Is an AMD athlon 64 4000+ an overkill for gaming???

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ZMAinthe305

this is my first thread, and my first question. i feel like i have a long way to go on building a new gaming pc, but ill start here.

AMD athlon 64 4000+ is it an over kill???? the new computer is for gaming and all those lovely small applications. aim.word. etc.etc.etc...

or would a AMD athlon 64 3500+ be ok for gaming and whats not?

i went to toms hardware guide and i saw the FPS and obviously 4k+ is up there all the time.....

http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_2004.html?modelx=33&model1=60&model2=62&chart=25

and i mean, HL2, Flight sim X, NFSMW, etc... all those good games, i want them to play flawlessy.

i know i have to take in consideration the motherboard, Ram and Video card.

mobo... IDK

ram... 2 gigs min... IDK wat brand

video ...... nvdia 7800 gtx.... , iv allways had nvidia, and i figured ill go all out with the card. .... ati is great... but ill pass. :)

and a 250gig drive or something....

iv read so much on the MOBo ill make a separate thread for that... lol, but guys. i still have time. i havent bought anything. i can allways save a lil more.

but im looking to spend around 1000...1200...max? max....can be a lil more flexible... the only downside on me being flexible is i have to save...which means more time...aaand id like it soon...


soo... im sorry if this is too long... and please tell me anything that i should be aware of...

thanks alot... to the site and everyone.
 
I guess it all depends on how long you want the CPU to last you.

I have the 3700 (939) and it performs amazingly, and it'll hold me over for some time yet. I don't think there would be much of a difference between the 4000 and my 3700 in today's games (maybe a few FPS), but as newer CPU intensive games come out, the difference will become more noticable.

If on a budget, I'm tempted to tell you to go for 2Gb of ram and a hot video card (7800GTX or X1900) and stick with the 3500 for now. It'll last you a good year or so before it starts lagging on you. Then upgrade to a nice dual core CPU when the prices are cheaper next year after the release of the M2 CPUs.
 
ok well pretty much any 1.5 or higher cpu and maybe a lil lower will handle the games of today if the rest of your system can handle them such as a good vid card and 512 or more memory. it just depends on how you build it and set it up. for example i have a amd 64 3000+ mobile that is a 1.8 ghz which is watercooled overclocked, pushing the 2.7ghz mark. i have this cpu on a dfi nf3 250gb with a gig of geil memory and a x1600 agp vid card etc etc. i have absolutly no probs playing games or doin anything else i wanna do. i play games such as unreal, half life 2, and the game fear.
 
thanks. that def. helps... well i have decided to get a AMD athlon 64 3700+,

and the price difference is about $20 and i there both 3700+ amd 64, but one i think runs at 2.2mhz and the other at 2.4mhz.... so the more expensive is the 2.4. i take it as thats a tad bit faster? but there both 3700....


and i like this motherboard..... what do you guys say?

LANParty UT NF4 SLI-DR Expert
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1699058&CatId=1569
 
Actually, you will need the 2.2Ghz version of the 3700. Or to be more specific, you want the socket 939 version, not the 754 (in order to match your motherboard).

LANParty makes very nice boards, especially if you are into overclocking.
 
awesome....

ok guys... well now i believe i have figured exactly how i want my pc. price has gone up but i guess its not an issue. i'll just have to save and pick up some more shifts at work.


all the best deals were at www.newegg.com... maybe you guys will agree...

----Processor----

AMD Athlon 64 4000+ San Diego 1GHz HT Socket 939 Processor Model ADA4000BNBOX - Retail

$344.00

----Motherboard----

DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 SLI-DR Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

$168.00

----Memory----

CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered System Memory Model VS1GB400C3 - Retail

$71.34 x 2 = $285.36 ....(later to be 4 gigs)

----Video Card----

eVGA 256-P2-N525-AX Geforce 7800GTX 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail

$439.00

----Sound Card----

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail

$127.99 - $50.00 (Mail In rebate, expires 3/7/2006)

----Hard drive's ----

Western Digital Caviar SE WD3200JD 320GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM

$123.00

Western Digital Raptor WD740GD 74GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive -OEM

154.00 ($20.00 Mail in rebate no exp. date)

----Power supply + Case---

NZXT Lexa Black/ Silver Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500 WATT PS2 ATX 12V 2.0 Power Supply - Retail

$179.00

_________________________________________________________________


ok, so thats it. total is $1,666.45....high, but i think i got the best of the best...... well guys say what u think.... like ???dislikes??? who supports me ?!?!?! lol... thanks.
 
Hes getting 2 gigs.. then he said 4 later. So whats the big deal?
I heard Value Select was the best value for gamers, since most of those expensive ones are for overclockers.
 
I'd rather pay a bit more to get ram that's tested in dual channel configurations from the factory (that's why they get rated as dual channel capable) & with lower latencies then what Value Ram can offer.

I just don't get the idea of getting high end parts for everything except the Ram. Setup a balanced system, that's your best to getting the best performance out of each part of the system.
 
Good Memory

Your Memory Choice is Good, but you seem to realize 939 Motherboards only support 4 sticks of memory...

So do the math if you get 2 gigs now 4 x 512 mb your full and you basically baught all that memory for nothing when you want to upgrade to 4 gig

I suggest buying a 2 gb kit meaning 2x1gb dual channal kit.

It will cost you a little more but you can upgrade to 4 gig easier and more cost effective in the future.....

This here is a better deal if you are wanting to upgrade to 4 gig affter a while.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145579
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145579
$145.99

is better actually if i was to go for the corsair ram... the price i put originally was for sticks, 1 gig each, for $74. then i had gone over and brought it down to 2 sticks initially, and then 2 more later. but this link is a good deal.
although 2 individual 1 gig sticks of corsair cost $142.68

anywho moving on from that ... i will scroll up and read on the value select memory articles... but guys... whats the biggest problem with this..."cheap ram"... lol, the name almost scares me... 'value select' ...... sounds cheap..it is... sooo... if thats no good... then what do u guys suggest. for i have not done research on "gaming ram".

btw - thank you guys for helping me
 
The question is, do you plan on overclocking at all? If not, I'd go for the value select ram, but get a dual channel kit.

Corsair's "value select" ram is not low quality ram by any means. It simply is not designed for the overclocker, but it has a lifetime gaurantee and performs much better than generic name-brand ram.
 
ok, well ill look into it now, but can u summarize what benifits overclocking memory has... i dont know how to do it... but then again my bro might. he's building my pc with my dad.... as for now, i think i might stick with the corsair value select. the article was very helpful thnxs.
 
I look at overclocking as a way of extending the life of your system. For example, I have an Athlon 3700 right now, and there is no need to overclock it in my opinion. It does everything I want it to very quickly.

However, in a year or so the newer applications are going to require faster CPUS. I may overclock my CPU to extend it's life for a few extra months before buying a newer CPU.

Overclocking, to put it simply, means cranking up its' default settings on your system so it works faster. Your motherboard and CPU listed above are both very overclockable. And your value select ram will let you crank up your cpu settings a bit, but not as much as if you had the XMS series of ram.

Whether or not overclocking is a good idea is a matter of debate. You'll get some telling you to never do it, and others saying you are wasting your system's potential if you do not. It is not something that I tend to do too much of, to be honest. I tend to stick with the default settings, and when it gets too slow, I buy a newer CPU. Overclocking is just a fun thing to do sometimes. That's my take on it.
 
you can recycle some parts off an old system if you have one, like hard drives, floppy drives, DVD rom, cases..... and PSU (if it is big enough)
 
Donagual - thnxs, i understand the over clocking... it makes sense that it can improve performance but i almost see it as .... a decrease in its life, i im almost afraid if i start over clocking life span will shorten, but im sure, if done properly and if the computer is done properly it would work great. afterall there are people doing it with great results.

as for me, um... i think i will stick with the corsair value select, i will not be overclocking anything on my system, i dont believe i need to. and if i do, well ill have my brother do it properly, and ill look it up online. i do feel satisfied with the computer components iv selected. they have great reviews, they are def. great products and over all its a kick *** machine. the last thing i will get is windows vista, and i will go and buy myself copies of my favorite games... no more torrents! lol ... i want my own cd key. ;D


Tedster said:
you can recycle some parts off an old system if you have one, like hard drives, floppy drives, DVD rom, cases..... and PSU (if it is big enough)
Click to expand...


my "old" computer ... a 2.6amd processor running at 1.9 1 gig, two 40 gig hd, and 256 nvdia 5600... lol. haha.... ok, that thing my dad installed a DVD drive which afterwards, we had to re do the computer... and this was 3 weeks ago, and hes working on it now.. as a spare, and im off to build off my gaming machine. so ill use the dvd drive which is the only good component.
 
well if u r not going to overclock or are only going to a little bit then the parts u listed will do just fine. they are all great parts and the memory will let u overclock a bit too, infact maybe a lil more then everyone thinks. u just never know, every system is different, but yes the xms will overclock better. anyway u have laid out a very nice system and i guess if u can afford it then go for it. just so u know u dont have to buy the absolute best of everything to play games or anything else for that matter. im not sayin it will do everything 100% perfect and all but i have a nf3 socket 754 and i can do anything i want to do on it and i didnt spend anywhere near 1600+ dollars on it, just some advice buy what u need and what is capable of doing what u want, but remember computers outdate very fast due to new products that come out everyday. not sayin they wont be good for another 2,3,or even 5 years depending on what u use it for but just dont sink every penny into it on the absolute best if u dont need it. just my thought good luck i hope we all helped u build a very nice computer.
 
ink said:
well if u r not going to overclock or are only going to a little bit then the parts u listed will do just fine. they are all great parts and the memory will let u overclock a bit too, infact maybe a lil more then everyone thinks. u just never know, every system is different, but yes the xms will overclock better. anyway u have laid out a very nice system and i guess if u can afford it then go for it. just so u know u dont have to buy the absolute best of everything to play games or anything else for that matter. im not sayin it will do everything 100% perfect and all but i have a nf3 socket 754 and i can do anything i want to do on it and i didnt spend anywhere near 1600+ dollars on it, just some advice buy what u need and what is capable of doing what u want, but remember computers outdate very fast due to new products that come out everyday. not sayin they wont be good for another 2,3,or even 5 years depending on what u use it for but just dont sink every penny into it on the absolute best if u dont need it. just my thought good luck i hope we all helped u build a very nice computer.
Click to expand...


hey ink, thanks. that is probably some really good advice. this 1600+ would require saving for probably 3 months on my part. the truth is computers will outdate pretty fast, and thats scary... i allways have that thought that a few months after i get it, something that has a significant change will come out... lol, like my ipod. i bought it.... 3 months later came out video for the same price! wat a bummer! but i will def. take into consideration what you said. im only 20 , like everyone else out i just want a pretty insane system which will be ...."flawless" i guess... but everything has its problems i guess. me and my best friend are both actually planning on buying the exact same system....

and im pretty sure i could save my self about 600$, if i changed the PCU, Video card, and maybe the HD...... easily... but i have 3 months to save and who knows, i might change my mind. iv tried to look, but i havent seen a setup like this... "all out" except for my ram, to see if they think its worth it. something ill enjoy and appreciate for some tim to come
 
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