Graphics or Processing

[DKlein]

Okay I'm trying to figure out my new system, so which should I go with:

AMD 64 3000/3200+ and a 9800 Pro
or
AMD XP-M 2600+ and a 6800 Ultra
or
other?

Keep in mind I intend on overclocking and want this to last a while before I start getting less than great FPS.

 

[dennisjai215]

the cpu would hold back the 6800u.. while you wont get much out of the 9800pro compared to the 6u.. but atleast a64 is maxing out the 9800pro

 

[n7]

I guess the A64 & the 9800 Pro.
Then when the X800XT goes down in price, you can grab that.

 

[someone16]

It wouldn't "hold back" the 6800 Ultra. Mobile with 6800 ultra please. If the above 2 combos were benched against each other (Both Overclocked) the mobile will be at par with the 64 in CPU benches and kill the 64 in video benches.

Just read you want FPS most, then 6800 Ultra for sure.

 

[Runner20]

AMD 64 3000 or 3200 with a Radeon 9800 would be amazing.

I've had a Pentium 4 3.0 with Radeon 9800 for over a year now and all the games I play look and play sooooooo amazingly.

 

[Corporate Thug]

AMD XP-M 2600+ and a 6800 Ultra is by far the better combination, just OC the 2600+ to get the best out of it

 

[JBT]

Originally posted by: shady06
AMD XP-M 2600+ and a 6800 Ultra is by far the better combination, just OC the 2600+ to get the best out of it

Totaly agreed here. the CPU's aren;t that different esspecially when OCed. While the 6800 will completly smoke a 9800 pro by almost double the FPS in most cases.

 

[n7]

I agree that the slower CPU + faster vid card will be faster now, but that'd be a rather dead end purchase, since in a very short time, you'll want to get a new CPU which means new mobo as well.

He mentioned "Keep in mind I intend on overclocking and want this to last a while before I start getting less than great FPS.

 

[DKlein]

Clarifications:

By last a while, I mean 1 year, which I suppose isn't that long, and it doesn't need to be upgradeable after that (for reasons). So if a 2.5-6GHz XP is going to be able to handle all the new games in the next year or so (D3, STALKER, etc) without holding back the 6800U I would want to go with that. If on the other hand the 9800 Pro isn't going to be able to handle any newer games without great graphics quality/FPS I'd want the 6800U.

Great graphics quality = 1280x1024x32 all eye candy.
Great FPS 45-60.

I'm thinking the 6800U since I'm not sure that the 9800 Pro would be able to handle all that with new games, but I could be wrong. Also I suppose there's another option of a 6800GT/9800XT and a slower CPU than the 64 3200, but if the XP-M is going to be equal to the 64 3200 I don't know why I'd bother. What sort of overclocks are people getting with the 64 3000/3200s anyway?

 

[DKlein]

After looking around myself, I found that the 64 3200+ is getting up to 2.5-6GHz as well. So how is it that a chip that has a significant increase in performance over another stock, when both are overclocked equally, all of a sudden loses that increase? By all means wouldn't it just be that much more powerful?