P4 vs. AMD 64

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: Gusty987
Ok, I think I have decided. I am going to get the following PC from HP.com:

AMD Athlon 61 3200+ (or maybe 3400+ if the rebate is still in effect when I buy the comp)
1 GB PC3200 DDR RAM
Radeon 9800
160 GB 7200rpm Hard Drive

All for about $1250 after rebates (+ ~$200 for the vid card).

What do you guys think? Will I be happy with this setup? Is it the best for the money? Will it run games at optimum levels?

If you've never experienced gaming on a high end system recently, you'll poop yourself

 

[Gusty987]

If you've never experienced gaming on a high end system recently, you'll poop yourself

Nope, I've definitely not experienced gaming on a high end system, especially not from this 1.3GHz, 256MB, integrated graphics POS I have now!

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: Gusty987

If you've never experienced gaming on a high end system recently, you'll poop yourself

Nope, I've definitely not experienced gaming on a high end system, especially not from this 1.3GHz, 256MB, integrated graphics POS I have now!

Might wanna have a change of underwear with you when you get it all together and start playing a game... or at least a pair that won't show stains, lol.

 

[Gusty987]

Might wanna have a change of underwear with you when you get it all together and start playing a game... or at least a pair that won't show stains, lol.

LMFAO! I'll def. do that!

 

[Frightcrawler]

Hey, are you buying RAM from HP as well? If you are, don't. You can get it for MUCH cheaper at Crucial or other vendors.

 

[Duvie]

Originally posted by: DarkMadMax

Originally posted by: Acanthus
How is the memory on the A-64 cheaper? its the same memory. Same question with case, and cooling?

Memory is DDR2 for p4 - significantly more expensive than DDR1 for AMD - 2 x 256 MB DDR2 for p4 is more expensive than 1 x 512 DDR for AMD. P4 requires also specific case design (most cases support it ,but its more expensivew than regular ATX)

Pentium 4 Cs arent hot either, the Es are..

It was a typo.

Edit: thermal throttling only occurs if something is set up very wrong, you need 70c for it to kick in.

Yeah and under full load Prescott easily reaches over 70 C with enthusiast cooling and open case .- Pictures are shown in the link above (there is also article ,but sadly its not in english ).

I haven't seen too many prescotts hit 70c under load unless they are being overclocked....many here have ran them, and when ran at stock speeds with no extra vcore juice the temps do not hit over 70c....I think you are generalizing a bit....I have seen many prescott 2.8's running at 2.8 stock with moderate (no vapo or water cooling) and staying well below 70c....get facts straight junior....

They are not ramping well and may be why Intel hesitated intially to launch the 3.2e since temps were not the best for the 2.8e and shows little headroom....Therefore I think you will be hard pressed to find anyone in these forums recommending them as overclocking chips. Stock maybe, but ocing not......


As for the typo that was your mistake....P4c's stay well below 60c for most all the way upt to 3.7ghz range...That is where many get into more exoctic cooling such as water or vapo chill systems. The person who responded to your thread is correct. A stock 3.2c with stock cooling does not hit 70c and therefore there would have to likely be user setup error to achieve this type of situation.....




To the main part of the thread.....


Get the best A64 you can that stil allows you to buy a top line vid card...As mentioned by Jeff far more games are vid card limited then cpu limited....This will buy you some longevity...

 

[edplayer]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER

Originally posted by: im2good4u
if you ask me, grab a 2.8C and overcloack the hell out of it @ 3.5GHz and use a DDR500 module so that it would BE in sync with the 250MHz FSB. @3.5ghz it might just be in par with the athlon 64s, heck maybe even faster at a much lower price. and gues what, thats just what i exactly did :beer:

You would have been better served to save money by getting 3200DDR, running asynch, and spending the difference on a 9800pro. Because that 9600XT is now your gaming bottleneck

I'm not sure how much he paid for his Geil Ram, but PC4000 is not that expensive. BB has 512MB modules of Kingston HyperX for $100 after rebate right now.

 

[Gusty987]

Originally posted by: Frightcrawler
Hey, are you buying RAM from HP as well? If you are, don't. You can get it for MUCH cheaper at Crucial or other vendors.

I'm not assembling a PC, I am just buying a pre-made one from HP, though I am customizing it at their website:

http://www.hpshopping.com/cgi-bin/s...nding=desktops&category=hp_pavilion&aoid=1425

 

[Gusty987]

What is the best (and cheapest) website to get a 9800 or 9800pro from?

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181

Originally posted by: Gusty987

If you've never experienced gaming on a high end system recently, you'll poop yourself

Nope, I've definitely not experienced gaming on a high end system, especially not from this 1.3GHz, 256MB, integrated graphics POS I have now!

Might wanna have a change of underwear with you when you get it all together and start playing a game... or at least a pair that won't show stains, lol.

Why? Just play naked!

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: Gusty987
What is the best (and cheapest) website to get a 9800 or 9800pro from?

Try Newegg assuming you live in the US.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: sandorski

Originally posted by: Jeff7181

Originally posted by: Gusty987

If you've never experienced gaming on a high end system recently, you'll poop yourself

Nope, I've definitely not experienced gaming on a high end system, especially not from this 1.3GHz, 256MB, integrated graphics POS I have now!

Might wanna have a change of underwear with you when you get it all together and start playing a game... or at least a pair that won't show stains, lol.

Why? Just play naked!

As fun as that may be... a chair would be harder to clean

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: edplayer

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER

Originally posted by: im2good4u
if you ask me, grab a 2.8C and overcloack the hell out of it @ 3.5GHz and use a DDR500 module so that it would BE in sync with the 250MHz FSB. @3.5ghz it might just be in par with the athlon 64s, heck maybe even faster at a much lower price. and gues what, thats just what i exactly did :beer:

You would have been better served to save money by getting 3200DDR, running asynch, and spending the difference on a 9800pro. Because that 9600XT is now your gaming bottleneck

I'm not sure how much he paid for his Geil Ram, but PC4000 is not that expensive. BB has 512MB modules of Kingston HyperX for $100 after rebate right now.

Never-the-less, Geil 4000 is $119 per 512mb stick at the moment and $80 3200 would only drop performance maybe 5% in gaming, where as the frame rate increase by upgrading to a $200 9800pro would be far more substantial.

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181

Originally posted by: sandorski

Originally posted by: Jeff7181

Originally posted by: Gusty987

If you've never experienced gaming on a high end system recently, you'll poop yourself

Nope, I've definitely not experienced gaming on a high end system, especially not from this 1.3GHz, 256MB, integrated graphics POS I have now!

Might wanna have a change of underwear with you when you get it all together and start playing a game... or at least a pair that won't show stains, lol.

Why? Just play naked!

As fun as that may be... a chair would be harder to clean

Ah, good point.

 

[Gusty987]

How could I get a 9800 pro, since on the pro cards you have to connect them directly to the power supply right? I'm a total n00b and I don't even know if you can do that with a pre-manufactured HP PC.

 

[im2good4u]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER

Originally posted by: edplayer

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER

Originally posted by: im2good4u
if you ask me, grab a 2.8C and overcloack the hell out of it @ 3.5GHz and use a DDR500 module so that it would BE in sync with the 250MHz FSB. @3.5ghz it might just be in par with the athlon 64s, heck maybe even faster at a much lower price. and gues what, thats just what i exactly did :beer:

You would have been better served to save money by getting 3200DDR, running asynch, and spending the difference on a 9800pro. Because that 9600XT is now your gaming bottleneck

I'm not sure how much he paid for his Geil Ram, but PC4000 is not that expensive. BB has 512MB modules of Kingston HyperX for $100 after rebate right now.

Never-the-less, Geil 4000 is $119 per 512mb stick at the moment and $80 3200 would only drop performance maybe 5% in gaming, where as the frame rate increase by upgrading to a $200 9800pro would be far more substantial.

problem is 9800s are as expensive as hell in here. pls take note that i live in the Philippines. in our currency ( 1$ = 56 Pesos) a HIS 9800pro is 20000P and the 9800XT is about 25000P, whereas my 9600XT was only 10000P still with the HL-2 offer . and like in the other forums and reviews performance is not much a diff when playing @ 800x600 and thats just what i want coz i only have a 15 in monitor. BTW with that PC4000 Geil Ultra Platinum memory my FSB is running in sync with my memory @ 250MHz FSB = 500DDR and a 3.5GHz CPU clock (OC) @ stock cooling

 

[im2good4u]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER

Originally posted by: edplayer

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER

Originally posted by: im2good4u
if you ask me, grab a 2.8C and overcloack the hell out of it @ 3.5GHz and use a DDR500 module so that it would BE in sync with the 250MHz FSB. @3.5ghz it might just be in par with the athlon 64s, heck maybe even faster at a much lower price. and gues what, thats just what i exactly did :beer:

You would have been better served to save money by getting 3200DDR, running asynch, and spending the difference on a 9800pro. Because that 9600XT is now your gaming bottleneck

I'm not sure how much he paid for his Geil Ram, but PC4000 is not that expensive. BB has 512MB modules of Kingston HyperX for $100 after rebate right now.

Never-the-less, Geil 4000 is $119 per 512mb stick at the moment and $80 3200 would only drop performance maybe 5% in gaming, where as the frame rate increase by upgrading to a $200 9800pro would be far more substantial.

problem is 9800s are as expensive as hell in here. pls take note that i live in the Philippines. in our currency ( 1$ = 56 Pesos) a HIS 9800pro is 20000P and the 9800XT is about 25000P, whereas my 9600XT was only 10000P still with the HL-2 offer . and like in the other forums and reviews performance is not much a diff when playing @ 800x600 and thats just what i want coz i only have a 15 in monitor. BTW with that PC4000 Geil Ultra Platinum memory my FSB is running in sync with my memory @ 250MHz FSB = 500DDR and a 3.5GHz CPU clock (OC) @ stock cooling

 

[smahoney]

One of the keys to using 1:1 ratio memorys at high FSB speeds is to find memory that runs at tight timings. There have been lots of test showing that 5:4 dins with 2,2,2,5 timings are as fast as 1:1 3,4,4,8 timings for some games - though not for some other games or apps that use a lot of memory. 1:1 mem at 2 or 2.5 with 3,3 or even 4,4 and 7 changes the story quite a bit. But I will not argue that for gaming - upgrading from a 9600 series to a 9800 series is more bang for the buck for gaming.