OK, this will be a modest quad build as I don't need or want bleeding edge performance, I rarely game and I won't be OC'ing either. I just want a nice stable rig. The price is basically the same for each duo, the only thing I see that I don't like about the Phenom is that it has half the cache of the Intel which is 8MB. I'll also get 4GB of RAM even though I won't be running x64 anything on this rig. Oh, one other thing, I'll be transplanting my EVGA 7600GT to this new one. I think that's it. All opinions welcome and thanks.

Intel:

ASUS P5K ATX LGA775 P35 DDR2 2PCI-E16 3PCI 1PCI-E1 SATA2 Sound GBLAN 1394 Motherboard

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Quad Core Processor LGA775 Kentsfield 2.40GHZ 1066FSB 8MB Retail Box

AMD:

ASUS M2N-E ATX AM2 Nforce 570 Ultra PCI-E16 PCI-E4 2PCI-E1 3PCI SATA RAID Sound GBLAN Motherboard

AMD Phenom X4 9850 Black Edition Quad Core Processor Socket AM2 2.5GHZ 4MB Cache 125W Retail Box

It looks like the systems cost about the same, but Intel is winning the performance battle right now.

Quote:

Intel: ASUS P5K ATX LGA775 P35 DDR2 2PCI-E16 3PCI 1PCI-E1 SATA2 Sound GBLAN 1394 Motherboard Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Quad Core Processor LGA775 Kentsfield 2.40GHZ 1066FSB 8MB Retail Box

I am very happy with my P5B and my Q6600

If you can wait that long, I'd put off the purchase for a few months to make up the price differences and go for a Q9300 45nm CPU, DDR3 RAM and a ASUS P5Q3 motherboard. That way you'll buy into the current generation items.

Otherwise, if you're set on the choices you've given, I'd go for the the Intel system

and don't forget with that intel system you've picked if you get a good air cooler like http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233003 for around $40usd you could you could overclock that q6600 to around 3.2Ghz no problem even higher if you have good temperatures and thus widening the performance gap between the intel and amd system since the amd phenom doesn't overclock as well or as easily

Grav!ty wrote:

If you can wait that long, I'd put off the purchase for a few months to make up the price differences and go for a Q9300 45nm CPU, DDR3 RAM and a ASUS P5Q3 motherboard. That way you'll buy into the current generation items. Otherwise, if you're set on the choices you've given, I'd go for the the Intel system

Thanks, I've already been waiting for 7 months so waiting to see how the Phenom panned out so I'll give the new tech a pass.

looks good

my p5k deluxe, and q6600 made for a potent combination. the board never let me down. it spent the year i had it, over 400fsb, usually around 425-475 fsb with my quad. im positive your going to like it amd makes good video cards, thats about all id buy from them right now, if i were building a system from scratch. its actually the reason i bought my rampage, 2x 4870x2's comeing soon

OK, I'm having a tough time finding QVL 1066 RAM for the P5K, I did check ASUS's site for an update to the QVL, but there's nothing for the 1066. Do I really need the 1066 or will the 800s do just fine. Maybe Freeagent can help me find a Canadian source for the 1066. I copied the current QVL below:

well.. i do have a set of the new single sided ballistix that no one seems to like because they dont oc like their dual sided brethern.. these ones dont die like they do! heheh. they just dont oc much past 1140mhz, wich is fine.. they are stable, and reliable. i paid i think 124 cnd for them, plus gst. ive never run corsair.. i did have problems with micron d9gmh ram from ocz, and crucial and my p5k, the stix usually did not last very long, 1 day to 5 weeks, i have a pile of dead stix here waiting to be rmaed. d9gct based micron worked very well for me too, tho they are kind of hard to come by nowadays. just remember you always get what you pay for, especially with pc stuff, get what you can afford, for cheapies, my ballistix do the job, they are my summer stix right now, and are plugging away no problem in a 30c house with no fan on the ram, id get em again basicaly, you should be fine with just about any 128mb based stick of ram.

sorry for the slight ramble, all ive had for breakfast so far is caffeine, and niccotine.

also notice on the qvl only the highend pc9200 and 9600 chips d9gct and gkx chips are listed? the board definately likes nice ram. it did not appreciate the cheapstuff, tho not all gmh is bad, but alot of the later stuff is. gskill makes very good ram i think.. check them out if youd like, its what i usually use, i just dont want to chance them in the summer heat, they are special