Originally posted by: Overkast
Well honestly, I've never overclocked or built my own rig before. This will be my first rig I ever build, and I was considering overclocking my processor for months. But then I started reading up on all these people who were overclocking their processors and the processor would die on them after like 6 months (probably due to exposure to excessive voltage over lengths of time).
I want my chips to last longer than 6 months because I can't guarantee that I'll be ready to buy an new processor in that period of time.
**Unless you feed your chip an absurd amount of voltage or do something silly, it will chug away long into its obsolescence.
OC'ing is great for peeps who don't mind abusing their CPUs and getting new ones like hot cakes, but that's not my style. I'd rather have my hardware last the MFG warranty's tenure IF NEED BE.
**Abuse? Hold on a second...if the chip runs 50% faster on stock voltage and maintains the same temperature as that of a stock chip, how is it abuse? How long were you planning to keep this P4, 12 years or so?
Also, I'd rather buy Intel than AMD because my rig needs be be both a workstation AND a gaming unit. AMDs are great for the gaming aspect, but working earns me money... thus it is the more important quality of the two for me. I believe Intel is the better choice for my needs (although I'm always open for a good debate!).
**How could you possibly suggest that an Athlon based computer would be an inferior workstation to a P4? What kind of applications will you be running? If it's no more than word, excel, autocad, and some engineering and rendering applications, AMD is a FAR better option. If, on the other hand, you plan on encoding divx 5 days a week while running photoshop and some sound editing while you're at it, the P4 may be the better choice. For gaming, it is very hard to beat an Nforce2/2500+ combination, AND you can save some money on memory. Even if you occasionally encode divx, the Athlon will get the job done. People seem to think that since they can afford the Mercedes of computer chips that they should just flock out and buy them. AMD is finally getting some brand recognition, but most people seem like they're stuck in the Endless Realm of Intel.
Also, Anandtech actually did an article on Mushkin L2 3500 DDR and discovered that it is actually the best RAM you can buy if you are NOT going to overclock your CPU. It had the higest performance ratings running at standard speeds pretty much across the board. This is why I chose the RAM I chose.