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Big Choice...

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Originally posted by: michaelpatrick33
Wrong. The AMD 64 memory controller being integrated has lowered the latency tremendoulsy compared to the Pentium IV Northbridge memory controller. Lower latency is a big deal for AMD while bandwidth is not as important (look at the the 939 3500 dual channel vs 754 3400 singel channel; about the same performance with the 3400 winning a lot of benchmarks because of the 200Megahertz frequency increase).

Intel, on the other hand , due to incredibly long pipelines on their cpu need much more bandwidth to keep it happy. Remember, AMD 64's have a shorter pipeline and need quicker access while Intel has longer pipelines and need more bandwidth to keep them filled.

Thanks
Click to expand...

I think you misunderstood what I wrote. What I am saying is that the latency of the DIMMS is not of particular importance to an A64 system. Yes, the on chip memory controller lowers overall latency. And you are correct about the P4 needing more bandwidth. If you still think I'm wrong read this article.

http://www.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20040119/index.html

You'll see that RAM timings make little difference for the A64.
 
Multi-Tab browsers don't tend to work for me, I forget I have other tabs open and open new windows instead...

Interesting article about the timings... That puts a slightly different light on the situation. AMD may still have a niche for me yet...

I'm not ordering until at least the middle of next week, because I don't quite have the cash, so I'll be deliberating between now and then.

I was reading an article on Xbit Labs, which shows the A64 3000+ as performing comparably to the A64 3200+. What should I do?
 
Go for the A64 3000+ -> 512KB L2 cache doesn't affect K8 arhitecture much, it would be better to get a good motherboard instead of spending some extra money for the 3200+. Get a NF3 PRO250 motherboard and overclock as much as it's possible.
 
Originally posted by: sisooktom
I think you misunderstood what I wrote. What I am saying is that the latency of the DIMMS is not of particular importance to an A64 system. Yes, the on chip memory controller lowers overall latency. And you are correct about the P4 needing more bandwidth. If you still think I'm wrong read this article.

http://www.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20040119/index.html

You'll see that RAM timings make little difference for the A64.
Click to expand...

From the benchmarks, it looks like games and normal apps take a 1% hit going from CAS3->2. And Video apps just a little more.

There doesn't seem to be any reason wasting money on getting CAS 2 memory on A64 PC's then??
 
I have a small problem with overclocking:

If you mess up, you pretty much screw yourself

I'm cheap, and messing up my CPU is not high on my list of things to do. Even though my processor is capable of overclocking, overclocking creates a lot of heat. I don't want to have to spend a ton of money on cooling...
 
Originally posted by: coolego1
I have a small problem with overclocking:

If you mess up, you pretty much screw yourself

I'm cheap, and messing up my CPU is not high on my list of things to do. Even though my processor is capable of overclocking, overclocking creates a lot of heat. I don't want to have to spend a ton of money on cooling...
Click to expand...

Overclocking an A64 doesn't seem to produce serious gains anyway, so you're not missing out on much. If you know what you're doing and you have the right hardware, sure, you can probably milk 20% more out of it, but that's not a serious overclock IMO.

I dunno, the 3000+ appears to be the best value ATM; it seems to be the chip that most people on here are buying. As others have said, it's very close to the 3200+ in most tasks.
 
I haven't made up my mind caz, and I don't plan on using logic like that to do it. I am looking at numbers as I type this (I have a nice Excel Spreadsheet😀) I'm currently plotting price/performance...
 
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