A64 X2 today or Core 2 Duo tomorrow?

[ferrari_freak]

I'm building a computer for a friend of mines, which he wants to play games on over the summer. My question is, what's a better deal? Getting an A64 X2 setup today or waiting till the Core 2 Duo is released? Will the launch price be justified? Will there be any defects with the first batches? Will there be bad mobo selection at launch? Will it be worth it to waste half of the summer break waiting for it to come out? Thanks a lot.

Usama aka Ferrari Freak

[±Pink=FloYd±]

well whats he going to be doing on it?

[ferrari_freak]

Gaming mostly, a bit of movies, some music, MSN, Word, the likes. What any teenager would do really.

Usama aka Ferrari Freak

[mcvigo]

getting a conroe will be expensive as ddr 2 800 is high priced and so are the motherboard, socket 939 will be cheapper as yo can get 1gb modules for 100 and 2gb for 140, mobos are cheap, so its just a matter of spending more for a bit better performance as i think is more important to have a better graphics card than a better cpu, and willing to wait

[ferrari_freak]

True, and the prices will be even higher at first launch. About the RAM, i was thinking of just getting him this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231051

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231051

It's cheap and looks to be pretty good performance. Any more opinions would be appreciated. Btw, he's going to be playing mostly Age of Empires III and will not be overclocking so he'll have to spend on a good proc right from the start.

Usama aka Ferrari Freak

[krylon]

For playing games this summer I'd go with a proven platform that works so he can start right away? No use waiting for something that could lead to nothing but debugging and troubleshooting drivers.

[Houdini]

I would choose a cheap A64 setup for now. And then buy Conroe in 2007 when all the decieses are gone...

Like´

3700+
a8n-e
2x1gb kingston value
7900gt

Shouldnt be 2 expensive and can play almost any game fully

[viper650]

anyone know when amd is going to cut prices on their x2 lineup? they are far too much overpriced right now...

[mcvigo]

they already did on some single cores but i dont know, i think prices will rise.

[nn_step]

Patence is a virtue.. Might I advice you pick up an AM2 board with a Sempy.. it might not be Uber but it most definately will hold you over for a little while.