AMD cpu questions

[Purefire]

Hey guys, I've decided to get a new computer since just about every part of mine is highly outdated now and I have a couple questions. The computer will almost solely be used for gaming (WoW, F.E.A.R etc.) and I was mainly wondering which of these CPU's I should choose.

Athlon 64 x2 3800+
Athlon 64 4000+
Athlon 64 x2 4200+

I've heard that the x2 won't help out for gaming much in the near future, correct? Im currently thinking the Athlon 64 4000+ but wanted some more opinions. I also have the choice of the Athlon 64 3800+ ofc.


As for the rest of my comp I'm thinking of the following (and any advice/comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated):

Motherboard: Gigabyte K8VT890-9, PCI-E, DDR 400, 1GB LAN

RAM: 2GB PC 3200 DDR400 (4x512) dual channel

Vidcard: Geforce 6800-GT 256mb DDR PCI-E

HD: 160GB 7200rpm western digital drive

And then I will be putting in my old SB Audigy 2 ZS and a second HDD for storage purposes.

Any ideas or suggestions are welcome, i can prolly go a tad higher cost-wise if its needed. Possibly upgrade to the geforce 7800??? is it worth it? thanks guys.

 

[Rugger]

Take the CPu down to a 3200+ and get a 7800GT (eVGA 7800GT for $299 at Newegg) with the money you saved - you'll be much happier. Get a board with an nForce chipset like the Chaintach VNF4 Ultra or Abit AN8 Ultra

 

[fishmahn]

Correct: Today, an X2 doesn't do much for games. nVidia has drivers that can use the 2nd core for some graphics processing but I don't know if its for all games or just a few or what. "Tomorrow" an X2 will be useful, but I have no idea if "tomorrow" means early '06, late '06, sometime in '08, or when... (well, probably not early '06 :lol: )

Are you OCing?

While Gigabyte makes good boards, nVidia's nForce 4 is a better chipset, so I'd get one based on that - ABit, Epox, Gigabyte, etc., whoever (if you're not OCing). Chaintech has a decent cheap one, the VNF4. Epox is probably best if you OC (well, DFI is best if you want an extreem OC, but it takes work to set up right), though ABit and others can OC too.

2Gig is good to have for a few games, but for AMDs get 2x1gig instead of 4x512. 4 sticks will cause the RAM to slow down so 2 sticks is better here. OCZ seems to be the 'brand of the month' here with good price, good timings, etc.

I would get a 7800GT and downgrade the other stuff as needed to fit in your budget. The GPU is by far the most important piece of a gaming rig (except for the PSU - a crappy power supply can break an otherwise awesome system). Maybe 1gig, and down to as low as a 3200+ if necessary. I'd drop to a 3500+ before I dropped the 2nd gig of RAM though (others may differ).

Mike.

 

[jammer8]

I have a 3800 X2 upgraded from a 3200 venice. if you just gaming get th e 3200 ( i multitask, encode, etc...) and def get the 7800GT

i ordered the eVGA 516 from newegg and should get it tomorrow

can't wait. I currently havd a connect3d X800GTO
unlocked to 16p and clocked to 530/500

 

[sledgehammer70]

I have run a host of AMD chips: I currently run a handful of high end chips and low end PC's... for the price point I would go a 3800+ X2 or even for a 4400+ X2 as the industry is driving towards the Dual core era, It would be wise to upgrade now while you have the cash & the nice thing is there is allot more room to upgrade into the 939 socket set. Go 3800+ now and get a 4800+ for allot cheaper down lthe raod and still have a kick but computer.. and yes a 7800 series cards no matter what one is top of the line. 7800GT and the GTX & the GTX 512 are just sweet cards. I own allot fo them....

I run the following AMD CPU's, I put them in order of which runs better I should say from fastest to slowest! I am a avid AMD Guy, and will stand by there products. I also run a few Intel systems but they need no mention here....

4800+ Athlon X2 Dual Core
FX-57 Athlon FX
4400+ Athlon X2 Dual Core
FX-55 Athlon FX
3800+ Athlon X2 Dual Core
4000+ Athlon 64
3700+ Athlon 64
3200+ Athlon 64
3000+ Athlon XP
2800+ Athlon XP
2400+ Athlon XP

I have a few PC's all my systems from the 4000+ have 7800GT's in SLI with my FX series towers run 7800GTX 512's . the other Athlon 64 series Tower run 6800GT's in SLI and a few with 6600GT's.

If your wondering why I have so many High end PC's is becuase my House turns into a Lan center on the weekends. I have all my buddies over ans we game all day and night. It is becoming a bad habbit..... I also own my own computer company.. http://www.mandmcr.com it helps pay for this bad habbit.

If you ever have any questions shot them my way. and if you would liek to see soem images of these nice rigs shoot me a IM I would be happy to send some images over

I

 

[Purefire]

Ok, so for the motherboard, would one of the following be better? If so, one of these over the other?

- Gigabyte K8N Ultra-9, nForce4, PCI-E, DDR 400, SATA, 1GB LAN, iEEE
- Asus A8N-SLI nForce4, PCI-EX SLI, DDR 400, SATA, 1GB LAN, iEEE

There are also some more nForce4 motherboards by Asus and Gigabyte that are $30 or so more than these two, will there be much of a difference?

Im shopping at Magicmicro.com btw, so i dont have to put it together myself (I would put it together myself, and have in the past, but spending this much $ I think i prefer a professional doing it).



Also: If I cannot afford the Geforce 7800, is the difference between a 6800 and a 7800 really that remarkable?

2nd Edit: Or should I just order the parts and build the computer again myself? Worried about warranty problems

 

[sledgehammer70]

There isn't much to worry about these days unless you plan to OC your items...

as per your mobo question. ASUS is a trusted brand, not the best for OC'ing but have a solid board, I would get the premium if I were you, I have a few of those and the Deluxe and have no issues. I just like the AI options... Gigabyte also makes good products.... it is really personal prefrence. ASUS has always been good to me even in RMA instances they always have been fast and really easy to work with.

the increase from a 7800GT and a 6800GT is a bit.. like 8%- 55% depending on the game and computer setup.... you can't go wrong with a higher end 6800GT they are still good cards, they are just year old. The average player has a 5700Ultra in his machine... so you would still be way ahead of the tech curve....

 

[SoDNighthawk]

At least if you stand next to your favorite products the AMD book end effect will be enforced and you wont fall over


Just kidding I am an AMD fan as well.

 

[fishmahn]

Pretty much what Sledgehammer said. Asus makes good boards, so does Gigabyte. No need to get SLI in your case, it doesn't look like you'll use it, but it doesn't hurt to have, so if the price is right...

Generally, once you have the same chipset on the mobo, its all about features and quality - stick to quality brands and its all about features - if it has the features you want and is cheaper, get it.

Mike.

 

[SoDNighthawk]

Just make sure the MoB you end up with you have full control of IRQ steering in the BIOS this way you can preform a HAL install if needed so you can get your AGP card set to either IRQ 10 or 11.

If you are SLI it's not important but still handy to have to force some Sound cards onto thier own IRQ since Win XP auto assigns IRQ steering and cannot be overrided if you install as a UNI processor.

 

[david_uk]

definitely go for just 1gb of ram and put money saved into graphics card, thats what i'm doing. i'm even prepared to wait a few weeks before getting new pc for when the new 7800 gtx 512mb cards become more widely available and knock down the prices of the other 7800's. what resolution are you planning to run games at? higher resolutions will definitely require 7800. get the evga:

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2636