Newb Question: FSB numbers game

[dR6]

Long time lurker (>2 years!), first time poster.

I have an AMD 1800+ XP and am looking at upgrading for gaming purposes. I'm looking at all the FSB configurations available and had some questions. Is there a noticable difference between the 800 mHz FSB of the Intel chips vs. the 333 MHz of the Barton? It seems like such a large difference and would like some clarification. Is this just a numbers game? Also, I currently have a Sparkle 300W power supply. Do I need to upgrade the PS to run the Intel 800 MHz FSB chips? I read somewhere that it requires an extra 12V plug.

Is there a large advantage with dual channel RAM running at DDR4000? I'm trying to figure out what my best bet will be. I'm considering an Intel 3.0C w/ 512MB at DDR4000 and MB w/ Intel's 875P chipset. This is about a $600 option. My other option is a Barton 2500 w/ slower ram for pocket change. Dilemma, dilemma.

Better yet, should I look at the Athlon 64??????

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Confused]

Intel's P4 processors have a QDR "FSB". They "quad-pump" the FSB speed to give the 400, 533 or 800 values from 100, 133 and 200MHz FSB.

AMD processors use DDR "FSB", double-pumping to get 200, 266, 333, 400 from 100, 133, 166 and 200MHz FSB.

If you are going for the P4 route, you will want Dual Channel RAM. The P4's need all the memory bandwidth they can take! If you are going with AMD based system, the peformance increase from dual channel is less, roughly 5%, or about 30ish% if you are using an nForce motherboard with graphics onboard.

I personally think that the AMD64 is the best bet right now. Check out some of the Anandtech reviews of the AMD 64, and look at the benchmarks of the games you most regularly play, and go from there 🙂


Confused