What's a good, cheap CPU?

[fastdude]

Look it up on www.cpubenchmark.net
Yeah, it's a bit faster, but it's still not nearly as fast as the Athlon IIs, Wolfdale Pentiums, Celerons, and Core 2 Duos, or even the original Core 2 Duos. You could combo a dirt cheap LGA775 mobo with a Core2 Duo E6600 (not to mention the Pentium E6600), and it would still be faster even if you unlocked the Sempron to a dual-core. All that to just save $20 over an Athlon II?

Yeah, I see where you're getting at. I could make him a nice Wolfdale 775 build for a decent price; the only problem is, 775 is a dead socket, unlike AM3.

 

[TrainTrackHack]

Look it up on www.cpubenchmark.net
Yeah, it's a bit faster, but it's still not nearly as fast as the Athlon IIs, Wolfdale Pentiums, Celerons, and Core 2 Duos, or even the original Core 2 Duos. You could combo a dirt cheap LGA775 mobo with a Core2 Duo E6600 (not to mention the Pentium E6600), and it would still be faster even if you unlocked the Sempron to a dual-core. All that to just save $20 over an Athlon II?

...yes, I'm aware of all of that, and even said I'd rather go for a dual-core.

Yeah, I see where you're getting at. I could make him a nice Wolfdale 775 build for a decent price; the only problem is, 775 is a dead socket, unlike AM3.

It's old, but not dead. Dead in the enthusiast market maybe, but for anyone looking for a nice dual-core setup (even quad to be fair) 775 has still got plenty of life in it and there's still plenty of offerings out there. I'd go for AMD for the lower price, though, and you'll be better off building an AMD system if you're looking to upgrade a few years down the road.

 

[spynoodle]

...yes, I'm aware of all of that, and even said I'd rather go for a dual-core.

It's old, but not dead. Dead in the enthusiast market maybe, but for anyone looking for a nice dual-core setup (even quad to be fair) 775 has still got plenty of life in it and there's still plenty of offerings out there. I'd go for AMD for the lower price, though, and you'll be better off building an AMD system if you're looking to upgrade a few years down the road.

Yeah, at this point Athlon II is probably the way to go. The Phenom II X6s will give you a nice upgrade path when you get way into the feature. My C2Q still isn't too shabby, though.