upgrading to amd 64 3400+ cpu

[elny3680]

i need some advice, i am planning to upgrade my cpu to an amd 64 3400+ but i see that there are 2 listed for this type of cpu.

one has the newcastle core & the other is clawhammer. also, the clawhammer has a 1mb cache where as the newcastle has 512mb. the newcastle costs a good $60 less than the clawhammer.

besides the price & the cache size, what is the difference between the cores? does the clawhammer core justify the $285 price given the 1mb cache?

clawhammer

newcastle

this is what i am running currently

athlon xp 2500+ barton
1gb geil value ram
abit nf7-s

i will be purchasing a 6800 gt card soon after this as well

any advice is greatly appreciated...thanks & happy holidays

ethan

 

[Sonic587]

Go for the Newcastle. It has +200MHz on the clawhammer, so that will negate the effects of the extra cache.

Generally speaking, games (I assume this will be a gaming rig) like raw clockspeed over more cache. IIRC, the only game I've seen that gets a sizeable boost from extra cache is Doom 3.