buying computer...Intel chip vs. AMD chip

[WalkAmongUs]

So I've been looking to but a new computer and I've found some pretty good prices for custom built systems for between 600 and 800 bucks.

My question is, I can get a system w/ an AMD Athlon64 X2 3800+ (motherboard has socket AM2 but I'm not sure what that means as far as performance and capabilites) for ~600 or I can go with an Intel Pentium D 945 dual core chip for about 800.

Obviously saving 200 bucks would be awesome but which chip will give me the best performance?

I know the core 2 duo chips are supposed to be better then anything AMD has but I'm not going to be using this computer for anything other than poker, internet, and every once in a while Battlefield 1942. I don't really need some high powered gaming system.

Suggestions?

[WalkAmongUs]

oops..just saw that there was a recent post on this.

last question...would it be worth and extra 80 bucks or so to upgrade from Athlon X2 3800 to a 4200?

[kvp]

[ QUOTE ]
oops..just saw that there was a recent post on this.

last question...would it be worth and extra 80 bucks or so to upgrade from Athlon X2 3800 to a 4200?

[/ QUOTE ]

$80 from 3800 to 4200? When I was looking around the difference was usually around $45 CDN. Try looking elsewhere. Try looking for the 4000+/4400+/4800+ processors because they have 2MB of L2 cache

AM2 is just the newer gen chips, the last one was Socket 939. AM2 supports DDR2 and some other stuff.

I don't know anything really about the Pentium D chips.

From what I've heard and read, Battlefield is one of the more system demanding games though to run nicely and smoothly.

[lastchance]

For $200, I'd take the X2 3800+, the Pentium D is pretty energy ineffecient, and it's likely not worth the performance boost on the processor alone. Make sure you're not getting ripped off on the other stuff, like RAM though.

[Beavis68]

the 900 series isnt too bad for power, I cant find the spec right now though. I wouldnt worry about power usage. Not like it is a extreme edition.

[WalkAmongUs]

i can get an X2 4200 for ~640 on www.cyberpowerpc.com

anybody had any experience with these comps?

[ajml]

I purchased a PC from them 5 years ago as I was going into school. I was very happy with the way it ran and definitely with the price at the time. The motherboard did blow after about 3.5 years but it was always on and constantly being used between me and my two other roommates. I would purchase another PC from them if they had the machine specs at the price I wanted.