Originally posted by: chari
Alright here's the deal
I have enough money to buy the new fx60 dual core processor. But im looking and I can snag the 4800+ dual core for about 400 dollars cheaper. My question is, is the fx60 worht the extra 400? Both are very nice processors..
I don't want to upgrade for a while so please let me know what would be the best idea..money is not an issue here...just wondering if it is worth the extra cash!
Thanks
Most people on this forum OC to save money. Some OC for fun. Personally, I've never cared about overclocking, as I don't have a lot of time to spend tweaking a CPU to get the performance out of a lower-end chip. Some people think that is foolish, but that is their opinion, and its' not their money. What free time I do have I like to spend doing things with my family and friends.
That said, the 4800+ is a great choice for gaming and other uses where you will be multi-tasking - its plenty fast for most of todays games, as many games such as Battlefield 2 and F.E.A.R. are "GPU bound". You can even game without worrying about a big system slowdown when Norton starts to defrag your hardisk(s) in the middle of a 64-player map in Battlefield 2. However, if you're like me, you can never have enough power (and of course your PC can never be fast enough).
As far as the FX-60 being "worth" the extra $400.00 "NO". The extra 200MHz won't really help you in games. The strengths of the FX-60 over the 4800+ are the 200MHz clock (again, won't really help in games too much, if at all), the fully unlocked (multipliers are unlocked both up and down. Really only useful if you plan on overclocking), and the power and speed you get without having to overclock, preserving your warranty and peace of mind. This is why I buy the FXs'. They cost too way much for what they are but I don't have to fiddle with overclocking them.
The truth of the matter is,
right now, the FX-57 is still the fastest CPU you can get for single-threaded performance in games,
but barely. If the FX-57 and FX-60 were the same price right now I would give up the 200MHz advantage of the FX-57 and go with the FX-60. Like I said, 200Mhz really does make much if any difference for gaming (I went from an FX-53 Clawhammer core with SSE/SSE2 instructions to an FX-57 with SSE/SSE2/SSE3 and the San Diego core with the improved memory controller and it was good for only about 7-8 FPS). Definitely not worth the performance, but runs a lot cooler and but a second core will pretty soon. I think dual core is the way to go now.
You are probably best served by getting the 4800+ and spending the extra cash on a better videocard, or if you are already getting a top-of-the-line card i.e. X1900XT/X or 7900GTX maybe you should consider a second videocard (ATI=Crossfire, Nvidia=SLI). As an owner of an X1900XT-X the price premium the XT-X commands over the XT is definitely not worth the money either, but I was an early adopter and wanted a lifetime warranty from a vendor I had used before. VisionTek was my choice but they only offer the X1900XT-X - no XT version.
Still, if that cash is buring a hole in your pocket and you
have to spend that cash on a high-end processor WTF - you can always get a (Socket 939) Opteron 185. Its' basically an FX-60 with the "up" multipliers locked. The Opterons are server/workstation chips, and as such they are typically more tolerant of higher temperatures and voltage fluctuation/changes. This makes the Opterons more stable. If you ever do want to try a little overclocking you are ready. The 185 is one bad ass chip! Link to AMD Opteron 185:
http://www.amdcompare.com/us%2Den/opteron/Default.aspx