Athlon X2 4400+ or Athlon64 3200+

[SVT Cobra]

Originally posted by: Otter

Originally posted by: richardrds

Originally posted by: wyrmrider
LOL, Looks like those a$$holes at Edge Tech stole the results from Zebo's RAM thread almost word for word and are taking credit for the research. What a bunch of idiots!!!!!! 🙁 🙁 🙁

That's clearly Zebo's work, but did you notice the "submit article" menu button? There is no byline, but maybe Zebo uploaded it himself.

I asked Zebo himself for his permission, plus his credit is given right in the article header...I would never steal wrok as you accused...

anways I would say if you can afford it, the X2

 

[imported_Otter]

It might be better if the author's name was always shown when an article is displayed. Otherwise, people linking directly in from elsewhere won't know who wrote it.

 

[Diasper]

Unless you really need the dual-core abilities do not go for it - really. It's way overpriced currently. You'd do better to wait until prices come down and its even started being made on the 65nm process allowing overclocks - if i understand they should move to 65nm in early 2006 when fab 36 comes up - perfect timing with prices.

From another post I made of a recommendation guide:

Best bang/buck while retaining high performance and future upgradeability (Barebones)
eg you have $2000 but rather than spending that all now we work how what is the maximum that money in the long run . So this means having a speedy enough machine to fit needs now but also into the future by allowing good upgrade paths.

CPU AMD64 3000+ Venice as the cheapest CPU that can overclock well - reports seem to indicate that it overclocks easily to 2.6+ghz on air. Other Venice chips typically score about the same so it is not worth spending 50% more etc on less than 20% difference.

Upgrade To dual-core later on when prices have come down say in about a year. AMD might also be offering 65nm dual-cores by then allowing for even greater overclocks than currently on the X2 - perhaps more cache might be added as well with the smaller process. Either way price, tech and timing (for games coming out) it would provide far better timing/cost.

Motherboard DFI Ultra D because of it's excellent quality build, overclocking options including the ability to handle high overclocks well. Moreover, it can be very easily modified to SLI and so retain great flexibility if so chosen.

Upgrade possibility With a second PCI-Express slot available it should allow you to include a PPU at a later date as you may wish to (Another reason not to spend all your money now). Certainly the PPU is extremely promising technology and may be of far more benefit to systems in the future over CPU upgrades.

RAM Crucial Value sticks (2x 1GB) - Ultimately you'll want 2GB for the latest and greatest (Longhorn will probably benefit from it) and given RAM prices now is an excellent time to buy. As for choosing Crucial Vale 1GB, the reasons are because they are speed-binned Crucial Ballistix 1GB sticks. This means many people have been able to get 250mhz or very close to with 2 sticks at 3-3-3 timings. Dual-core will no doubt benefit from it - certainly 4 sticks is not the way to go as the memory controller is unlikely to take well to handling 4 sticks at 2-2-2 and 250mhz - in fact it won't.

Moreover that 2T timing will take away from bandwidth alot - while that matters less for single -core who don't need much bandwidth this may be far more significant with dual-core which will inherently demand greater bandwidth - either way why chance it. More can be read here. As for timings and their relative importance check Zebo's guide. Still if you want the best sticks Crucial Ballistix 1GB are the best you can do where some people even hit 2.5-2-2 @ 250mhz which is in fact at low voltages so the RAM won't need active cooling or risk shortening it's life.

 

[thilanliyan]

Originally posted by: Diasper
U RAM Crucial Value sticks (2x 1GB) - Ultimately you'll want 2GB for the latest and greatest (Longhorn will probably benefit from it) and given RAM prices now is an excellent time to buy. As for choosing Crucial Vale 1GB, the reasons are because they are speed-binned Crucial Ballistix 1GB sticks. This means many people have been able to get 250mhz or very close to with 2 sticks at 3-3-3 timings. Dual-core will no doubt benefit from it - certainly 4 sticks is not the way to go as the memory controller is unlikely to take well to handling 4 sticks at 2-2-2 and 250mhz - in fact it won't.

Moreover that 2T timing will take away from bandwidth alot - while that matters less for single -core who don't need much bandwidth this may be far more significant with dual-core which will inherently demand greater bandwidth - either way why chance it. More can be read here. As for timings and their relative importance check Zebo's guide. Still if you want the best sticks Crucial Ballistix 1GB are the best you can do where some people even hit 2.5-2-2 @ 250mhz which is in fact at low voltages so the RAM won't need active cooling or risk shortening it's life.

I can't seem to find Crucial Value here in Canada. Only Ballistix and they come in 1gb sets.

 

[Shimmishim]

look for corsair value ram as well... 1 gig for around $80 US ... dunno if it's available in canada though

 

[richardrds]

Originally posted by: Son of a N00b
I asked Zebo himself for his permission, plus his credit is given right in the article header...I would never steal wrok as you accused...

Originally posted by: Otter
It might be better if the author's name was always shown when an article is displayed. Otherwise, people linking directly in from elsewhere won't know who wrote it.

Yep, that is what i did, so i did not see the credit going to Zebo. Sorry Son of a N00b for accusing you of stealing Zebo's research!!!

 

[SVT Cobra]

Originally posted by: richardrds

Originally posted by: Son of a N00b
I asked Zebo himself for his permission, plus his credit is given right in the article header...I would never steal wrok as you accused...

Originally posted by: Otter
It might be better if the author's name was always shown when an article is displayed. Otherwise, people linking directly in from elsewhere won't know who wrote it.

Yep, that is what i did, so i did not see the credit going to Zebo. Sorry Son of a N00b for accusing you of stealing Zebo's research!!!

np, i understand why you did...yes i will add author's names to the article...I have not done it yet becuase I am still Photoshopping article headers, and have not decided on the best one yet...

 

[imported_Kensai]

X2 hands down.

 

[Griffinhart]

I'm late to the discussion, but..

I'm a X2 4400+ owner. The Dual Core will be more expensive, but, it's worth it IMHO. In single threaded applications the X2 wil lbe faster than a 3200+. It also handles Video Encoding better.

I use my PC to convert MS-PVR (media center format) Recorded TV files to AVI. They take quite a while to convert. When the PC isn't being used it gets done much faster due to the second core. Alternatively, I can and have let a conversion run just fine while playing Battlefield 2 with no problems at all.

Being able to kick off a video conversion without losing the use of the PC for other things is just too usefull IMHO.

 

[SVT Cobra]

what did you get OP?

 

[Soccerman06]

If you really want to wait just a few more weeks (less than a month, if that) the 3800+ X2 will come out and cost around $340. There might be a 4000+ X2 with 1M of cache for something like $400. I dont know if there is a 4000+ X2 but considering the whats out now, its not out of the question.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: Hacp
Another option is to build another cheap cpu with the $450 US you save. Like a low end sempron,soso mobo,integrated video, etc. Overclock it and have it do video encoding while you use your main computer with the 3200 for gaming.

That's what I tried to tell a friend to do, or wait for the x2, but instead he built a dual Opteron system. He's been fiddling with it to get the overclock better and it has taken him so long that now the x2 chips are out and he spent more money on some Opterons, registered RAM and an expensive Asus duallie board with PCI-E than he would have on getting an x2.

 

[MegaWorks]

It's sad to see that people favour the DFI over ABIT, in the last 5 yrs ABIT was the best overclocking brand you could buy and they're still the best in overclocking to my eyes.

Get the ABIT AN8 Ultra best nForce 4 Ultra borad out there. :thumbsup:

+ the X2. 😉

 

[thilanliyan]

Originally posted by: Son of a N00b
what did you get OP?

I ended up getting a dual XEON 2.0 with HT for like $300(Canadian). It's blazing fast (relatively speaking for me) and does the encoding pretty well.

I'm about to get an ATI X800XL but I have one question. WIll the X800XL be bottlenecked by the XEONs (the Tyan m/b has an AGP 4X slot only)? Unfortunately I can't overclock the Xeons because the Tyan motherboard is using an HP bios and when I tried to flash to a Tyan bios, it wouldn't actually flash.

I'm gonna wait until early next year to see what Intel offers based on Yonah, then decide between an X2 or whatever Intel has to offer. If Intel doesn't get their act together and offer something better, I'll definitely switch over to AMD. I'm a little hesitant to go AMD right now since they will be switching to a new socket next year anyway, and also because the X2s are bloody expensive.

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: thilan29
On a side note, will I have to switch to Windows XP Pro if I go dual core? Or does Win 2000 support dual core? My extremely tweaked win 2000 is pretty snappy right now so I don't wanna mess with that.

Win2K pro supports 2 CPU's, server supports 4 and advanced server supports like 8+ or something. but either way as long as you are running pro, you'll be fine. (which is the lowest ver. of 2k there is) I love Win2K too!

 

[WA261]

3200's oc like mad 😉

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: CraigRT
Win2K pro supports 2 CPU's, server supports 4 and advanced server supports like 8+ or something. but either way as long as you are running pro, you'll be fine. (which is the lowest ver. of 2k there is) I love Win2K too!

Interesting side note now that he's gotten his dual Xeons with HT: Windows 2000 isn't aware of MS's per-socket licensing, so it thinks that his system has 4 CPUs, and it only supports "two" of them. Intel recommends Windows XP (or Linux), and this page about hyperthreading and licensing on Windows 2000 Server has info that also applies to Windows 2000 Pro.

 

[thilanliyan]

Sorry, I didn't add that I was running WinXP Pro. Win 2000 only sees 2 processors with HT enabled.