AMD versus Intel: Which will be your next CPU?

My first several HTPCs were all AMD. Why? The main reason was always cost. AMD, for the most part, has won the bang for your buck contests since the XP days. That seems like ancient history today, though I am sure there are a couple of XP 2400+ HTPC still kicking around. Intel handed down the bitch slap with the Core 2 line has since continued CPU performance dominance over the last couple of years. Enough so that I even went Intel for my Homeserver and HTPC build.

AMD has fought back with it’s Blu-ray capable 780G chipset and we all know HTPCs really do not need the HP of a gaming machine, so AMD isn’t really out of the picture when possibly considering a Phenom X3 and a 780G motherboard. Of course Nvidia and Intel also have IGP’s that handle Blu-ray decoding.

So if you had to build an HTPC what would use now?

I would lean toward an Intel setup with a mid-range video card myself. I always like to have extra horsepower just in case something a little more intensive comes along and I have the CPU and video card to handle it. That adds around a $100 to the build total but it is a habit I can’t really escape. The video card upgrade cycle to try and remove stuttering has haunted more then one HTPC addict.

No need to be nice.. Here is your chance to lay the smackdown ;).

AMD Versus Intel! Fight!