Computer CPU Question? AMD or Intel Desktop?

It depends upon how low you're looking to go on CPU price. The problem is that movie editing is a CPU-intensive task, so ultra cheap CPUs aren't a great choice for that.

In the very low-cost bracket (under $100) AMD processors are a great value. But once you get above $125, Intel rules. With the introduction of their Sandy Bridge processor line, they took away the bang/buck title from AMD.

The best low-cost processor is AMD's Athlon II X3 450 for $80. For movie editing you'll benefit from having a quad-core, so I suggest the Phenom II X4 945 for $110. But for everyday usage, Minecraft, web browsing and movie watching, the X3 450 is fine.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...

For a graphics card I recommend a Radeon HD 5570 for $60 (just $50 after rebate). It's good enough for light gaming and over twice the speed of $40 cards like the Radeon HD 5450.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...

Note that the rankings from cpubenchmark.net are NOT particularly useful, since they only measure how CPUs perform on synthetic benchmark tests, not real-world applications or games. Here's a direct comparison between the Athlon II X3 450 and Phenom II X4 940 showing REAL results:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/189?vs=80

The 945 I recommended is slightly better but that's the closest match.

AMD has excellent budget processors that beat Intel in the price/performance contest.

For your particular tasks, I like the new AMD Llano processor - $140 A8-3850. It has a good quad core processor and far better than Intel integrated graphics - so it can handle lighter games like Minecraft well and inexpensively. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...

Intel owns the high end performance market at the moment. That may change in the future, but for right now, extremely high cpu tasks (e.g. HD video rendering) really benefits from Intel's Core i7-2xxx line of processors.

Intel blows AMD away on the high end- AMD's top processors are roughly equivalent to the lower-end Core i7s. But if you want a good computer on a budget, you'll get more with an AMD processor.

For a comparable CPU you won't notice any difference between them.

Intel are way ahead of AMD in technology though. They have around 40 CPUs faster than the fastest AMD (AMD Phenom II X6 1100T)

AMD are developing a series of chips, codenamed Bulldozer, which are due to be released in the summer or autumn, that are supposed to give even Intel's i7 SandyBridge chips a run for their money. Then again, Intel's IvyBridge chips are due out sometime in 2012.

Because AMD always seem to be playing catchup, their CPUs are nearly always cheaper than acomparablee Intel CPU. The AMD Phenom II X6 1100T costs around $200, but the Intel i7 950 @ 3.07GHz is $270. So a computer fitted with a AMD should be slightly cheaper than one with an Intel CPU of the same capacity.

Take a look around at currently what's on offer for however much you want to pay. There's a good CPU comparison chart at CPU Benchmarks - http://www.cpubenchmark.net/ - that is generally reliable.

If you get a decent amd then you should be fine. They are about $100 cheaper and they function just as good.

If you have no budget, Intel, if your poor like me, AMD

amd is a bit cheaper but can give you about the same performance give or take one to five percent depending the rest of your system

Intel has more capabilities and widely supported by many programs/applications.

Builds I spec ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DSWuQoGZkg