Dont know what to get: AMD vs. INTEL?

[danbeaulieu]

I know right now AMD's quads are buggy but I like the overall design of the AMD quadcore over the Intel Quad much better. Perhaps once AMD gets to their 3.2 ghz quads they wont be so buggy. Anyway...

I am building a new quad core system, and when I contacted the local computer store today they urged me against AMD for music production. They told me to get a hold of the people at Cubase and find out if its compatible. It is compatible but now I am a bit less AMD confident so...

I want to know your guys opinions on AMD vs Intel for music production, please let me know what your rolling with and why.


Thanks,
Dan

[RASP]

I'm working with an older AMD machine and its been incredibly reliable for me.

Unfortunately, I can't comment properly for the new processors but I will say this, AMD is very modest when detailing the specs for their products.

Here is a good site to check out: http://www.adkproaudio.com/benchmarks.cfm

Scroll down to the Cubase 4 test.

Personally, I would wait until the new AMDs get all the kinks worked out.

[Timo]

NOTHING can touch the Intel Core 2s at the moment, in terms of raw power/speed clock-per-clock, and low heat output. This is the reason why Intel have delayed putting their new chips onto the market two months after they should have been, due to lack of competition from AMD.

And the Intel chips are extremely affordable.

Q6600 2.4GHz 1066FSB Core 2 Quad, 8MB L2 (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=702631) = £150.27
Intel DP35DP motherboard (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=653465) = £72.02
2 x 1GB DDR2 PC6400 (800MHz) Corsair RAM (with heatsink) (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=585722) = £33.65

Total = £256.

The Q6600 is highly overclockable, especially with other boards like the slightly more expensive Asus P5K.

The Core 2 Quad Q9450 will be released March 17th using the new 45nm fabrication process, 2.66GHz speed, 12MB L2, and SSE4 for any future programs that may support it. Price: £218. The Q9450 is what I'll be buying. Can be used on the same Intel DP35DP motherboard. See my thread in the Studio Equipment section of the forum if you're interested.

[Shambler]

I used to build my own AMD systems but my current system is an Intel Quad6600.

It runs Cubase effortlessly and I would strongly recommend Intel over AMD now simply because the performance of Intel is unbeatable at the moment.

[AlexHall74]

Considering the importance of a POWERFUL and STABLE D.A.W., the difference in price between the AMD chips at this time is negligible in the big picture of things.

Now, just to be a hypocrite, but an honest one, I just bought a new Dell Inspiron 531 desktop with an AMD dual core Athlon/Turion 6000+ dual core chip. I got the whole system with 2 GB RAM and 500GB hard drive for less than $500. For a hobbysit of my skill level/level of activity, this machine is more than I need, and it cost peanuts considering what I paid for my old PIV 2.6GHz w/512 MB RAM a few years ago. The heat and and the slightly less than Intel horsepower of my chip are not an issue for me, but if I were buying a quad core I would DEFINITELY wait for the componenets Timo so kindly provided.

Cheers,

-Alex

[Doc Jones]

not much more to add to the other posts other than I have a overclocked core 2 duo and it is very solid.