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AMD and Intel: What to buy?

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Hi there,

Sorry for the length of this post and before I move on with it I would like to apologize myself for my ignorance on this subject.

I have recently incorporated a game development company in Brazil and we are buying some of the necessary equipment for testing. During this process we faced a doubt the probably lots of inexperienced people face when buying their PCs: Which architecture to choose, if Intel or AMD. So, we decided to buy one of each and now we have to choose what to purchase.

I have read some of the articles and threads on THG and I am still undecided. Let’s consider for a moment that budget is not a problem and it is our intention to buy the best of the cutting edge technology for both AMD and Intel. Opteron and Xeon are not a choice. Also, in the beginning it is not our intention to make overclocking or any changes on factory specs and configuration such as voltage and clock.

The only limitation for both game driven configurations are: (i) all parts must be available on retail shops in the USA and websites worldwide (Amazon, PriceWatch and similar) (ii) they should be single processed (iii) run both Windows and Linux.

They must include: Motherboard, CPU, Memory, Video Card, Sound Card, HD, drives and other parts that you might found relevant such as cooling, fans, case, font and the like.

Please help me out; I will be very grateful to you.

Best regards

Kariokacb

More about : amd intel buy

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AMD64 3200 with 1 gig RAM and the ATI X800 or nVidia 6800 graphics should be a min. for Gaming rigs.

Is this for one unit or a bulk purchase to fill a gaming arcade?

<pre><font color=red>°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°`°¤o \\// o¤°`°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°
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Thanks. We want to buy one complete unit of AMD and another unit of Intel for testing, just these 2.
What would be the ultimate config for both, please stress it to the limit. Regards.
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AMD64 FX-57
<A HREF="http://www.dfi.com.tw/Product/xx_product_spec_details_r..." target="_new"> DFI Lanparty N4 </A>
2-gig Corsair or Crucial or OCZ ( 2-2-2-5 ) DDR RAM
nVidia 7800 graphics card
Antec TruePower 550 watt PSU
<A HREF="http://www.plextor.com/english/products/716AL.htm" target="_new"> Plextor 716AL slot loading DVD Burner </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>

Thanks again :-)
(a) MB: Is it the DFI LanParty nF4 SLI-DR mboard AMD Socket 939?
(b) CPU: There is also a AMD X2 4800+ Dual-Core, isn't this better?
(c) RAM: The MB specs says it can take up to 4 GB of RAM, should I increase the memory from 2 Gb to 4 Gb?

Regards

Yes
Yes - with supported games
No

Games currently will not use more than 2 gigs RAM, and 4 gigs would actually slightly negatively affect performance if not needed.

<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>

2x1024

I thought you said you were not interested in O/Cng, DDR600 would be O/Cng... Lowest Latency DDR 400 is what you want...

<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>

You are so so right! Scratch that mobo, The Abit Fata1ty is one of the best boards...

<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>

Not necessary again, unless overclocking it, stock cooling will work fine.

<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>

Yes, it is a better board for overclocking if you decide, and has good review.

<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>

Ok, just wrapping up:

Without overclocking:

CPU: AMD 64 FX-57 or AMD X2 4800+ Dual-Core
Motherboard: DFI LanParty nF4 SLI-DR AMD Socket 939
RAM: 2Gb (2 x 1024) DDR 400 Corsair or Crucial or OCZ ( 2-2-2-5 )
Graphic Card: nVidia 7800 graphics card
Power font: Antec TruePower 550 watt PSU
DVD Burner: Plextor 716AL slot loading DVD Burner
No extra cooling required.

With overclocking

CPU: AMD 64 FX-57 or AMD X2 4800+ Dual-Core
Motherboard: Abit Fatal1ty AN8 Sli
RAM: 2Gb (2 x 1024) DDR 550 or 600 – Any specific memory or brand?
Graphic Card: nVidia 7800 graphics card
Power font: Antec TruePower 550 watt PSU – Is this enough?
DVD Burner: Plextor 716AL slot loading DVD Burner
Extra cooling required – What should be used?
CPUs Expert

actually the DFI is rated better at OCing for games (when succeful) and the abit is rated for more success OCs. so if ya are new to OC and have enough $$ and already got such a top of the line model go with the abit
CPUs Expert

BTW that specific type of dvd burner is not needed. (slot loading is not needed to see the performance of a computer.......... unless your comapny wants to burn ur own games that is....)

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by TheHolyLancer on 08/07/05 04:15 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
CPUs Expert

i'd get some nice water cooling or heck phase cooling! (no expetise in this from me though!) if ya need advice in hard ware modding ask wusy!

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by TheHolyLancer on 08/07/05 04:13 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

You need a <A HREF="http://www.directron.com/201tblk.html" target="_new"> good quality case. </A>
A good quality one that has a slide out tray and either a drive cage or rails. I prefer a cage, but rails can enable quicker changes in hardware for testing...
And pretty much ordering these parts retail, will come with all cables connections and instructions you need to complete the job.

<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>

It comes as is with the clear panels and 5 case fans, two in front filtered, two in back, and one in top.
The extras are in case you want to jazz it up.

<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>

Fans are whisper quiet. The only fan I hear is the CPU fan, others are silent fans. Plus aluminum case is very well made and conceals sound I think. Air filter does not hurt with sound either.

<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>

Games do not get much use from dual core chips, at this point. I dont know if you want to be one of the first to develop for dual core, but at this point, the FX is much better for single threaded games.
You should probably look at getting 2 high end nvidia graphics cards, for each system. May as well give SLI a go.
I dont know if any of the Intel Sli boards work too well yet.

Yepper that is true. Best performance water cooling kits are DIY mix and match parts so you end up with a custom one for your rig and needs.

<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>
CPUs Expert

o and i heard that intel PCIE slots are 1GB/sec out and 3 GB/sec in (or was it the other way around?) and the AMD PCIE slots are 4 GB/Sec in and 4 GB/ sec out... then againb compared to hte fuill potential of a high end card (like friggin 40 GB/sec) this is kinda small... but still revelent

OCing doesn't have to be a big thing. There are a lot of people here, who just use it for a little extra boost.
If you want to try a 10% OC, it can usually be done with stock parts. I run my A64 @ 2.45, rather than 2.2 ghz. I just upped the numbers from 11X200 to 11X223. It has been that way for the better part of a year now, and only gets cranky, if I forget to give it a reboot every couple of weeks. Even xp cant seem to keep it together for longer than that.

Thanks a lot for your considerations.

well, we are currently developing for Nintendo DS and Mobile phones but we are seriously considering PC games. For that reason we want to test and try the cutting edge technology before we make any decision. If the market goes towards dual core architecture we should have a better understanding of what our possible clients will be using and stress it up to the limit. My e-mail is kariokacb@walla.com if you wanna go deeper in this subject.

About the graphics, what do you recommend?

I thought PCI-E x16 ran 8GBps, 4GB each way. But heard something about early ones running 3.2GB each way. [/shrugs]

<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>

That's a tough one. You will get an exrta frame or two by going with the 7800s, but wether it is enough to justify the $ is very questionable.
For that matter, if Ati crossover were a little more ready, a couple of PE,s would make the nvidia cards look really weak in non-open gl games. You really should post this question in the graphics forum. The people there are better able to answer than anyone here.

The A64s dont really need any extra band width, so fixing the mem buss at 200 is not such a big deal. My cheap samsung TCCC chips are handling the 223 just fine @ 2.5,3,3,8.
You should also know that the FX chips come with multipliers unlocked, so OCing can be done by setting the mem bus to the max the memory can take, then upping the multiplier in 1/2X steps.

I am a big fan of the FX series and unlocked chips. Not so big a fan of the price...

<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>
CPUs Expert

lol man i want a FX but it is expensive as helllllllllllllllll i wish there was a FX LE one! lol maybe the 3200 FX LE and its like the 3200 but with unlocked multiplier and about maybe $50 more expensive
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