I know everybody is tired of these by now, but I need a bit of help. I have a buddy that is looking to get a new system, and he asked me for help selecting the parts. He is looking to spend 1k and plans to reuse his current HDD, monitor, keyboard and mouse. He has no brand loyality, although he did state that he wanted first tier manufacturers(i.e. ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, DFI, etc). He has exactly zero interest in overclocking and no matter what you say, he will not do it, so throw that out the window. I am at heart an AMD fan, but I fully realize that AMD is not where it is right now, so I'm not going to sit here and say AMD4LIFE or any other crap like that, and I realize my abilities for putting togehter an Intel system are somewhat suspect.. I'm looking to show him 2 systems, one Intel and one AMD based, give him the relative merits and flaws of each and let him decide which he wants.

Intel system:
CPU: Core 2 Duo E8400
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115037
Mobo: ASUS P5E LGA 775 Intel X38
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131219
RAM: OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820227289
PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX 620W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139002
GFX: ASUS EN8800GTS/HTDP/512M GeForce 8800GTS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814121218

Total cost(sans case): $924.95-$85 in MIR=$842.95
Strengths:
on single- and dual-core apps will be faster
should he decide to start overclocking will most likely run higher
could go crossfire if he wants to go to an ATI GFx card
should run cooler
should use less power
Weaknesses:
PSU is a bit weaker, leaves less room for future upgrades
there is likely to be a very short upgrade path for socket 775 since Nehalem will be out later this year/early next year
Can't go SLi if he wants to(but could go crossfire if he wants to go to ATi)
more expensive

AMD system:
CPU: AMD Phenom 9850 BLACK EDITION 2.5GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103249
Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-M750SLI-DS4 AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA nForce 750a SLI
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128339
RAM: OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820227289
PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139006
GFX: ASUS EN8800GTS/HTDP/512M GeForce 8800GTS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814121218

Total cost(sans case): $847.96-$70 in MIR=$777.96
Strengths:
on quad-core capable apps will likely run a bit faster
in theory has an upgrade path to AM3(assuming the mobo manufacturer dosent hose him like with the AM2 to AM2+ fiasco)
Can go SLi if he wants later on(though at 16x +8x only)
more powerful PSU has more upgrade potential
cheaper
Weaknesses:
right now, probably slower in most apps
will run hotter
will suck down the juice like an alcoholic at an open bar.

Note that both of these fall a bit shy of the $1k total, this is because I want to let him pick out his own case, and to leave room if he wants a new HDD. Also, there are some combos that I have in here so the totals are not exactly what they would appear if everything was bought seperate. the combos are also the reason the AMD system has a bigger PSU and RAM with slightly better timings(5-5-5-18 vs 5-5-5-12)

this is just a first draft so to speak, so any and all revisions are welcome. also if you have anything to add to the upsides and downsides I'll take them too

edited because I can't spell

edited again because someone pointed out that the RAM I had for the AMD setup would make the Intel setup $17 cheaper after MIR.

You could further drop the price of the AMD build by getting a 790FX board, which would allow for x-fire and would be far cheaper. You can get an MSI K9A2 for less than $150. I would also recommend getting DDR2 800 timed @ 4-4-4-12 instead of DDR2 1066 @ 5-5-5-15. There is little to no performance difference between the two, and it would save about $30 or so. Then you could buy a much more powerful graphics card, like two HD3870, or a 9800GTX.
Then theres the whole issue about new cards out in about two weeks...

EDIT: Woops, didn't see that NV board costed $150... I thought it was around $250. Woops.

tell him if he doesn't overclock, he owes me $500 (o.O)

I think youi should try to make more comparable systems then provide and upgrade path for them. Your selections of other other components in each package may otherwise bias the process.

For instance, compare two quad cores (INtel and AMD) and two that aren't instead of giving only one system that advantage.

Why use different memory in each - isn't there one good memory - or two with roughly the same price and perfomance ? Why use different memories - the 620w will handle quad core?

Maybe some decisions should be made in advance and be standard for the two - such as whether or not you need the capability for SLI. YOu could get a much cheaper Intel mobo if you don't need that characteristic.

after a second look, the MIR on the RAM i had on the AMD setup made the Intel setup cheaper by $17 after the MIR. thanks for making me look again.

as for getting a quad core for the intel system on there, that raises the price of the Intel setup by about $18 for a Q6600 or $79 for a Q6700, I went over the charts quite a bit, and while yes when compared to the Phenom they win pretty much everything. However, compared to the E8400 it pretty much came down to was it a single- dual- or quad-core app. So an Intel quad core is not out of the question, but in many single- and dual-core apps the E8400 wins hands down, and the extra speed closes the gap in most quad-core apps. Not to mention the E8400 runs cooler and uses less power. I'd like to keep the ability to go SLi/Crossfire for both systems because that should give him an easy upgrade if he decieds he needs some more firepower in a few years. He could go to a faster quad with dual GFx cards for both systems in a few years time and get a pretty big pickup in speed with out laying out too much cash.

granted, these are all things that I would want to do, not necessarly what he wants to do, so I will bring that up with him and see what direction he wants to go in.

I'd for Intel, Intel boards are the most stable, they just don't OC well, so get an intel board.

For AMD, get one of the new nVidia chipsets (like the 8200) for hybrid power with the right graphics card and save some electricity.

ou might also want to look at the ATI graphics that will launch in a couple of weeks.

skip SLI/crossfire. its just not worth it, unless your running high resoltions

I would go with your Intel Build. You should also take a look at this video card:
EVGA 512-P3-N841-AR GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB

the AMD build is using a 750a chipset, which, as far as i know is capible of hybrid power. and he runs on a 22" widscreen monitor, i dont know the res offhand, but i think its 1680x1050. I plan on looking more into the ATI cards after I finish fixing my PC tonight...I got a corrupt index on my windows drive.

well, i talked to him today and found out that he does not need a PSU, and he picked out a case that is 89.99 after the rebate, so now that there is some extra money, i can add/upgrade some parts. also, since there is more money to throw at the core parts I'm throwing out the AMD system since it would be totally outclassed by the intel system. anyway the new system is as follows:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 Yorkfield 2.66GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115042

Mobo: ASUS P5N-D LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 750i SLI
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131232

RAM: OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820227289

GPU: 2xPALiT NE/880TSXT302 GeForce 8800GT SONIC 1GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814261012

Case: Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811129021

after all the mail in rebates and the shipping costs this comes to a nice tidy $994.92.

Once again, I am an AMD guy at heart and admittedly dont follow Intel closely enough, so it's entirely possible i fµcked up on something here, so if you see a problem let me know.

also, he seems to have his heart set on an aftermarket CPU cooler. since he does not intend to OC this rig at all and the case appears to have sufficent ventilation, i feel this is a waste of money. if anybody can come up with a good reason to have an aftermarket cooler on a setup that will not be OC'ed let me know.