A64 3200 or P4 3.x???

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plasma

Gawd
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Apr 6, 2004
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I know this has probably been beaten to death, but I am ready to pull the trigger in the next week or 2. I was going to wait for the 939 to hit the street, but now I hear it won't be out until May? I can't keep waiting. I imagine that 939 stuff will not be cheap, and will be offered in limited supply, with limited selection. I will buy now, and then wait til 939, PCI express, new video cards, DDR2 etc... is all been out for a while.

The are very close in price. While cost isn’t the biggest factor I would like to get the best bang for my buck if you know what I mean.

The 3200 CPU is more $$, but the mobos are cheaper than the P4 boards. The P4 CPU’s are cheaper, but the mobos cost more. I also figure I can get away with a single 512 stick of low latency RAM if I go the A64 route since it only has a single channel controller.

I plan on doing a mild over clock. Which will offer more performance when overclocked?? I don't give a crap about benchmark scores, just real world performance.


I plan on using the system primarily for gaming, internet/email, and light office app work. I'm not really into editing video, music etc....

I hear the A64's excel at gaming and graphics, and the P4's are better for office apps, and multimedia which is why i lean toward the 64.



So far my plans for the system are:

Antec true blue 480
128 9800 Pro
Audigy2
36GB Raptor
100+GB IDE Maxtor
lite on combo drive
Thermalright SLK or Aero Cool DP-102 heatsink

RAM?????????



I am leaning more towards the A64 3200 as of now, but I would really like to hear everyone’s opinions and recommendations.

Thanks
 
I'm dieing to move to 64 bit chips. But there is no final OS that is 64bit is there? Everything is still in testing. I know the chip will run 32bit, but what's the point?

Right now the top chip is the Athlon FX 53, but not by much from the P4EE's. I'm not sure what range P4 you're looking in the 3.0ghrz P4 HT's as they are around the same price as the 3200 (from pricewatch).

I'd go with the P4 for now. I like AMD but I want to wait until 64bit OS's drivers, and whatnot is out. As Ati doesn't even have a 64bit driver at the moment (I could be wrong as I haven't checked in a while).

I just don't see the point of 64bit until it's fully utilized.
 
If your going to use it for gaming, i would side with the A64, simply because AMD's chips tend to perform better in games than P4's. I recently purchased the emachines M6805 laptop with a mobility athlon 64 3000+ and radeon mobility 9600...its a great performer, and even beats many desktops (all while only having PC2700 memory). Obviously, the A64 3200 would be an even better performer.

Another reason id go with the A64 is to play around with 64-bit Windows XP. Yeah, it is true that it lacks a lot of drivers...but it is fun nonetheless (for me anyway). In additon, once the drivers and supports DOES come out, moving from 32 to 64 bits may yield a 20% increase in performance. Of course, this is an estimate, no one knows about real world performance just yet.

But, do what you want, man. Its your hard-earned money.
 
Well, a chip that runs at 2.4 ghz and nukes a p4 3.8 is definetely better, don't you thnk? And once you OC... heaven.

The problem with the A64 is its price... and the ract that it will only take R-ECC ram, which is weighed up with platinum. But if it's the most bang for the buck, plus insane overclockability, Athlon++

And about how P4s are better for office apps: At 2 ghz plus, does it even matter?
 
A64, no contest. It's the best gaming CPU. It won't OC as much as a P4C, but you might squeeze out a little more... But seriously, go buy a 3000+ instead. You only get half the cache, but the A64 don't really need the cache anyway, and it's a lot cheaper... unless the 3200+ is a better overclocker or something.

EMachine? Ouch. Sorry bout that.
Click to expand...
Emachines M680n are awesome.

Well, a chip that runs at 2.4 ghz and nukes a p4 3.8 is definetely better, don't you thnk? And once you OC... heaven.
Click to expand...
I don't see how the clock frequency is relevant... :p

But the A64 probably eats up way less power than the P4 (and as such produces less heat).
Like Lime said, the A64 n+ take normal RAM, it's the FX (and Opterons, of course, since they're the same) that need ECC.


And about how P4s are better for office apps: At 2 ghz plus, does it even matter?
Click to expand...
If it's a Celeron, it might... :p But nah, for office work and such, I think most computers newer than a few years works at your pace pretty much regardless of what you do, unless it's something especiall demanding, like games or graphics/AV work.
 
I think I'm going to go A64 3200. I just think it will be a better system for what i want to do with. Plus MS is supposed to release some 64 bit version of XP codenamed elements next year from I have heard???

I also figure that in 5 years when everything is 64 bit at least I will stiill be able to word process, email, and surf the internet with this system.


So my next big question is what mobo, and RAM to get?


If I plan on OC'ing isn't a PCI/AGP lock a big thing so I don't have PCI, and video card issues????

I have heard the nforce3 chipsets are the best for OC'ing, and the VIA's are better if you run stock.

I was thinking about the Shuttle AN50R or maybe a Gigabyte with the nforce3? I noticed that the Shuttle has the Silicon Image sil3512 SATA controller, and the Shuttle uses the Silicon Image 3112. Is the 3512 the newer of the 2 hence the bigger # designation?


for RAM I was thinking just a single 512MB stick of high quality low latency PC3500 stuff? Since the A64 only have a single channel mem controller I wouldn't really benefit from having 2 sticks unless using a big memory hog app like PS or a big DB right?

The Mushkin level2 black bh5 stuff is all gone from what I have seen. I know they have some special 2-2-2 bh6 stuff, but will it be stable at overclocked levels?

So should I go mushkin, Corsair, geil, or kingston???



Thanks
 
I would wait for mobos with the nForce3 250 chipset to come out (they will have working AGP/PCI lock). If you can't wait, the Asus K8V Deluxe and Shuttle AN50R are solid choices. They do not have PCI locks but the AN50R has an AGP lock. Asus K8V isn't best for oc'ing but it runs great at stock and can oc a little.

After you decide what mobo to get, decide on which memory. A64 mobos are picky, make sure you get ram that is compatible. I wouldn't pay the premium for Mushkin Special 2-2-2- BH-6 if I were you. You're not really going to need to be able to run 250MHz at 1:1. Plus, the Vdimm options don't even go high enough for you to make the ram go that high. If you were to oc the HTT to beyond 250MHz, then you would most likely have to run a memory divider like most people.

A64 on-die memory controller greatly reduces latency. It's not absolutely necessary to get CAS 2 ram. But if you do, just get some quality Corsair XMS or Kingston HyperX or Mushkin lvl 1. Geil is hit or miss so be careful. Also, after Winbond left the memory market, only Mushkin has BH-6 left, and that's in their Special 2-2-2- ram. You might not even get CH-5 that is used in 2-3-2- ram since that is drying up too. Expect to pay a lot for ram, DRAM supply is really low.
 
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