i'm a bit for both camps, i've had intel chips ever since i've been building pcs due to their performance per pound. BUT amd seem to make upgrading easier, releasing new sockets less often and what not, im thinking of upgrading my 1156 rig right now and cant help thinking i should have gone for an amd when i bought it because i could have stuck in their high end chips straight into the motherboard, whereas now intel have abandoned 1156 =/
I have to build a low cost PC for girlfriend. I had considered AMD but I realised even their 6 core was losing out to the Intel dual core i3 2100 in many games benchmarks. AMD have been using modifications of old technology for a long time. For £92 I can buy latest intel tech which has advanced so much that it beats even first generation i7 extreme at 3.3ghz on some games. I'd have to be crazy to go with AMD.
You're wishing you made the wrong choice? The AMD is very old tech and can't compete with Intel. I had considered AMD for a HTPC recently but can get better performance from an i3 2100 than a 4 core or 6 core AMD. Sure you can overclock the AMD to some extent but it still doesn't compare to the sandybridge. AMD makes upgrading easier? Upgrading to old architecture yes. Intel don't always change their sockets in such a furious manner. Like you, I have 1156 but I don't wish I'd gone for the outdated AMD architecture. I have been considering for some weeks whether I should change to Z68 and an i5 2500k. I know from tests a friend of mine with P67 and i7 2600k that even at 4.5ghz his CPU uses much less power than my i7 860 at 4ghz. But you know what? I'm not gonna upgrade until next year because good as 1155 is, I want the next upgrade to be 22nm 3d transistors. Since I run x 2 560Ti SLI I would like to see the return of dual x16 PCIe. X58 is too old for me now so I hope it will come next year. Zotac may have something worthy of upgrade in future... http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/news/press-release/zotac-readies-monster-lga1155-motherboard/ You made the right choice going 1156 so don't make the wrong choice now
I for once prefer the hipster x86 alternative: Zet - The x86 (IA-32) open implementation! But seriously, I prefer AMD, because of compatibility between sockets and coolers (which usually means cost effective upgrades), and because of their new AMD fusion APUs: They may not be very fast, but power/performance (CPU+GPU) ratio is awesome.
I'm happy with my AMD chip at the moment. If you're on a budget, like I was, wanting to pick up a chip to do nothing but doss about on some games and have a little play with overclocks without the risk of throwing a brilliant yet pricey chip down the drain, then AMD. I once mocked people for buying AMD chips
I got my CPU on sale, and I got my motherboard for free and my RAM for $20, so it was a very cheap upgrade for me. With that said, I would have probably gone with 1156/1366 if I was buying everything myself/didn't get deals when I upgraded from my Core 2 Duo. I just hope AMD can come back a bit with Bulldozer soon >.>;
Personally? I'm Happy with AMD. I like the little Quirks in the chips, and the extra effort that I wind up sinking into them to Overclock them just that bit further. I'm not saying that AMD is anywhere near as fast as Intel, I just prefer the Green Team because it feels a bit more entertaining. And I'm anxious to see how Bulldozer will turn out, a serious shake-up would be nice, because this Phenom II at 4Ghz only just manages to come near a Wolfdalei7 920 at Stock Clocks. Still, Considering I got the processor for £70 on the side, out of a Budget of £300; I'm happy with what I had. Sandy Bridge was still too expensive at the time, so the end result is a system that's faster than my previous Athlon 64, and still familiar to me. I suppose that's part of it too; Familiarity. I could happily reel off most modern AMD products on the CPU side and estimate one to fit someone's budget, it's not something I could do with the Intel Products, even though they only have 6? Sandy Bridge Processors.