why get an X2 when an Intel Core2 Duo is the same price but can severly out-perform?

Why get an nvidia when you could an ati?


Because I'll buy another ati for the rest of my life...same goes for Intel.

 

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There are many distinct differences over each, and you can't completely rule any one brand out. That's very closed-minded.


Companies make changes, adapt, etc. I don't know a single company that hasn't made at least one bad product. Doesn't mean I won't try them again later. I know for personal experience that companies can come back with better products and redeem themselves.


I've used both NVidia cards and ATI cards. They both make decent cards. I personally prefer NVidia cards from what I've experienced because the cards seem to be made a little better, and the drivers are generally more light-weight. That isn't to say that I hate ATI and will never buy them again. I've had issues with both companies before.


Same with with AMD over Intel. I've had CPU's from both. I was just about ready to buy another AMD X2 chip until I saw the benchmarking and read more reviews. I'm now planning on purchasing an Intel Core2 Duo instead. It is the same price as the AMD I was looking at buying, it has a lower power consumption, it can be insanely overclocked, and it runs really cool. The AMD I was going to get uses more power, can't really be overclocked safely without worrying about overheating and frying my chip prematurely, and runs really hot.


I do research. I don't let a biased opinion overwhelm the facts. I have nothing against AMD now either. One of my computers is still using an AMD. It is the 2nd or 3rd AMD I've had, or have made for someone else. I'm going to use the Intel because for what I'm doing, it seems like a LOT better choice. Currently Intel seems to have a leg up in the market. Doesn't mean AMD can't come back and make a better product for cheaper. If that is the case, then next time I'm looking to get another CPU, I might get an AMD instead.


But as to my original point, why get an AMD X2 when an Intel Core2 Duo runs better, cooler, and faster for the exact same price? As far as I can see, there are no unbiased reasons not to.

It ain't the computer, it's Decal.


I have a system that is WAY more than anything AC or Decal should ever need, and I have tried running it on 4 GHz, Dual Core systems with 4 Gigs of DDR2 RAM and an nVidia 9750 SLi card, and it still drives like a fat, bloated, sloth.


I mainly point that out for the OP's benefit, so he doesn't go out and drop $6500 for a new state of the art system and still see AC/Decal crawl. It's just the nature of the beast, until the Decal Devs can come up with something better. But to answer the OP's question, no, there really isn't another program alternative to Decal.

I'm very brand-loyal. I'll only uses Asus motherboards, AMD processors, and nVidia grapics cards (for starters).


I became that way the the hard way - after years of dealing with crap hardware, and then discovering which compnies put out a consistently superior product.


Computer hardware will always advance, and each company will have momentary advantages in performance over the other.


But I'll stick with my brands that have served me well, even if there is a few percent of performance hit (which is rarely the case with the brands I use anyway).

 

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I have found that brand loyalty might not be the best idea when building systems, AMD for example makes some really low quality CPUs.


I just ordered this system:


core 2 duo 2.4 Ghz 4mb cache

2 Gigs of 677mhz ram

raid 0 250x2 storage

geforce 7300, yes its sub par for the system, I plan to update to a 1gig ram card soon as they go below $350.

 

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Intel ftl

 

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nothing wrong with that 7300, just get another for like what 50 bucks? And then your close to a single 7600gs which will run almost any game really well.

 

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Just a heads up all, dual core won't make ac/decal run *any* better. The entire system is single threaded and will only ever be on one core at a time. The best you'll get out of a dual core system with ac is that winamp will run a lot more smoothly in the background...

Oh paradox, stop killing entire marketing campaigns with simple facts. People need to buy that stuff right when it comes out (and is still expensive) to keep the machinery running