whats the best to buy-an athlon 64 bit 3.2 or an Intel Pentium 4 "Prescott" 3.2GHz. i currently have an athlon2800xp and wonder if any of the aforementioned CPUs are worth a go :good: :good:
While the P4 isn't exactly slow, A64 just offers better performance...while running a much lower clock speeds. There's no Athlon that runs at 3.2GHz (at least at stock speeds), but there is a 3200+ version. Of course, you'll need a new motherboard for starters. Depending on how far you want to go, you may be looking at a new video card and power supply.
It really depends on what programs you'll be running. In most game testing, the AMD does score better in benchmarking. However, the in some instances, depending on the game...then Intel performs better. From an application standpoint, the Intel most oftenly scores better than the AMD. Intel's are know for performing very well in computational processes...i.e. rendering graphics in Photshop, or converting wav files to MP3, etc. If your a gamer, then I would recommend the AMD 3500 if your on a budget, and the 3800 or 4000 if you want a monster. Make sure that you get the 939 socket motherboard, and processor. It may cost slightly more than the 754, but will give you the bonus of upgradability, and a slight edge in motherboard features. Good Luck.
i was having the same debate. I was convinced on P4 from the start, but then did some research and found out that amd runs a lot faster for games and does not run as hot as intel. The only place where intel outperforms amd is in some video encoding. I am going to buy the amd 3500+ as well. This is a great chip. You do need a socket 939 motherboard to go with it though. Since i am fully building a new computer, I am going to wait for the asus A8N-SLi deluxe. THe good thing about the socket 939 Amd motherboards is that you can buy the 3500+ now and then when the price drops on the wicked 4000+ or fx-55 processors, you can simply buy one and put it in your motherboard, very convenient. I'd go with the Amd 3500+. Make sure your motherboard and memory are compatible with this though. The vid card should be inspected too.
Ok check if this is a good setup for my 3500+.. Im waiting for nforce4 MB and geforce 6800gt PCie (dont know what brand tho.. if you know which brand is good for the money please tell me..) My ram is generic 3200 ddr 1 gig stick. Im thinking of buying another one of the same kind and running it as dual channel BUT i dont know how that would work having 2 gigs? does it work? And also is it worth having 2 gigs for gaming? I hope nforce4 has dual channel/.. Case I dont know which one because some come with a psu but i hear that they suck and should just buy psu seprate. That true? If so then playing case is 100$ and psu 100$? (Anyone help with that?) Thats about it.. Using most of my old stuff like cd hd ect.
I like the Asus A8N-SLI. With the memory, the Asus mobo is Dual Channel, however, you are likely to get the best performance from a matched pair of DDR sticks. You should use the same make and model of DDR memory if you plan on buying another stick. I would ebay the 1GB you have and pick up some quality Corsair XMS, or Kingston HyperX...matched pairs. 1024MB CORSAIR TWINX2048-3200C2 is verified compatible by Asus as is 1024MB KINGSTON HYB25D512800BE-5B 3 N/A DS KVR400X64C3A/1G. Install 2GB of memory is really the limit of memory performamce. This has little to do with hardware, as it does with the limitaions of WindowsXP. XP has issues withi more than 2GB. Benchmarking scores are known to drop with more than 2GB of RAM and WindowsXP. This is fixed in the 64-Bit version of Windows. Asus also makes great video cards. Look at the design of the card as well. Relatively important....some cards have fan shrouds that exhaust out of the back of the card and not into the case....will help keep things cool. Beware, that these cards tend to take up two slots...won't be a problem with the Asus A8N-SLI, they provide three slots gap between cards. Lastly, with the hardware you are installing, you shouldnt go cheap on the PSU. I recommend Antec's new NeoPower 480, or TruePower 550. Both great PSU's...however, PC Power and Cooling, and Enermax are good also. Hope this helps.
As for the Nforce4 motherboards, i highly recommend MSI, they really are building some seriously high quality boards at the moment. Have alook at these brands of: Memory: Corsair XMS OCZ Golden Series GeIL Ultra Series Kingston HyperX - memory wise these four brands are brilliant, whether you get their standard / value ranges or their high performance ranges as i have suggested above. Motherboards: Abit Asus MSI These are the three leading motherboard vendors AMD wise at the moment, they hold some of the highest quality and highest performance, there are a few more I could mention such as Gigabyte and DFI, DFI are good but are still relatively unknown compared to the likes of other brands, Gigabyte make brilliant quality boards like the three above, however at the moment they seem to have alot of bugs, such as bad temparture calibration, picky about memory, and performance wise they are quite abit behind. Powersupplies: (As suggested by shan) Antec TruePower 550W Antec Neo Power 480W Enermax 600W Enermax 550W Enermax 660W OCZ 480W Thermal Take Silent Pure Power 560W Thermal Take Silent Pure Power 520W
