If i had an unlimited budget i would go for Intel. More limited budget i'd probably go AMD.

I was looking at making an mITX form factor gaming PC using just the AMD APU (CPU and GPU single chip) A8-3870K. It wouldn't be able to handle really high settings but it'd be decent and small enough to carry around with ease.

The size of the case i was looking at is only 12.09" x 7.87" x 3.07" 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811144254

If i went with an intel i'd have to purchase a video card and might have to modify the case side.

Just processor is Intel, without a doubt, if you want high end.

But since your a bus boy at Dennys you can possibly afford a low end AMD.

If you want dual functions AMD has put GPU's on the processors, really good combo.

The difference between intel and AMD isn't as big as it used to be. Intel is still better, but as Gondor said; If you are on a budget AMD is probably the best option.
(http://tweakers.net/archieven/tag/best+buy+guide) check this out btw. It is dutch, but you should be able to figure out what it does =p

The gain of the intel processor is marginal, and it defenatly isn't worth the extre cash. If you want to give your computer a speedboost with "couple dozen/100 $" as East suggests, you're far better off with a good SSD. That's the true bottleneck right there..

If you've got an older PC/Laptop like i have you don't have to purchase a Sata 3 (6Gbps) SSD. My old Acer Laptop has a Sata 1 connector so i only get half of the potential of my Samsung 470 It's still way faster and snappier then a platter hard drive and the prices have come down well over time. The 80GB intel G2 drive i have cost $220 when i bought it. I got a 128GB Samsung for $150 more recently

I'd save money with an AMD processor and spend the extra money on a SSD and Video card. The Video card without the SSD even. Difference between a cheap video card and a good one is pretty drastic. I had an ATI Radeon 4670 and then i bought an ATI Radeon 5870. The 5870 was about 2x the price but so so much better. Not even close.

im pretty sure the 5870 craps 4670s... I didn't know they made non shitty amd/intel hybrid mobos... Since i have an AMD in both my desktop and laptop i'd side on AMDs side. At least they didn't blackmail companies into buying their product like intel did....

> Gondor wrote:

> im pretty sure the 5870 craps 4670s... I didn't know they made non shitty amd/intel hybrid mobos... Since i have an AMD in both my desktop and laptop i'd side on AMDs side. At least they didn't blackmail companies into buying their product like intel did....

If you like AMD and want to let some weird brand loyalty direct your purchasing decisions then that's cool, Intel still put out better cpu's and that's what i'll base my purchases on.

AMD have always made stupid decisions, for as long as i can remember. At least now they own ATI so they can get reamed in two different markets.

Ivy Bridge is supposed to be out at the beginning of next month but i don't think it'll be a substantial improvement over SB, i would still buy a 2500k.

AMD will continue to make x86 processors, but they're gaining a large share in the market that aims for products with a good energy economy. Their APU's seem to have quite an edge over Intel's, not in the least when it comes down to graphics. ARM is, by design, better at energy economy than a x86 processor, so it's quite normal they start to produce ARM processors as well.
It's true that they admitted they can not keep up with Intel in the high end segment of the market, but that doesn't mean they'll abandon the x86 in total..

x86 can be thought as 'long computer code processing' and ARM as 'short computer code processing'.

Honestly AMD's GPU's are the shining light where they have a chance to proceed. Baking them onto low power x86's was a good idea.

Kinda scary that many are considering using the GPU as the primary processing unit.

I agree with Baratheon completely.