Difficulty: Moderately Easy
Step1
Think about what you will be doing with your computer for the next 3 years. That is about the timeframe for machines these days.
Step2
If you are just using your machine for casual use, such as word processing, web browsing and the occasional card game, consider an Intel Pentium Dual Core or AMD Sempron processor. If you prefer Macintosh machines, look into an Intel Core 2 Duo.
Step3
If you are a middle of the road user, who likes all of the above things but also the occasional heavier game and multimedia use (i.e. pictures and mp3s), an Intel Quad Core would be better. The Quad Core is also great for heavy online multimedia games and heavier multimedia use.
Step4
If Macintoshes are your taste and you are a heavier user, the Intel Dual Quad Core processors can take care of all your needs.
Step5
If your budget allows it, try and spend as much as you can on the fastest processor. This is because technology evolves at a very fast pace and your machine will be able to keep up after a few years.
Comments
Heiroglyphics said
on 3/9/2008 AMD's best L2 cache speed doesn't beat Intel's best L2 cache.
Andlynx said
on 11/7/2006 You simply CAN'T say that all AMD processors are slow. Intel Celeron and AMD Sempron are value processors, but the rest of the AMD line is even faster than Intel's.
Anonymous said
on 8/8/2006 AMD is actually less expensive and typically perform better then Intel when going head to head. More companies are now starting to give the option of AMD processors.
Anonymous said
on 1/4/2006 Just remember - name brand is not always the best way to go. I built a gaming machine using an AMD Sempron 64 bit processor at 1.6 GHz. This thing rivals my friend's P4 3.0 GHz. system for about a quarter of the price. The more RAM the merrier, just be sure not to exceed the motherboards max RAM. As has been said before, BUS speed is also a key component to factor in.
Anonymous said
on 11/22/2005 Your computer is only as fast as the slowest part in it. Just as a slow processor will slow down a super fast video card, a slow video card will slow down a fast processor. Don't spend too much on one area of a computer. If you can afford it, spend money on a computer when building or buying it. I bought parts that were just under the best available for my computer. It has a P4 2.4GH processor in it. My girlfriend just bought a computer from Dell this year (2005), and it has a 2.8GH P4 in it and my computer is still much faster and more stable than hers. I know it is because her video card is not as good as mine is.
RAM is like gold to your computer )if you are doing anything beyond web surfing or word processing). If you are doing more than the web or word processing, you should have at least 512MB (I would recommend 1GB, but most people probably can't afford that). If you are low on RAM, an upgrade is usually cheap, and very easily done. Spend the money (if you can), the computer will last longer. Spread the money out among the different computer parts.