Shoot, sorry, Electric_Head! It seemed like you were saying I'd need more than $50 to get any of those components. At least that's how I interpreted it. I love making an ass of myself! Anyway, I'd venture to say that expandability is more important than upgradeability. Don't know if you catch my drift, but... how often do you upgrade CPUs, honestly? Having a motherboard with plenty of expansion slots, RAM slots, and SATA connectors--and a case with as many expansion slots and 3.5" bays--is more important, IMO. Remember when Intel moved NetBurst from Socket 423 to Socket 478, and, finally, to Socket 775, all the while AMD stayed with Socket A? The same thing is happening now, except AMD is the one who's swapping CPU formats. It happens all the time.
coming from a 16x cdrw...when I first burned a cd with the new gizmo I thought something went wrong b/c it went so fast. I used to wait a min or two to unrar 600-1gig size files...now down to like 10 or less. It never really bothered me, but I simply couldn't multitask anymore. Having several word documents open and a dvd playing I couldn't efficiently go back/forth/not have dvd skip and whatnot/switch to internet.
Well I try to be frugal for the most part I do buy store brand stuff unless its something particular I like. I dont mind though to spend extra money for something I want if I can afford it. Something Im learning though is to wait to purchase things. Instead of jumping and buying something now, wait a bit, you will have more money + you will be more satisfied.
I think this will help my argument: Weighing the value of today's processors - The Tech Report - Page 1
Its an interesting read, but there are a lot of things it doesnt take into account. The cpu isnt the only thing as you have said. The mobo is a big decider on the intel amd debate. There is a lot of metric there, but it is not the best way to handle it to be honest. Its just an article for a slow week/month. I did enjoy reading it, and it makes sense, so thanks for linking it.
This is my rig so far Athlon 64 X2 4800+ and a ECS GeForce6100SM-M A-Data DDR2 800 2gigs Old 28 gig Western Digital HD Pioneer DVR-212D Ultra X-Pro 600W PSU Later adds: 500 gig external HD for back-up 250+gig internal HD 500+ VA UPS Geforce 7900 As you can see I'm going way over my budget, LOL.
This dosent make any sense to me. If intel was better performance for the money wouldnt that also make them the better price for equivelant performance? The last time I studied the benchmarks Intel was the best cutting edge but AMD had the best prices for last years stuff.
Basically, AMD got a huge windfall from the period when Intel had it's head up it's patootie, with "netburst" and RAMBUS. Now that Intel is back on track, with the poop cleaned off it's face (for the moment), AMD just doesn't have the resources to compete head to head.
I cannot state this enough...many people overlook this: DO NOT skimp on the PSU...you can have the best components in the world, the most ram and the fastest drives, but if you get a bad PSU, you are going to have problems that will drive you insane. Not to mention, if it goes it could take the motherboard with it.
