Upgrading cpu opinions

Well since intels release of the new cpu to take over for the P4 prices on both AMD and Intel stuff have dropped really low and i am trying to figure out what to go with. I have always been an AMD fan but i see some pretty good Intel stuff for cheap now so I am stuck

I currently have and AMD Athalon XP 3200+ which i bought when it first came out and was top off the line as of late i have noticed it isnt what it used to

here are my options i am looking at

1. AMD Athlon 64 4000+ San Diego 2000MHz HT 1MB L2 Cache Socket 939

2. Intel Pentium 4 651 Cedar Mill 800MHz FSB 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor

3. Intel Pentium D 950 Presler 800MHz FSB 2 x 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Dual Core Processor

For the AMD i would have to upgrade to a new motherboard but current would still work

For Intel I already have a motherboard that i bought which is brand new in the box that i never used and would work for both of the intel cpu mentioned

Price doesnt play a factor so i am look at which would be the best investment. The pentium D doesnt have hyperthread but its dual core so that really would be the replacement for the HT technology anywas wouldnt it.

Tell me what you think is best out of the group

does the the board support a 1066FSB? the best performance is the Core 2 Duo (Conroe), its just hitting stores right now but most motherboards would need a BIOS update done with an older processor

as for what to pick from that list i would get the Pentium D if you already have a motherboard that takes it, out of the list though the AMD has the best price/performance, but the Core 2 Duo is much faster, with an expensive motherboard and RAM someone overclocked the low end Core 2 Duo to beat AMDs best, the Athlon FX62 (the high end models of the Core 2 Duo already beat AMDs best)

correct me if i am wrong but the D is different then the core 2 duo isnt it? the thought the duo was their brand new just annouced.

the motherboard is a gigabyte GA-8IPE775-G which i guess apon a second look doesnt support the D so i would have to buy a new main board fir that as well

Yes the Pent. D is different than the core 2 duo. The good news is that there are motherboards out that will run both so if you wanted to just get a D for right now, you could upgrade to the core 2 duo later...

your board will support a Pentium D, but they have yet to release a BIOS update to support the Core 2 Duo, i would buy a Pentium D, a BIOS update will likely be released to support the new Core 2 Duo as that has a newer chipset allowing you to upgrade to the new CPU soon

hmm according to giagbytes web support cpu list the 915 and 920 chip are the only Pentium Ds supported by my board i am looking at the 950 and it says not supported unless its not up to date

no, its up to date, but i wonder how accurate that list is. the 915 should be identical to the 950, i would think that if one works the other would too, well i guess you don't want to find out do you

i would still find the best CPU that board supports, as i feel there is a good chance that you could later upgrade to a Core 2 Duo, if you don't want to do that then buy a new board and get the Core 2 Duo now

i do have to agree....the core 2 duo do out run amds dual core, but runs sizzles in temp... so you might want to think about upgrading the airflow... but atleast you'll have some serious power

? its lower heat then the Athlons, in fact Intel has been promoting the performance per watt more then anything else with these new CPUs, they are very low power compared to all the other stuff we have now

Are you planning to use the machine as a server or desktop?
I've read some tests that showed AMD more suitable for server work than Intel and vice versa.

this would be my home setup which is primarliy used for web surfing, gaming, movie editing (dvd) and etc. the games i play are usually higher end ones like FEAR, doom 3, battle field series, call of duty 1+2

i by no means am new to computers i have been building my owne since 2001 when i really got into that aspect of it, i just have always ran AMD systems so dont know much about Intel cause have followed them much. I know most of the P4's loved to consume power and create heat and that for the most part they were kinda outdated being on the market for so long

Just do some searches on the net concerning Intel's newest Conroe-based processors. The consumer name is Core 2 Duo. Various tests have shown that these new chips provide big performance boosts, use less power and generate less heat than the presently available chips from Intel and AMD. If you're going to upgrade your CPU right now, I'd recommend a Core 2 Duo. And it's priced much less than AMD's flagship chips as well.

Silicon (normally) doesn't rot. That chip runs as fast today as they day it left the fab.

You've got OTHER issues in your machine. Viruses, disks full of crap, fragged drives, scads of adware, and other such things.

Clean the crap out, defrag the drive, and it'll probably feel like a new machine again.

I've seen machines with so much encrusted crap loaded in them that they took (literally) a half hour just to boot. Lose the crud and they're back in around 20 seconds.