Pentium D 945 vs. Athlon 64 3200+ OC

Hello Everyone,

This is a legacy build for retro gaming so please do not suggest I buy a full new system. I will have these two computers for use which will run Windows XP, probably 32-bit edition. I want to know which one will be better for gaming. This computer is for playing Fallout 3 and older games nothing newer. I was only about 14 when these CPUs came out so I didn't get to see first hand which one. I kind of think the Pentium D system will be better, but all I have ever heard about Netburst architecture and read about it, its extremely hot and slow.

System 1:
CPU: AMD 64 3200+ (Venice Stepping, OC 2.4Ghz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte socket 754 with Via K8T800 chipset
RAM: 64-bit single channel, 2x1GB DDR 400Mhz
GPU: Either an ATI x800pro overclocked to 550Mhz Core, 475Mhz DDR3 RAM
or ATI x1950pro (Currently not working, going to try and bake it to fix it)

System 2:
CPU: Pentium D 945 3.4Ghz Dual-core (Presler Stepping)
Motherboard: Intel motherboard from an eMachine very limited features, socket 775
RAM: 64-bit single channel, 2x1GB DDR2 800Mhz
GPU: Probably an Nvidia GT 430 64-bit 1GB DDR3


I also have an old Audigy 2 sound card I plan to use in which ever system, as well as the same hard drives.

Please let me know what you think.
 
Solution
Well money/performance isn't such a concern. I currently own them both pretty much. Build 1 is my old PC from like 8 years ago and and build 2 is my grandmothers old computer that she hasn't even turned on in like 3 years cause she has a faster modern laptop. The only thing I did to both of them is put in $5 or $6 to upgrade the CPUs from what they used to be to what they are now, and I don't want to put any more cash into it. All the parts listed I have on hand.

haider95: I can't help but be curious what your current system is lol.
 

LookItsRain

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I cant, the mobo cant support anything newer, thats why i have an ivy laptop lol.
 
haider95, lol actually your computer stops the crap out of either of these. It might only be 2.4Ghz but the Pentium D is pretty much just two Pentium 4s put together. Core2duo gets like twice as much done per Mhz than Pentium D.

LookitsRaine: you are right these things are pretty old and slow. This computer actually has a Pentium D 805 right now. It only runs at 2.53Ghz, 1MB L2 cache for each CPU, uses 533Mhz FSB, and it ran all the way up to 90C in BIOS! I am upgrading it to the Pentium D 945 cause you can buy those for $6 and I figured it jumped it up nearly a full 1Ghz per CPU core, doubles the cache, pushes the FSB up to 800Mhz, and since its 65nm instead of 90nm it cut the power usage down like 20% so it runs a fair bit cooler.
I kind of wish I had a junk socket 775 motherboard I could put the old CPU in, and a metal cup with a lid on it so I could put the old CPU in there, and just by booting to BIOS make some popcorn :D

Anyways, back to point. I know the Pentium 4 and Pentium D CPUs are slow, but would it be slower than an Athlon 64 single core CPU running at 2.4Ghz and with half the RAM speed. I know the PR Rating AMD uses rates it to be equal to a Pentium 4 3.2Ghz, but that is at its stock speed of 2.2Ghz. Then I am using it for older gaming also so while I think Fallout 3 probably is multi-threaded, I don't know how many of the others are multi-threaded that I will play.

Then there is the graphics card difference, since I know the Nvidia GT 430 is going to be a lot faster and more power efficient than the old ATI x800pro or x1950pro, but from reviews I was able to find a lot of these old systems had CPU bottleneck like there is no tomorrow, so the CPU really seems to be the biggest deciding point.
 
Its been a few hours now and not getting any more posts so I am posting again hoping it will get someone back on here.
Please say which you think would do a better job with gaming and why.

Probably I will play:
Warcraft III
Jade Empire
Fallout 3
Rise of Nations
Rise of Mythology
Rise of Legends
Monkey Island 4
Misc. others.
 

SlayZombi

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Jan 3, 2014
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System 1 would be the best, although the GPU may be lacking a little.
 
LookitsRain: I know neither might not run it exceptionally well, but Fallout 3 and some other games I like have compatibility issues with Windows 7. I don't want to eat up extra space on my SSD for a second boot partition so I though best option was to make use of the hardware just sitting around.

SlayZombie: You think the single core Athlon 64 will be better?
The CPU actually maintains as the bottleneck. At least I think so.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-4650-agp,2383-8.html

A while back tomshardware did a test with a faster dual-core CPU and some AGP cards in that review. Since the x800pro has an extra 4-pixel pipelines and runs at 125Mhz faster I think it should be coming in at close to twice as fast. However, when I try to play Fallout 3 on it, it comes up with about the same FPS score as the x700pro so I thought it was the CPU but I might be wrong.
 

SlayZombi

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Jan 3, 2014
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Yes, system numero uno. :p
 
Solution

LookItsRain

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There is plenty of other means of getting fallout 3 and the likes to work, i got fallout 3 to work on windows 8 flawlessly with 15 mods.
 


Really, how did you manage that? I fought with the thing for hours before deciding to just use the other computer.
 

LookItsRain

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Plenty of mods that patch the games stability issues and change the way it saves.