Shopping Guide: Which Processor Should I Buy for a Desktop PC

Intel or AMD ? Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, Core Duo, Core 2 Extreme or Xeon ? That’s the first question in your mind when you are looking to buy a new desktop or laptop computer because processors, whether from AMD or Intel, are probably the most expensive part of any configuration.

For extreme performance, go with either Intel Xeon or Opteron desktop processor, loads of RAM (minimum 2GB of DDR or DDR2 memory) and graphics card from nVidia or ATI with at least 256 MB memory.

If you are looking to do basic email, spreadsheets, word processing (standard Microsoft Office), internet browsing – the 2-GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ or the 2.8-GHz Intel Pentium D 915 processor should be a perfect choice.

If you want to do higher end work (like video editing, Photoshop, gaming, multimedia etc) – you would need a dual core processor like the Intel Core 2 Duo chip or an Athlon 64 X2 processor. The best in the Intel Core Duo processor category is currently the Intel 2.93 GHz Core 2 Extreme X6800.

Current range of Intel Desktop Processors

Dual-Core Intel Xeon Processor 7000 Sequence
Intel Celeron Processor Family
Intel Core 2 Duo Desktop Processor
Intel Core 2 Extreme Processor
Intel Core 2 Quad Processor
Intel Pentium 4 Processor
Intel Pentium 4 Processor Extreme Edition
Intel Pentium D processor
Intel Pentium Dual-Core Desktop Processor
Intel Pentium II Processor
Intel Pentium II Xeon Processor