3200 vs 3500

vitec

Junior Member
Jan 31, 2005
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I'm planning to build a medium capability PC, on which I will mainly be playing RTS games at a moderate graphics capability. AMD is the way to go for sure (no-brainer I guess). And now it looks like Venice (RevE - thanks XBoxLPU) is the thing.

Assuming I have enough money to spend, should I go for the 3200 and spend the rest of the cash in graphics, RAM, etc. or should I opt for the 3500 (the difference is almost 80$) ?

Another thing, I'm a newbie and have never OCed. (yeah I know, didn't venture out with the old Intel P4 - 3 years now). From the link (forwarded by XBoxLPU) http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=127, the Venice 3200 can go upto 2.8 Ghz. Thats a lot. I guess I will stop at 2.2 Ghz, which should be 3500 territory.
 
Mar 19, 2003
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Personally, if I were going to buy an A64 right now, I would go for the (Venice) 3200+. It's cheap, and it overclocks well. Your extra $80 would be better spent getting a nicer video card or something, as you mentioned.
 

Tiamat

Lifer
Nov 25, 2003
14,068
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no, get the 3200+. It has a 10x multiplier and if you choose to overclock, this will be a sweet chip. You dont want anything lower than a 10x multiplier. Spend the 80$ on a Thermalright XP-90 and panaflo 92mm L1A, a nice fan controller, and have money left to roll around.
 

imported_rod

Golden Member
Apr 13, 2005
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Get the 3200+(2GHz), and spend whatever is left on graphics/ram. Then L8er on if you want more speed from the CPU, an OC to 2.2GHz should be easy (even with stock cooling), and 2.4GHz+ if you get some better cooling.

RoD
 

Joshua05

Member
Apr 22, 2005
31
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Originally posted by: vitec
Another thing, I'm a newbie and have never OCed. (yeah I know, didn't venture out with the old Intel P4 - 3 years now). From the link (forwarded by XBoxLPU) http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=127, the Venice 3200 can go upto 2.8 Ghz. Thats a lot. I guess I will stop at 2.2 Ghz, which should be 3500 territory.


Are you sure you want to attempt your first overclock on this chip? It can be kind of risky if you don't know what ur doing... AMD's warranty doesn't cover "OC's gone bad"... trust me...
 

vitec

Junior Member
Jan 31, 2005
21
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Thanks for the caution. Is OCing Athlon64 much more difficult for a newbie ?

Anyways I think the stock speed for 3200+ with a nice graphics card - like say the 6600Gt and 1GB of RAM should more than cover my needs.
 

Pr0d1gy

Diamond Member
Jan 30, 2005
7,774
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You don't need to overclock for RTS games anyways. Just get a 3200+ and let it run stock with the retail heatsink & fan or a cheap one. Don't waste your money on an expensive aftermarket HSF just for some RTS games. Hell my Dell Dimension 2400 could run all the RTS games so it's pointless.
 

imported_rod

Golden Member
Apr 13, 2005
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A 3200+ with a 6600GT and 1GB of ram will handle pretty much any game out today, including Doom 3, Half-Life 2 and Farcry. Games like WarcraftIII wont even use half of your CPU's or GPU's power. The only RTS that might starting utilizing some of that power would be the next "Age of Empires" when it comes out.

If you mainly play RTS, the 3500+ wont offer you anything extra over a 3200+. And you wont need to upgrade for a while yet. :)

RoD
 

Cheesetogo

Diamond Member
Jan 26, 2005
3,824
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If your happy with 2.2ghz, then get a 3000. People buy the 3200 for it's 10x multiplyer, but if you only want 2.2ghz, a 3000 should be easy to get to 2.4ghz. So, just get a 3000 which will be fine.
 

Cheesetogo

Diamond Member
Jan 26, 2005
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Originally posted by: rod
Get the 3200+(2GHz), and spend whatever is left on graphics/ram. Then L8er on if you want more speed from the CPU, an OC to 2.2GHz should be easy (even with stock cooling), and 2.4GHz+ if you get some better cooling.

RoD

People have been okay on stock cooling at like 2.8ghz, so I don't think he'll need new cooling.
 

vitec

Junior Member
Jan 31, 2005
21
0
0
Thanks for all the replies. The point I missed out earlier is that I'm mainly building this PC to play Age of Empires III, which seems to have graphics to rival HL2, Doom3 and the like. If 3200+, 6660Gt and 1 Gig of RAM can play HL2 decently then I don't need to look beyond. No need for OC either.

Guess I can always OC the chip if I need more juice in the future.

Any idea when will 3200+ Venice be available ? Remember seeing it being orderable sometime in May - Am I right ?
 

Fisher999

Golden Member
Nov 12, 1999
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Originally posted by: Fisher999
Originally posted by: Kensai
They're already pouring out right now, they'll be masses of them pretty soon.

The Venice core 3500+ OEM is available right now over here at NewEgg for $289.

OUCH !!!

The OEM 3500+ veince is now out of stock at NewEgg and they are showing a $26 HIGHER price for it - $315 now. I guess the "Venice" core is very popular right now !