In the last couple days I have spent some quality time, at Tom’s Hardware, reading. I typically enjoy the Best graphics card of the month articles. I check the latest graphics charts. I check the current CPU performance charts.
I do that before I build a system. This time was no exception.
I check the realistic benchmarks. I check prices. Once I have the prices, I extrapolate the price/performance metrics. This often referred to as the “Bang for your buck” comparison. Performing the whole process is due diligence for any professional system builder. I happened upon a very amusing thread on the Forums at Tom’s Hardware that compared Intel vs. AMD pricing. The point of the thread was that the difference in price between the two compared processors was less than $100. That seemed to be accurate information. See the post here What was not presented is the difference in performance. An Intel E8400 will outperform any AMD processor available at retail at this time. An i7 processor can out perform any processor there is. That includes Xeon processors from Intel that cost thousands more. If $100 is going to make or break your computer building budget, save up your money a little bit longer and get the best performer for the price you can afford. Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 processor is still the “best bang for your buck” processor anyone’s money can buy.