2D + mobo for $300, you'd need to spend $600+ to get an "equivalent" X2 + mobo.

So, the question becomes simple: Is it about nothing more than the bottom line? Or is it about getting the most bang for your buck?

 

[Frank]

So, the question becomes simple: Is it about nothing more than the bottom line? Or is it about getting the most bang for your buck?

Getting the most bang for your buck requires that you buy the cheapest model. Because 10-20% performance increase is about equal to doubling the price.

 

[Albuquerque]

Getting the most bang for your buck requires that you buy the cheapest model. Because 10-20% performance increase is about equal to doubling the price.

I really don't think so, and neither does Newegg's listing of Core2Duo processors. You can go from an "bottom-rung" E4300 to a "high end" E6600 without doubling cost, and that's quite a bit more than 10-20% performance difference too. Even if you wanted to make the argument for the absolute highest-end C2D processors being costly, you can lodge the same argument against AMD's offerings too.

However, that really wasn't the spirit of what i was trying to convey, so let me retry...

For $189 you can get an AMD X2 4600 AM2
For $183 you can get a C2D E6300 LGS775

Now, in essentially every gaming benchmark, the E6600 at stock speeds will beat the 4600+ at stock speeds to the tune of about 20-30% depending on the game. CPU-specific (aka synthetic benches) will often show the gap to be even larger.

The only price variable between the two now is system board. And for running stock speeds, the cost difference between a basic AM2 mobo and a basic LGA775 mobo is neglegable at best. You can get the absolute-cheapest AM2 board for about $45; the absolute-cheaest LGA775 board is $42.

In reality? Price vs performance, Intel's C2D has the upper hand in most cases. Now, there comes a point where the AMD offerings are too far below Intel's performance level for the C2D, and then they start competing with the PentiumD series. In that arena, AMD takes over again, but not by a significant margin and not enough to justify the cost of the platform IMO.

Hopefully I explained myself better this time.

 

[Frank]

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.

 

[swaaye]

I guarantee you'd notice if you were encoding video, or any other task that truly leverages CPU performance. 30-50% performance is just massive. When has a gap like that shown up before? Maybe K8 vs. Northwood?

Granted, if you are mostly HDD bound or just using Office apps, there is little reason to buy anything faster than an X2. And an X2 is fully capable of performing adequately on basically anything. But, C2D undeniably has the edge in performance and is IMO equal or better in value (especially due to its overclockabiliy).