Which should I go with?

[xer0]

Hello,

 

I'm looking at building a new system and wanted to make it as OS X friendly as possible. I plan on using OS X as my primary operating system while occasionally booting to Windows to play some CS.

 

The CPU doesn't have to be the fastest one out right now but I want to get a quality motherboard that can support more of a high end CPU when they either drop some in price or I can afford to pick one up.

 

If I go with AMD this is what I am looking at...

 

AMD X2 AM2 4200+ (65W)

Abit K9 Ultra MCP55

1GB Corsair DDR2-800

Asus GeForce 7300GT (only getting this because of no onboard video controller)

 

The total on that plus the case is almost $500, a bit more then I wanted to spend especially as I still wanted to pick up an M-Audio card as well.

 

This is what I could come up with for an Intel system...

 

Intel Pentium D 925 3.0Ghz

Intel DG965RYCK Motherboard

1GB Corsair DDR2-800

 

The total on that is approximately $425...even less if I go with a standard Pentium 4 650 instead of the dual core. If I do go this route I am going to eventually upgrade to a Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Quad. I just need a proc that will be powerful enough to run GarageBand, Logic Express, Photoshop, etc...without major slowdown for like the next 6-12 months.

 

Also I have heard some bad things about the Pentium D. Is this a decent CPU to go with for now or would I better off with a single core P4 while I save up for a Core 2 Duo?

 

Thanks

 

-Adam

[JonBOY]

I'd probably go with a Pentium 4 at this stage, like the P4 C530 that I'm running. It's 3.0 Ghz and 775 socket, socket so the motherboard that you get will be able to run the 775 Duo Cores down the track like you want. You could probably get a 3.0-3.4 Ghz P4 pretty cheap these days.

 

As to motherboards, I've been doing a lot of reading myself and I'm leaning toward a Gigabyte GA-965P-S3 board. It's got some nice specs and supports the Duo core processors whilst still letting you run the older P4s for now. Not everything works natively with the boards, but like almost every other board you just have to follow the guides to apply the fixes.

 

The intel board that you've listed though has very similar specs, and from what I've read intel boards have a better chance of achieving full native hardware support.

 

Other then that, check the compatibility list on wiki.

 

http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/HCL_10.4.8

[xer0]

I'd probably go with a Pentium 4 at this stage, like the P4 C530 that I'm running. It's 3.0 Ghz and 775 socket, socket so the motherboard that you get will be able to run the 775 Duo Cores down the track like you want. You could probably get a 3.0-3.4 Ghz P4 pretty cheap these days.

 

As to motherboards, I've been doing a lot of reading myself and I'm leaning toward a Gigabyte GA-965P-S3 board. It's got some nice specs and supports the Duo core processors whilst still letting you run the older P4s for now. Not everything works natively with the boards, but like almost every other board you just have to follow the guides to apply the fixes.

 

The intel board that you've listed though has very similar specs, and from what I've read intel boards have a better chance of achieving full native hardware support.

 

Other then that, check the compatibility list on wiki.

 

http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/HCL_10.4.8

 

Thanks for the response.

 

That Gigabyte board is looking awfully interesting although it costs more then the Intel board. Good thing I have a few weeks before I gotta make this decision. Although I have to admit I am a bit partial to matching Intel CPU's with Intel motherboards. I worked at a computer shop and we only used Intel motherboards so I'm very familiar with them. Definitely gives me something to think about though.

 

I actually was going through the 10.4.8 and 10.4.7 HCL's when I speced out the two systems. I just notice a lot of people talking about using the AMD Athlon64 X2 dual cores was wondering if they're really the better way to go. To me it looks like I'll get better performance in the beginning if I take the Athlon X2 4200+ system over the Pentium D 925 but once I go with the Core 2 Duo in 6-12 months I should be better off...especially as far as native compatibility goes.

 

I suppose I'm kinda nervous about getting the Pentium D. The reviews I've read haven't been great but I assume that it still has to be a LOT better then my current processor, a Pentium 4 2Ghz with 266FSB. The low end Core 2 Duo's are just a bit out of my price range right now but I really wanted to go with a dual core proc...the Pentium D just happens to fit in my pricerange.