AMD A64 3700+ San Diego

[curtisbouvier]

Just curious as to how powerful this cpu is if you were to have an X1800 XT with 2 GB of Ram.

I have A radeon 9800 pro currently, clearly it's the bottleneck in my games, (3dmark 2006 score is 2600) if I purchase an ATI X1800 XT 512 MB, would I see a dramatic improvement in games, old and new? Or is the cpu not fast enough etc..

 

[JPH1121]

It's one of the fastest single core CPUs out right now. I don't think you can go wrong with it

 

[curtisbouvier]

Actually my bad, 3dmark05 my score is 2600, 06 wont even run, its all distorted in the first test and just reboots my machine on the second test lol..... Time for a new videoc ard eh?

 

[lopri]

The difference between 9800 and X1800 you'll see is night and day. For either GPU A64 3700+ should suffice to feed data fast enough. In a slight twist to the topic, I'd strongly suggest you consider 7900 GT or X1900 XT (or even X1900 GT). Check the latest guide on AT front page. I agree to it in that X1800 should be avoided at this point. Either you spend $50 more and go with X1900, or go with the 7900 GT. With the former, you'll get a better performance in current and future titles, and with the latter you can save some pennies and your system will be much cooler/quieter.

X1900 XT should give ~11K score in '05, and 7900 GT should give you ~9K.

Oh............ WAIT.......... 9800?! Isn't that AGP? My bad..

Forget above recommendations unless you're willing to do a whole remake of your rig. For AGP, the fastest you can go is either X850XT or 7800GS.

 

[Kakumba]

3700+ is a very nice single core, probably the best buy of the entire single core A64 line (I like the 1Mb L2 cache). A small overclock wouldnt hurt, but even at stock settings, it isnt exactly a bottleneck.

 

[curtisbouvier]

Your right about the X1800, might as well just spend the extra $50.00

But isnt it only like 25mhz faster?, not sure exactly, but wither way I will have to get what ever the VID-200-L06 water cooling block will fit on, as long as there isnt ram on the back side of the X1900 XT i should be alright.

 

[curtisbouvier]

comparing the X1900 XT to the X1900XTX..... what exactly are we gaining for $100 CDN... other than 25 mhz on the core and .10 on the memory, with water i should be able to run the 1900XT at the same or beyond the XTX correct?

 

[curtisbouvier]

******.... I don't have an LCD screen...lol

 

[lopri]

You're mixing things up.

X1800XT <-- Last generation
X1900XT <-- Current generation (625/1450, or something like that)
X1900XTX <-- Current generation (650/1500, or something like that)

Just go to the frontpage of AT. There is a video card purchasing guide for month.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Originally posted by: curtisbouvier
comparing the X1900 XT to the X1900XTX..... what exactly are we gaining for $100 CDN... other than 25 mhz on the core and .10 on the memory, with water i should be able to run the 1900XT at the same or beyond the XTX correct?

that is why I got the XT not the XTX - the extra cost wasn't worth it. And most XT cards will OC to XTX if you want

If you have a 9800 right now though, that is AGP. The X1900XT is PCIe. So you'd have to get a new mobo too to get that card. It is fast tho I have mine paired with a 3700+ that is OC'd to 2.86GHz. It runs everything smoothly.

 

[curtisbouvier]

I have an A64 3700 1mb Cache, with 2 GB Crucial Ballistix, 2-2-2-8 2T for stability.

AN ASrock Dual SataII, S939, which I bought specifically so I could upgrade in the future to PCI-E, (has both full AGP and PCI-E support) =]

I expected everything to run great again because of the CPU and RAM, while the 9800 Pro would still hold it's weight, I had no idea the 9800 Pro was that bad for the latest technology..

Last week I was on a Thunderbird 1.33 GHZ, with 1GB of SD RAM. So when I ran 3dmark 2005 with my new cpu and ram....I was like wow wtf, this cpu, doesn't seem to be crankin out the power like it should lol... Had no idea the 9800 pro was bottlenecking hard.

So with in the next week or so I'm gonna pick up a Radeon X1900-XT....... only problem is I don't have an LCD screen, Just an Old 19" Flat sony trinitron crt.

 

[m1ldslide1]

With the rig in the sig my 3dmark05 is 7390.

If you're really concerned about 3dmark or gaming performance, then an investment in a video card is far more important than CPU, even though the 3700+ is a great chip.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Don't worry if you only have a CRT. The retail boxed cards come with DVI to VGA adapters so you'll be able to use it. I'm not sure if the OEM does or not.

I'd recommend you get a good LCD at some point tho The ViewSonic VX922 is a nice 19" LCD, or if you like widescreen the ViewSonic VX2025wm is a 20.1" widescreen LCD. I have that one and I love it

 

[curtisbouvier]

I will be purchasing a 23" HD Apple Cinema Display with in the next 6 months. =D

 

[DerwenArtos12]

3700+ is a pretty good proc. Mine runs at 3ghz.