After hinting in a couple of threads about my rig, I think it's finally done. (At least until I get the upgrade bug again..)
I'm a hardcore AMD user. I've had a jillion AMDs and o/c'ed them all and etc, etc...
But the X2 was just out of my price range. However I was seduced by Dual Core action. So I did the only thing I thought I could do...
Get an 820D.
Yeah, we've seen it all. It's freakin hot. My electricity bill will go up. It's way slower than an X2 3800+. The 3800+ is good enough to take out 820, 830, and most of the time, 840 Ds. And that's without overclocking it!
But I just couldn't bring myself to spend $350+ on a processor. Even though 99% of you say its worth it.
So instead I found the cheapest rig without having to upgrade much.
CPU: Pentium D 820 (2 x 2.8ghz 1mb L2 cache)
HSF: ThermalTake Big Typhoon
Mobo: Asrock 775-Dual880 Pro (PCI-E and AGP, DDR and DDR2)
Ram: 1gb (2x512mb) Patriot LL Ram 2-3-2-6
Video: BBA ATi 9800 with CoolViva VGA cooler
HDD: Maxtor 250gb 16mb buffer IDE 7200rpm
DVD: NEC 3520A
PSU: Seasonic ***w Silent blah blah blah
I already owned the Video, HDD, DVD, PSU, and technically the RAM from my last right (a 3200+ S754). The Ram thing is interesting, because I had PQI DDRII-667, but it got unstable when I underclocked it, so it had to go back.
I'm glad I didn't have to upgrade my video card to PCI-E or get DDR2, because that just adds $$$ when you already have it (a good thing about getting S939 boards like the Neo2)
I was going to get an XP-90 or XP-120, but I've been hearing too many stories about this thing running too hot...
However it is still pretty hot. Averaging 53c idle and 73c load. That's going to take getting used to..
Here's a CrystalMark screenshot:
CPU-Z Validated
I suppose I could o/c it higher, but I really don't want to get it too hot...
And as you can see, it has no idea what ram I have. When I had the DDRII in, it said my ram was at 1.5-2-2-6. Right...
I hope its running @ 2-3-2-6, but there's no way for me to tell.
Honestly it feels like a 2.8e w/o HT. But when I do two things at once, or use TMPGEnc, I could see the difference. The main thing right now is my HDD. It's too slow, or I need a new scratchdisk. I tried NeroBurning and using DVDShrink and my HDD was crying. However, Playing WoW and CS 1.6 both in windowed mode was fine.
The biggest reason for me getting this rig was the price. I couldn't pass up an 820D for ~$137. Also, getting the Asrock mobo for $62 (no tax for me) went well since I wouldn't have to upgrade video/ram. I would have had to get a new HSF even if I were to get another CPU to o/c anyway. Cheap dual core? Sure. Even when its overclocked, it probably won't ever hit X2 3800+ performance level. But for 1/2 the price, I said why not.
edit: put AutoGK score in AutoGK thread
during the time when i was seriously considering the x2 3800+ (and enter more credit card debt), these are the prices i would have gotten to get that rig:
x2 3800+: $340
big typhoon: $48
msi neo2 plat'num: $80
============ $468
where as the same components that i got the 820:
820D: $137
big typhoon: $48
asrock 775dual-880: $65
============= $250
that's 53% less than the 3800+, for (honestly) 53% of the performance. but at least it's dual core? i also need to factor in electricity...
also no throttling here w/ throttlewatch, bounces back n forth between 2793 and 2820.
Questions are welcome
I'm a hardcore AMD user. I've had a jillion AMDs and o/c'ed them all and etc, etc...
But the X2 was just out of my price range. However I was seduced by Dual Core action. So I did the only thing I thought I could do...
Get an 820D.
Yeah, we've seen it all. It's freakin hot. My electricity bill will go up. It's way slower than an X2 3800+. The 3800+ is good enough to take out 820, 830, and most of the time, 840 Ds. And that's without overclocking it!
But I just couldn't bring myself to spend $350+ on a processor. Even though 99% of you say its worth it.
So instead I found the cheapest rig without having to upgrade much.
CPU: Pentium D 820 (2 x 2.8ghz 1mb L2 cache)
HSF: ThermalTake Big Typhoon
Mobo: Asrock 775-Dual880 Pro (PCI-E and AGP, DDR and DDR2)
Ram: 1gb (2x512mb) Patriot LL Ram 2-3-2-6
Video: BBA ATi 9800 with CoolViva VGA cooler
HDD: Maxtor 250gb 16mb buffer IDE 7200rpm
DVD: NEC 3520A
PSU: Seasonic ***w Silent blah blah blah
I already owned the Video, HDD, DVD, PSU, and technically the RAM from my last right (a 3200+ S754). The Ram thing is interesting, because I had PQI DDRII-667, but it got unstable when I underclocked it, so it had to go back.
I'm glad I didn't have to upgrade my video card to PCI-E or get DDR2, because that just adds $$$ when you already have it (a good thing about getting S939 boards like the Neo2)
I was going to get an XP-90 or XP-120, but I've been hearing too many stories about this thing running too hot...
However it is still pretty hot. Averaging 53c idle and 73c load. That's going to take getting used to..
Here's a CrystalMark screenshot:
CPU-Z Validated
I suppose I could o/c it higher, but I really don't want to get it too hot...
And as you can see, it has no idea what ram I have. When I had the DDRII in, it said my ram was at 1.5-2-2-6. Right...
I hope its running @ 2-3-2-6, but there's no way for me to tell.
Honestly it feels like a 2.8e w/o HT. But when I do two things at once, or use TMPGEnc, I could see the difference. The main thing right now is my HDD. It's too slow, or I need a new scratchdisk. I tried NeroBurning and using DVDShrink and my HDD was crying. However, Playing WoW and CS 1.6 both in windowed mode was fine.
The biggest reason for me getting this rig was the price. I couldn't pass up an 820D for ~$137. Also, getting the Asrock mobo for $62 (no tax for me) went well since I wouldn't have to upgrade video/ram. I would have had to get a new HSF even if I were to get another CPU to o/c anyway. Cheap dual core? Sure. Even when its overclocked, it probably won't ever hit X2 3800+ performance level. But for 1/2 the price, I said why not.
edit: put AutoGK score in AutoGK thread
during the time when i was seriously considering the x2 3800+ (and enter more credit card debt), these are the prices i would have gotten to get that rig:
x2 3800+: $340
big typhoon: $48
msi neo2 plat'num: $80
============ $468
where as the same components that i got the 820:
820D: $137
big typhoon: $48
asrock 775dual-880: $65
============= $250
that's 53% less than the 3800+, for (honestly) 53% of the performance. but at least it's dual core? i also need to factor in electricity...
also no throttling here w/ throttlewatch, bounces back n forth between 2793 and 2820.
Questions are welcome
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