A friend of mine wants to build a new system but he is not quite up to date with current technology, so he asked me to choose the components. Although his budget is not what we call "limited", on the other hand he would only like to spend the extra money if that will be justified when it comes down to performance.
So my idea is this:
- MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum
- AMD Athlon 64 3200+ (90nm)
My goal is to overclock the 3200+ to 2.4GHz, getting this way a 3800+. The way I see it, I will have to raise the FSB to 240 (10 x 240 = 2400) and lower the HT to 4x (4 x 240 = 960). Now my first question is about memory. The way I see it he has two choices. The first, is to go for some cheap, PC3200 Corsair value modules with CAS latency 2.5-4-4-8 (or something like that). The other option is to go for PC4000 memory (3-4-4-8). The second option is about $100 more expensive. Do you think its worth it? Will the increase in performance justify the extra $100? The reason I am asking is because I remember my self buying two years ago some PC3200 (2-2-2-5) sticks for my Socket-A board, only to find out a few weeks later from a review here in Tom's Hardware that I paid all those extra $$$ just for 3-4% (max) more performance compared to some CAS 2.5 or even CAS 3 modules. No need to mention how stupid I felt !!! Those money could be very well invested towards a 9700 Pro for example instead of the 9500 Pro I had bought. Btw, I am basically asking about performance in gaming.
Also the second question is somewhat the same. Do you think a 74GB Raptor is really that fast that it justifies the fact that it costs about the same as a 250GB 7200rpm 8MB buffer drive? No need to comment about how "small" 74GB might is, I would prefer comments based on speed, if possible based on a personal experience.
Thanks.
So my idea is this:
- MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum
- AMD Athlon 64 3200+ (90nm)
My goal is to overclock the 3200+ to 2.4GHz, getting this way a 3800+. The way I see it, I will have to raise the FSB to 240 (10 x 240 = 2400) and lower the HT to 4x (4 x 240 = 960). Now my first question is about memory. The way I see it he has two choices. The first, is to go for some cheap, PC3200 Corsair value modules with CAS latency 2.5-4-4-8 (or something like that). The other option is to go for PC4000 memory (3-4-4-8). The second option is about $100 more expensive. Do you think its worth it? Will the increase in performance justify the extra $100? The reason I am asking is because I remember my self buying two years ago some PC3200 (2-2-2-5) sticks for my Socket-A board, only to find out a few weeks later from a review here in Tom's Hardware that I paid all those extra $$$ just for 3-4% (max) more performance compared to some CAS 2.5 or even CAS 3 modules. No need to mention how stupid I felt !!! Those money could be very well invested towards a 9700 Pro for example instead of the 9500 Pro I had bought. Btw, I am basically asking about performance in gaming.
Also the second question is somewhat the same. Do you think a 74GB Raptor is really that fast that it justifies the fact that it costs about the same as a 250GB 7200rpm 8MB buffer drive? No need to comment about how "small" 74GB might is, I would prefer comments based on speed, if possible based on a personal experience.
Thanks.