[cranky]

1. AMDs have no heating issues any more. Not had any for the last seven years or so. Athlon onwards.

2. Currently the Intel i7s offer better performance. The motherboards and CPUs are more expensive. The i5 offer comparable to better performance and cost around the same as the FX. The motherboards are still more expensive.

3. The AMDs are very power hungry compared to the Intels. You pay less upfront, but more over time. About 15-20 watts more, so every 500 running hours you will pay about Rs 10/- more (cost of 1 unit).

4. AMD chipsets are far more loaded than Intels, and are cheaper as well, board for board. So you have to trade off something or the other.

5. Which Intel? For outright performance, the 2600/2700 (if you plan to overclock, the k-badged processors may be used. Do pick a board from the Z68 series and not the lower end boards.

6. Which AMD? Though the 8150 is their top processor, the 8120 is much better value. Plus the AMD's overclock like mad, so getting a 8120 to run at or beyond the 8150 speed should be no issue. At 4GHz, the significant (25% or more) cost saving over the 2600 is realised, and the performance is on par.

Power consumption is higher again, so do take that into account. For 8 hours x 5 days x 48 weeks operation with a 50-watt differential, the difference between platforms is about 100kw/h per year. At electricity cost of Rs 10/unit, that is about Rs. 1000 or so.

Do note that lower performance comes at a penalty beyond power consumption. A render that finishes an hour earlier gives you the capability to take on a new job an hour earlier. A faster production line is more expensive for a reason. You have to decide whether the savings you make affect your ability to deliver, and what balance you need to reach between production speed/remuneration/upfront investment/operating cost.

Good Luck.

[Thamizha]

My vote goes for Intel® Core™ i7-2700K. It is awesome.