intel route our amd route?

[driggers]

well, im not looking for cheapness (which would be amd) but moreso price/performance

i was thinking a7n8x deluxe board and a 2500 barton for amd

and i dont really know what is good for intel as far as price/performance Abit ic7/g?

suggestions for an intel board, and what i can offer me over the amd option?

also since intel mb's have the 800mhz frontside bus, isnt it the only board that can make pc3200 ram to its full potential?

thanks

 

[mechBgon]

What will it get used for? What parts do you have already, got a top-notch video card already perhaps? Sound card? Memory?

(a $ budget number helps too )

 

[driggers]

i dont need the fastest by any means

ill play the occasional games that i d/l...some 1st person shooters, ill run photoshop, maple, nothing to extensive, just enough to run everything just fine

not a top notch video card, an ati radeon 8500, onboard sound, ibm 60gxp hd, and 256mb of 100mhz ram

ill be getting a mb, cpu, and some ram for now...later i want to possible RAID some hd's and upgrade the video card

 

[alocurto]

Lots of new stuff coming out. You can narrow down your options but pointing out more features. Do you want the OnBorad sound still? do you want to go Serial ATA? Concentrate on the hard drives, ram and BUS. Then look at the CPU. Just my 2 cents.

 

[mechBgon]

The AMD setup does offer some goodies, one of which is the onboard nVidia audio processor, often compared to the Audigy 2 in performance. It also costs you less, which leaves more money for a better video card. From a CPU standpoint, the 2500+ is at its best in straight-on gaming or general office usage, and probably at its worst in stuff like video encoding where the 800MHz-bus Pentium4's shine. The P4 2.4C on an Asus P4P800 Deluxe will probably outperform it in most stuff, but for the price premium you pay, you may have to give up a notch on your new video card or some other item on your wish list. It's up to you. If you get an i865 board, don't get too greedy on the memory timings, run them slightly relaxed (2.5-3-3-7 @ 2.7V is what I suggest to people who are having instabilities). And of course, use two modules so the dual-channel feature is working for you. Corsair XMS 3500C2 is suggested, if you need a suggestion for the Intel rigs.

I use an A7N8X-Deluxe and 2500+ at work and it's been a good rig. Lots of RAM and a 15000rpm SCSI drive are what I splurged my dineros on, because they're what lights a fire under it for the things I do... rig

 

[magomago]

hrmm...
well bang for the buck is 8rda+

My reccomendation:

2500+/8rda+(or asus if you have tehh 4$$$)/512megs pc3200 hyperX/radeon9600pro

Now overclock to hell....

 

[DaveSimmons]

If you don't need anything faster, the XP 2500+ and PC2700 DDR is definitely cheaper than a P4 2.4C.

The 2.4C is faster (at least a 2700+ in games, up to a 3000+ in some) but IMHO if you want to get your money's worth with P4 you either need to overclock the 2.4C (which then beats a 3200+) or buy a 2.6C - 2.8C to justify the more expensive motherboard and DDR400.

 

[pspada]

PC2700 is a serious mistake. Go for PC3200!

 

[Vette73]

I vote AMD.

I have a nForce2 board by Abit NF7-S and a 1700+ overclocked to 2600+ level. Great bang for your buck and is very fast and stable. Also the board has the great Soundstorm soundcard, let alone all the other goodies.

 

[driggers]

hrmm looks more like AMD is going to be the winner. as far as overall options it seems to have more, and its cheaper. i understand it isnt quite as fast, but i will prolly no even be able to tell the difference, especially when you wave the money i save on the AMD versus the added performance i would get with an Intel.

what about the Intel Abit IC7-G motherboard, ive heard good things?!?

ive also heard a lot more great things about the Asus A7NX8 Deluxe mb too. the onboard sound is good. what about overclocking on it?


i plan on getting PC-3200 ram either way i go, but isnt it true that the AMD board can't put it to full use, where as the Intel can, b/c of the frontside bus?

right now im going to need to get a new case (im going to customize it) and power supply, a motherboard, a cpu, and prolly 2 sticks of 256mb ram.

later i plan on getting a nicer video card, and maybe 2 SATA hardrives, but maybe just 2 ATA hds, i wouldnt mind raiding them


ohh yah, somewhere in the neighborhood of $350-$450
ohh yah, im new to the overclocking world, so something not to difficult.

 

[driggers]

????

 

[toastyghost]

I've come up with a formula I use to quantify cost-effective performance when I'm upgrading. At the moment, the A7N8X/2500+ combo is the way to go to not waste your money.

 

[Boonesmi]

personally i would go with the AMD

and yes, new amd boards can take advantage of pc3200 ram (both the new nvidia and via based board run the memory at 400mhz which is pc3200)