firewolfsm
Golden Member
it is better, over the same speed single, but what about the same price. he could get a faster single core that will improve performance for the same price as a slow dual core (or use the extra money to buy a 7800GTX).
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Gaming PC With $1500 Budget
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it is better, over the same speed single, but what about the same price. he could get a faster single core that will improve performance for the same price as a slow dual core (or use the extra money to buy a 7800GTX).
here's an updated version so far...
AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego or AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ ($100 more)
EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra
BFG Tech Geforce 7800GT OC
G.SKILL Extreme Series 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR 500
SEASONIC S12-500 500W Power Supply
Western Digital Raptor 74GB
NEC Black IDE DVD Burner
Case
COOLER MASTER CM Stacker or Antec Performance I P180
AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego or AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ ($100 more)
EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra
BFG Tech Geforce 7800GT OC
G.SKILL Extreme Series 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR 500
SEASONIC S12-500 500W Power Supply
Western Digital Raptor 74GB
NEC Black IDE DVD Burner
Case
COOLER MASTER CM Stacker or Antec Performance I P180
MrDudeMan
Lifer
the san diego will process single tasks faster, but there is always more than 1 task to be performed when you are using the computer. even moving the mouse takes processor time. its up to you, but IMO the X2 is the way to go. if you are playing a song in itunes, writing a program, looking up stuff on the internet, talking on AIM, having a virus scanner running the background, etc., the computer will not slow down at all with a dual core. it will still be really fast with the san diego, but duals will certainly maintain higher speed through more abuse.
good choice on the PSU and video card, and motherboard as i said before
good call on the DDR500 g.skill...it is the way to go if you dont want to OC, or even if you do want to OC since it will do that mildly as well.
if you dont mind the low space of a raptor, the speed is worth it. if you need more space, get a SATAII 250/300gb maxtor, seagate, or hitachi. they are all good drives...i just prefer the raptor because everything is noticeably faster for me and i only use like 30gb of space. all of my data goes on another drive anyway to reduce writes/reads on my raptor (to prolong life basically).
the DVD burner will be good also...why did you want 2 in the first place? that was interesting. im curious why.
between those 2 cases? the CM stacker isnt even an option. it cant even smell the fart of the P180. the sleek look and exceptional quality of design of the P180 wins hands down. it reduces noise with rubber drive mounts, separate compartments, quiet and high volume fans, and did i mention it looks awesome? i might be partially biased because i am a very neat and organized person and this case personifies those qualities, but irregardless of that it is an awesome case and lends itself perfectly to a high end system like the one you are building.
i really think you will fall in love with it when you start investigating the design. the airflow is setup perfectly to actually hit the motherboard and video card with fresh and cool air. there is a fan intake that you cant see in those pictures that pulls air in from the back and blows it directly on the video card. there is an intake in the top section of the front of the case that pulls in fresh air to feed to the 2 exhaust fans which are sucking air through the heatsink and over the ram.
the bottom section reduces the noise of the PSU and hard drive while also moving a high volume of air from the front to the rear. the plastic in the walls of the case enhances sound dampening because of the transfer through the metal. the more media inbetween you and the noise, the quieter it will be.
also, i dont know if you already have one, but i just got a logitech g15 keyboard and i absolutely love it. it shows how much ram you are currently using and CPU usage on an LCD that is built into the keyboard! every key has a blue light behind it coming from a few LEDs behind the board being spread with fiberoptics. 54 programmable buttons - any gamer should love this. you can record macros on the fly. you press macro record, the button you want to record it to, and then it starts recording everything you do after that...which buttons you pressed and in the right order, how long you held it down, how long you waited to press another one, etc.. many people have been saying the G15 sucks, and i thought so at first, but now i love it.
good choice on the PSU and video card, and motherboard as i said before
good call on the DDR500 g.skill...it is the way to go if you dont want to OC, or even if you do want to OC since it will do that mildly as well.
if you dont mind the low space of a raptor, the speed is worth it. if you need more space, get a SATAII 250/300gb maxtor, seagate, or hitachi. they are all good drives...i just prefer the raptor because everything is noticeably faster for me and i only use like 30gb of space. all of my data goes on another drive anyway to reduce writes/reads on my raptor (to prolong life basically).
the DVD burner will be good also...why did you want 2 in the first place? that was interesting. im curious why.
between those 2 cases? the CM stacker isnt even an option. it cant even smell the fart of the P180. the sleek look and exceptional quality of design of the P180 wins hands down. it reduces noise with rubber drive mounts, separate compartments, quiet and high volume fans, and did i mention it looks awesome? i might be partially biased because i am a very neat and organized person and this case personifies those qualities, but irregardless of that it is an awesome case and lends itself perfectly to a high end system like the one you are building.
i really think you will fall in love with it when you start investigating the design. the airflow is setup perfectly to actually hit the motherboard and video card with fresh and cool air. there is a fan intake that you cant see in those pictures that pulls air in from the back and blows it directly on the video card. there is an intake in the top section of the front of the case that pulls in fresh air to feed to the 2 exhaust fans which are sucking air through the heatsink and over the ram.
the bottom section reduces the noise of the PSU and hard drive while also moving a high volume of air from the front to the rear. the plastic in the walls of the case enhances sound dampening because of the transfer through the metal. the more media inbetween you and the noise, the quieter it will be.
also, i dont know if you already have one, but i just got a logitech g15 keyboard and i absolutely love it. it shows how much ram you are currently using and CPU usage on an LCD that is built into the keyboard! every key has a blue light behind it coming from a few LEDs behind the board being spread with fiberoptics. 54 programmable buttons - any gamer should love this. you can record macros on the fly. you press macro record, the button you want to record it to, and then it starts recording everything you do after that...which buttons you pressed and in the right order, how long you held it down, how long you waited to press another one, etc.. many people have been saying the G15 sucks, and i thought so at first, but now i love it.
I'm just used to having 2 optical drives becasue thats what my computer has now. I like being able to keep different games in each drive, and its also easy to copy cds. Haha is that weird?
If money wasn't a factor I'd probably go with the X2 but I'm leaning toward getting the 3700 and possibly learning to OC on it at some point then once that becomes too slow I'll upgrade to a dual core.
Do you really think the P180 is that much better than the Coolermaster? The CM seems to be more my style. I like the size. The P180 seems like it would be kinda crampped and I don't like the door on the front. I don't know...I still have a couple weeks to decide.
t3h l337 n3wb
Platinum Member
Look, you'll really regret not getting dual core. I believe F.E.A.R. is already SMP aware (which means it can take advantage of dual cores), and many more should be coming soon. Single core will give you a bit better performance, but not enough to justify losing the other core. And you can always overclock too. The 380+ X2 can OC pretty nicely. Don't worry, overclocking isn't hard, it's not risky if you do it right, and you get free performance out of your system! My 3200+ Venice is stable at 2.5Ghs (25% overclock) with no voltage raising. Overclocking is definitely the way to go.
Also, you don't need such good RAM. Some good value RAM will do just nicel. The lower latencies don't make much of a difference (maybe like 3-5 FPS difference), and if you need to overclock, just use a divider. The money would be much better spent on somehting else.
The BFG 7800GT OC is overpriced. Just get a regular 7800GT and overclock it yourself. Overclocking a video card is even easier than overclocking a CPU.
Also, for the PSU. For about $5 more, you could get the Sparkle 550W. It's a bit less efficient, which means it'll create more noise, use up a bit more electricity, and is a little louder, but the performance and power of it is unmatched for the price. A whopping 36A on the single +12V rail will be able to power just about anything. Dual +12V rails is a BAD thing. It may have a total combined power of 33A, but what if you have a motherboard that requires 19A, which neither of the rails can provide. A single +12V rail is much more flexible. Or, if you're really really concerned about silence, the Seasonic S12 series can't be beat.
Also, you don't need such good RAM. Some good value RAM will do just nicel. The lower latencies don't make much of a difference (maybe like 3-5 FPS difference), and if you need to overclock, just use a divider. The money would be much better spent on somehting else.
The BFG 7800GT OC is overpriced. Just get a regular 7800GT and overclock it yourself. Overclocking a video card is even easier than overclocking a CPU.
Also, for the PSU. For about $5 more, you could get the Sparkle 550W. It's a bit less efficient, which means it'll create more noise, use up a bit more electricity, and is a little louder, but the performance and power of it is unmatched for the price. A whopping 36A on the single +12V rail will be able to power just about anything. Dual +12V rails is a BAD thing. It may have a total combined power of 33A, but what if you have a motherboard that requires 19A, which neither of the rails can provide. A single +12V rail is much more flexible. Or, if you're really really concerned about silence, the Seasonic S12 series can't be beat.
What I'm thinking isn't so important. I'm old and poor and you can see what I'm using.
However, I'm hot to trot for a dual core; I just can't justify the price, or anything above what I have. In fact, if it weren't for ewiz.com selling my Venice for $115 and free shipping I don't think I would be using an A64 at all, yet.
What I can say is, my nephew is using a Radeon 9800Pro with a Barton 2500+ on an Epox mobo with a single memory controller and 1GB pc2700 and he dominates playing his favorite game, UT2004.
I say, don't buy the technology, buy the solution. Unless you're rich, respect your money and use it well.
Lastly, no matter which cpu you get, it's enough when you consider your GPU. Am I wrong on this?
EDIT: Whoa! I just checked the prices on the 2X's and man:shocked: that's a lot of money. Well, if you want the latest and sexiest you gotta pay a premium. Me? Fxxx that!
You won't regret not getting dual core if you've never used it. You won't know the difference.
It's the same with TiVo. People that have never had it, don't regret not having it. But once you start using it, that's when it becomes a must-have.
A 3700+ will be fine for a year or even more. After the new M2 chips come out and the S939 X2's prices drop considerably, they you will be able to get an X2 4800+ for about what the 3800+ costs now.
It's the same with TiVo. People that have never had it, don't regret not having it. But once you start using it, that's when it becomes a must-have.
A 3700+ will be fine for a year or even more. After the new M2 chips come out and the S939 X2's prices drop considerably, they you will be able to get an X2 4800+ for about what the 3800+ costs now.
foodfightr
Golden Member
Processor Don't go single core! When you run a game you'll have antivirus, firewall, etc. in the background. Let dual core take care of those and you'll have tons of computing power left over for your games.
Ram Get the G.Skill that was mentioned.... It is PC4000, so it'll be very easy to boost your X2 3800 to 2.5Ghz when you decide to overclock!
Hard Drive Seagate 7200.7 is old, 7200.8 is newer but you really want the 7200.9 which just came out. NCQ has been known to boost performance when the hard drive is accessed in a somewhat "random" pattern, similar to that of a dual core processor. The 7200.9 series also boasts a variety of other improvements.
Your power supply choice is fine for your motherboard.
Also keep in mind gaming now is geared towards your graphics card and your ram. Dual core is going to be smooth all the time and your graphics card and ram will be awesome for gaming.
Ram Get the G.Skill that was mentioned.... It is PC4000, so it'll be very easy to boost your X2 3800 to 2.5Ghz when you decide to overclock!
Hard Drive Seagate 7200.7 is old, 7200.8 is newer but you really want the 7200.9 which just came out. NCQ has been known to boost performance when the hard drive is accessed in a somewhat "random" pattern, similar to that of a dual core processor. The 7200.9 series also boasts a variety of other improvements.
Your power supply choice is fine for your motherboard.
Also keep in mind gaming now is geared towards your graphics card and your ram. Dual core is going to be smooth all the time and your graphics card and ram will be awesome for gaming.
Crescent13
Diamond Member
You'll regret getting the single core proc. Get the X2 man. Nvidia's new drivers are optimized for dual core and therefore you will get better performance in games with a dual core proc.
t3h l337 n3wb
Platinum Member
Well, if you don't mind efficiency, they're monsters that can handle anything you throw at them 🙂
MrDudeMan
Lifer
so can any of the good power supplies, except they do it more efficiently...
seems pretty stupid to buy an inefficient power supply so you waste $$ on the purchase and monthly for power you never get to use. i would just get a seasonic and be done with it since it is obviously the better choice.
foodfightr
Golden Member
OCZ PowerStream is an AMAZING power supply.
But for your motherboard, I'd probably go seasonic.
Overkiller
Platinum Member
Seasonic s-12 500W is plenty. the S-12 430 will power that system perfectly fine too.. The max load his system will create at any given time will more than likely not exceed 300 watts....do the match.
Also, seasonics are the quietest.
Also, seasonics are the quietest.
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