Building a New PC with an Athlon FX60

[phuschnickens]

I'm planning on building a new PC with an FX60 for the CPU... I won't be doing any gaming whatsoever on this computer, it will all be Adobe CS2 Suite and Microsoft Office. I currently have an Athlon 64 X2 and REALLY appreciate the increase in performance increase (especially in dual-core friendly Adobe Suite apps) from the pentium 4 I was using before. The new PC will be an addition to the PrePress dept. for one of my coworkers and I am absolutely convinced that it should be dual core. My real question is this:

Is it complete overkill to spend $800 on an FX60 for the Adobe Suite? Is this processor really meant for much more system intense apps like gaming or would I notice a pretty marked difference from the 64 X2 I'm currently running?

[Sledgehammer70]

phuschnickens a FX-60 is very much overkill for those applications. The FX line of CPU's was made for gamers in general. Now you will see a performance increase but if I was you I would buy into the new AMD Athlon AM2 line of CPU's and would purchase a nice new AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ or even a 4800+ X2 as the new AM2 socket will give you room to upgrade in the near future. As AM2 will be the socket for Quad Core CPU's. the Socket 939 will not recieve any new CPU's as AMD is phasing that socket out.

I personally use a few FX series CPU's and X2 CPU's and both perform perfectly within an Adobe Suite and Microsoft programs. I would stick with a AM2 X2 series CPU....

[jradmin]

I agree with Sledge. FX60 is a bigtime over kill for a graphics rig. Sledge's suggestions are right on for what your needs are.

[Sledgehammer70]

I should note, even the higher end X2 line is overkill for those applications. But if your willing to spend the cash it can't hurt to have a better CPU...

[RyderOCZ]

Agreed as well....just get an X2 with 1MB of L2 cache or more and you will be happy as a lark with apps like that.

More speed of course is better...but 1-3% at most would be the gain....not worth it in my book for 50- 100% more money.

I agree also that a new AM2 with some PC5400 or PC6400 DDR2 would make you very happy.....lots of memory bandwidth for moving those large files around.

[Sledgehammer70]

I agree also that a new AM2 with some PC5400 or PC6400 DDR2 would make you very happy.....lots of memory bandwidth for moving those large files around.

I hear a company called OCZ makes some great high end DDR2 that would fit the bill :)

[edcentric]

Repeat after me "Lots of memory".

I would hold off for a few weeks. The AM2 mobo are just hitting the market and the selection and price will improve over the next month.
Get a modest dual core AM2 CPU, and upgrade when the quad cores come out.