1. Part 1: Knowing your CPU, find out the factors that affect its performance
2. Part 2: Intel vs AMD, which is better

There is no such thing as the “best” in CPU. What may seem the best for a casual user maybe mediocre for a hardcore gamer. For a gamer, you don’t want to have a CPU that is only good enough for word processing. What you really want is one that has a great deal of power to run the latest games out there. On the other hand, you won’t want to break the bank just to get the highest-end CPU in the market. They are often very expensive and and is ways ahead of the software technology. The more important thing is how you can strike a balance between performance and price. Here are three steps to choose your CPU.

1. Determine your budget

The last thing that you want to do is to max out your credit limit to get the most expensive CPU out there. Before you even start shopping, first determine how much money are you willing to spend on the CPU. While there is always a CPU for almost every price range, you may want to set aside about $150 – $200 for a decent CPU, and more if you are getting one for your gaming PC.

2. Select the brand

Choosing either a Intel or AMD CPU is really based on one preferences. Many benchmarking reports have shown that Intel scores better than AMD in term of performance and heat generation, but it is more expensive. If you are low on budget, you may want to choose AMD CPU since it costs at only 3/4 of the price of a equivalent Intel CPU and still give you the performance you want. Gamers may want to consider getting the AMD and ATI cpu/graphics card combination.

3. Select the model

When choosing the model, focus on the number of cores, L2/L3 cache, speed, and price. Check out forums/review/benchmarking sites to see how that particular model performs. If you are upgrading the CPU for your existing system, make sure the CPU uses the same socket as the one in your motherboard.

How to Save Money When Buying A CPU?

If you don’t have $1000 to throw around on a processor, that’s fine. There are many processors of different price range and you don’t necessary have to get the most expensive one. Here are some ways to save a few bucks.

Buy the next best processor

You don’t necessary need to get the latest processors in the market. More often than that, they are expensive and the support from other hardware is also not mature yet. You can easily save quite a bit of money simply by getting the next best (or the third best) processor.

Get a AMD CPU

For the same specification, AMD CPUs are generally cheaper than Intel CPUs. While many benchmarking reports have shown that Intel CPUs are better, the truth is that the differences is too small for you to notice.

Our recommendations

Intel: Intel Core i7 Processor i7-930 2.80GHz 8 MB LGA1366 CPU

This Intel processor features a quad core of 2.8GHz chip and a 8MB of L3 cache and is one of the popular CPU around. It uses the LGA 1366 socket.

AMD: AMD Phenom II 1090T Black Edition Six Core Processor

If you think quad cores is powerful, wait till you have tried six cores. This most popular AMD cpu features a six-core 3.2GHz chip and a 6MB L3 cache. It uses the AM3 socket and supports DDR3 RAM.

This comes to the end of this complete guide to choose a CPU. If you have any comments, opinions, questions or even doubts, feel free to leave your comment below.

Related Posts:

• How to Add More Memory to Your PC
• Hardware CPU Guide Part II: Differences Between Intel and AMD CPU
• Hardware CPU Guide Part I: Factors That Affects a CPU’s Performance
• Everything You Need to Know About Windows Drivers [MTE Explains]

1. FeedDemon

FeedDemon is an application, made for the PC, created by the people behind NewsGator. It has numerous functionalities that will help enhance your RSS feed management.  It has the basic layout: All Subscriptions, Unread Items, Starred Items, Shared Items, and tags.

During the installation, users are able to sync the FeedDemon with their Google Reader, if they choose to.

They are also able to decide if they want to allow FeedDemon to add default feeds, which is useful if you do not have any subscriptions. Another useful option is the ability to import subscriptions from Bloglines, OPML file, RSS Bandit, or a Windows Common Feed List.

There is also a featured called “Watch,” where you are able to add keywords. Whenever one of your feeds has one of those keywords, the folder is smart enough that it contains it. If you want to remove posts, you are able to do so using the Cleanup Wizard.  It allows you to remove them by date, number of items, and folder.

Other useful features are desktop alerts that are customizable by time and feed; ability to share with other people specific items; and the fluidity with Internet Explorer.  If you want to choose another browser, you can always open links outside of FeedDemon.

It’s definitely a great RSS Reader with tons of functionality, which is especially useful if you have tons of RSS feeds, like I do.

2. Feedreader

Feedreader is a simple RSS Reader that does not have the number of features that FeedDemon, but it does what it sets out to do.  The layout is very similar to FeedDemon, which has your subscriptions, unread items, and starred items.

If you want to import your Google Reader (or from another service) items, you can do it by uploading the OPML file and picking the feeds to import in. Feedreader allows you to add default feeds to get you started.

There is this useful feature call “Rating” that you can turn it on. When it is on, Feedreader will monitor your behavior and suggest items that you might find interesting. If you do not want a keyword to be used to make these suggestions, you are able to blacklist it, so that the application doesn’t take it into account.

It also has desktop alerts that summarizes the unread items for each feed.

This is definitely an useful RSS Reader if you are just looking for simplicity.

3. Snarfer

Snarfer is a robust RSS Reader that really uses Google apps. the layout is just like the other two RSS Readers.

It is very similar to the other two that it allows Snarfer to import default RSS feeds to start off users that need the assistance. After you select the feeds you want, you are able to place them in preexisting folders or folders you have already created (or imported).

If you don’t want to put your feed into one of the folders listed, the application should give you the option to create a folder. Users are able to add two plugins: Google Reader Synchronization plugin and Google Reader plugin. These allows you to import and sync your feeds you are maintaining in Google Reader, and the ability to share interesting items with others. Snarfer even has a Google translate function, so you are able to translate feeds from one language to the next.

Snarfer also allows you to do three types of searches: ebay, keyword, or web. If you want to monitor items that you bid on Ebay, you are able to do this using Snarfer.

Like FeedDemon, you are able to watch certain keywords, and whenever it comes in, Snarfer automatically adds them to a “Watch” folder. You are also able to search by web sites. It really takes searching to another level. Snarfer is the most visually-pleasing RSS Reader of the bunch. Additionally, it has great plugins that enhance the reader even more. However, needing to add plugin, whereas with others, it is already built-in the app, is an extra step that isn’t needed. It also doesn’t have desktop alerts, which can be useful. Overall, it’s a nice RSS Reader application.

Which RSS reader do you use on your PC?

Image credit: dwingdwang01

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