I need some help figuring out which CPU is the best for video/audio editing and playing games.
a)Intel P4 Processor 550 3.4GHz LGA 775 FSB800 1MB Prescott
b)Intel P4 Processor 640T 3.2GHz LGA 775 2MB Prescott
c)Intel P4 Processor 3.4EGHz FSB800 1MB HT Prescott

Both A & B have the following parts:
Memory: GEIL 1GB Kit DDR2 533MHz (GX21GB4300DC) Dual Channel
Motherboard: ASUS P5GD2 Motherboard
HDD: WD 160GB 7200RPM 8MB Cache Serial ATA
Video: Sapphire ATI X600Pro 256M DDR TV-OUT DVI PCI-Express
TV Tuner: LEADTEK TV2000XP EXPERT TUNER+FM+REMOTE
Power Supply: 480 Watt Thermaltake Butterfly Power Sup.Dual Fan + Cooler

B has the following parts:
Memory: GEIL 1GB(2x512) DDR 400 (GE1GB3200BDC)
Motherboard: ASUS P4S800 Motherboard
HDD: WD 160GB 7200RPM 8MB Cache Serial ATA
Video: ASUS N6600 GEFORCE 6600 AGP8X 256MB DDR TV-OUT DVI
TV Tuner: LEADTEK TV2000XP EXPERT TUNER+FM+REMOTE
Power Supply: 480 Watt Thermaltake Butterfly Power Sup.Dual Fan + Cooler

Should I think of whats powerfull today or think of the future when 64bit software and drivers are available?

Would an AMD Athlon 64 3800+ 939 Pins 512K L2 Cache kick Intel's ass?

Here is the system:
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3800+ 939 Pins 512K L2 Cache
Memory: OCZ 1GB Kit DDR400 CL 2.5-3-3-7 (OCZ4001024PDC-K)(512MBx2)
Motherboard: ASUS A8N-SLI
HDD: WD 160GB 7200RPM 8MB Cache Serial ATA
Video Sapphire ATI X600Pro 256M DDR TV-OUT DVI PCI-Express
TV Tuner LEADTEK TV2000XP EXPERT TUNER+FM+REMOTE
Power Supply 480 Watt Thermaltake Butterfly Power Sup.Dual Fan + Cooler

by all means go for AMD athlon. by the way 939 is the socket type not 939 pins.

this cpu will kick intels **** alright but it'll also run warm so make sure you've got some good cooling in your machine (4 fans at least)

have fun

Oh...im planning on having 3 case fans, 1 vertical fan and the Thermaltake Beetle which is a massive cpu cooling fan. Link is at end of page. the weird thing is that according to Tom's Hardware Guide CPU Charts....the only time the AMD kicks Intel's butt is when it comes to games. Every other time Intel wins and AMD is right behind......Why is AMD better than Intel...or the other way around??



Tom's Hardware Guide CPU Charts
http://www23.tomshardware.com/index.html


Thermaltake Beetle
http://www.thermaltake.com/coolers/4...e/cl-p0086.htm

Yeah AMD is the best for gaming but mostly not in other usage. If you use your PC for games most of the time you might want to buy from AMD.

I myself have Intel's 650. Im not a very big fan of AMD and at the same time I dont see the point in buying a CPU only because I like games. Especially that over 75% of my time on the computer is not about games. On top of that, the framerate difference of most games with my CPU and the AMD's competitor is less than 10fps.

A "939 socket", supporting a CPU with 939 pins!

That's not a very good indication of relative uses. The AMD64 chips outperform Intel processors of equivalent model in every respect, basically, other than those uses which can draw from the benefit of 'Hyperthreading'. Not all computing tasks actually benefit from that feature.

With the advent of the upcoming dual-core processor models, where the hyperthreading feature is no longer present, the architecture of the AMD64 will give a processor which outperforms equivalent Intel chips in all tasks. At that point in time AMD processors will be the clear leaders in budget, mid-range, performance and server apllications of all types.

ok. i never count the pins, i just go get what i want and put it all together.:lol:
im a much bigger AMD fan even though in this machine im running an Intel P4 1.6GHz.

in the other machine a nice size 2.8GHz AMD chip (well i think its a 2.8 anyway, i cant remember):lol:

gaming not a problem on either machine. both handle high performance games jsut as well as each other. I only play Sim City anyway.

I fully understand that AMD is the way to go if its purpose is to play high detailed games. But like I said before....I plan on using the computer for digitial video editing, graphic rendering, some digital audio editing and some games. The main purpose of this computer is to allow me to edit my projects at home instand of at school. That being said....Intel is for a wide varity of uses and AMD is mostly for gaming......right?

Athlon64 single core processors are only a bee's whisker behind equivalent single core Pentium processors for performance in such tasks. With the upcoming dual-core processors, the AMD will be better.

No, AMD64 is not 'just for gaming'.