The Best CPU WITHOUT Needing To OC It?

[Weeeman]

Hello all!

Just wondering what processor does one need [AMD] to not need to OC it....

I was thinking a 3000+ but it seems like everyone who has one OC's it.

I'm not going to be burning a cd, burning a dvd, playing a game, downloading songs all at once

Mainly just playing a game and winamp, and a bit of surfing the net while I play, so in other words I don't need to milk every last bit of power out of my hardware.... I'd just like to play games [doom, UO etc] smoothly...something this 1.4 im running on has no chance of doing.

To sum it up, what AMD processor is the best bang for its buck, not to oc it.

Since' I've never OC'd I'll definatly been looking into doing a bit of it later....but nothing right off the bat. [Still don't like frying a spankin' new system]

Once again, Thanks!

 

[Nemesis2038]

I think the Athlon 2800 for around 85.00 is the most bang for non-overclocking.

You do realize that a lot of chips like the P4 2.4C and AMD Athlon 2400 in most cases are P4 3.2 and Athlon 3200's. Call it perfected processing yeilds or remarked demand for lower performance parts that this happens. Your getting free cpu speed without comprimising stability if you select standard Front side bus settings of their faster counterparts.

Its only the people who choose non default FSB settings that later find thier Firewire ports or USB devices have problems with the overclocks they choose. Great for gaming but not for peripherals that may interface into them.

 

[Avalon]

I think you can get a 400FSB AMD XP 3000+ OEM for $130ish, shipped. That would fare better than a 2800+. You're going to want a decent HSF to go with it, so chalk up another $10. It's a big difference in money, and you may or may not notice the performance difference. If $50 over the 2800+ is no big deal, go for it.

 

[SickBeast]

Wow...what NOT to overclock. That's incredible. This thread should be stickied.

On a more serious note, since you *may* be overclocking in the future, why not just get something that is good at it to begin with? They cost the same. I would say the vanilla 2500+ is a good choice in general. That said, you haven't told us your budget. The 2500+ is a low-cost solution.

 

[Weeeman]

*Hides in corner from beast*



The setup I'm thinking of ordering right now is $1800ish...not looking to spend more than 2ish

Was thinking

3000+
K8V
X800 xt
74 Raptor
Antec 550w
2 Sticks of A-DATA 512
NU TECH 8x
CL SB GAMER

I guess I flat out worded it wrong. I didn't mean what not to overclock, just something that does well without having to OC it

 

[SickBeast]

Yeah, the 3000+ is a nice option, and the A64 fits your budget. Actually, you could probably swing the Socket 939 platform with $1800, and it would be much more future-proof. Granted it's overpriced, but looking at your budget it's a fit.

To get the best "bang for buck" the 2800+ or 3000+ A64s are the best bet. I'm not an A64 expert so I'll leave the rest to them. I love my XP Mobile setup, but to reccomend something budget-level to you is just silly.

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: Nemesis2038
I think the Athlon 2800 for around 85.00 is the most bang for non-overclocking.

You do realize that a lot of chips like the P4 2.4C and AMD Athlon 2400 in most cases are P4 3.2 and Athlon 3200's. Call it perfected processing yeilds or remarked demand for lower performance parts that this happens. Your getting free cpu speed without comprimising stability if you select standard Front side bus settings of their faster counterparts.

Its only the people who choose non default FSB settings that later find thier Firewire ports or USB devices have problems with the overclocks they choose. Great for gaming but not for peripherals that may interface into them.

That's why you lock the AGP/PCI bus. FSB has nothing to do with it, the "standards" are as arbitrary as anything else when it comes to FSB/mult.

 

[SneakyStuff]

i've got the 2800+ barton, runnin stock and fast

 

[oldman420]

mobile barton

 

[S4M33R]

Your budget is huge... There is no future proof PC, so what I would suggest is buying a cost effective processor and motherboard, and maxing out on the parts that will depreciate less, like an audigy 2 soundcard (I got my audigy 2 gamer for 80 bucks AR with some cool games ), and a good monitor. Also consider factors like noise and heat, I think your money would be best spent on a 2800 with a quiet but high performance HSF combo. Also, even though RAM prices are killer, having better RAM will help you in the long run stability and performance wise. Buying the 2800 with an excellent HSF combo and say 1 gig of Corsair XMS will give you good headroom for OCing while remaining quiet and stable. Don't blow your money on the highest end processors and an equally overpriced motherboard when you could enjoy the money better with say a good 5.1 speaker system or a crystal clean monitor. If you just want to focus on the gaming performance, save your money for a future video card upgrade.

 

[Weeeman]

I wouldn't say huge.... i had been figuring blowing my $$ on an alienware, until a few friends just suggested building it my self for 2/3 the price -- so here I am

And I already have Klipsch ProMedia GMX D-5.1 for speakers

Right now im thinking of just sticking with my old $30 monitor for awhile

 

[Vette73]

Athlon64 3000+ seems to be the best bang for your buck IMO

 

[Zrl201]

Originally posted by: Weeeman
I wouldn't say huge.... i had been figuring blowing my $$ on an alienware, until a few friends just suggested building it my self for 2/3 the price -- so here I am

And I already have Klipsch ProMedia GMX D-5.1 for speakers

Right now im thinking of just sticking with my old $30 monitor for awhile

I also like the AMD 64 idea but I think you should blow your cash on a new great new monitor since you want to play games with it.

 

[SickBeast]

If you were considering Alienware I would seriously reccomend an A64 3500+ running on Socket 939 if you can get your hands on one. Pair that up with a Radeon X800XT and you're set. It will probably smoke an Alienware rig to boot.

If you can't find that, maybe go with the Socket 754 3400+ A64 w/ an nForce3 250 motherboard. 1GB PC3500 low-latency RAM, a 74GB raptor, and again, the X800XT/X800PRO. Should be quite the killer gaming rig. :beer:

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: oldman420
mobile barton

what???? he said STOCK. the mobile bartons are deffinately NOT worth their price for stock speeds...:roll:

 

[Weeeman]

I thought the K8V was the way to go for 754?
Either way....here is what im thinking for my new rig, or atleast was....ill have to seriously look into the 939 sockets though..

Sonata
AMD 3000+
K8V
X800 XT
74 Raptor
Antec 550w
2 Sticks of A-DATA 512
NU TECH 8x
CL SB GAMER
Thermalright
Tornado/Nexus Fan
MX 700 Combo

But How does the Nforce stack up against the k8v?

 

[SickBeast]

nForce3 250 and the VIA KT800 boards perform nearly identically. The difference is in the features, and that gives nVidia the edge. I trust nVidia more than VIA to make a solid chipset with excellent drivers, so that's another reason to go with them.