Hi I am thinking of buying this processor :AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 6000+ 3.00GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail Will it run Vista 32 bit,,or do i have to get Vista 64? Also what do you guys think on AMD VS Intel, i use my pc generally for software development but for gaming also, i have read loads of reviews that put AMD on top, but some are contradicting, what do you think, how did you make your decisions? Thanks.
Hi Maratheftis, As you will see from my siggy, this chip will happily run Vista, all of the current CPU's available are 64-bit architecture, and can run 64-bit OS's but can also run 32-bit. Though choosing a 64-bit OS at the moment is not recommended due to the lack of driver support. As for Intel v AMD well I think pretty much anyone will tell you at the moment that Intel are the best performance right now, but that priceerformance ratio, that AMD are better.....though this is highly debateable.....!!!.....before all the Intel lot start ranting about prices... I personally chose AMD as I think that choosing AMD right now leaves more scope for upgrade, with the new single-die quad core K10 Phenoms due soon, which AMD have confirmed that existing AM2 socket mobo's will support for some time yet. Even though Intel already have Quad chips out they are not single die chips as the Phenoms will be....there's a lot of speculation over how single die quad core will perform and whether there will be any significant imrovement over multi die quad core.......this remains to be seen of course....but personally I favour AMD's approach of slowly but surely rather than Intels knock them out quick approach....bit like Turtle and the Hare.....lol. Only time will tell.......but for me its AMD....always find them to be more competitively priced than Intel as well. I know some will come back and say about the Penrhyn chip that will probably be released by Intel when AMD release the Phenom......and all I will say about that is .....GREAT........ it'll mean another pricing war, where only the consumers will benefit, be they Intel or AMD users. So take your pick, it doesn't really matter...!!!! Gaming wise I think a lot more depends on the graphics card you have installed than the CPU anyway, so I'd rather spend more on this and a little bit less on an AMD CPU, and before anyone says "but u only got a 8800GTS not a GTX or ULTRA", that again comes down to cost/performance ratio....Why spend $400-$500 today for a card which in a few months time you'll be able to buy for half the price. In fact I don't intend to buy a GTX or ULTRA for some time yet, my next step is to buy another GTS and run it in SLI, to tide me over until the GTX/ULTRA's come down in price when the next big new thing comes out...!!! OK you'll never be at the top performance, but you'll happily be able play the games and have more money in your pocket as well.....!!! This is my view on the subject anyway....FWIW....!!!
The 64-bit argument is true for XP, but Vista has more support. Both AMD and Intel have processors that are 32-bit with 64-bit extensions (hence x86-64 architecture), so, unlike Intel's Itanium, you have native 32-bit and 64-bit in one package. For Intel vs. AMD, depends on what you're comparing. AMD was on the top with the Athlon64 when compared to the Pentium 4/Pentium D. However, Intel has come back with some real competition in the Core 2 series, which besides amazing performance also overclock like mad. (Some reports I've seen have a 50% OC as on the low-end.)
