CPU Choices...too many!!! Help me

[Dragon41673]

Ok...basically here's the deal. I'm giving my old P4 1.7 that is still running awesome, over to my daughter (she's 9). I am in need of help. I've basically flown into this situation without my usual checking things out for months like I did when I built my P4 1.7, so here's what I need.

I'm the kind of person that wants the best of the best...problem is I am an old hater of AMD. I used to have a K6-233 and it was a P.O.S. My bro-in-law swears, and I have seen the reviews, that AMD has come a LONG way, especially with the FX CPU's. So help me pick something out here.

I want a DAMN good board and the best CPU/Memory combo out there. I am looking at something like the following...

Asus P5ND2-SLI Deluxe
Intel P4EE 2.73 w/1066fsb
Corsair Twin2x-5400UL (2x512mb)

OR

Asus A8N-SLI Premium
AMD Athlon 64 FX-55 (San Diego)
Corsair TwinXP1024-3200XL (with the LED display)

Does anyone have any recomendations? I will have the following in the system...
1 (possibly 2) BFG 6800GT OC
1 Western Digital 250gb SATA II w/16mb Cache
1 Pioneer DVR-A09XLB1
Wireless Keyboard & Mouse

I will be playing a lot of games 1/2 the time and I will be doing multi-tasking the other 1/2 of the time...so what are the pros and cons of the MB/CPU/Memory setups that I am looking at?

 

[JohnAn2112]

The Athlon 64 will definitley be the cheaper of the 2 so I would suggest that. Of course, I would also suggest OCZ memory over the Corsair TwinXP that you listed. Maybe the OCZ PC3200 EL Platinum Revision 2.

 

[ryanv12]

Yeah, some AMD processor kept me away from them for a long time, but I'm ready to buy an AMD processor for my next upgrade, because Intels just aren't up to the job. Instead of the FX-55, I might look into getting a new Athalon X2...they're the new dual core processors. The industry is headed that direction, and it looks like you like to keep your systems for a while, so I think that's about as future proof as you can get for a computer part. Everything else looks good though, and depending on when you are going to do this upgrade, nvidia's new graphics cards may be out as well. official "launch" is in less than a week. Either way, you can't go wrong with a setup like that. Good luck

edit - nice avatar, John.

 

[Dragon41673]

Anyone with any advice don't hesitate to chime in ok? Thanks...I'll be doing this upgrade soon so I'm pretty much looking at what's available right now

 

[Dragon41673]

Ahhh that's fun...I JUST bought a single BFG 6800GT OC and can't return it now. As far as price...I honestly don't care the cost. So far I've seen that the 3.2 dual isn't as fast in multitasking or video performance as the 3.73 is...so that's why I'm leaning that way for now.

 

[Markfw]

Get the X2 4400+ and OC it in the rest of the system you mentioned. If you are not an OC'er, you could get the 4800+ and still be the same or under the Intel system. Check the benchmarks, X2 has no competition.
See here !!!!! X2 has no competition !

 

[ssvegeta1010]

Go for the AMD. They have improved and taken the overall performance crown from Intel, especially in gaming.
It is also quite a bit cheaper. Go with some OCZ instead for that Corsair.

 

[Dragon41673]

Never OC'd my system before...but I am looking into doing a Thermaltake Bigwater with 2 Radiators so I can cool the CPU, NOrthbridge, and the BFG 6800GT (or both if I go SLI)

 

[Dragon41673]

Anyone else???

 

[imported_michaelpatrick33]

Money is no object. Get the 4800+ and you will have dominant gaming and multicore capabilities. The 4800+ will match or beat the 3.7EE at gaming and multitasking and will obliterate it at multi-threaded applications. (And games are coming that will be multi-threaded). For the best performance, gaming included, the 4800+ can't be touched. Next, you get a good watercooled setup and overclock that badboy to 2.8 (equivalent to two FX-57's) and enjoy gaming and performance domination.

I am personally already budgeted a 4400+ to put in my already existent water cooling setup for late July along with the first of two G70/520's.

The FX-55 San Diego is at 2.6 while the dualcore 4800+ is two 2.4 processors.

 

[NINaudio]

I'd go with a cooling setup from dangerden if you want to cool all those components. I would definitely go the AMD route. I used to be an intel guy too, but the amd price/performance really swayed me. If you plan on oc'ing you might want to look at the DFI boards, they are pretty crazy. Corsair makes good memory as does OCZ, OCZ makes all different kinds for oc'ing or not, so you would definitely find something from them.

 

[Dragon41673]

Thanks Michael and NIN...

I take it everyone around here are AMD people? LOL Just asking because for the last hour or so I've been floating the board looking at who uses what.

 

[imported_michaelpatrick33]

You want gaming it is AMD64. It is superior even at high resolutions where even 5-10fps can make a difference. At lower resolutions it is even a wider gap.

 

[Dragon41673]

Cool...I'll look into it. If I remember right...the current MBs support the AMD X2's right? I'm going on ASUS right now to check...

 

[Sentential]

To be honest I have heard very sketchy things about Asus, and I personally am not fond of them at all. I would look at DFI's offerings.

 

[Viditor]

If money were no object (drool!!!), then the X2 4800+ is indisputably the way to go...

 

[NINaudio]

I had pentium's up until this pc. AMD stuff is just objectively better in games and is now supported just as well as Intel's chips are.

I had issues with an Asus mobo before I got the MSI, and from research I did it seems as though quite a few people have or had problems with some of Asus's boards. I would look at either DFI (for crazy oc'ing) or MSI (for good oc'ing).

 

[imported_michaelpatrick33]

DFI's are a overclockers dreamboard if you are overclocking. I would get the SLI DFI NF4 board myself.

 

[Viditor]

Originally posted by: Sentential
To be honest I have heard very sketchy things about Asus, and I personally am not fond of them at all. I would look at DFI's offerings.

In general the Asus boards use higher quality parts...they did have quite a few real shlocky boards awhile ago, but those were their bargain lines and they didn't make them (they were manufactured by PCChips and sold with an Asus label).
For the high-end, Asus is still the king...

 

[Dragon41673]

I have heard bad things a year or so ago about lower end ASUS boards...but I've been using them for several PC's I've built and honestly...I've never had a problem in my personal PC's I've owned. Neither have my friends...but it is something to look at. I've never heard good or bad about DFI...I'll check into them...thanks

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Originally posted by: Viditor

Originally posted by: Sentential
To be honest I have heard very sketchy things about Asus, and I personally am not fond of them at all. I would look at DFI's offerings.

In general the Asus boards use higher quality parts...they did have quite a few real shlocky boards awhile ago, but those were their bargain lines and they didn't make them (they were manufactured by PCChips and sold with an Asus label).
For the high-end, Asus is still the king...

:thumbsup:

IMO the DFI if you want to run phase change cooling, and/or your main objective is benchmarking. For Gaming, stability, and general performance the Asus is the obvious choice.

 

[n7]

Yeah, since money seems to be no object for you, i'd good for the X2 4800+ or even 4600+, since they are just overall performance monsters
I too would shy away from Asus.

The MSI Neo4 or perhaps the DFI would be a better alternative IMO.
For RAM, grab 2x1024 MB of some good Corsair or OCZ
You might as well get a 74.3 GB Raptor too, to run as a boot drive, since everything should feel a bit snappier that way.

 

[Zebo]

Fastest setup in the world is:

Athlon X2 4800+ or 4400+
Asus A8N-SLI Premium
2 x 512MB Crucial Ballistix PC3200 2-2-2-7 1T


If you want to see how it dominates here are some reviews:


http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2410

http://techreport.com/reviews/2005q2/athlon64-x2/index.x?pg=1

http://www.hothardware.com/printarticle.cfm?articleid=682 Overclockers special

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/athlon64-x2.html Overclcokers special

http://www.amdzone.com/modules.php?op=m...index&req=viewarticle&artid=124&page=1

http://www.lostcircuits.com/cpu/amd_x2/17.shtml

http://www.tomshardware.com/hardnews/20050509_170947.html

http://hardware.fr/art/imprimer/571/

http://www.hardware.no/print.php?artikkelid=15703

http://pclab.pl/art14865-7.html

http://www.tweak.pl/artykul/athlon64_x2_4800_4

http://www.sudhian.com/showdocs.cfm?aid=672

http://www.motherboards.org/reviews/hardware/1513_1.html

http://firingsquad.com/hardware/athlon_64_x2_4800/

http://www.simhq.com/_technology/technology_042a.html

http://www.techwarelabs.com/reviews/processors/amd_x2/

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,120750,00.asp

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1813757,00.asp

http://hexus.net/content/reviews/review.php?dXJsX3Jldmlld19JRD0xMTcw

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2005/05/09/amd_a64x2_4800/1.html

 

[Markfw]

And don't forget to notice how much cooler they are than the P4EE, and how much less power they draw.The x-bits labs has it only a few pages in. If you wonder why there are so many AMD rigs, just read that list of benchmarks, and you will see why.

You don;t even have to take our word for it !

 

[Painman]

DO the Asus boards have higher quality parts? I dunno about that. I'm a long time ASUS/Intel guy now running A64/DFI. Aside from the LanParty boards' finickiness with RAM, these boards are very, very stable. Voltage fluctuation from the PWM circuits on my board are nil, zero. They're designed to be run on the edge and really are overbuilt for stock operation. I'd still consider an ASUS for stock operation/mild OC with lots of bells and whistles, but for the person who wants to squeeze every last drop out of their parts, that's the LanParty's specialty. Its reputation hasn't just been handed to it.