AMD Vs Intel

[Rockin Robbins]

Originally Posted by Brenjen

I play SH4 & many other games just fine on my older machine. I'm not saying it's out of date old; it was top of the line a couple years ago. My specs are:

ASUS A8N SLI Premium socket 939 (mature not ancient)

AMD64 FX-60 dual core CPU (overclocked to 3ghz for my amusement)

2 x 1gig sticks of Patriot DDR (upgradable to 4)

Creative Labs Audigy 2 ZS sound card

eVGA 7950 GX2 (overclocked to 595 core & 1600 memory also for amusement)

Antec 550 watt true power power supply

Windows XP home (I'm cheap like that,I had pro on another machine & it's not worth the extra price imo)

My CPU & GPU(s) are water cooled by Danger Den

My system rips through everything on high settings that I've played so far. I built this system for Aces High & it performed well; if you have ever played that game you'll know how it bogs down systems. I reccomend eVGA strictly on the basis of warranty & customer service; they are second to no one. I'd also stay far away from Vista for a few years & let everyone else test it. The video cards are the real quandry; DX10 is coming sooner than later & video cards are way too expensive. In short whatever video card you get you'll have to live with a while unless you're made out of money & the better the video card the more power it'll need (as a general rule), so do not skimp on your power supply, get a good one - good reputation & high wattage output. Newegg is an excellent place for PC parts & they can sometimes get you your stuff in under 24 hours depending on where you live.

My motherboard but I went for two 7600GTs in SLi to see what I could get. I'm not sure that was a great move. I cheaped out and slid in an Athlon 64 3700+ cpu because I spent all that money on the graphix. I'll have to do something about that someday. No water cooling and overclocking for me, it's not worth it to me to cost myself 2 years of product life for 20% gain. That means I'm likely to get into it for my amusement like you.:rotfl:But later for that too.

Heck, I even got a 550 watt power supply like you, after I melted it down and blew up a graphics card. But that's the system building game. It's called adventure and it ain't pretty sometimes.

It's amazing that two unconnected people choosing from thousands of different component combinations can build such similar machines. Gotta love the Asus motherboard. Other than the on-board sound, which we've both deep-sixed, it's great!

I'm happy enough with the AMD chip and I sure saved a bundle. As long as I can run SH4 with graphics settings WFO I'm happy. I do that easily, even with only one card in the machine right now.

[Brenjen]

That Asus board was pretty popular & I'm with you - I love it. My system has been rock solid since day one.....aside from a bad sata cable that caused me some head scratching in the first few months. The Intel Core 2 Duo 6700 system I built for my wife & kids this year boots faster than mine by a few seconds but my machine still out performs it in games so I'm not quite as in love with Intel as the general population seems to be; don't get me wrong it is a good chip & it is technically better on paper. I'm just glad I built my system when I did. By the time it gets too old all the Vista, DX 10 & green vs. red should have stabilized a bit & making a clear choice easier to identify.

As far as my system, my 7950 GX2 might not perform quite as well as a 7800 gt SLI system but it comes close because of the dual GPU set-up & with overclocking it's pretty incredible. As far as overclocking causing shorter life spans; that's still a bone of contention with many. With the watercooling on my CPU & GPU(s) they run much cooler overclocked than they did at stock speeds on air. The water cooling set-up was a little pricey but it was worth it. Especially if you like a quiet system.

[Rockin Robbins]

Originally Posted by Brenjen

That Asus board was pretty popular & I'm with you - I love it. My system has been rock solid since day one.....aside from a bad sata cable that caused me some head scratching in the first few months. The Intel Core 2 Duo 6700 system I built for my wife & kids this year boots faster than mine by a few seconds but my machine still out performs it in games so I'm not quite as in love with Intel as the general population seems to be; don't get me wrong it is a good chip & it is technically better on paper. I'm just glad I built my system when I did. By the time it gets too old all the Vista, DX 10 & green vs. red should have stabilized a bit & making a clear choice easier to identify.

As far as my system, my 7950 GX2 might not perform quite as well as a 7800 gt SLI system but it comes close because of the dual GPU set-up & with overclocking it's pretty incredible. As far as overclocking causing shorter life spans; that's still a bone of contention with many. With the watercooling on my CPU & GPU(s) they run much cooler overclocked than they did at stock speeds on air. The water cooling set-up was a little pricey but it was worth it. Especially if you like a quiet system.

/holds hand over eyes and whistles to avoid the evil siren's call

Must........maintain..........cash.............con trol.............

[De@dMe@t]

wait till january & get an amd. the new quads are going to slaughter intel on performance and price. stay away from nvidia graphics the new ati cards due in january are going to make everything out now wothless, so any money you spend now is wasted. plus nvidia cards cant do dx10.1 properly, they are having serious problems with the chipsets and the drivers, theyre ok on dx10 but 10.1 they cant do it.

[scrag]

I started having issues with heat and now must leave the case open - it did not used to ever have a problem but fin, I understand that as Processors get older they tend to run hotter. I have an old ASP mobo and if I change I need to go to PCI. I am looking for a nice mid-range machine. Spending 3 grand on a gamong rig won't do much for me as I won't use it that much. I would like to go to to a LCD display.
Here is what I have currently.
ASUS P4C-800-E
P4 3.0 (Clocked out to 3.3)
1024 Memory PC3200 Corasir CMX 512 C2
6800 Ultra Video Card

I Could look at updating my video card and update my memory, though I am uncertain what the max speed I could use.

[Rockin Robbins]

Originally Posted by De@dMe@t

wait till january & get an amd. the new quads are going to slaughter intel on performance and price. stay away from nvidia graphics the new ati cards due in january are going to make everything out now wothless, so any money you spend now is wasted. plus nvidia cards cant do dx10.1 properly, they are having serious problems with the chipsets and the drivers, theyre ok on dx10 but 10.1 they cant do it.

ATI has NEVER before come out with a card that made nVidia cards worthless before, why are we supposed to believe that is true now? DX10 and DX10.1 are totally compatible, unlike some nasty rumors earlier. 10.1 is only a bug fix.

I'm going with nVidia's track record of almost always being the best and staying put until ATI actually delivers the goods, which they haven't done yet. If they come out with a good card it will only lower the price on the 8800GT card I'm going to buy. ATI has played poor sister so long I need consistent success on their part to even consider them a contender.

Microprocessors are way ahead of the games and buying the latest quad core will only lighten your pocket and make you a bit faster running 100 yards. It won't help Silent Hunter 4. ANYBODY can spend altogether too much money on their system. It takes skill and experience to assemble something for a reasonable amount of cash that can still play SH4 WFO. I'm convinced it can now be done for about $800, not including monitor, keyboard and mouse. The new quad core is likely to cost that much. Hope lots of rich people buy it and bring the price down to earth. In the meantime my Athlon 64 3700+ plays SH4 fine and if I get a wild hair I'll slam an Athlon X2 in there. AMDs aren't the fastest, but they're plenty good enough and the price is nice!

[Stealth Hunter]

AMD Duo Processors FOR THE WIN!

[mcarlsonus]

First, everyone's got valid points. Second, although an AMD fan, the latest generation of CoreDuo/Quad Intels do perform better. But, wait, before you answer! The new tech AMD Phenom's are supposed to be available for desktops in the December/January timeframe (allegedly - AMD does have a history of announcing new items well before they actuallly appear on store shelves). Phenom's will be available in both dual and quad core configurations. Actual production CPU's have yet to be tested and compared against Intel's latest and greatest.
Frankly, quad core, at this point, is an unnecessary waste of money (IMHO, of course!). And, as previously mentioned, the hardware is FAR ahead of software that can utilize all its resources. But (and there's always a "but"), it's getting to be that there's little price differential between dual and quad, so...
ATI vs. nVidia: I've used both. I prefer nVidia, but, it's not a performance issue. I find the Radeon drivers supplied by ATI fully satisfactory UNTIL the first update. After managing to install new drivers per instruction, the future's a crapshoot...

And y'all (and especially you, RockRob!) that 8600GT card, as also previously posted, is having difficulties. BUT (again) there's also the premium it's currently commanding! On eBay (just checked today), new ones are on "Buy It Now" for no less than $350 to $400! Dang! Maybe as well head on up to the double-wides as, with the rebates, they're currently cheaper!!! And, well, that defeats THAT purpose (you know, the $200-$250 price point)!

Here's me current gig, for those of you viewing at home:
AMD 4600+ x2
4 GB 5300 RAM
320 GB SATA 7200
Antec NeoHE 550 PS
XFX nVidia-based 7600GT (cuz I wanna be just like my hero, RockRob!)
22" widescreen Acer LCD (this was a freakin' STEAL! Not much of a fan of Acer equipment, but this is a MARVELOUS monitor!)
Hand crank (that's a Kansas UPS!)

Methinks this is going to be a semi-disastrous season for the purveyors of hardware. Think I'll wait awhile to do something else video board, CPU-oriented. There's already some good deals on the upper branch of the nVidia tree, but, think if I just wait a little longer, the new nForce drivers/chipsets mature, etc., etc.