Author Topic: Choosing a processor (Read 221 times)

Nilsen · « **on:** June 07, 2004, 01:25:48 PM »

for gaming:

AMD Athlon 64 2800+ 1.8 GHz Socket 754, 512 KB cache

or

AMD Athlon XP3200+ 2.2 GHz Socket A 400MHz, 512KB Barton

any site out there that directly compares these 2 or do any of you know if there is a big performance difference?

Reschke · « **Reply #1 on:** June 07, 2004, 01:51:22 PM »

Are you limited in budget to the 2800 Athlon64 price range? Just wondering because I have an Athlon64 3200+ and it was worth it to go to the 1MB L2 cache. I had played around with the different Athlon64s before buying this one and in my applications I noticed that difference.

Nilsen · « **Reply #2 on:** June 07, 2004, 01:58:45 PM »

The pricejump is pretty hefty so i have to set a limit or ill find myself upping the specs on all the components...just cant help myslef

Im gonna stick to choosing between these two.

Reschke · « **Reply #3 on:** June 07, 2004, 02:29:46 PM »

Then go with the Athlon64 2800 as it will offer you the most upgrade ability for a while since the other line is playing itself out. I don't know of a site that offers a direct comparison on the two processors but from my experience I ended up with the A64 3200+ after some pretty exhaustive digging and friends allowing me to play and install various software packages on computers with different processors.

For games the A64 has been a huge boost to me from an Athlon XP2600+ along with a jump to 1GB of RAM from 512MB. I have noticed a huge change in the load times of various games. Games that used to take a minute or so to load now practically pop on screen after I click the icon for it. Next I just need to convince my wife that the Radeon 800XT is what she needs to buy for digitizing images for her embroidery business.

Nilsen · « **Reply #4 on:** June 07, 2004, 02:38:22 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Reschke
Next I just need to convince my wife that the Radeon 800XT is what she needs to buy for digitizing images for her embroidery business.

LOL

gl with that

I take it then that the 64bits are better for gaming even with lower mhz because of their design.

Im gonna set up a system for a friend of mine, and im gonna use that as a basis for my AH2/Dangerous Waters pc that im building myself this fall.....It gives me the oportunity to test the setup i make for him before choosing the components for my own.

-edit- Just found a test that compared the two processors and a few more and the conclusion was that in games the 64 bit was better than the 32 and even outclassed it in some tests. The 32 bit XP was however faster at encoding mp3's etc. Ill go for a boxed one to save abit of work and get a fast 512mb stick of ram for it + a real good asus mobo. He will also get an ATI x800 pro card + 80mb sata drive, cdrom drive (he has a dvd burner), and a pretty basic cheiftech case with 360w power. The price for this is not gonna be bad at all and if it works well for AH2 and dangerous water when it arrives ill get basicly the same stuff for myself.

Reschke · « **Reply #5 on:** June 07, 2004, 04:02:41 PM »

Yep as you guessed and the review said I have found that every game I play runs better on the A64 processor than on my older 32-bit processor.

I know the software and hardware out there right now doesn't have real 64-bit OS support (aside from Windows XP 64) but I have noticed increases in games and applications like Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, etc...

On the motherboard side I went with a Gigabyte K8N Pro for my A64 system and haven't had any trouble out of it at all.

Nilsen · « **Reply #6 on:** June 07, 2004, 04:13:15 PM »

thx

the mobo needs: fw, usb2, sata and gblan. dont care about what brand it it so tips are welcome