Best 'bang for buck' CPU at the moment?

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

I am looking to build a new system for myself as my current
system (XP1600, 512MB, GF4TI600) is simply not upto playing
the latest games. I think I have left it to long to simply
upgrade the graphics card so now i'm left with a full
upgrade :-(

I havent really been paying much attention to whats going on
in terms of CPU/Motherboard over the past year so i'm
looking for opinions.

I will be using the PC for games playing and for lots of
movie conversion (DIVX - MPG). I am not willing to pay silly
money to get the latest CPU, I want performance but not
bleeding edge stuff. So can anyone help me out with a
recommendation. I want something at least 2.8Ghz, I have no
idea what benefits a '64bit' processor will have either. I
am looking to spend around £150 on the CPU, ideally it
should come with a decent heatsink as well.

Also I need a motherboard recommendation, I have always used
Abit in the past and have never had a problem with them.
Ideally the board will have onboard sound, networking, USB2,
SATA (And IDE!) support.

Thanks.

 

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

"Cheddar" <my_spam@NOSPAMdsl.pipex.com> wrote in message
news:89Duc.5649423$iA2.656063@news.easynews.com...
> I am looking to build a new system for myself as my current
> system (XP1600, 512MB, GF4TI600) is simply not upto playing
> the latest games. I think I have left it to long to simply
> upgrade the graphics card so now i'm left with a full
> upgrade :-(
>
> I havent really been paying much attention to whats going on
> in terms of CPU/Motherboard over the past year so i'm
> looking for opinions.
>
> I will be using the PC for games playing and for lots of
> movie conversion (DIVX - MPG). I am not willing to pay silly
> money to get the latest CPU, I want performance but not
> bleeding edge stuff. So can anyone help me out with a
> recommendation. I want something at least 2.8Ghz, I have no
> idea what benefits a '64bit' processor will have either. I
> am looking to spend around £150 on the CPU, ideally it
> should come with a decent heatsink as well.
>
> Also I need a motherboard recommendation, I have always used
> Abit in the past and have never had a problem with them.
> Ideally the board will have onboard sound, networking, USB2,
> SATA (And IDE!) support.
>
> Thanks.

£150 is about $275 USD, so if I had the money, I'd go with this processor
and buy a nice heatsink/fan to go with it:

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80661

I have this one on the otherhand, and I've heard of it being overclocked to
3.4GHz, but I've only felt comfortable pushing mine to 3.0GHz with the stock
HSF in place. I'm pretty pleased with it:

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80656-800

This is the mobo that I'm using, and I love it:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6
02194&Sku=S450-2133

This board has onboard sound (I don't use it though, so I don't know its
capabilities) It has USB2.0, 1 SATA port and 3 IDE ports. It also has great
overclocking utilities in the bios.

HTH,

MC

 

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

>I am looking to build a new system for myself as my current
>system (XP1600, 512MB, GF4TI600) is simply not upto playing
>the latest games. I think I have left it to long to simply
>upgrade the graphics card so now i'm left with a full
>upgrade :-(
>
>I havent really been paying much attention to whats going on
>in terms of CPU/Motherboard over the past year so i'm
>looking for opinions.
>
>I will be using the PC for games playing and for lots of
>movie conversion (DIVX - MPG). I am not willing to pay silly
>money to get the latest CPU, I want performance but not
>bleeding edge stuff. So can anyone help me out with a
>recommendation. I want something at least 2.8Ghz, I have no
>idea what benefits a '64bit' processor will have either. I
>am looking to spend around £150 on the CPU, ideally it
>should come with a decent heatsink as well.
>
>Also I need a motherboard recommendation, I have always used
>Abit in the past and have never had a problem with them.
>Ideally the board will have onboard sound, networking, USB2,
>SATA (And IDE!) support.
>
>Thanks.
>
The Mobile Barton 2500+ has to be the best choice. About $90 at
newegg. It's unlocked and goes to 2.4GHz very easy. Runs about 15C
cooler than the same Barton sold for desktops. The Asus A7N8X 2.0
Deluxe meets all your requirements. I'm running two and they are
great. For any who could skip the SATA support the a Biostar M7NCG 400
is great for about $65 shipped from newegg.

-------
Fight back!
http://tinyurl.com/hhez

 

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

Cheddar wrote:
> I am looking to build a new system for myself as my current
> system (XP1600, 512MB, GF4TI600) is simply not upto playing
> the latest games. I think I have left it to long to simply
> upgrade the graphics card so now i'm left with a full
> upgrade :-(
>
> I havent really been paying much attention to whats going on
> in terms of CPU/Motherboard over the past year so i'm
> looking for opinions.
>
> I will be using the PC for games playing and for lots of
> movie conversion (DIVX - MPG). I am not willing to pay silly
> money to get the latest CPU, I want performance but not
> bleeding edge stuff. So can anyone help me out with a
> recommendation. I want something at least 2.8Ghz, I have no
> idea what benefits a '64bit' processor will have either. I
> am looking to spend around £150 on the CPU, ideally it
> should come with a decent heatsink as well.
>
I'm building a video editing system which will do a lot of rendering,
and conversion and am interested in a small system. I finally decided
on a Soltek barebones system Qbic 3401 or 3701 or 3801. The 3401 is
Pentium IV, the 3701 is AMD and the 3801 is AMD64. The 3801 is
apparently not available in the US yet. Anyhow I went to either
Anandtech or Tom's Hardware and found an article about the newest amd 64
(2800+ I think). There was a comparison between it, a higher end AMD64,
an Athlon 3000+ and a bunch of pentiums. I came to the conclusion
based on their tests that for rendering the Pentium is a better value
per dollar. I chose the Northwood and am trying to decide if I want the
3.0 or the 3.2 GH model. You might review either of these.

HTH
YMMV
dick

 

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

On Mon, 31 May 2004 11:06:33 -0400, "Moderately Confused"
<moderatelyconfused@Y@hoo.com> wrote:

| £150 is about $275 USD, so if I had the money, I'd go with this processor
| and buy a nice heatsink/fan to go with it:
|
| http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80661
|
| I have this one on the otherhand, and I've heard of it being overclocked to
| 3.4GHz, but I've only felt comfortable pushing mine to 3.0GHz with the stock
| HSF in place. I'm pretty pleased with it:
|
| http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80656-800

I'd stay away from the P4 3.0C and stick with the 2.8C. Better OCing!
And it's a super good value now.

Larc



§§§ - Change planet to earth to reply by email - §§§

 

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

AndrewJ wrote:
> The Mobile Barton 2500+ has to be the best choice. About
$90 at
> newegg. It's unlocked and goes to 2.4GHz very easy. Runs
about 15C
> cooler than the same Barton sold for desktops. The Asus
A7N8X 2.0
> Deluxe meets all your requirements. I'm running two and
they are
> great. For any who could skip the SATA support the a
Biostar M7NCG 400
> is great for about $65 shipped from newegg.

Thanks to everyone for the feedback.

I now have a plan in my mind:

Wait 2-3 months for the new NForce 3 250 chipset to become
available. I really fancy all the features on this. I also
want to wait for the new socket standard by AMD to come out.
Last but not least I really want to get one of the new ATI
graphics cards (X800 Pro). Hopefully all this stuff will be
available in the next 2-3 months.

This should give me enough time to get the money I need
together for everything. The graphics card alone is going to
cost £250!

Thanks.

 

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

"Cheddar" <my_spam@NOSPAMdsl.pipex.com> wrote in message
news:89Duc.5649423$iA2.656063@news.easynews.com...
> I am looking to build a new system for myself as my current
> system (XP1600, 512MB, GF4TI600) is simply not upto playing
> the latest games. I think I have left it to long to simply
> upgrade the graphics card so now i'm left with a full
> upgrade :-(
>
> I havent really been paying much attention to whats going on
> in terms of CPU/Motherboard over the past year so i'm
> looking for opinions.
>
> I will be using the PC for games playing and for lots of
> movie conversion (DIVX - MPG). I am not willing to pay silly
> money to get the latest CPU, I want performance but not
> bleeding edge stuff. So can anyone help me out with a
> recommendation. I want something at least 2.8Ghz, I have no
> idea what benefits a '64bit' processor will have either. I
> am looking to spend around £150 on the CPU, ideally it
> should come with a decent heatsink as well.
>
> Also I need a motherboard recommendation, I have always used
> Abit in the past and have never had a problem with them.
> Ideally the board will have onboard sound, networking, USB2,
> SATA (And IDE!) support.
>
> Thanks.
>
>
Intel Route: P4 2.8C (not E / prescott, they run hot)
AMD Route: 2500+ Mobile

The P4 should clock up well over 3GHz, the AMD will hit 3200+ with a simple
change of the FSB from 333 to 400.

You might want to keep the 3D card though, clock it to Ti4800 speed and
it'll take on all the latest games better than my FX5600

hamman

 

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

i just built a system for my sis.

P-4E 2.8 Ghz with 1MB L-2 cache
Asus P-4PE-800 Pro MB with 8 USB, 2 SATA for 2 drives, 2 EIDE for 4
drives, and 2 PATA RAID for 4 drives, 6.1 audio, Gb LAN, Wi-Fi, 2
firewire and dual BIOS. has 4 DDR slots

for $109 cant be the value. i build systems and this is the 10th Asus
P4P-800 series board that ive used in the past 3 months and Im very
happy with it. most of the systems i build are for gamers. i usually
put in a ATI 9600 or 9800 into it.

the best thing is besides storage up the ying yang is that the SATA
can also be configured for RAID 0 or 1.

but i built this system along with 1 GB of Corsair DDR for about $900
without monitor. but the system will play any game thrown at it so
far including UT 2004, Battlefield Vietnam, Far Cry, etc.

==============
Posted through www.HowToFixComputers.com/bb - free access to hardware troubleshooting newsgroups.

 

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

On Mon, 31 May 2004 09:45:40 GMT, "Cheddar"
<my_spam@NOSPAMdsl.pipex.com> wrote:

>I am looking to build a new system for myself as my current
>system (XP1600, 512MB, GF4TI600) is simply not upto playing
>the latest games. I think I have left it to long to simply
>upgrade the graphics card so now i'm left with a full
>upgrade :-(
>
>I havent really been paying much attention to whats going on
>in terms of CPU/Motherboard over the past year so i'm
>looking for opinions.
>
>I will be using the PC for games playing and for lots of
>movie conversion (DIVX - MPG). I am not willing to pay silly
>money to get the latest CPU, I want performance but not
>bleeding edge stuff. So can anyone help me out with a
>recommendation. I want something at least 2.8Ghz, I have no
>idea what benefits a '64bit' processor will have either. I
>am looking to spend around £150 on the CPU, ideally it
>should come with a decent heatsink as well.

I think someone should tell you AMD Athlon64.
I believe all A64 2800+, 3000+ and 3200+ might fit your budget.

Even for 32-bit software, it's the overall best cpu available now.
It's simply outstanding for CPU-intensive games, even 32-bit.

Secondly, already now we're seeing 3D games going 64-bit. UT2004 and
A.Army exists as 64-bit editions, work is underway on 'Far Cry' and I
think you'll see HL2 and Doom3 go that way as well. Just as all
ambitious future games.

For cheap upgrades, AthlonXP are ok, since they are so phenomenally
cheap at 2000+ - 2500+, as are MBs. But serious gamers with deeper
pockets have no reasons at all to consider any 32-bit cpu.
Nor do you have any reason to wait for Intel. They won't have any
credible desktop 64-bit cpu available until early 2006, "possibly...
(yeah, right.) late 2005".

A64 is good at audio, but can't quite match the P4C at 32-bit video
media, like your movie conversions. But it's up there, and should
perhaps be close enough for your needs. A64 supports P4-SSE2, so if
you're using some media software that is optimized for the P4, but not
for AMD media extensions, you're not going to see the same differences
as you might for A-XP.

>Also I need a motherboard recommendation, I have always used
>Abit in the past and have never had a problem with them.
>Ideally the board will have onboard sound, networking, USB2,
>SATA (And IDE!) support.

We haven't quite seen any socket 939 boards yet, but I'm sure they
will be loaded with features.

As for socket 754:

Personally I'm a believer in cheap things (SIS755 and simpler KT800),
but I'm uncomfortable to make that kind of recommendations to someone
actively asking for a recommendation, so I'm turning you over to
Anandtech's expensive recommendations instead..

Anandtech's current high end socket 754 recommendation is Epox 8KDA3+.
They specifically warns against Abit KV8 PRO, sorry.
Entire article starts here:
http://www.anandtech.com/chipsets/showdoc.html?i=2063

But, in regard of maturity, Anandtechs earlier choice of 754 mobo for
"highend system April2004" was MSI K8T Neo-FIS2R. As new chipsets are
about today, I'd expect earlier boards like this to come at more
attractive prices.
Entire article starts here:
http://www.anandtech.com/guides/showdoc.html?i=2041


ancra

 

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

"ancra" <somebody@some.domain> wrote...
>
>>I am looking to build a new system for myself as my current
>>system (XP1600, 512MB, GF4TI600) is simply not upto playing
>>the latest games. I think I have left it to long to simply
>>upgrade the graphics card so now i'm left with a full
>>upgrade :-(
> >
>
> I think someone should tell you AMD Athlon64.
> I believe all A64 2800+, 3000+ and 3200+ might fit your budget.

The Athlon 64 is indeed a great choice. The FX51, FX53, and Opteron
244/246/248 are still a bit pricey, but an Opteron 242 or A64 2800/300/3200
should work.

If you think you might want to go dual processor in the future, start with a
dual CPU board with a single 242 for now...