Which route should I go?

[DarkHound]

Still haven't gotten my taxes back. So now I'm exploring other options while I wait. So far I've come up with an AMD and intel system for about $1500 (my budget). What do ya think? Which would be the better way to go?


Intel
Thermaltake Soprano
Antec SmartPower 2.0 SP-500
Gigabyte GA-8I945P-PRO
MSI RX1900XT-VT2D512E Radeon X1900XT 512MB
Intel Pentium D 930 Presler 800MHz FSB LGA 775 Dual Core
Mushkin eXtreme Performance 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM
2x Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA
NEC Black IDE/ATAPI DVD Burner Model ND-3550A

AMD
Thermaltake Soprano
DFI LP UT nF4 SLI-D
eVGA 256-P2-N517-AX Geforce 7800GT
Antec SmartPower 2.0 SP-500
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+
mushkin Green 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400
2x Vantec heatspreaders
2x Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA
NEC Black IDE/ATAPI DVD Burner Model ND-3550A

 

[discochan]

Thats a tough call. Do you go for the better chip or graphics card. I think in the end I would go the amd route.

 

[Bona Fide]

I would definitely go with the Presler.

Yes, Intel by and far is doing pretty badly. BUT, the Presler series are doing excellent. They've solved [for the most part] the heat issue with the Prescotts by moving to a smaller process. Also, they overclock EXTREMELY well. Most Preslers are guaranteed for at least 4GHz on air cooling.

Definitely Intel this time around.

Warning : The 945P chipsets don't support Preslers, to my knowledge. You need to get a motherboard with a 955X or 975X chipset. My recommendation is the ASUS P5WD2 Premium.