Choosing an AMD Processor - HELP!!

[PsyK0t1c_dRe4mZ]

Hey guys, any help you can offer me on this will be greatly appreciated.

I have been in the PC industry for a very long time but this is my first adventure into building my own. It's something that I have always wanted to do and am finally in a position where I can.

I want to build the ultimate gaming PC. I want this baby to scream and am not really afraid of the cost as long as I'm not throwing money away....

I have already purchased a ThermalTake Armor case that I'm going to mod the hell out of (I know, but I like it...) and a Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe (Ai Life Ed.) motherboard.

I'll be using the SLI capabilities incorporating 2 NVIDIA video cards (I need help choosing here too), 2+ WD Raptor HD's, Corsair RAM and whatever else I need to create this liquid cooled monster.

Here's where I'm having a really tough time: Processor.

I think I have it narrowed down to either the 64 FX-60 or the 64 FX-57 (or maybe something else if y'all have a better recommendation...)

Any suggestions, etc. would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks

 

[CompGeek]

I'd rather go for a 4800 X2 or an Opteron(that you'll OC).
The FX 60 is not really worth that huge price tag when compared to a 500 $ cheaper X2 4800.
I'd also get a 1900XTX which
-beats the crap out of 2 7800 GTX 256 mb
-is cheaper
-is a single card,so games that don't take advantage of SLI will still run great
Or since you can save 500$ by getting X2 a 1900XT crossfired.
You're lucky to have that much money to spend. Anyway this sistem will run anything you throw at it.
Killer rig,how much are you willing to spend BTW?
3000$+ is way too much for me.

 

[TechnologyCoordinator]

Since you're building a Socket 939 system keep in mind that we are in its end-times. If you're going to go all out I would suggest an Athlon FX-60. Although right now you'd get better performance from an Athlon FX-57 in most situations, in the future (a year or less) I predict games written for dual core, at that point your FX-60 would rip an FX-57 for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

As for your video card, I am not an ATI fan. Their X1900XTX might be king now, but nVidia will take back the crown soon and will do so in grand fasion and with less than 40 pixel pipelines.

 

[dvdpiddy]

wait for m2 it should be better but if you wanna build now get the fx-57 i like it better than the 60 it still beats the 60 in most games

 

[moparman390]

Go with the 4800+ X2 or an Opteron, the FX-60 is really great, but is so much more expensive. If you want to really overclock, and money is no object, you might justify the FX-60 as it has an unlocked multiplier. As for the video card, at this point I think it would be better to wait the two weeks and atleast see what the 7900 series is like before making your decision. Or you could do what I did, buy a 7800 series from e-VGA and you will have 90 days to take advantage of their step-up program to use your full purchase price tword the purchase of a 7900.

 

[PsyK0t1c_dRe4mZ]

Hey man, thanks for the opinion. (And to everyone else in advance...I'm a newbie to custom building and need all the help I can get!!)

About $3K is going to be the limit. It's not that I want to spend that much but I don't want to cut any corners and be sorry later either. I'd rather spend more now and "do it once, do it right" and have it tear anything I can throw at to shreds! (Yes, I want to OC everything to the MAX!)

The fact is, I'm a (now) single programmer (AMX, Java) who wants to venture much deeper into the extreme PC world where my heart really lies (and always has). I'm selling everything I own and working my butt off to build this baby and want to create an absolute masterpiece. (Plus I'd rather drop my cash into my PC than the bartenders pocket )

Therefore, that's why I say that cost isn't a huge issue. I'll drink a few more cups of coffee and jam the overtime to make this happen. 8O


P.S. Any advise on a *good* source of info on building the WC system for this beast?? (How-to, specs, etc.) I know this is the processor section and I'll post my WC questions in that section accordingly but just thought I'd ask...

 

[admiral25]

Hey guys, any help you can offer me on this will be greatly appreciated.

I have been in the PC industry for a very long time but this is my first adventure into building my own. It's something that I have always wanted to do and am finally in a position where I can.

I want to build the ultimate gaming PC. I want this baby to scream and am not really afraid of the cost as long as I'm not throwing money away....

I have already purchased a ThermalTake Armor case that I'm going to mod the hell out of (I know, but I like it...) and a Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe (Ai Life Ed.) motherboard.

I'll be using the SLI capabilities incorporating 2 NVIDIA video cards (I need help choosing here too), 2+ WD Raptor HD's, Corsair RAM and whatever else I need to create this liquid cooled monster.

Here's where I'm having a really tough time: Processor.

I think I have it narrowed down to either the 64 FX-60 or the 64 FX-57 (or maybe something else if y'all have a better recommendation...)

Any suggestions, etc. would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks

1st I would not get a sli setup from nvidia, but I would get a crossfire if you have that type of cash to spend and want ultimate performace. Then I would get a DFI LanParty UT RDX200 CF-DR and 2 x1900xtx's. Then follow it up with a opteron 165 or higher if you like (my 165 runs @ 2.8ghz on air with 1.45volts). Next would be 2gigs of ram from ocz, there 2-3-2-5 @ddr400 is the ultimate tight timings and performace. After that I would get a raptor 150gig hdd and if u have the cash get 3 lol and do raid 5 or get 2 and do raid 0(raid 5 is better because if a 1 hdd fails u dont loose ur data, but with raid 0 u loose everything,also with raid5 if u have 3 150 hdds windows only shows up as 300gig or so). Then after that I would get a ocz powerstream 520watts that is sli/crossfire ready, then ur choice of dvd burner, windows xp pro 32 or 64bit.
Thats the ultimate gaming rig for today and atleast 1 year lol

my rig
dfi landparty ultra d
opteron 165 oced 2.6 with stock volts and cooler max 2.8ghz with 1.45volt
ocz 2gig 2x1gig 2-3-2-5 oced 2-2-2-5 @ddr 400
sapphire x1900xtx stock speeds 650core 775/1550 memory
maxtor sata 250gig 16mb buffer
nec 3550a dvd burner
ocz powerstream 520 watt psu

3dmark 05 11.8k
3dmark 06 6.1k

 

[CompGeek]

And there is no need to wait for AM2. It will be the same as 939 with DDR2 and i doubt prices on a X2 4800 that already gives you a great bang for buck will greatly decrease.
If you still decide on waiting i'd rather wait for Conroe or Nvidias new generation of gfx card. Though even then i'd probably recommend ATI (again, those 1900XT/XTX are very good price performance cards despite high cost). After the 7800 GTX 512 mb fiasco i'm sceptical and really have doubts on
-when the new chips will actually be available to normal users,it's impossible to find a 7800 GTX 512 in most european countries
-price,7800 GTX 512 for example is overpriced compared to ATI 1900 XTX which brings more performance
I never thought nvidia would actually face these kind of problems. A lot of credibility lost. ATI on the other hand respected their roadmaps and you can shop for 1900 XT/XTX in most online shops.

 

[linux_0]

I would advise you to get a Dual Core Opteron 1xx socket 939 170 or higher.

On the graphics front I would advise against an SLI or Crossfire setup both of which are still under development and are not very mature. Game support is still lacking for both SLI and Crossfire and the increased performance ( about 30% or so ) simply does not justify 2x the cost.

SLI is more mature than Crossfire at this time.

Both nVidia and ATI have great single card offerings.

The 7800GT has great price performance. The ATI X1900XTX appears to be way faster in the benchmarks I have seen however it is VERY expensive.

Keep in mind the nVidia 7900 is due out on 03/05/2006 from what I heard.

 

[TechnologyCoordinator]

And there is no need to wait for AM2. It will be the same as 939 with DDR2

There would be one really good reason to wait for AM2: Upgradability. Like I said before, this is the mature-phase, if not the end-phase of Socket 939.

 

[admiral25]

am2 is not going 2 be faster untill they get ddr800 going and 65mm cores. That being said I would build a system now and then when the bugs are out of the am2 and they have ddr800 support then ill jump on that(hopefully with quad cores in middle of 2007).

 

[CompGeek]

Good point but AM2 will have a short life too so either way the socket won't last long enough to be considered "long lasting".
And waiting for AM2 means waiting 4 more months. That's a lot for a guy that urgently needs a PC.
Linux@ You nvidia fanboy ! 1900XTX as it is now is a much better bang for buck than a 7800 GTX 256/512/SLI. The only nvidia worth buying now are 7800GT/6800GS. But those are "cheap" and "don't perform very well". The author has 2000-3000$ to spend. I think that should have been clear. a 2500$(for example) system with a 300$ graph. card just won't cut it. And i have a Nvidia card so no case of fanboyism here.
ATI all the way for now.

 

[admiral25]

Good point but AM2 will have a short life too so either way the socket won't last long enough to be considered "long lasting".
And waiting for AM2 means waiting 4 more months. That's a lot for a guy that urgently needs a PC.
Linux@ You nvidia fanboy ! 1900XTX as it is now is a much better bang for buck than a 7800 GTX 256/512/SLI. The only nvidia worth buying now are 7800GT/6800GS. But those are "cheap" and "don't perform very well". The author has 2000-3000$ to spend. I think that should have been clear. a 2500$(for example) system with a 300$ graph. card just won't cut it. And i have a Nvidia card so no case of fanboyism here.
ATI all the way for now.

finally someone who likes the best product vs being a fanboy of ati/intel/nvidia/amd just get whats best @ the time.... midrange card would be 1 7800gt ultimate card would be x1900xtx, and yes its faster than the 7900gtx because nvidia stayed with 24 pipes. its really a overclocked 7800gtx (100mhz on core and 100/200mhz on memory. Its not enough to beat a 16 pipe 48 pixel shader x1900xt.

 

[Tattysnuc]

Guys, the original thread says he has an SLI board already!

I would suggest the route of the Opteron 170+ route as they run so cool, and clock so easily. The SLI route is about a year more mature, so that would clearly be the way to, especially with the fact that there's already a SLI board waiting to be filled. It's a cracking board, so there wont be any problems there. A very well evolved board.

Peronally, I'd look for a 512 mb 7800 GTX, one that's been oc'd. You can mix boards now on SLI, so I'd just go for the one, and get the system up and running first.

Hard drives, I'd suggest a singe or if you can afford, raid 0 raptor 150's. I'd then get a second(or 3rd if you go raid 0) SATA drive for storing everything on securely. Just keep the OS on the raid 0/boot disk.

I would also highly recommend the
Thermaltake W0093 TR2 500W PurePower PSU Power Supply as it seems to power my board effortlessly AND IS WHISPER QUIET DOING SO. If anyone else knows of a psu that does so, then feel free to recommend away!

I'd push for a sound card. At least an Audigy 2. The quality of the sound through good 5.1+ speakers is really worth the outlay. I never thought I'd notice it, but it does sound far better. The new Xifi range looks quite the piece.

RAM, I've always gone for corsair as they have always been compatible. Whatever the brand you end up with, try to go for something that runs on a T1 timing. I think the modules I used were the Twinx-1024-3200llpt and they ran at 250mhz, 2-2-2-5 at 2.8v (or if it wasn;t that it was very close. I sold them on ebay, so I cannot check). The low latency stuff can give you an extra 5-10% under high loads, such as gaming.

Finally, get a decent mouse and keyboard. I've not got a gaming keyboard, but I can highly recommend the RAZOR mouse. I think its the diamondback that I got my brother for Xmas. Hmmmm. Yummmy!!!

Ho hum. Time to stop drooping

Mike

 

[Avman]

There appears to be more than a few issues brought out in the posts before mine, so I'll just give you my two cents on each issue .

1. If you can wait the 4 months for AM2 then thats not a bad idea - AMD says they're going to launch with DDR2-800 so things should be about as fast or even a little faster than they are now - but you'll have upgradeability so towards the end of this year when AMD goes to 65nm you can jump right in ! Then again..if you can't wait (I don't think I could)......

The Opterons OC better but you need to know what you are doing. A 165 or 170 properly oc'ed are blazingly fast - easily eclipsing what most people can get out of a 4400-4800 X2. Don't go single core thats simply a waste. If you want to start out slowly on the OC side then a 4600 X2 or a 4800X2 are very quick just as they are. Don't go FX-60 unless you are not going to OC at all.

2. It all depends on whether and how much OC'ing you want to do.

DFI is the must have board if you want to seriously OC. They give by far the best results although they can require some tweaking to reach perfection. Swap out the ASUS.

Don't bother with SLi or Crossfire- still too many stability issues - If you really have persuaded yourself that you have to have the best benches then stick with SLi as its much more developed, otherwise get an XTX 512 or GTX 512 card of the newest generation available when you pull the trigger.

current graphics king is ATI X1900XTX, but Nvidia is launching the next updated 7900GTX in 2 weeks and that might be worth waiting for - rumors abound but no-one knows for sure yet which card will come out on top.

3. Surrounding/peripheral parts should never be ignored.

Get a really good power supply - Power PC & cooling is what you need.
Get 2 Gigs of enthusiast RAM -not cheap stuff. OCZ/Corsair etc... Don't go cheap you'll regret it once you figure out the OC stuff. Try the OCZ PC 4000 or PC 4800 - Don't worry about timings at that speed it really doesn't matter. If you're not going to OC much get Corsair or OCZ 2225 rated PC3200, or OCZ VX - which can sometines do 2225 at PC 4000 speeds!
Don't forget fast drives - the fastest you can find, and yes go with the Raptors - New 150's if you can.

4. Cooling - Danger Den makes some good Kits so I hear - I'm too lazy so I just use an Exos 2 from Koolance - works fine (check my sig).

 

[TechnologyCoordinator]

16 pipe 48 pixel shader x1900xt.

Did anyone else notice that TomsHardware originally mis-reported the amount of pipelines as 48? Take a look at their article:

http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/01/24/ati_radeon_x1900_heats_up_with_48_pixel_pipelines/

Note that the information in the article has been corrected, but the URL remains incorrect and reflects the article's original title. Heh!

 

[CompGeek]

Thx but it seems the board might be a problem.
You should be able to exchange it for something non SLI.
Going Nvidia high end now means wasting much more than the value of a motherboard.

BTW,get a good power somewhere around 600 W. You'll need every bits of it.

 

[admiral25]

Even with that wrong info... as you can see in games like fear that use smart shader 3.0 ati will kill any 24 pipe 1 to 1 ratio, with there 3 shaders to 1 ratio. and as the results show, 16fps with everything cracked up 1600x1200 with 4x aa and 8x af with softshadows the 7800gtx 512 gets 16fps while the x1900xt gets 30 fps. If u like ur eyecandy get a x1900xt or xtx vs a overclocked 7800gtx 512 (witch has the lable of 7900gtx 512).

 

[CompGeek]

BTW can you mount on a SLI ready board an ATI card and if not,why?
Sry for sounding so n00bish(i'd never go SLI unless i'd really have no other alternative) but i really got to know since it concerns me as well.

 

[Avman]

yep - no problem - Just not 2 of them. :!:

 

[CompGeek]

Thx, i thought the same. The statement that "it's a SLI mobo it needs dual nvidias" raised my doubts about compability with ATI cards(which seems rediculous i know since they both are on PCIe)though. Cause that would be the only reason not to get a 1900XTX.
SLI ability is not expensive and you can live without it.

 

[admiral25]

Thx, i thought the same. The statement that "it's a SLI mobo it needs dual nvidias" raised my doubts about compability with ATI cards(which seems rediculous i know since they both are on PCIe)though. Cause that would be the only reason not to get a 1900XTX.
SLI ability is not expensive and you can live without it.

im running a dfi landparty ultra d nforce 4 ultra board with an ati x1900xtx and yes u can run a single g-card on a sli mobo, if its ati or nvidia

 

[CompGeek]

COOL,how is it working?

 

[PsyK0t1c_dRe4mZ]

am2 is not going 2 be faster untill they get ddr800 going and 65mm cores. That being said I would build a system now and then when the bugs are out of the am2 and they have ddr800 support then ill jump on that(hopefully with quad cores in middle of 2007).

Thanks man, sounds like a great idea to me! I'll probably just wind up being bored next spring and upgrading anyway...

 

[admiral25]

11800 in 3dmark 05
6120 in 3dmark 06

I can play anygame on the highest levels in the game and with hardware levels @ 4x aa and 8xaf or higher. Most dx9 games I run @ 4x aa and 16x af @ 1280x1024 or 1600x1200 with over 60fps... only game that does not like that to much is F.E.A.R but I get 40-50fps with everything maxed out @ 1600x1200