AMD or Intel ??

Hello all,
Im getting a new computer and am confused with all the technical stuff. Im not very computer literate - I dont even know what AMD or Intel does. I basically play games, ebay, email and upload photos from my camera with my computer. I like games like Prime Suspects and such but I cant play the new ones cause right now Im runing on windows 98.
I guess my biggest ? would be which is better and how much GB and RAM should I be looking for??

Any help would be much appreciated,
Fran

 

AMD and Intel are processors, which is the most important component of a computer (typically the most expensive to upgrade) I prefer AMD, you get more power/dollar. With a vista system, I would recommend at least a 250 GB Hard drive, and 2 GB of RAM.

 

AMD and Intel are manufacturers of CPUs (central processing units), the "brain" of the computer. While AMD CPUs are cheaper, Intel CPUs currently have a significant performance advantage. Since you will most likely be purchasing a prebuilt computer package, I would recommend one with the Intel CPU. You will not notice any price advantage unless you are building your own PC.

 

Welcome to MajorGeeks! It depends on how much you want to spend. I recommend building your own, and going with the Intell dual core, or if you have an extra $100 or so get a quad core, they are sweet! If you want cheap, AMD is not bad.

For RAM, I would get 2Gb, DDR2 is pretty cheap now. For a hard drive, well that depends on what you store on it.

Here is my recent experience: AMD dual core 4200 with an ATI 3850 and 1Gb RAM scored around 7200 in 3DMark 06. The same video card in my new Q6600 Intell rig with 2Gb RAM scores 10299 points in 3DMark 06.

Either one should be a big upgrade depending on what you have right now. Lots of options..

E

 

This is what Im looking at right now. Its a Gateway - 6000+ Desktop
AMD LIVE! Smarter Digital Entertainment; AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 dual-core processor 6000+; 3GB DDR2 memory; DL DVD±RW/CD-RW drive; 320GB hard drive; Windows Vista Home Premium.
There also is a name brand I never heard of -
Acer - Aspire E4500 Desktop
Intel® Core™2 Duo desktop processor E4500; 3GB DDR2 memory; DL DVD±RW/CD-RW drive; 500GB hard drive; Windows Vista Home Premium with TV tuner
They are both going for $499.99 at Best Buy

 

I would go with Acer if I were you. Gateway, in my experience, is not very good with drivers if you have a problem or change the operating system. Again, I would build one, but that is a pretty good price point for just pulling it out of the box and using it vs specing one out and building it.

Have fun!

E

 

Thanks E