Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD 64 x2

[Kymnyth]

OK now that some reviews have been put out and the prices have stablized I am interested to hear everybodies perspective on what they would go with if they were to build a system today......Intel or AMD and why?

[D-Bone]

Ah yes, the million dollar question. I don't think there will be an easy answer to this one. All the reviews say C2D is the cat's pajamas. But, they are still priced pretty high and hard to find from what I hear. AMD X2 is more mature as a platform and will still get you amazing performance obviously. It really comes down to can you find C2D in stock and how much of a price premium is on it to justify the top of line performance. Then ask yourself if you want to use bleeding technology or if a more mature platform is important to you.

If I HAD to buy a system today it would be an X2 probably. If I could wait, then I would see what the pricing and inventory on the C2D does and re-evaluate in a month.

[Malice]

I'm kind of behind the times on this stuff. Its weird how when you go from IT to development how you totally lose track of this kind of stuff. I can only offer this advice. I have an X2 and I think its fantastic. I do notice the second core helping sometimes. Not as much in games right now but its great for stuff like Photoshop or when I'm compressing video into DivX and stuff like that. Just generally, its pretty snappy.