Quote:
Originally posted by SteveDallas
Oh, my needs are modest. I don't want to underbuy, but really we mostly just do web surfing, email, and light image processing, some of which results you've seen here. Though DVD burning s a tempting prospect as prices come down.....
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I have always used AMD processors because of the "bang for the buck" issue. Both chips have their strengths and weaknesses, which the Tom's Hardware review points out.
What exactly do you mean by "DVD burning"? If you mean simply putting a lot of data onto a DVD (such as backing up your hard drive), your CPU won't be much of a factor -- just the write speed of your drive will be. If you mean editing and burning home movies, that will require a good deal bit more CPU power, in which case you'd do well to get a mid-high end chip. If you mean copying movie DVD's, that is almost entirely processor-dependent, because you must decrypt and decompress the entire movie, do some postprocessing, then re-compress and encrypt it when written.
An Athlon 2500+ would probably be an excellent choice for what you describe, and the retail version (with heat sink and fan) is
on sale now at newegg. Even a 2600+ isn't that much more, but there's a big $ jump to 2700.