first of all someone asked me to build a daw for the cheapest possible price i could,i did it under 350(sales and rebates)
before giving the customer his computer back i bench tested it against the Quad core,I3,I5 and I7.
i was quite impressed by the results.
what was even more staggering was the price hike.
Intel is through the roof IMO.
After reading an article by Cakewalk Chief Technical Officer noel brothwick
on AMD 8 core bulldozer i was turned on by AMD and how they had changed from (only my opinion) junk to really good CPU's
the difference between the Bdozzer and the phenom 2 Blk 6 core was relitively close in comparisine.
ive also been very lucky,there are people here on the forums with real issues,im not about to go out on a limb and say ive had better luck with AMD than i have intel.
i will just say ive been fortunete with the AMD set ups
ive also used an intel I3 4 gigs of ram on sonar x1
an intel I7 with 12 gigs of ram
an AMD phenom 4, 6 and 8 core CPU(at different times)
honestly,i havent had many issues.
but better luck with the AMD.
my problem has been more with software,never a system related issue.
when x1 was first released i was ousing an intel I3,had some problems untill ther 1st patch came out.
id be glad to give you a free copy of the book if you'd like,
it will hold your hand through the whole build of the AMD phenom-8gb.
the soundcard.youll have to chose wisely to your needs.