Athlon 64 X2: 939 (4600+) or AM2 (3800+)?

[ANTant]

Are there any future games, within 2-3 years, that will depend on dual
cores? I can't think of one. I know all(?) current ones use single
core and developers are talking about supporting multiple cores.

[/QUOTE]

It is doubtful any developer would choose to limit their
customer base by making the game *require* dual cores, as
any two threads could still run on a single core. If money
is no option, a very fast high-end dual core processor can
be bought, but presently on a budget it's nearly a wash,
faster single core processors win in gaming. If you were
into overclocking it might be another matter, a lower end
Core 2 Duo overclocks like crazy giving the best of both
worlds.

Based on my newsgroup thread in http://tinyurl.com/y8krqz or
http://groups.google.com/group/comp...9f88?lnk=st&[email protected]&rnum=4&hl=en&
.... there are games that using multiple cores and upcoming games as
well. I will not get the single core (FX) then. Still AM2 vs. 939.
--
[Laser pulsing] "Bah. It's as easy as crushing an ant! You know, the..." [grunting] "Wh-wh-whoa! Hey, take my wallet and leave me alone!" --Mr. Burns from The Simpsons (Fraudcast News; FABF16/FABF18 episode)
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[Wes Newell]

anyways since CRTs are becoming rare. I am going to hold onto this
three years old 17" CRT a bit longer until it dies or breaks (so far,
only blurry ).

If you're adventuresome, there's usually a focus adjustment inside the
case if there's not one on the outside.

Aww crap, are you saying PCI Express is replacing regular PCI slots
fast?

Don't know if I'd call it fast, but regular PCI is being replaced. That's
the main reason I bought the M55Plus, for my 4 PCI HDTV tuner cards.

 

[Wes Newell]

I am actually going to keep the RAM for my Linux box if I have room. I
am not planning to sell it.

Then why add the cost of new ram to the AM2 system and not the 939?

When we say most games, is that for newer games? I don't care about old
games that run fine on my current Athlon 64 3200+ (754) like FEAR,
Battlefield 2, etc. Games I am looking at are like Company of Heroes,
Call of Duty 2, Oblivion (ouch), etc.

Can't help you there. I don't play games per se. Try the CPU/video charts
on tomshardware.

 

[ANTant]

If you're adventuresome, there's usually a focus adjustment inside the
case if there's not one on the outside.

Heh, that's a bit dangerous. No thanks.

Don't know if I'd call it fast, but regular PCI is being replaced. That's
the main reason I bought the M55Plus, for my 4 PCI HDTV tuner cards.

I hope it's a LONG time like five years unlike AGP to PCIE.
--
[Laser pulsing] "Bah. It's as easy as crushing an ant! You know, the..." [grunting] "Wh-wh-whoa! Hey, take my wallet and leave me alone!" --Mr. Burns from The Simpsons (Fraudcast News; FABF16/FABF18 episode)
/\___/\
/ /\ /\ \ Phillip (Ant) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
| |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL): http://aqfl.net
\ _ / Please remove ANT if replying by e-mail.
( )

 

[Conor]

Heh, that's a bit dangerous. No thanks.

It's not that bad - just don't tuch the fly lead out of the Line Output
transformer.

If you take it to a TV repair shop, they should only charge you 1hr
labour.

 

[ANTant]

I was told that AM2 has hardware virtualization, but 939 doesn't. Does
this affect VMware v4.x and v5.x? If so, then what do I expect from it?
VMware v4.5.1 seems fine on my old Athlon 64 3200+ (754) with Windows XP
Pro. SP2 (all updates), and VMware v5.5.2 seems fine on my Athlon XP
2200+ in Linux.

Thank you in advance.

Hello,

I have a dilemma on my next computer upgrade since my Athlon 64 3200+
(754) is getting slow, especially for the newest (e.g., Oblivion,
Company of Heroes, etc.) and upcoming games (e.g., Crysis, C&C3, etc.).
I do non-gaming too like watch HDTV shows, DVDs, videos, listen to
music, Web surfing, Office 2000, some graphic work (nothing fancy), etc.
For no-gaming purposes, my old Athlon XP/64(754) was fine. It is the
game that isn't. I only play games up to 1152x864 resolution due to my
old 17" CRT monitor (can't get a bigger one due to my small room and
desk, but I don't mind -- more FPS!). I do love maximum graphic details
and anistropic. FSAA would be my other chocie but I don't mind if I
don't use it.

After a month of research and listening to people's comments, I have
narrowed down to AMD side again. Intel Core 2 Duo doesn't provide IDE
connections for my old drives, and getting an IDE controller card would
exceed my PCI slots (four in total). I am also budget limited (can't
spend over $750 including taxes and stuff). I want to avoid my computer
upgrade for at least two years. I might upgrade the video card after a
year like in the past.

I do NOT overclock my system since I have problems keeping my
non-overclocked box stable when my room gets hot (up to 90 degrees(F))
during the heat wave/summer. Also, overlocking is not what I do. I am
not a hardware person/expert.

My current computer specifications is at:
http://alpha.zimage.com/~ant/antfarm/about/computers.txt ... See the
primary/gaming machine. That is the one that will be upgraded. CPU,
motherboard, video card, HDD (15 GB is too small and C: drive/partition
only has about 800 MB free) and maybe RAM will be replaced. All other
parts like my TV tuner cards, SB Audigy 2 ZS, etc. will remain.

People tell me that I should get AM2 instead of 939. AM2 costs more
because I have to spend about $200 for new RAM (DDR2) and can't use my
old RAM that Athlon 64 3200+ (754) used. My friend and other sources
(e.g., http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2738&p=1 ,
http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.html , and
http://www.techreport.com/reviews/2006q2/socket-am2/index.x?pg=5 ) told
me that it is not worth getting AM2 because of the benchmarks are worse
or have tiny improvements (up to 5%).

I made a table of what I plan to get on both sides at:
http://alpha.zimage.com/~ant/temp/buy.html ... Noticed I had to
sacrifice my video card speed if I get an AM2 due to cost ($200 for
RAM).

So, what should I go AM2 or go with 939? Thank you in advance.

--
[Laser pulsing] "Bah. It's as easy as crushing an ant! You know, the..." [grunting] "Wh-wh-whoa! Hey, take my wallet and leave me alone!" --Mr. Burns from The Simpsons (Fraudcast News; FABF16/FABF18 episode)
/\___/\
/ /\ /\ \ Phillip (Ant) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
| |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL): http://aqfl.net
\ _ / Please remove ANT if replying by e-mail.
( )

 

[Rod Speed]

(e-mail address removed) wrote

Heh, that's a bit dangerous. No thanks.

Not really, you just have to be a bit careful.

It'll make one hell of a difference if its a focus problem.

I hope it's a LONG time like five years unlike AGP to PCIE.

I doubt it will be that long myself.

 

[kony]

I hope it's a LONG time like five years unlike AGP to PCIE.

Huh? Consider that PCI was around before AGP, it's been
over 10 years already.

 

[ANTant]

On Mon, 18 Dec 2006 01:29:35 -0600, (e-mail address removed) wrote:

Huh? Consider that PCI was around before AGP, it's been
over 10 years already.

I meant PCIE, not PCI. I know PCIE is based on PCI. I am just talking
about PCIE part only.
--
[Laser pulsing] "Bah. It's as easy as crushing an ant! You know, the..." [grunting] "Wh-wh-whoa! Hey, take my wallet and leave me alone!" --Mr. Burns from The Simpsons (Fraudcast News; FABF16/FABF18 episode)
/\___/\
/ /\ /\ \ Phillip (Ant) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
| |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL): http://aqfl.net
\ _ / Please remove ANT if replying by e-mail.
( )

 

[Skybuck Flying]

Hi little bit of advice from me

First of all your current system seems to be mostly bottlenecked by the low
graphics card memory.

Don't make the same mistake in your new system.

Go for the 512 MB ram graphics cards, you can thank me later

Company of Hero's requires a least 1 gigabyte of ram in pretty high
settings.

That probably means it requires lot's of video ram as well.. I don't know
for sure.. but these textures sure eat memory like it's candy.

Investing in more ram is a wise decision for the future.

Ram shortage = everything crawling to a halt

Bye,
Skybuck.