AMD FX-60 or AMD Athlon X2 4800+??

Just about to order the heart of my new dream rig from Newegg and have a real dilema....the excellent 4800+ for $800 or the new FX-60 for $1400? Love the FX line for gaming, but is the new CPU THAT MUCH BETTER performance wise that it's worth the extra $600?

I'll be using the rig for high end gaming primarily and will be using the new ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe mobo, 2 MG of Corsair XMS 3500LL PRO RAM, 2 X 74GB Raptors in a RAID O array, a Koolance XEOS -2 water cooling set up and running 2 BFG 7800GTX 256MB water cooled cards in an SLI configuration.

Which way would you go and why (so I can learn!)??

Thanks very much!

Texasbobby

Judging from the rest of your rig a fx60 would be a "good fit."
Of course it's not worth the $600 extra, but the top of the line items are never "worth" what they cost.
You can save a nice $260 if you buy it at zipzoomfly, they have good ratings like newegg.
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80730&affiliate=pricegrabber

Go read the review at Tomshardware.com. They say that the 4800 is almost as powerful. The FX60 is way over prices. If I had the money, I would get the FX57. It's more powerful if your gaming then either of those. But the 4800 is a much better deal than the FX60. Good luck. Also, get the 512MB GTX cards. They are better.

yes they cost more than they should, but it's the price we pay for having the best gear isn't it? anyways, the 60's are very fast; I just built 1 for my engineering class, and it just blows me away. 2 Ghz front bus, 2.6 Ghz stock clocking...just...damn!!! hehehe

People didn't like opterons since they aren't made for gaming, but in these new CPU's you have 2 cores that were designed with the gamer in mind!! best of both worlds...and you can bet that games this year will make use of the Dual Core Processors......but alas, the choice is up to you....decisions, decisions....

That is one freakin' expensive rig. Still, if i were you i'd get the 4800+ simply because its 600 BUCKS LESS!!! And like vnf4ultra said, the 4800+ is almost up to par with the fx-60, so why not save the $600 for a future upgrade...or if you're itching to get the best, spend the $600 changing the 2x7800 256MB's to 2x7800 512MB's.

But yes...in the end, the choice IS up to you...

I would go with the 4800 x2 and get 600 worth of software/games, but just the FX name would get me tempted.

The FX line is completely geared towards gaming, which is totally a plus for your rig. But the X2 is a "true" dual core chip, which could have more potential in the future as far as apps, games, and OSes go. That is a HUGE price difference there. Personally, I would save the money and go for the excellent X2 chip. It's dual core processor will be unparalleled for a while to come. The FX-60 is just a higher clocked version of it's previous FX models. Go for the X2.

That's not true. The FX-60 is dual core. It is the same as the 4800, only faster. You need to read about it dude. Check out this link.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/01/10/amd_athlon_fx_60_dual_core_assault/

Notice the title of the article is DUAL CORE ASSAULT! Not single core assault. However the FX-60 is way overpriced. Much better to get the 4800.

the FX60 is a true dual core also...the rest of the FX line has only 1 physical core and the 60 has 2 physical cores which makes it new and it also explains why it has lower clock frequency than the FX57 (2.6 compared to 2.8 Ghz). Most people are staying away from the dual core since so many benchmarks have shown that single still outperforms them in gaming applications but AMD has created a processor that was made with gaming, not exactly multitasking, in mind, though with the presence of 2 cores, the 60 is still a good candidate for running multiple processes at a time.

If I "OC" the 4800, will I have the same thing as the FX-60?

If they are the same Dual Core Toledo chip and all other specs appear to be the same, can you simply "OC" the 4800 to the same clock speed as the FX-60 and have the same thing?

Yes you can overclock the 4800 to FX 60 levels, but you can't overclock the 4800 as much as the FX60. The FX line is made for overclockers.

Also to the other posters, notice that the previous single core FXs were odd numbers, and the new dual core is an even number.

I apologize! The other processors in the FX line have been single core, so i assumes that it would be the same. That's my bad! My descision still stands though, I would save the dough and go for the X2!

OK first off id like to ask if u have lots of money to burn?
Also i wanted to know if u already have all ur other peices to the comp?

here is a review from firingsquad.com . http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/amd_athlon_64_fx-60_review/default.asp It is about the fx-60 and does comparisons with the 4800. if u go to the link above and go down to the bottom and select "jump to" on the table on contents and then go to "think about it.." ull see that they suggest not buying this because AMD is going to release a new socket interface this year. so i suggest u go with the 4800+ and the new cpu in the future. unless of course u r mega rich and cost isnt a factor here.

secondly about ur videos cards. it would be better to go with 2x 7800 gtx 512mb's instead or even one of them over 2 regular 7800's. but then again the new nvidia and ati cards r comming out soon too. i heard february for both but then i found this site about nvidia today. http://www.neowin.net/index.php?act=view&id=32056 .

the choice is up to u really about what u want to do. have the best of the best parts now, pay a ton, and then have them be the 2nd best in a few months. Or buy the 2nd best stuff now and upgrade to the best of the best in a few months. either way really ur comp is going to be unstoppable.

Yeah, I'm about to build a system, and an not sure if I should wait for M2. I really want the new system by may, and hopefully M2 will come out before then.

How long do you wait???

At some point, you just need to "pull the trigger" and buy what you want. With all the new stuff "in the pipeline" you could wait forever on the "next big thing" and never build a rig.

Face it.....whatever you build, no matter how new or expensive it is at the time, it's already "behind the curve" based on new stuff that's "just about to be released".

You could wait forever on "the hot, new stuff".......gotta stick your toe in the water sometime!

It is a problem, eh?

Best of luck,

Texasbobby

Yeah, but is it worth waiting for the DDR2 AMD Ram? I think it is. That's the main reason I'm waiting.

seems like alot of specualtion here

well i am running and amd 4200 x2
and im verry happy it gives you a complete gaming edge
you join the game first regrdless of you ping
hahaha

some sound advice you must install the amd cpu driver for wich ever one you get or your games will run like rubbish :>

make sure you install the cpu driver from amd !!!

and by the way

there is absoluteley no need to oc one of these and if you do you are a nutcase !