Thoughts? Facts? Please no bias. Also, if the AMD is not comparable what AMD processor is comparable? Looking for budget CPUs from newegg. Less than 100$ (Prefered less than 80$) With the system I plan to do DVD encoding some gaming. I like multitasking often playing a game, music, and Instant Messaging. Windows 7 Beta will be the OS of choice.
Based on what you have indicated, my advice would be "don't even bother looking at AMD." Based on my experience, an Intel CPU will eat AMD's (evenly matched CPUs of course) lunch for multimedia operations. I do look at the benchmarks, but based on the application I use, Intel is faster than a comparable AMD. I am running a AMD Phenom 9500, (2) X2 5600+ and an FX64 at home. When I need to convert a video file in a hurry, I take it to work and do it on my Core 2 Duo. There may be some more "scientific" opinions out there.
The Phenom comparison isn't entirely accurate. A Phenom 9600 should perform about the level of a 3.7Ghz Core 2 Duo (45nm) in a 4 thread environment. If the application doesn't support quad cores though, it's useless. As for the 4850e vs E5200, no contest. The E5200 will obliterate the 4850. The match for the E5200 is the Athlon X2 7750, which is around $85 last count. However, 1 for 1, the same-price Intel system will still beat the AMD, so I suggest you still go with the E5200.
