Which Processor To Buy?: Fall '06

Earlier this year, we looked at who should be purchasing a dual core processor. At the time, we concluded that budget users should stick with the single core chips, but the more serious users would benefit from the extra core. To say a lot has changed since May is an understatement, both in terms of current processors, and their prices. Let's take a look at what is happening this Fall.

First, let's look at the top of the performance food chain. While Intel constantly makes claims that this is the "fastest chip ever," this time it really is true. The Core 2 Duo chip, which is also known by the code name of Conroe, is the true performance king these days. The top banana is the X6800 Core 2 Extreme, although the price tag which is just shy of a grand is not for the mere mortals among us (at least without a gold credit card with a high limit). The good news is that the even the slowest of the Core 2 Duo's is the very capable X6300. Intel has also lowered the price to a downright affordable $180 for the part. This is a cheap price of admission for a chip that can keep up with an FX-62, the top chip from AMD. If building a mid to upper range system, the Core 2 Duo is the chip to buy at this time.

Let's next look at the entry level. The good news is that a Celeron is just a bad memory at this point. Even a budget user can get a dual core chip. Once again the answer is Intel, but this time it's the capable and cool running Pentium D 805. A mere ninety bucks is the entrance price to dual core goodness. I wouldn't spend much above this on on of the faster Pentium D's. For example the Pentium D 930 retails for $157, but when we get up to that price, we might as well go for the E6300 chip for an Andrew Jackson more of the green. The 805 is the clear bargain of the line, and is clearly the chip for the budget user to go for. This is one of the few budget chips in years that most users won't mind owning, especially for a second machine.

What about the territory between $100 to $180? This is probably where AMD should be positioning their line of AM2 Athlon X2 processors. Unfortunately, the Athlon X2 3800+ will set us back $169. This again puts us very close to the entry level Core 2 Duo processor. If the Athlon X2 3800+ was more in the $140 range, more equally between the entry Pentium D, and the E6300 (which is where it is performance wise), it might be more of a compelling buy. In the current price range, it simply doesn't make sense, even for the most serious AMD devotees. Then again, with Dell sucking up all the AMD chips, they may not care about the do-it-yourself crowd for the time being.

In summary, for the time being, it's Intel all the way. With their very aggressive pricing on some very capable chips, they simply are the way to go, at least for the next few months. Of course, with quad cores on the not so distant horizon, expect this all to change in the next few months again!

--Jonas

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