Wise man say never buy the first of anything

[dgg9879]

I'll probably buy a new pc in 3 months or so. Been reading great reviews of soon to be released Intel core 2 duo cpus. But I also read there's not point buying one because Intel will release quad 4 cpus at the end of this year!

I want a great games machine that will play Elder Scrolls nicely etc but I've heard the main bottleneck these days is the graphics card rather than processor.

But perhaps I might be better just getting an AMD machine since their processors are tried and tested and they will have to reduce their prices when Intel's kick-ass cpu arrives in stores.

Is Intel's newly released cpu likely to have problems that are yet to be ironed out?

Will it make a noticeable difference to game performance over AMD? I know tests show it performs better with higher frame rates but the only thing that counts is what I can notice.

I don't think there is much point waiting til the end of the year to upgrade. There is always something better on the horizon.

[Besty]

As you say there will always be something better on the horizon. I would personally reccommend the athalon 64 cpu's I have a 3400 in my computer which was top of the line when I bought it and is now probably fairly cheap to buy. The point I am trying probably unsucessfully to make is that I notice no real difference when I play games on a higher spec system. My x800 plays most games fine and you could again pick one of these up for cheap now too. I would probably say that there shouldnt be many problems with the intel tho although it would most likely require a good heatsink to cope with any heat problems that may arrive.

[-pops-]

I agree substantially with what Besty is telling you.

I would NEVER buy the latest model CPU as I know full well that in a few months it will be superseded and that one will be placed in the bargain basement - with loads of others even cheaper which are the previous model or the previous, previous model etc.

I doubt very much that you would need the full capabilities of a quad core CPU and you would be far better spending the money saved on a better graphics card if you're into gaming or a sound card if you're into music or - - - , or - - -.

[Scarecrow Man]

http://forums.windowsforum.org/index.php?s...c=26178&hl=

This being said, I find the Core Duo faster than any AMD processor I have seen. I should also mention that until the Core Duo, I hated Intel and was would never recomend them unless it was for a business machine doing data entry or something to that effect.

You should definatley check out Tom's Hardware page on CPU's. It has some excellent information and should definatley help you out.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/11/21/the...pu_charts_2005/