Now a days, computers and other electronic devices get outdated rather quickly. Gone are the days where you would purchase a computer and have it for 5 years. I am the proud owner of a Dell Inspiron 1520 which was a really good laptop back in the day. However, it seems that its days are numbered and I am in search of a new machine.

I am thinking of purchasing a desktop computer because I require a lot of processing power. With that said, I am at a cross road between AMD (my favourite processor brand) and Intel. Which one do I choose?

My neighbour has a computer with a Phenom X4 running at 3+ GHz coupled with 8 gigs of ram and some nVidia video card and his machine has virtually no slow down. And that’s what I desire. He runs Need For Speed: The Run, FIFA 13 and an HD movie simultaneously.

I figured why not get the same set up for my machine but when I checked Tigerdirect I saw newer processors: AMD FX 6 and 8 core processors and the famous Core i7 series. That got me thinking. Which one is more powerful?

After reading a few articles and looking at benchmark scores on various websites, the Intel Core i7 series is by far the better processor. But at a substantially higher cost than the AMD processors. Also, the i7 uses less power than the AMDs do. But in this tight economy of Dominica, price is almost always the determining factor.

So I am left with a decision to make: do I get the “better” processor or go with old faithful? After seeing the Phenom X4 in action, I can only imagine how much faster the Core i7 processor will be. Perhaps I should view some more benchmark scores and read more comparisons in order to make a decision. I will keep you updated when I choose.

Tags: computer