New computer, but what CPU?

[Consultant01]

Re: New computer, but what CPU?

MSI K8N NEO4-F, nForce4, Socket-939, ATX Raid, Lyd, 4xSATA, GbLAN, PCI-Ex16

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 2.2GHz Socket 939

Fortron/Source Strømforsyning ATX 400W

Corsair Value S. PC3200 DDR-DIMM 2048MB Kit w/two matched Value Select 1024MB

PowerColor Radeon X1800GTO 256MB GDDR3, PCI-Express

Samsung SpinPoint P120S 250GB SATA2 8MB 7200RPM

Also, I dropped your Windows to XP Home, saves 173$

Took off the monitor.

Drop the HDD to a 200gig, saved 84$ (Samsung SpinPoint P120S 200GB SATA2 8MB 7200RPM)

Bumped up the video card to an x1800 (+118$)


Total: kr 8209 (Whatever a kr is)

thats like 1200kr more than you were talking... is that a lot? I dont see how to cut another 1200 off the machine.

[imported_SnowControl]

Re: New computer, but what CPU?

$1 = 6.3 Nok
1200nok = $190


That set-up is pretty much what i was looking at. Is the 1800 better than the 7600GT? I've had some bad experiences with ATI, thats why i looked at nVIDIA in the first place.

That PSU you picked doesnt cost much more, so if you recommend that one, i will go for it.

I'm cutting the OS out, as i got a XPPro cd here already. Also, i rather buy the TwinMOS PC3200 DDR-DIMM 2048MB Dual Pack Kit, as its $20 cheaper than the corsair one. Unless you say its a bad piece of RAM.

Are you sure that my mobo-choice is bad? I'm on a tight budget, and its $50 extra to upgrade to the one you picked.

The two extra expences you've proposed is the mobo and the video card. I agree that the video card may be worth it, but im unsure about the mobo. But you're the expert....

[EDIT] By cutting the memory card reader, and the OS + what you already removed, you're down to around 7000.

[lil_jimmy_norton]

Re: New computer, but what CPU?

wowow, I'm trying to save money, not spend more!

Yes, if i go down to the 3500, i can afford another gig of ram. The 7600 is more than good enough for me, from what i've heard. The 3200 has got some bad reviews on the website to the company i'm buying this from, so i'm not going down to that one. Its either 3700 with 1 gig ram, or 3500 with 2 gig.

The reviews are wrong, The 3200+ is quite a venerable CPU. Gaming wise you'd be hard pressed to notice any difference between it and a 3500+.

[imported_SnowControl]

Re: New computer, but what CPU?

The reviews are wrong, The 3200+ is quite a venerable CPU. Gaming wise you'd be hard pressed to notice any difference between it and a 3500+.

Ok, that sounds great to me.

So what would give me the best experience, the 3200/3500 with 2 gigs of ram, or 3700 with 1 gig? This is with a 7600GT, or possibly ATI X1800GTO.

[Consultant01]

Re: New computer, but what CPU?

3200/3500 with 2 gigs of RAM will serve you much better than a 3700 and 1 gig. The 3500 is overclockable (if you care to dabble in that, use caution).

As for 7600GT vs x1800GTO, I dont know for sure but I am an ATI fan. Its personal preference. The x1800 is 1 step down from ATI's top of the line while the 7600 is at least 2 steps down from nVidia's top of the line.

I looked around and found these...

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=184524

http://forums.amd.com/lofiversion/index.php/t70584.html

Seems the ATI has 256 bit memory which outshines the nVidia in this pair. This would affect the higher resolutions.

I'd highly recommend the ATI x1800

The perfect review.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/article.aspx?art=2644

[imported_SnowControl]

Re: New computer, but what CPU?

Hmm, from that last review, X1800 is called "loud, clunky and annoying", while the 7600GT is "nicer, being smaller, quieter and cooler". The results are just the same. Also, a SLI setup with two 7600 gives an 80 % increase in performance, outrunning a single 7800GTX which costs more than two 7600.

I wont be playing on higher resolutions than 1200*1600, and when looking at those results, the cards are very even.

To me, 7600 seems like a better buy. Its cheaper, less noisy, and can easily be upgraded with another card in SLI. Some say performance is slightly lower, but according to tests, its minimal.

[abtomat74]

Re: New computer, but what CPU?

Ok, that sounds great to me.

So what would give me the best experience, the 3200/3500 with 2 gigs of ram, or 3700 with 1 gig? This is with a 7600GT, or possibly ATI X1800GTO.

The 3200 w/2GB ram of course. If you have a nice video card, and turn on Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering...the difference in fps between a 3200 and an FX-55 becomes 1-5fps, yes, only one to five fps. That is in most games. In the other games, the difference can be upto 10%.

Regardless, use the money saved by buying a 3200, and apply the difference to a better video card.

[lil_jimmy_norton]

Re: New computer, but what CPU?

Hmm, from that last review, X1800 is called "loud, clunky and annoying", while the 7600GT is "nicer, being smaller, quieter and cooler". The results are just the same. Also, a SLI setup with two 7600 gives an 80 % increase in performance, outrunning a single 7800GTX which costs more than two 7600.

I wont be playing on higher resolutions than 1200*1600, and when looking at those results, the cards are very even.

To me, 7600 seems like a better buy. Its cheaper, less noisy, and can easily be upgraded with another card in SLI. Some say performance is slightly lower, but according to tests, its minimal.

SLI WILL NOT gain 80% increase. 30% is closer to reality.

[imported_SnowControl]

Re: New computer, but what CPU?

SLI WILL NOT gain 80% increase. 30% is closer to reality.

According to test done by those who wrote the article Consultant01 linked to in his reply, it does. This is on the 7600GT only, not SLI in general.

The perfect review.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/article.aspx?art=2644

[lil_jimmy_norton]

Re: New computer, but what CPU?

First comparing it to a 7800GTX is a moot point since they are no longer in production.

Second show me 80%?




I see a 30% increase.

A single set up runs 80% as much FPS, that however is not an 80% increase.

An 80% increase would be 147 FPS at 1280x1024 4xFSAA 8xAF

They did their math wrong calculating the increase.

[imported_SnowControl]

Re: New computer, but what CPU?

What is interesting is how much improvement we saw from running two 7600 GT cards in SLI. We noticed 80-90 per cent improvement, even at 1,280 x 1,024 where it matters most. On average, across all the benchmarks and resolutions there was a 60 per cent improvement in performance, which is not to be sniffed at.

Dunno if they miscalculated.

I still feel that a 7600GT is just as good as the X1800GTO.

[lil_jimmy_norton]

Re: New computer, but what CPU?

I'm not arguing with that, I'd choose the 7600 as well. Just saying there isn't an 80% increase.

[Eddy01741]

Re: New computer, but what CPU?

I'm not arguing with that, I'd choose the 7600 as well. Just saying there isn't an 80% increase.

Most times SLi benefits most for extreme high resolutions, and most people don't have anything over 1600x1200 (mostly not even over 1280x1024). Anyways, difference between the 3500 and the 3700, the 3700+ has a 1MB L2 cache, the 3500+ has 512kb l2 cache, also, sandiego core>venice. Anyways, i would agree with others in saying, if you don't wanna get the 3700, get like a 3200, the 3500 isn't much different, with OCing u could easily get past 2.2ghz.

[imported_SnowControl]

Re: New computer, but what CPU?

Most times SLi benefits most for extreme high resolutions, and most people don't have anything over 1600x1200 (mostly not even over 1280x1024).

We noticed 80-90 per cent improvement, even at 1,280 x 1,024 where it matters most.

This has gone a bit off-topic now, as i probably wont be investing in SLI.

I will go for the 3500+ with 2 gb ram, and the 7600GT.

[Eddy01741]

Re: New computer, but what CPU?

This has gone a bit off-topic now, as i probably wont be investing in SLI.

I will go for the 3500+ with 2 gb ram, and the 7600GT.

Good choice, tell us how your PC does when you put it together.