Ben Pope wrote:

David Schwartz wrote:


"aether" wrote in message
roups.com...



Building a computer from scratch. It'll be built for someone who'll
use it for alot of things, but tilted in the 'gaming' direction.
Should whether the processor is 64-bit or 32-bit matter? If not,
when? If so, how so? In other words, should I go AMD or Intel? I
understand AMD is slightly faster for games, but what I'm more
interested in is the long-term utility of the 64-bit processor. By
the time 64-bit programming is mainstream, will whatever processor I
purchase be obsolete? I'd like for the computer to be functional for
at least two years, if not alittle longer. If I went 32-bit (Intel),
would it assuredly be obsolete, whereas with AMD not so much?


I would consider a processor with 64-bit support to be a slight
plus right now. At the moment, you're probably better off letting
64-bit CPUs drop the prices on processors without 64-bit support.
It's quite possible that by the time you want a 64-bit CPU for games,
the CPU you buy today will already be obsolete.



If you buy a socket 939 CPU and motherboard today, you should be able to
whack in a dual core CPU at the end of the year.

I suspect that the 939 socket will live for a while, with options like that.

Ben


And you believe this why? Any indicators that you can share by any
chance, or is it just a hunch? I went 939, though I don't have my CPU
yet, and I expect it to last a year maybe, but AMD has had a strong
habit of late changing pinouts like granma makes cookies and granpa
stinks up the room with cigars (At least my grandpa, who was a cool
dude, smoked stogies).