Worth it to get another A64?

[Insane3D]

Originally posted by: Dethfrumbelo
jacktackle - the 90nm A64s tend to have problems with excessive voltage, leakage primarily. You must have done some damage to those lil' MOSFETs in your initial overclock by jacking the voltage.

Ideally, one shouldn't need to upgrade the CPU more frequently that every 2-3 years, whereas the video card gets upgraded every 12 to 18 months.

My CPU is 4.5 years old, with 3 video card upgrades in that time.

He has a 3000+ Newcastle core, that is a 130nm part. The S939 Winchesters are 90nm parts.

I highly doubt 1.7v "damaged" anything.



Personally, I waited until a few months ago to pick up my first A64. I already had a XP-M @ 2.5Ghz, P4 2.4C @ 3.3Ghz, and a old DU3TC (1.5v) 1700+ XP@ 2.4Ghz. However, it had been more than six months since my last upgrade in the main system, so when a deal rolled around for a 3000+ (S754) and a Chaintech NF3 for ~$200, I jumped at it. I just shifted everything down the line, and I'll probably sell the Shuttle NF3/1700+ for a few bucks.

I upgrade when I can get a good bang for the buck, and sometimes if I just want to mess around with new stuff. I would never upgrade my entire system that often, but just picking up a motherboard/CPU and selling off your old stuff doesn't really cost that much. I'll probably sell off one of my 9800 Pro's, and pick up a 6800GT in a couple months...piece by piece...

 

[Dravic]

1]Originaly this whole overclocking craze got started because a small group of people were buying the cheapest
equipment possible and running it at the speeds of the expensive stuff, so they could save money. Doesn't buying dozens of cpus and new motherboards every 2 months defeat that purpose? If you want a new CPU wait untill Quarter 1 of 2005 for the AMD San Diego chips with SSE3 to be released

Thats why i got in overclocking.. cheaper price for more performance..


k2-350@400 -> duron 650@900 -> tbird 1400+ @ 1700+ -> pal 2100+ @2.3ghz(3200+ish)

my next move will be to a cheaper a64 that will get me 2.6ghz($4000+ speeds) on good air cooling. although the pr numbers aren't double (3200+ to a 4000+) i'm expecting about double the perfomance since i'm still on a kt333MB that cant push more then a 183mhz FSB.

since i'm a gamer i spent my money on upgrading my ti4200 to a PNY 6800nu for $200 on black friday

overclocking has always been a gamble.. getting 2.3 out of a newcastle was all that was to be expected on average. Hence the big wait for the 90mm a64's, i'm trying to hold out for the sse3 redesign, but in the newer games my cpu is getting a little long in the tooth..

 

[IPLaw]

I too upgraded from an A64 3000 to a 3400 (newcastle) on my AOpen AK86-L. While the extra 400 MHz gives a measurable boost to gaming performance, the 3400 really isnt that much 'snappier' than the 3000 during normal windows use. That being said, the 3000 provides the smoothest windows experience I've had, even in comparison to high end P4 systems.

If I had an nf3 board with adjustable ratios, I would have opted for a Sempron 3100 instead of the 3400, since my AK86 flakes out at higher fsbs. A 99$ Sempron 3100 should allow you to attain at least 2.4 GHz, and the 256K cache size has no significant impact on performance when the processor is overclocked via adjustable nf3 ratios. Here is a great article on Sempron 3100+ performance.