CPU decision

[Alphabear 11]

Im looking for a new CPU (among other things) and im not sure what brand etc. i should be looking for. I currently have a P4 3.0Ghz HT and have always used pentium. So my question is basicly what should i be looking for across all brands and what would be the best thing for the impending release of C&C3?

[Guest Rabbit]

Go with AMD, not Pentium, that's my best advice.

[Dr. Rodney McKay 0]

Yes, AMD.

[Renegangsta 0]

your current one sound good enough maybe more mem or better cooling is needed

[Inferno 22]

Last time I checked AMD lowered prices dramatically.... must have been vista or something....

[Alphabear 11]

anay specific AMD models i should be looking for?

[Renegangsta 0]

google it or go to www.newegg.com

[BWare 0]

Newegg is always your best bet. But yeah, a good Athlon will do ya just fine. What's your price range? Are you looking for extremely good performance? I take it you're building a whole new system, right? New motherboard and everything?

 

By the way, I just got a new 20.1" widescreen lcd monitor for my gaming rig

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16824116381

[Renegangsta 0]

i did and tried to update bios and really screwed up

[TheBlackOut 7]

Errr, I'd wait. Intel's Conroe is basically going to pwn AMD.

[F15pilotX 4]

You're right...check out the E6700 Alphabear..but if u want more, you can always go for the extreme edition (E6800)

 

• E4xxx series — a single E4200 CPU, 1.6 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 2 MB Shared L2 Cache.

[*]E6300/6400 processors— 1.86/2.13 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB, FSB, 2 MB Shared L2 Cache (note that our engineering sample of the E6400 has a 4MB L2 Cache!)

[*]E6600/6700 processors — 2.4/2.66 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB, 4 MB L2 Cache.

[*]X6800 processor (eXtreme Edition) — 2.93 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB, 4 MB L2 Cache.

 

http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/cpu/in...e-2-13-ghz.html

[TheBlackOut 7]

Though AM2 owns on single thread operations, but more multiple thread applications are starting to come out so the Conroe will own teh floor.

[Tree 0]

If you have to go with Intel, go with the Viiv or a dual-core something or other. Otherwise, go with an AMD Athlon 64 FX-60. The most important thing for gaming though is usually your video card. I think there's a physics accellerator out there as well, it should do wonders.

[Alphabear 11]

yeah i saw a physics accelator. Its something i havent seen before so im interested on how much it helps

[Azrael 0]

AMD. Intel chips may at times be faster, but always they're hotter, so unless you're confident you're house is cool enough, go for AMD. Also, did anyone here already try that triple video card thing of ATI? It looks intresting, but I'm not sure about if it will really make your PC's performance soar... :?

[TheBlackOut 7]

ATi is desperate trying to catch up to Nvidia's SLi. Nvidia's already got quad SLi so pfft.

[Riparius 0]

A dual-core AMD would be nice. They give good performance, got one myself.

[Tree 0]

Actually, AMDs run hotter and are more delacate than are Intels (generally). But AMD does run faster in many areas.

[Shocker 0]

Actually, AMDs run hotter and are more delacate than are Intels (generally).

That used to be the case with the old Athlon/Athlon XP range -- they had exposed CPU cores and ran hotter than equivalent chips from Intel. Since the Athlon 64 & Opteron however, the situation has actually reversed. Also, all AMD processors have had integrated heatspeaders for a few years now, so you can't really say that they're fragile anymore.

 

If you want to read a good article on the topic, check out SPCR's April 2006 Desktop CPU Power Survey

 

edit: Needless to say, it looks like Intel will take back the performance/efficiency crown when the Core 2 Duo's come out.

[Alphabear 11]

i went with Intel again but i have run into some problems http://forums.cncnz.com/viewtopic.php?t=5861

[Sonic 296]

I'm planning a motherboard/cpu/ram/video card upgrade in September. Based on what I want to spend I'm going to go with the AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (2.2GHz) CPU.

 

When I did my last system upgrade back August 2004 I spent ages finding the right motherboard. In the end I went with a Gigabyte board, no problems with it so I might go in that direction again.

[Riparius 0]

I'm planning a motherboard/cpu/ram/video card upgrade in September. Based on what I want to spend I'm going to go with the AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (2.2GHz) CPU.

I strongly recommend a dual-core AMD, I believe it's the CPU of the future. If you don't want to buy another CPU in ~2 years, then go for a dual-core solution.

 

You Have: 2 processors running - AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+

 

You Have: 2.01 GHz Performance Rated at 5.70 GHz

 

That's positive, isn't it?

[Alphabear 11]

i got an intel pentium D 940 3.2GHz

[Sonic 296]

I'm planning a motherboard/cpu/ram/video card upgrade in September. Based on what I want to spend I'm going to go with the AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (2.2GHz) CPU.

I strongly recommend a dual-core AMD, I believe it's the CPU of the future. If you don't want to buy another CPU in ~2 years, then go for a dual-core solution.

Yeah I know that would be the best direction to go in but when the cheapest dual-core AMD CPU is about $600 NZ dollars I have to draw the line somewhere. Like my last system upgrade I decide how much I want to spend on each part and then decide on what would suit me best.

[F15pilotX 4]

That's a good idea..one that I'll follow next time I upgrade/buy a pc