I want to build a new tower and can't make up my mind which cpu to go with the P4 or the Amd 64. I am leaning toward the athlon 64 but which CPU. Socket 754 or the Newcastle Core 64bit CPU Socket 939.I would also like to put in the fastest hard drive i can if the price is right. Just want some ideas on what to buy and where.
I have about $1200.00 to spend.
Thanks for your help.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by mason4 on 03/12/05 09:24 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

AMD. Din't need to read your post (I did though, just to be sure )

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Well, if you're the kind of guy that's awed by ATA drives you should look into an AMD XP-2500+. That would be about your speed.

Abit IS7 - 3.0C @ 3.6ghz - Mushkin PC4000 (2 X 512) - Sapphire 9800Pro - TT 420 watt Pure Power
Samsung 120gb ATA-100 - Maxtor 40gb ATA - 100
Sony DRU-510A - Yellowtail Merlot

Computers aren't much good, unless you have a use for them. If you tell us what you want to use it for, we may better be able to help you spend your money. It being friday night, some will suggest beer.

As good as who says? Nearly all desktop hard drives are ATA! What is there to compare them to? I think what you are refferring to is Serial ATA (as opposed to the older parrellel ATA). Serial ATA provides little to no performance increase over parrellel ATA.

In regards to your CPU question, the athlon64 is better for games and certain other apps. But I think intel still rules the roost for video/photo editing. However the new intel CPU consumes more power and is hotter than any other desktop CPU on the market. This results in stability issues and CPU throttling if your case is not properly ventilated.

Get a Socket 939 - A64-3200+ on an SLi platform with 1gb of Ballistix or the TCCD Ram of your choice and a PCI-E GeForce 256mb 6800 GPU to start with. Add a case and a 74mb Raptor and you are still under $1200.00. 120mb SATA's are cheap also so get 2 and RAID them. The value build is the Socket 754 but why bother if you've got the dough? The series 6 Pentiums are too new to jump on at this point.

Abit IS7 - 3.0C @ 3.6ghz - Mushkin PC4000 (2 X 512) - Sapphire 9800Pro - TT 420 watt Pure Power
Samsung 120gb ATA-100 - Maxtor 40gb ATA - 100
Sony DRU-510A - Yellowtail Merlot

socket 754 also provides better performance, not just better performance/$

Socket 754 A64 3400+ (2.4 GHz) is lot better than 2.0 GHz S939 A64 3200+.

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You couldn't prove that by mine. It only beat my xp-2500+ by 2000 in Aquamark3 with the same GPU. Now maybe the 3400 is better clocked at 2.4 instead of 2.2, but if I had the dough at this point I would be clockin' a 939. JMHO


Abit IS7 - 3.0C @ 3.6ghz - Mushkin PC4000 (2 X 512) - Sapphire 9800Pro - TT 420 watt Pure Power
Samsung 120gb ATA-100 - Maxtor 40gb ATA - 100
Sony DRU-510A - Yellowtail Merlot

Wow, I haven't heard many folks around here recommend a 939 over a 754 based on performance. How avant garde.

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It's really not that uncommon, especially since the s939 prices have dropped...and will continue to drop.

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<font color=red>You're a boil on the arse of progress - don't make me squeeze you!</font color=red><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by rugger on 03/13/05 08:05 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

All the new 939 cpu are 90nm and can be overclocked higher than their socket 754 counterpart.

Signature (up to 200 characters). You may use <font color=blue><b>Markup</b></font color=blue> in your signature<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by coylter on 03/13/05 01:24 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

<A HREF="http://www.hexus.net/content/reviews/review.php?dXJsX3Jldmlld19JRD0xMDM2" target="_new"> Have it both ways! </A>

<pre><font color=red>°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°`°¤o \\// o¤°`°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°
And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre><p></font color=red>

The letters "ECS" shall never grace my motherboard!

Abit IS7 - 3.0C @ 3.6ghz - Mushkin PC4000 (2 X 512) - Sapphire 9800Pro - TT 420 watt Pure Power
Samsung 120gb ATA-100 - Maxtor 40gb ATA - 100
Sony DRU-510A - Yellowtail Merlot

Nor mine, but I am surprized they researched the concept...

<pre><font color=red>°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°`°¤o \\// o¤°`°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°
And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre><p></font color=red>

True, but why buy something that's more expensive and requires you to OC it to get the same performance as the less expensive part? And it's not like the s754 is incapable of being OCed...they actually OC pretty well, especially with the DFI nf3 250.

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<font color=red>You're a boil on the arse of progress - don't make me squeeze you!</font color=red><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by rugger on 03/13/05 08:08 PM.</EM></FONT></P>