AMD 64 > Intel 3.2ghz?

L

lander

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Hey all, im about to drop a shitload of money (over 5k) on a new computer to run the new elite games comming out such as HL2 (which I am looking forward to the most) and Doom III WoW EQ2 etc ...

I was wondering if any of you have the knowledge to help me out with this important decision, I don't want to drop 5k and still lag on these games, im hoping I can get the best graphics and speed available for running these games. If there is one pet peeve of mine it's not being able to crank the graphics and not lag.

I'm going to get A VoodooPC i'm pretty sure. A Fury to be exact.

But I simply do not know if I should go with the Intel 3.2 ghz processor or the AMD 64 FX-51.

Simply put, I want the best on the market. Please don't go cheap on me, money is no object.

Also, I am unsure on whether I should go with a Radeon card or an Nvidia card, your advise would be much appreciated, thank you.
 
Get a ATi over a nvidia but I would wait on that until Feb when the new cards go out, they should be much faster than what's out today and will run most games fun for the next few years. So if you have an OK video card wait as there are no games that need much better cards at this time.
Good Luck,
Paul
 
the athlon fx is much faster then the pentium 3.2.
 
i wouldnt say its MUCH faster than a 3.2EE ....it is faster though......

my advice would be to wait a bit......next gen vid-cards(pci-express) will be out in the early spring....as well as new chipsets/mobos for the athlon 64s.....

Hl2 and doom3 are not here yet...and might not be a while....you are better off waiting.
 
^^ He was probably talking about a regular p4 3.2, since the ee isnt available for purchase yet.
 
So when would you say the best time for getting a new comp would be?
 
Originally posted by lander
So when would you say the best time for getting a new comp would be?

In my opinion, when either Half-Life 2 or Doom 3 is actually released in the stores.
 
Originally posted by lander
So when would you say the best time for getting a new comp would be?

If you could wait, I would suggest late summer next year (2004). By then we will have DDRII & PCI-X. Not to mention the fact that both Intel's and AMD's socket transitions should be finished. Windows 64 should be released and a bit matured. The transition to SATA will be about complete. Basically, a lot of things are changing quickly right now, and if you wait a bit you will have a much more future proof PC.
 
lol lander....you dont need 2 gigs of ram you ho, you barely need 1gig.
 
I'd wait with that kind of money you could get an even better machine when new parts come out and it will be when you need it.
 
Wait atleast until Half Life 2 is released, but if you have a decent PC now I would wait till Summer 2004 like TheOtherDude said. Many things are chaning very quickly and summer will bring a brand new line of technology, if you dumb $2,000 into a computer now you will probably need to dump that much again after about a year as new games will be coming out that will take advantage of the new technology. I wouldn't be suprised if Duke Nukem will wait until that new technology is available to be one of the first games out to use it.
-Paul
 
2gbs might slow ya down too. if it's not buffered RAM.
 
AMD Athlon 64 FX-51 is faster than the P4 3.2GHz, so go with that if money is no concern.

2 gigs of RAM is a waste, even if you aren't concerned with how much you're spending. Unless you do serious video/audio editing, you're best to spend your money on 1 gig of high quality, low-latency memory like Kingston's HyperX or Corsair's memory.

For graphics cards the best right now is the Radeon 9800XT. The GeForce FX line doesn't perform quite as well under directX 9 conditions, and that's a serious thing to consider for newer games.

For hard drives, think about getting a couple of the Seagate Barracuda Raptors, and run them in a RAID array (go here for a good RAID FAQ). The Raptors run at 10,000 RPM compared to the more normal 7200 RPM of other hard drives. The faster rotation speed will increase seek times and loading times. Having them in a RAID array will also increase performance.
 
For the cash concious people out there you could buy a 2.4GHz p4c, 875PE mobo and 512mb PC3200 ram for less than an Athlon FX CPU alone and still clock it to withing 10% of the Athlon.

But since lander has a huge amount of cash to stick on the fire to keep him warm on a chilly winters night then I would advise the Athlon as it is the faster chip :E
 
I would wait also. The new AMD FX chips are going to be changing pin counts in the next couple of months. So if you get one now then you won't be able to upgrade without buying a new Mobo later on.
 
give me $2500 then we can both biuld aweswome pcs
 
Originally posted by Asus
Don't forget BTX form factor...

Yeah, that royally sucks. If you =have= to buy a computer at this moment then go budget, because you won't be able too upgrade it with the coming hardware :x
 
what is BTX?

and wow if someone has a amd 64 bit chip now they cant upgrade without a new mobo? that blows
 
Originally posted by =)PoLo(=
Yeah, that royally sucks. If you =have= to buy a computer at this moment then go budget, because you won't be able too upgrade it with the coming hardware :x

Hmm but we need this sort of mass progression to keep the technology on its toes.
 
BTX form facter will replace ATX just like ATX replaced AT.
It is a form facter design that affects motherboards/cases/powersupplies.
I don't think powersupplies will have to change going into BTX but motherboards and cases will be different.
The cases are going to be designed with a 92mm fan in the middle front of the case for intake and a 92mm fan in the middle back for exhaust.
The motherboard/case will probably have different screw placement and all the major heat producers on motherboards (CPU/RAM/GFXcard) are going to be placed in the center right where the air will travel between the front/back fans. Lot better for active (air) cooling.

I will probably buy a new PC after BTX/PCI express are introduced.

I could care less about DDR2, though. Increased latency and they say only at high speeds will that make up for the poor latency.
Although DDR3 will be good. :)
 
The ram im getting will be corsair, so could 2gigs of it really slow me down? I mean, if there is even 1/20198210982019829018290182 of in increase in speed with 2 gigs I want it.

And yes, im going with 2 raptor hard drives.
 
If you want 2 gb of DDR get 2 sticks of 1gb apeace.
Otherwise if you have more DIMMs than that and a large amount or memory it takes cycles + lowers performance.
Registered (bufferd) memory takes a small increase in latency at first because it registers/logs all your large amount of memory but then it can be used freely without any further performance hit.
But I believe your motherboard has to support it.
 
i would stick with ur 32dbit cheaper processors, then wait, till 64bit, pci-express, and all that goes with that because fullstream... then build ur computer, it will be ALOT better in the long run, plus u dont need that kind of power in a machine currently. in at least 6 months, or when pci - express comes out, on a good amd 940 socket board, on say, the nforce4/5 chipset comes out, go for it

- AMD FX-51, 64bit processor, has 128bit memory, regular AMD 64bit, has 64bit memory... that 128bit gives u that huge amount of ram at high speed, that is why, even with that incredible processor, the regular amd 64bit gets only DDR333, instead of the DDR400.
 
both Athlon 64's (FX 51/3200+) can do DDR400.
FX 51 is dual channel memory (64bit) which equals a total of 128bit while Athlon 64 3200+ has only one channel of memory (64bit).
Opteron is the only AMD64 that can't do DDR400 but only does DDR333.
 
You can always play it 'smart' and wait for new and better technology but that is a revolving idiom. Because when you do buy the new technology after waiting for several months, guess what? something better is coming out.

So I say just buy the system now. Either way you are still going to be shelling out money for upgrades after you buy it.

I love the freedom of the upgradability(if that is a word) of PCs, but it's getting ridiculous that you have to shell out several $100 every few months to upgrade. But that's he way it goes, I will keep on chasing that carrot dangling in front of me.
 
Originally posted by chu
You can always play it 'smart' and wait for new and better technology but that is a revolving idiom. Because when you do buy the new technology after waiting for several months, guess what? something better is coming out.

So I say just buy the system now. Either way you are still going to be shelling out money for upgrades after you buy it.

I love the freedom of the upgradability(if that is a word) of PCs, but it's getting ridiculous that you have to shell out several $100 every few months to upgrade. But that's he way it goes, I will keep on chasing that carrot dangling in front of me.


Why do you find it necassery to have the latest and greatest hardware?
 
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