Best CPU+Mobo Combo?

[eqmassa]

What would you say is currently the best CPU+Motherboard combo out there for gaming, long-term? I've heard accolades for NForce chipsets and the Barton 2500+, mainly.

Not necessarily the top performer, but the best buy for someone with a budget of about $1800 (including monitor).

 

[AnAndAustin]

Well certainly for how much you pay and the perf you recieve the SktA AthlonXP are easily king. All TbredB and Barton are excellent o/c'ers often averaging 2.2ghz 400FSB which is roughly XP3000+ and XP3200+ speed ... not bad from CPUs set at XP1700+ and XP2500+ at stock! Barton is roughly 5% faster clock for clock, that's the only real diff. Of course this is if you don't mind o/c'ing but even then the SktA route is far cheaper. Best SktA mobos are based on the nForce2 ultra400 chipset and have Soundstorm audio but other nForce2 are still very close behind as are KT600 based mobos, these all handle 400FSB and should allow a whole range of multipliers and FSB options for you to work with. All you need to run AthlonXP optimally is DDR400-PC3200 which is now a certified spec and pretty darn cheap ... again great for making big savings. The downside is that SktA is nearing the end of it's life and XP3200+ is about as much as we're likely to get ... still with the way Intel change mobo sockets and archies you may find they offer little long term appeal too! In SktA mobo chipsets it makes most sense to go with 400FSB capable mobos, SiS748 are great if you don't want to o/c much otherwise it's between KT600 and nForce2 and the nF2 do have the edge esp with Dual Channel (original and ultra400) and the lovelly nVidia audio chip.

If you go P4 you really do want an 800FSB CPU which all come with HT enabled to make Windows tasks much smoother. Plus they o/c well but still have blistering perf at stock, they'll knock youa fair bit though esp for a mobo to match. O/c'ing is certainly more difficult thanks partly to Intel's locked multipliers and partly to the RAM needed for sync'ed speeds above 400FSB. Synced is ideal but perf is hardly poor when running async. Regarding mobo chipsets Intel 865PE is top choice esp if you can find one with the 875 optimisations built in. It's the mobo, RAM and CPU which will really knock you when going with Intel and it should equate to a small perf gain over AMD for a good 200-300 notes more. Those notes could be put to getting more RAM, bigger/better HD, screen(s) or most importantly the gfx card if gaming is your thing.

There is no bad choice and they have their pros and cons but AMD easily offer better 'bang for buck'.

 

[Corporate Thug]

1700+ and NF7-s

 

[bjc112]

Originally posted by: shady06
1700+ and NF7-s

Good combo,

Pretty much any nForce 2 chipset will suit, it's a choice between features..

Epox, Abit, Asus...

However i would go with a 2500+ and go for 2.3-2.5 ghz...

 

[Peter D]

Originally posted by: shady06
1700+ and NF7-s

or a 2500+ and NF7-S

 

[orion7144]

Originally posted by: AnAndAustin
Well certainly for how much you pay and the perf you recieve the SktA AthlonXP are easily king. All TbredB and Barton are excellent o/c'ers often averaging 2.2ghz 400FSB which is roughly XP3000+ and XP3200+ speed ... not bad from CPUs set at XP1700+ and XP2500+ at stock! Barton is roughly 5% faster clock for clock, that's the only real diff. Of course this is if you don't mind o/c'ing but even then the SktA route is far cheaper. Best SktA mobos are based on the nForce2 ultra400 chipset and have Soundstorm audio but other nForce2 are still very close behind as are KT600 based mobos, these all handle 400FSB and should allow a whole range of multipliers and FSB options for you to work with. All you need to run AthlonXP optimally is DDR400-PC3200 which is now a certified spec and pretty darn cheap ... again great for making big savings. The downside is that SktA is nearing the end of it's life and XP3200+ is about as much as we're likely to get ... still with the way Intel change mobo sockets and archies you may find they offer little long term appeal too! In SktA mobo chipsets it makes most sense to go with 400FSB capable mobos, SiS748 are great if you don't want to o/c much otherwise it's between KT600 and nForce2 and the nF2 do have the edge esp with Dual Channel (original and ultra400) and the lovelly nVidia audio chip.

If you go P4 you really do want an 800FSB CPU which all come with HT enabled to make Windows tasks much smoother. Plus they o/c well but still have blistering perf at stock, they'll knock youa fair bit though esp for a mobo to match. O/c'ing is certainly more difficult thanks partly to Intel's locked multipliers and partly to the RAM needed for sync'ed speeds above 400FSB. Synced is ideal but perf is hardly poor when running async. Regarding mobo chipsets Intel 865PE is top choice esp if you can find one with the 875 optimisations built in. It's the mobo, RAM and CPU which will really knock you when going with Intel and it should equate to a small perf gain over AMD for a good 200-300 notes more. Those notes could be put to getting more RAM, bigger/better HD, screen(s) or most importantly the gfx card if gaming is your thing.

There is no bad choice and they have their pros and cons but AMD easily offer better 'bang for buck'.

This has already been discussed and it will only cost $60-$90 more to go with a P4C with HT technology. And the performace gains are significant.

 

[Shimmishim]

Originally posted by: orion7144

Originally posted by: AnAndAustin
Well certainly for how much you pay and the perf you recieve the SktA AthlonXP are easily king. All TbredB and Barton are excellent o/c'ers often averaging 2.2ghz 400FSB which is roughly XP3000+ and XP3200+ speed ... not bad from CPUs set at XP1700+ and XP2500+ at stock! Barton is roughly 5% faster clock for clock, that's the only real diff. Of course this is if you don't mind o/c'ing but even then the SktA route is far cheaper. Best SktA mobos are based on the nForce2 ultra400 chipset and have Soundstorm audio but other nForce2 are still very close behind as are KT600 based mobos, these all handle 400FSB and should allow a whole range of multipliers and FSB options for you to work with. All you need to run AthlonXP optimally is DDR400-PC3200 which is now a certified spec and pretty darn cheap ... again great for making big savings. The downside is that SktA is nearing the end of it's life and XP3200+ is about as much as we're likely to get ... still with the way Intel change mobo sockets and archies you may find they offer little long term appeal too! In SktA mobo chipsets it makes most sense to go with 400FSB capable mobos, SiS748 are great if you don't want to o/c much otherwise it's between KT600 and nForce2 and the nF2 do have the edge esp with Dual Channel (original and ultra400) and the lovelly nVidia audio chip.

If you go P4 you really do want an 800FSB CPU which all come with HT enabled to make Windows tasks much smoother. Plus they o/c well but still have blistering perf at stock, they'll knock youa fair bit though esp for a mobo to match. O/c'ing is certainly more difficult thanks partly to Intel's locked multipliers and partly to the RAM needed for sync'ed speeds above 400FSB. Synced is ideal but perf is hardly poor when running async. Regarding mobo chipsets Intel 865PE is top choice esp if you can find one with the 875 optimisations built in. It's the mobo, RAM and CPU which will really knock you when going with Intel and it should equate to a small perf gain over AMD for a good 200-300 notes more. Those notes could be put to getting more RAM, bigger/better HD, screen(s) or most importantly the gfx card if gaming is your thing.

There is no bad choice and they have their pros and cons but AMD easily offer better 'bang for buck'.

This has already been discussed and it will only cost $60-$90 more to go with a P4C with HT technology. And the performace gains are significant.

i dunno how you define significant but...

if you have a $1800 budget either one will suit you fine!

just think of what you'll be using it for... if you're a hardcore video encoder then go with an intel setup but if you're just going to be gaming and browsing then there's no need for such a setup!

i think you'll be fine going either way... just put in mind what you'll be using it most for!

 

[AnAndAustin]

Oh there's no doubt the P4 800FSB with HT enabled are truly magnificent and I doubt SktA will ever truly compete with them BUT prices are still way higher for that lovely P4. Firstly SktA works very well even with 333FSB and PC2700 but it costs very little more for mobos and RAM capable of 400FSB & PC3200 so it makes sense to get the little extra boost. P4 however tend to cost a good deal more for the CPU, a little more for the mobo and if you o/c you'll really want PC3500-3700 in order to keep things synced thanks to the locked multipliers. Of course the top AMD CPUs are over-priced but you'd be pretty mental not to o/c a little whether you get P4C 2.6ghz or AthlonXP Tbredb or Barton. I did a cost comparison for UK'ers and I would imagine costs would be similar in the US...

www.dabs.com

£186 P4 2.6ghz 800FSB inc HSF
£95 Abit IS7 865PE (£74 865PE shold also be very good)
£178 2x256MB OCZ PC3700
TOTAL £459

£37 XP1700+ (DLT3C should be TbredB)
£70 XP2500+ (Barton so double L2 cache)
£15 Volcano 11+ HSF
£89 Abit NF7-S nForce2 (£54 KT600 should be a small step down)
£78 2x256MB Crucial PC3200 (TwinMOS PC3200 is great and cheaper)
TOTAL £219 TbredB or £252 Barton

The P4 should get around 950FSB & 3.08ghz. The Barton gives roughly a 5% boost over the TbredB, both should clock to around 2.2ghz giving perf equal to an XP3000+ and XP3200+. I'd say the P4 would have the edge even over the XP3200+ but worth the extra £207 - £240? That extra £200+ could get you more RAM, great DVD Writer, a better gfx card or nearly a whole PC (basic base unit but even so).

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: bjc112

Originally posted by: shady06
1700+ and NF7-s

Good combo,

Pretty much any nForce 2 chipset will suit, it's a choice between features..

Epox, Abit, Asus...

However i would go with a 2500+ and go for 2.3-2.5 ghz...

that would be nice, but the bartons run very hot as is on default vcore. it prolly wont get to 2.3 on stock and it will prolly take a lot of volts to get it up to 2.4+. but it will be a good excuse to get a watercooled setup

edit: according to the new amd PR program, a barton @ 200*12.5 is a 3600+

 

[AnAndAustin]

I haven't tested extensively but my Barton XP2500+ does 2.2ghz 400FSB (XP3200+) on stock voltage using my Abit NF7-S v2.0, my Volcano 11 isn't maxed out although it is too loud for me. I would expect I could get higher esp with up to 1.7v as many people do, anyway Barton & TbredB seem to get between 2.1ghz and 2.3ghz on average without insane voltages. Nicest thing about AMD o/c'ing is adjustable multipliers meaning it's easy to optimise perf and keep everything running where it should be.