Which AMD64? (best price ratio for doom3)

[ttoth]

Hi,
Came acrosse this forum... did some searching and didn't quite find a anwser to what i was looking for.. But I'm looking into a new system.. really because mine right now sucks at doom 3. (xp 2100+ ona gigabyte w/1gb pc2700 and a Asus V5640 geforce4 w/256) even at 640x480 i would drop to 5fps with multiple monsters.. I did tons of tweaking.. but doom 3 is VERY picky.. any type of overclock and it wouldn't run..

So.. what system? I was thinking going to a amd64 3200+ w/1meg cache.. on a abit mobo... NO MORE ASUS. should I go ahead and get some 400mhz ram or wait for ddr2 to put out(cl2, or 3?)..... should i upgrade video? that video is just under 1yr old.... Any and all input welcomed..

thanks
tom

 

[Sonic587]

What's your budget here?

EDIT: Btw, Welcome to AT!

 

[ttoth]

I'de like to keep it around $600.. I'm looking at around $300 for cpu/mobo combo.. plus around $200+ for 1GB of cosair cl2 ram.. thats over $500 right there....

 

[CombatChuk]

the 3000+ is currently the biggest bang for your buck

 

[Sonic587]

I'd go with this...

A64 3000+

Epox NF3 250GB
I've been hearing good things about this Epox board.

Don't waste so much money on that CL2 RAM. It's not worth it, IMO. Better spent on a videocard. From what I've heard, the A64s don't have in the way of a performance hit with slower RAM. So, you'll be fine with your current 2700. Pocket that extra change and use it to pick up a vanilla 6800.

 

[MrK6]

Yup, I own both the mobo and the CPU and they both fly in Doom 3. Keep your RAM, timings don't mean a heck of a lot on an A64 beyond benchmarking scores. Get a 6800 though, as that'll give the best performance in Doom 3. The mobo and CPU will cost you about $275 (you could save $25 and go with a Chaintech VNF3-250, but lose the Gb Ethernet and multiplier changing. $275 + the $285 for a eVGA 6800 will leave you $40 under budget. That system will fly in Doom 3

 

[imported_tss4]

You might want to consider the athlon64 2800. You want see a drop off in perforamce for doom2 and you can save some money better spent on the graphics card.

 

[Rudee]

Wow, most people I know area already bored of playing DOOM 3.

 

[Robor]

Originally posted by: Rudee
Wow, most people I know area already bored of playing DOOM 3.

Way to add to the conversation dude... :roll:

 

[brzrkr0]

I'm in the middle of putting together a similar system. Here's what I'm planning:

Athlon 64 3000+ with to-be-decided cooler
EPOX 8KDA3J
768mb of pc2700 Crucial memory (512 + 256)
256mb Radeon 9800 Pro -> XT w/ VGA Silencer
1 IDE HD, 1 SATA HD, 1 IDE CDRW
Belkin 802.11g card
2-3 case fans, chipset fan (if needed)

What I'm wondering is what kind of power supply I'd need to reliably support all that with room to OC a bit. I currently have a 400w A+GPB unit, which advertises 240w combined output and 17A on the 12v rail. It's only a week old so I can return it to Fry's if I get something better. Also, if anyone has recommendations for a CPU cooler I'm all ears.

 

[cremefilled]

You've got about the same budget for upgrading that I do at the moment. What I am currently considering is:

A64 2800+ $145
Chaintech NF3-250 board $77
Dell ATI X800Pro $320 (see Hot Deals forum)

I too have 1GB of PC2700, but I've seen several recommendations that this isn't too much of a hindrance with the A64. If you can swing it, the Geforce 6800GT for about $100 more will definitely be superior for Doom3.

I haven't seen many reports on overclocking the 2800+, but a bunch of people are getting their 3000+ chips to do 2.4 GHz (up from 2.0 stock).

 

[klah]

The only comments I have about those mobos is that the VNF3-250 does not support Cool'n'Quiet and the EP-8KDA3J/EP-8KDA3+ only supports C'n'Q' when a single DIMM is installed.

 

[VIAN]

There has to be something wrong with your previous system to not be able to handle that with those system specs.

I would try and keep that RAM as it still seems good and may be overclockable to PC3200 as mine was. Low latency RAM is a waste of money - so don't bother with that. It's all just marketing.

Check what chipset you have, you may be able to get just a better processor and then OC from there.

There was no results for any V5620 in google, so I have no clue what that is, but I don't remember there being a 256MB Geforce4 at all.