Not in Skyrim. AMD are great chips for multi-threaded tasks - my last computer was an AMD. But for Skyrim they are significantly slower than recent Intel chips, even taking account of the price.

AMD processors are great value. I almost bought one last year, as the Phenom II X4's were the best value at the time. Then Intel Sandy Bridge was released, and absolutely demolished the competition. The 220$ i5 2500k is still among the 5 best gaming processors out there, and it is now a year old. I would still recommend AMD's cpus that are under 150$, but in that price range some of Intel's newer i3 processors are also an attractive choice for gaming and HTPCs.

It's a different story when you start looking at home servers and CAD machines and so on. The AMD 1100t is half the price of most i7's and offers similiar performance for some tasks. But we are talking about gaming, and the OP can afford a powerful processor.

Edit: Wait... "Laptops are just a waste of money"? Are you just trying to troll us with slightly controversial opinions that have nothing to do with the subject? I don't get it haha.

@Metalpunks - You may want to keep using an xbox 360 controller for a lot of pc games, especially those that were also released for console. Any wired 360 controller will work with windows. Good choice with minecraft btw

Being a system builder/manufacturer dealing with numerous different designs and building some systems to customer spec even against my recommendations WITHIN reason (as i refuse to build a machine i know is going to have issue)... I WAS exclusively using AMD processors for several years simply because they were right in line with intel's offerings and quite often beating them.... however since the launch of the core 2 duo... amd has been struggling to match it in every arena....

The introduction of the phenom proved to be.... unfortunately, a good start to coming up.. but it hasn't improved... the numerous amd failures with the launch of a new design.. basically 2 in a row of major chip changes... had really hurt them.

The latest offering is another great start to catching up.. but it still falls just short of the comparible offering from intel. I just can't wait for AMD to blow the doors off intel like hey did with the first offerings of the x64 amd chips.

I'm looking through this thread and really not liking all the AMD "bashing" but I know I won't get anywhere trying to disprove those saying negative things about the brand.
AMD has it's merits. Right now their Llano mobile processor (APU) is an amazing little thing, however It's not getting the attention it deserves.
For those into this sort of thing it overclocks really well. Not many processors can double it's default clock speed without any modifications.
But I'd just like to say AMD are onto a good thing with integrating some powerful graphics processors into their CPU's.
It's a step in a direction I'm really liking since it helps secure budget range while remaining powerful with just even a modest additional gfx card for cross-fire for games that support it.

You don't seem to be interested in a laptop, so I'm sure you'll be happy with the suggestions you've got here so far.
Have fun with your new PC, don't wait too long, it won't benefit you as much as you think.
You can build a good PC for 1000 USD easily to play this on Ultra. No reason to save up more just to put some ultra powerful gear in there.

Spend 250$ on an AMD and then an Intel Processor: Which one plays Skyrim better. Yah, that's why we're bashing AMD in a thread about buying a computer to play games like Skyrim. Read into it no further then that.

Yeah no bashing here, just trying to recommend the best equipment for gaming within a given price point

I even recommended an excellent AMD processor earlier when the OP was thinking of upgrading their current computer.

Looks like we have gone so far off topic as to be moved into another forum. Let us know how the build goes Metalpunks!

This is really confusing sorry. I want all of your input and my friends but it seems everyone has different opinions. I guess that's with everything in life. I'm gonna wait a few morse months that way I'll have 2000 usd and I can get a decent computer. I'm gonna research and learn all I can then form my own opinion and buy from that. That way I can only be mad at myself if I screw it up.

I think with spending a few months learning everything I can I should be educated enough by then to at least know what people are talking about. One thing is that I can't wait to say goodbye to consoles.

http://www.tomshardware.com/#redir is a great resource for learning about what parts you will need. They publish articles every couple of months comparing cpus and video cards specifically for gaming.

This is a great and up to date guide: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i5-fx-6100-overclock-benchmark,3099.html

Expect them to publish new info in the next couple of months, since a new generation of video cards is just being released.

I have done that. My Intel based laptop that cost me twice (18 months ago) as much is far less powerful than the AMD based one I'm using now because I can actually overclock it.
The AMD also still runs cooler while overclocked than the intel even though I've done no overclocking or mods to the Intel.
Everything is relative of course since I didn't get them at the same time. However I'm far happier with my AMD laptop, than I ever was with the Intel one.
I've never had good experiences with Intel, it's always cost me more and I've been unhappy with it's performance, even on ones I could overclock (in the past), compared to an AMD I got next time.
I like AMD, purely because they've never disappointed me, I can't say the same for Intel.
Everyones experiences is different.

Laptops are an entirely different world....

I'm not talking about laptops.. i know for a fact that ATI/AMD's fusion CPU solution are stellar.. HOWEVER they still aren't as good as descrete setups...

cpu's are decent... but we really aren't discussing laptops due to what he's looking for and what is the best bang for the dollar not to mention the most flexible and powerful. You cannot get a laptop to remotely come close to touching a modern PC without having to spend thousands upon thousands to match a fairly cheap desktop counterpart. you just can't. Ontop of it, your still limited by a laptop in which replacement parts and do it yoursef situations are also mostly impossible...

laptop lifespans are considerably shorter too. So what's the point side from having portability, of getting a laptop, specially for gaming.

This is one of my first questions i ask customers..... do you REALLY need to sit on a couch and play while watching tv? Is it worth the additional potential headaches and not to mention cost?

You don't need $2000 for a "decent" computer. $600-800 will get you a decent computer, $2000 will get you a beastly rig that will run anything.

It sounds like you're judging solely on brand, rather than the actual models. The two brands are in competition, sometimes AMD comes out on top, and sometimes Intel does. At the moment it seems like Intel is the way to go.

i would buy a gaming pc in preparation for future games, skyrim is not the most demanding game out there today and the technowledgy thats coming in the next couple of years will quickly leave a gaming pc built to around running skyrim's specs will be obsolete.