Pentium D vs. Athlon X2 vs. Core 2 Duo ... help please!!?

Question

Hey all! I'm looking for a new desktop in the $600-800 range and these 3 seem to be the main choices for processors. Alot of the bargain Dells have the Pentium D or Athlon X2 chips and pricier ones seem to use the Core 2 Duo. I know you can't compare clock speeds and stuff like you used to anymore, so what's a good way to compare them? Would I be OK with a pentium D or is that old technology? I'd be running a new computer with Vista and hope to get some years out of it. Also, from alot of what I've read heard, your RAM and video card may play more of a role in your computer's performance than small differences in processor specs.

Any info/advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Answer 1

Pentium D is old and slow BUT fast in producing HEAT. Athlon X2s are not as fast as C2D but are affordable and there are lots of good and affordable AM2 motherboards. C2D has been expensive but cheaper variants are coming out like the E4300/4400 Allendales. Now the new Pentium E2160/2140 that cost less than $100 are out.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/pentium-e2160.html
I'm about to grab one.

Answer 2

Well I'm a believer in getting the most longevity I can out of a computer.

With that in mind here are my suggestions:

1. Buy a fully upgradable PC. Don't purchase one of the very slim desk tops. If you want to upgrade video or sound cards etc., you are very limited as to where you can shop for and get the slim cards. Also, you should get a PC with 4 RAM slots on the Motherboard.

2. 1G of RAM minimum. Recommend 2G of RAM if you can afford it.

3. I would go with the Intel Core 2 Duo. It's the most current processor out there and everything I've read says that it is better than the AMD. Additionally, you'll be able to upgrade the CPU down the road if you so choose. The C2D's are all interchangeable with a 775 pin footprint. I'd recommend the 2.1GHz but go with the 1.86GHz if that is what you can afford. Prices have come down on the C2D processors. The 2.6GHz has dropped from $500 to $350 since December.

4. Video card must have at least 256M of RAM. 512M of RAM is much better but it is also quite pricy. 256M of video RAM (on the card) will do pretty much anything you want except the more extreme games.

5. If you are going to get a new monitor along with this purchase, I'd recommend that you shop online for one. Find one with a minimum of 700:1 Contrast Ratio. The lower the number (e.g. 500:1) the screen image isn't quite as sharp and you'll see some "saw tooth" on larger text fonts. I would opt out of the Dell monitor and use the money you save by doing so to purchase a monitor separately. There are a lot of good deals out there on monitors. However, if the monitor Dell offers is 700:1 minimum, I might opt for it in the pacgage. We have a Dell 19" flat panel in the family and it is a good monitor overall, but it is 500:1.

If you are looking at the Dell computers, I'd recommend that you look at the XPS line. They seem to be the most Vista ready models. The cases are full size and fully expandable/upgradeable. Plenty of USB ports front and rear. All in all and very good case with plenty of air flow.

Those are my thoughts. Hope this helps.

Answer 3

I am currently using Pentium D and it's working pretty good for me. It's fast enough for playing games and loading softwares but that also depends on how much RAM and what kind of graphic card you use.

If you're not going to use your PC for so much multimedia applications, Pentium D is a good buy. However, if you want the latest processor. Pentium Core 2 Duo is the one for you. It's way faster than Pentium D and since it's a fairly new technology, it's likely to last a long time. I am not familiar with Athlon X2 so I cannot advice you on that.

If you're looking forward to use the Vista OS, both Pentium D and Pentium Core 2 Duo are compatible but you still need at least 512MB of RAM (but 1GB is more recommended), and a DVD drive among others. Best to check www.microsoft.com and run the Vista compatibility software to see the other requirements.

If you plan to use your PC for running multimedia applications, I suggest you load up on the RAM (1GB would be ideal) and upgrade your video card (512MB, 128bit should be decent). Good luck and I hope this helps :)

Answer 4

Core 2 Duo is far superior to either Pentium D or Athlon X2. Its smaller, consumes WAY less energy, and produces next to no heat.

I have an E6300 right now, and non-overclocked it idles at room temperature (around 21 Celsius). Also, Core 2 Duo is not only faster than either PD or X2, its also tremendously more overclockable.

To put it simply, you can get faster performance out of a $120 Core 2 Duo processor than you can out of a $500 AMD chip.

The best way to compare the chip is by using benchmarks. A really good webpage that compares all processors side by side at stock speeds is http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.html

You can select what program you want to compare, and compare two processors you're looking at directly. The very first chart shows the E6400 trouncing the Pentium D 960.

So basically, if you can find it at the right price, Core 2 Duo is currently the only way to go.

Answer 5

Pentium D is alright!

sometimes when you want to go and buy a computer the salesman always help. What you can do is that write down the things you want to use for your computer: Fore example
1 playing games
2 surfing internet
3 typing work (for MS word , powerpoint outlook etc)
then your budget is between $600 - 800 which you can always get a good Pentium D or go for core duo - don't worry about the differences.

take the list with you to the salesman to the nearest shop and tell them that you are planning to buy a computer and these are the things i'm going to use and they will give you good advice.

Go to a few shops and see which one gives you a good deal.

Answer 6

Pentium D consumes heaps of power, and Core 2 is a new architecture that improves speed and consumes less energy. Athlon X2 architecture is no match for Althlons anymore.
So I suggest getting a Core 2 CPU from Intel wouldn't hurt because you don't have to deal with heat issues and electricity of the CPU consume.

Answer 7

just choose between the Duo Core and Athlon x2, never mind the pentium d.. its old... and i dont recommend DUO because it heat up so fast... my advice is that you buy the ATHLON then boost your RAM up to 1.5 GB or something... and video card with at least 512 mb... with these settings your PC can play any games, 3D or anything with FULL RESOLUTION!!! or if you're not a gamer type... this is very helpful because you can MULTI-TASK very much without hanging up especially that you said ur going to have a VISTA (w/ good multi task feature)...

it's true that it's a much help getting your power from RAM and Video Card than processor...

based on EXPERIENCE

Answer 8

if i were you i would pay the extra money to get an intel processor not an amd, i would also go with a core 2 dou not a core 2 quad because you will probably not need the quad core, i would buy the e8400 processor

Answer 9

go with amd i have 2 -one with 3800x2 one with 4800x2 and ialso have a pentiumd 805 amd out preforms on all levels core2 duo is a good chip but i seem to like amd better

Answer 10

well it really depends on what you are going to be using it for if your not a hard core gamer the Pentium D would be fine.