Ah well, I'm alwasy going to be well behind the bleeding edge so that doesn't matter, just so long as I don't need to worry about it SLI would be cool but I really don't think I need it, I'm not a hardcore gamer by any stretch of the imagination but I would like to be able to see HL2 in all its spangly glory, rather than reduce and reduce settings until I can get 33FPS. Everyone seems to be implying that OCing is easy as pie - not a big suprise I suppose on a moding site but maybe I could give it a go, if it's just a matter of changing a voltage setting or two in the BIOS and downloading a gfx overclocking utility...
Hmm, just threw a quick cart together in ebuyer and was pleasantly suprised: Athlon 64 3500+ BFG 7600GT 1GB corsair value 250GB Seagate SATA P180 Seasonic S12 430 All my needs bar mobo and cables and it came to £550.50 exactly inc vat! Another shift or two over the easter hols and I can get a motherboard and we're off Will still need to pick up bits like 7-in-1, DVD writer, speakers and suchlike at a later date but that's the guts of a system. I could probably get an X2 if I slashed the case/PSU budget but I think I'm happy with it the way it is.
Listen very carefully. Get. An. X2. (Not trying to be an a**hole). You will thank yourself. The 3800+ will make things fly. If you run more than one CPU intensive (or even partially) program at one time, it will make everything faster. Also, it will future-proof your system for a bit longer than a 3500+. Anybody want to back me up here? As personal proof, I'll give you an example. We had a single core processor computer for my mom, right? So we were able to get a dual-core to replace it (essentially, the actual details aren't relevant) and the rest of the system was the same. The performance jump, even in Windows and basic applications, was phenomal. Way more than expected, and definitely worth it.
Done . Dual core is easily worth the premium for both extra performance and future-proofing, especially in the case of the very reasonably priced X2 3800+.
Hmm, that's me told! Looks like quite a few extra shifts over easter then... thank goodness for Uni holidays
Not that I disagree as such, dual-core is awesome and I've always wanted a dualie. However in your first post you said this was a gaming PC, which would make a single faster core preferable to a slower clocked dual-core. On top of that if you can stretch to a 7600GT you'll want it to be able to flex its muscles and the more CPU power the better, again CPU clock speed. Now if you're happy to o/c the main contenders are £100 64_3200+ or the £200 64-X2_3800+ dual-core, otherwise a £140 64_3500+ or £150 64_3700+ would seem the logical choices. Don't forget a LOT of enthusiasts will be abondoning their dual-core 939 CPUs in order to move over to DDR2 and AM2, might make for some bargains. So you could get the single-core now with full gaming performance and upgrade to dual-core in 9-12 months time for (hopefully) less than half the current price. After all when you have saved up the cash for dual-core what will you then upgrade to later? Chances are you'll have to dump your CPU, cooler, mobo and RAM. I'm just covering your options here, if you can afford dual-core now then that's cool but if you're not o/c'ing you'll be looking at more than £250 for a dual-core with a decent clock speed (64-X2_4200+). If you are happy to try o/c'ing then it's single-core for £100 or dual-core for £200 and you don't want to cut back on your gfx card, mobo, RAM, CPU, HD or PSU ... plus you'll still be lacking the little extras like DVD Writer, speakers etc. All that aside don't worry about o/c'ing, just take things easy and rem you'll have us lot to guide you through it. It's all a world of cash and compromises ... and that's why I'm still running single-core!
I know I said gaming is a priority but I use this computer for everything, and all too often it seems to be everything all at once! Dual core sounds useful from that point of view.
Looks like dual-core it is then, I'd suggest the cheapest 64-X2_3800+ with at least a little light o/c'ing.
3800+ it will be, the next cheapest is another £40 and I can't stretch the budget quite that far... Is a dual 3800+ slower than a single 3500+?
Each core runs 200Mhz slower, but if you wanted to overclock then you could easily make that up with little to no voltage increase on stock cooling.
Yup there's a 10% difference in clock speed (see below) so anything that doesn't benefit from the extra core will run faster on the 64_3500+. However during general Windows duties and anything which does benefit from dual-core the difference will hugely favour the dual-core processor. Although 200mhz (or 10%) doesn't sound like a lot it really does help a high-end gfx card to stretch its legs, of course 2.4ghz is even better. As said a 64_3200+ or 64-X2_3800+ are pretty certain to achieve 2.2ghz without even upping the voltage or changing anything except the HT speed (from 10x200 to 10x220). With a little more work 2.4-2.6ghz can be expected, even at 'only' 2.4ghz a 64-X2_3800+ will be equivilent to an Athlon64-X2_4600+. Check the price of those and you'll see why enthusiasts o/c. 64_3200+ single-core @2.0ghz (512K cache) 64_3500+ single-core @2.2ghz (512K cache) 64_3800+ single-core @2.4ghz (512K cache) 64-X2_3800+ dual-core @2.0ghz (512K cache) 64-X2_4600+ dual-core @2.4ghz (512K cache)
Oh, I've checked it and whimpered... Forgot to ring Scan this morning, will try and give them a buzz tomorrow (well, today really) to find out what the craic is with that mobo.
Bah. Just rang Scan and they don't have the motherboard and can't get it either. Only place I can find it now is eBay, for £100inc. Is that reasonable?
The "Abit Fatal1ty AN8 SLI" is £120, the "DFI LANPARTY UT SLI-D" is £108, the "DFI LANPARTY UT ULTRA-D" is £94 while the very good and well priced MSI nForce4 Ultra/SLI are even better priced. That's all brand new from an online retailer too BTW ... Komplett
