Athlon 64 vs. Athlon XP

[FrustratedUser]

Originally posted by: bluewall21
Would you go SIS, VIA, or nVidia (with mild-moderate overclockage)?

I'd go nForce2 for a Barton. Not that I have any experience with any other boards.

 

[Zebo]

OC'ed to 3200xp? 2500 Barton no question. Only the foolish would pay 150% more money for ~20% more performance. Even at normal speeds the margins still favor the $75 1.83Ghz barton over the $211 athlon 64 just less so.

 

[AIWGuru]

Originally posted by: bluewall21
Would you go SIS, VIA, or nVidia (with mild-moderate overclockage)?

Nforce 2

 

[jwells777]

edit...just realized you were asking about boards for the AXP not A64

 

[Snaggle]

"If you plan to OC a mobile barton@2.4 - 2.5 will be roughly equivalent to an A64 3000 or 3200 at stock speeds for much less money. At stock speeds, the A64 owns the xp in every way but it doesn't oc well atm cuz no chipsets support agp lock yet. In a few months, there will be nforce 250 boards, via k8t800 pro boards, and new A64's with more pins and some minor improvements. Just a heads up."

mobile xp's only do 2.3 ghz at 400fsb(11.5x200);but can be overclocked much higher at lower fsb speeds...so the 64's will always beat the mobile xp...except in cost and fun value.

 

[SneakyStuff]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
Depends on the use of course. If it's to surf the web an XP 2500+ is fine, for Doom3 you want the A64 and a 9800 pro.

Why would you want a 9800 pro for Doom III? It's an OpenGL game, and the code has been specially tailored by Id to run better on nVidia based cards. But in response to the original question, I would get an Athlon 64 3000+, that is a very good balance between price and performance. And it will be more futureproof than an Athlon XP

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: SneakyStuff

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
Depends on the use of course. If it's to surf the web an XP 2500+ is fine, for Doom3 you want the A64 and a 9800 pro.

Why would you want a 9800 pro for Doom III? It's an OpenGL game, and the code has been specially tailored by Id to run better on nVidia based cards. But in response to the original question, I would get an Athlon 64 3000+, that is a very good balance between price and performance. And it will be more futureproof than an Athlon XP

Nvidia specific coding for Doom3 is like the same for DX9. It is to acheive similar performance/eyecandy as the Radeon.

 

[Bovinicus]

You should be able to make a pretty nice system with an Athlon 64 on that budget. If it causes you to get an entirely lower level video card, then it isn't worth it. Otherwise, you should be good to go.

 

[tenoc]

$100 monitor.

For that system?

 

[AIWGuru]

Originally posted by: sandorski

Originally posted by: SneakyStuff

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
Depends on the use of course. If it's to surf the web an XP 2500+ is fine, for Doom3 you want the A64 and a 9800 pro.

Why would you want a 9800 pro for Doom III? It's an OpenGL game, and the code has been specially tailored by Id to run better on nVidia based cards. But in response to the original question, I would get an Athlon 64 3000+, that is a very good balance between price and performance. And it will be more futureproof than an Athlon XP

Nvidia specific coding for Doom3 is like the same for DX9. It is to acheive similar performance/eyecandy as the Radeon.

I guess you havne't seen the benchmarks (which are in this thread)

 

[SneakyStuff]

yea, i saw the benchmarks, the 5900u destroys the 9800 pro on doom3

EDIT: I don't care what an old review says, Carmack said so himself, the game will run faster on nVidia based cards, how do you argue with that. He's the lead programmer.........

 

[AIWGuru]

Originally posted by: SneakyStuff
yea, i saw the benchmarks, the 5900u destroys the 9800 pro on doom3

EDIT: I don't care what an old review says, Carmack said so himself, the game will run faster on nVidia based cards, how do you argue with that. He's the lead programmer.........

I was quoting sandorski, not you. I'm the one who originally posted the benches...lol

 

[Maximilian]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
Depends on the use of course. If it's to surf the web an XP 2500+ is fine, for Doom3 you want the A64 and a 9800 pro.

I think he meant doom3 as an example of a game with high spec requirements and not to start an ATI vs Nvidia war.
But since its already in progress, Doom 3 is only one game!! the 9800 PRO is better overall than the 5900U
Nvidia fanboi: "HA meh card Pwnz urz @ d00m 3 n00l3"
ATI fanboi: "M1n£ Pwnz Urs @ Half L1f£ 2"
Also the 9800 PRO is better in many of the already existing games so overall its best HA!
GO ATI!!

 

[AIWGuru]

There will be a million and one doom 3 engine derivitives.

 

[SneakyStuff]

Originally posted by: AIWGuru
There will be a million and one doom 3 engine derivitives.

Yep, well put

 

[Maximilian]

Aw crud, i got a 9800 pro and feel bad now.
Why wont noone use the half life 2 engine??

 

[AIWGuru]

They will use the HL2 engine. Probably just not as much.
HL2 doesn't look as revolutionary as most people are expecting.
Doom 3 really, really does.
Much like Quake 3, I think this engine will get the most licences for its time.

 

[Maximilian]

Hmm well for the sake of my card staying a good performer i hope they do use HL2 engine. PCI-E ati cards will waste all anyways

 

[tenoc]

Hmmm.

So, nobody else finds it odd he wants to build a great system and view the results thru a cheapo ($100) 15-17" monitor?

 

[Monoman]

Originally posted by: tenoc
Hmmm. So, nobody else finds it odd he wants to build a great system and view the results thru a cheapo ($100) 15-17" monitor?

so, would you skimp on parts for the money to get a nice LCD? (IMO they are still to expensive) I use dual 17" LCD's at work and a 17" CRT at home and perfer the CRT over the LCD's. <-- they hurt my eyes over time and my ViewSonic Professiona Series CRT doesn't. It's all about preference... just like him, a $100 CRT is better than a $300 LCD

 

[bluewall21]

Actually, i was asking for A64 boards. And I would use a pretty good NEC that is on my current comp, I want the $100 one for my old one.

 

[Acanthus]

NV40 Release party is April 13th... R9800P might be a bad idea now.

Id use whatever clunker you have now just until Apr.13th and see how it pans out then.

 

[bluewall21]

Does the 2800+ have better value than the 3000+ (both Athlon 64)?

 

[Luthien]

Yeah, FX5950 is so overpriced it should be outlawed! I am stunned that it is priced so high. It should be around $200 by now and the FX5900 should be $150 or less. At these prices I expect the new NV40 to be around $900 bucks!!! If Nvidea doesnt wake up ATI is going to destroy them in sales no matter how fast their new card is.

 

[Regs]

I can tell you I upgraded from an overcloked 2500 w/ Kt333 to a A64 3000 w/KT800 and there is a world of difference. The memory controller fitted on the A64 was a very good idea for AMD to produce. I doubled my 3Dmark 2003 score, and I can now play games like Max Payne 2, C&C Zero hour, and others all on hi res without a hick up. I say its more than worth investing an extra 100-200 dollars. I also had PC3200 ram before I upgraded, so all I had to spend money on was the A64 and motherboard. Which was...300-375 all said and done.