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I'm interested in building a new desktop soon and I'm evaluating my options, namely the choice of CPU.
CPUs like AMD's X4 630 are cheap, at 4-cores for $100. Plenty of selection for motherboards, even a choice between DDR2 and DDR3.
I'm also interested in encrypting my disks, which would make Intel's Clarkdale CPUs very appealing since they include new hardware AES encryption/decryption instructions. They also have integrated graphics included on the processor, which would suit my needs fine in Linux.
The downsides of the Clarkdale CPUs are that they're significantly more expensive than AMD's offerings. The dual core (4 thread) Core i3 530 will cost $123 according to Wikipedia. The i5 661 has the fastest graphics core, at 900 MHz, but will undoubtedly cost more than $200.
Now, if I didn't need to purchase a graphics card as well, $200 for a CPU might be OK. But I'm not so sure that even the i5 661 would be able to run the few games I play (In Windows, Day of Defeat: Source, Counter-Strike: Source).
I currently play them on a Turion ML-34 (1.8GHz, single core) with 1GB RAM and an X850XT. If I could be certain that the i5 661 would give me at least the graphics performance I'm seeing now, I think I could pick it, given it's other cool features, like hardware AES.
What do you guys think? Are there other options I should be considering?
CPUs like AMD's X4 630 are cheap, at 4-cores for $100. Plenty of selection for motherboards, even a choice between DDR2 and DDR3.
I'm also interested in encrypting my disks, which would make Intel's Clarkdale CPUs very appealing since they include new hardware AES encryption/decryption instructions. They also have integrated graphics included on the processor, which would suit my needs fine in Linux.
The downsides of the Clarkdale CPUs are that they're significantly more expensive than AMD's offerings. The dual core (4 thread) Core i3 530 will cost $123 according to Wikipedia. The i5 661 has the fastest graphics core, at 900 MHz, but will undoubtedly cost more than $200.
Now, if I didn't need to purchase a graphics card as well, $200 for a CPU might be OK. But I'm not so sure that even the i5 661 would be able to run the few games I play (In Windows, Day of Defeat: Source, Counter-Strike: Source).
I currently play them on a Turion ML-34 (1.8GHz, single core) with 1GB RAM and an X850XT. If I could be certain that the i5 661 would give me at least the graphics performance I'm seeing now, I think I could pick it, given it's other cool features, like hardware AES.
What do you guys think? Are there other options I should be considering?
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