- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
You can't compare an AMD 754 to an Intel 775. The Intel system will be far better since the LGA775 socket is newer, by at least 1-2 years.
Besides, a socket 939 system using a 6600GT is about $900 on that site, while an Intel one without the graphics card is $800 - it'd be cheaper to go with the AMD, and even at the Intel systems' best they aren't as up-to-par as the AMD systems. The AMD's appear to be significantly faster as far as those barebones.
Why not build one from scratch? It can be pretty easy and inexpensive to get the parts. If you're on a budget you can get a socket 939 AMD64, Chaintech or ECS board, RAM, a PSU, decent graphics card, and all the rest you need for under $900. Probably even lower.
Like:
AMD64 3000+
Chaintech VNF4 Ultra Zenith
1GB Corsair Value Select DDR400
Antec 450watt
6600GT
Case [whatever you want]
80GB HDD
DVD+/-RW
Ultra-budget would be a Sempron socket 754 system, but an AMD64 socket 754 system is also pretty cheap.
PCI-express is good for future upgrades but AGP is about the same. I will say that there is about 20-30fps on higher end graphics cards that use PCI-e than AGP, but that shouldn't be a major concern.
At any rate, those two are very different. It would be more fair to you to compare socket 775 to 939 or socket 478 to 754. I'd go with an AMD system if I were you, considering that they are much more affordable than a comparable Intel system.
BTW - Intel 64-bit proc's are a fair amount more expensive than the AMD processors. In addition, going to Tom's Hardware Guide, tomshardware.com, you can see that the AMD dual-cores blow out the Intel ones. Not only in benchmarks - AMD runs at 55C, Intel at up to 70C.
[Edited on 6/20/2005]