Which of these systems is better for games (like Oblivion)

CaxusCaxus
edited April 2006 in Hardware
1) Socket 754 Athlon 64 3200 (1mb cache) / Radeon X1900 XT

or

2) Socket 939 Athlon 64 3700 / Radeon X1800 XT


Keep in mind that #2 can be overclocked nicely while #1 can barely be overclocked at all.

Comments

  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited April 2006
    Its a toss up... Both will game just as good in my opinion. the X1900 will provide the best graphics, But the 3700 939 will out perform the 3200 754 by at least 25% if not more. Especially with more OC'ing abilities on the 3700...
  • macdude425macdude425 Mr. Roger's Neighborhood
    edited April 2006
    I'd have to say the second by a hair, because the proc is newer and has more of an overclocking advantage. Also, even though you want to get an X1800XT, you can overclock that too so that it will perform better.
  • tmh88tmh88 Pittsburgh / Athens, OH
    edited April 2006
    Either way it'l be a nice system. I'd go with the 3700 and x1800xt
  • lemonlimelemonlime Canada Member
    edited April 2006
    I just noticed that the X1800XT is only 285 at newegg right now. That would be a pretty sweet deal IMO. Best bang for the buck probably. If you pair that with the 3700+, that would be a pretty awesome system for oblivion. Although it does play pretty decently with my X850XT :)

    If you are looking to buy a new CPU, I would seriously wait for AMD and Intel's new platforms. They are just around the corner. Intel's new Conroe platform will be pretty amazing..
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited April 2006
    I would go with a 3200 and an X1900XT. You can OC the 3200 just as well as the 3700 and you will never miss the extra L2 in games.
  • CaxusCaxus
    edited April 2006
    The 3200 doesn't overclock past 210 so i can basically take it up to a 3300. I read an article in anandtech about how its those CPU's not the mobo or memory. Also, the 3700 has a 1mb cache too.
  • tmh88tmh88 Pittsburgh / Athens, OH
    edited April 2006
    I had my 3200 newcastle OC'd to 2.5ghz on stock cooling but it ran a little to hot for my taste(50º, 65 full load). It was stable, I was just afraid that it was going to get even hotter and fry. You can safely keep a 3200 around 2.4 and not have to worry.
  • CaxusCaxus
    edited April 2006
    tmh88 wrote:
    I had my 3200 newcastle OC'd to 2.5ghz on stock cooling but it ran a little to hot for my taste(50º, 65 full load). It was stable, I was just afraid that it was going to get even hotter and fry. You can safely keep a 3200 around 2.4 and not have to worry.
    My problem isn't heat, it just crashes. Maybe it's the K8T Neo but i swear i remember something about the early socket 754 athlon 64's barely being able to be overclocked.
  • Omega65Omega65 Philadelphia, Pa
    edited April 2006
    the comparison may be impossible....

    The K8T Neo is AGP right? Aren't the X1900XT PCIe only?!?

    The X1800XT (16 pipes/16 shaders) is a good card, but the X1900XT(16 pipes/48 shaders) is faster on shader heavy games

    The 130nm Clawhammers could do 2.2-2.6ghz with good copper based cooler (not the stock all aluminum one though)
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited April 2006
    Caxus wrote:
    The 3200 doesn't overclock past 210 so i can basically take it up to a 3300. I read an article in anandtech about how its those CPU's not the mobo or memory. Also, the 3700 has a 1mb cache too.

    Sorry but I was implying to get a 3200 Venice core 939 instead of shelling the extra cash for the 3700. Not to keep the one you have. Then the savings from the CPU could go directly to the better vid card. I have had 3x 3200 Venice cores and 1x 3700 San Diego. All 4 went past 2.8 on similar boards. They are great chips for anyone who wants a single core CPU!


    How's this???

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  • CaxusCaxus
    edited April 2006

    the comparison may be impossible....

    The K8T Neo is AGP right? Aren't the X1900XT PCIe only?!?

    The X1800XT (16 pipes/16 shaders) is a good card, but the X1900XT(16 pipes/48 shaders) is faster on shader heavy games
    Well if i did the x1900 xt i would be buying a $40 pci-e board for my cpu.

    What exactly are shaders anyway?
  • Omega65Omega65 Philadelphia, Pa
    edited April 2006
    Caxus wrote:
    Well if i did the x1900 xt i would be buying a $40 pci-e board for my cpu.

    What exactly are shaders anyway?
    If you're getting a PCIe motherboard, you're going to be S939 so the point is still moot. (Although EPoX has 3 PCIe S754 NF4 Motherboards - the 8NPA series)
    ATI's Radeon X1900 series graphics cards - I've got a fever, and the only prescription is... more pixel shaders

    Grab a S939 Mothebroard, any 90nm S939 CPU, and a X1900XT and a 2GB G.Skill PC4000 kit and you're golden!
  • CaxusCaxus
    edited April 2006
    I might just end up getting the san diego and the x1900 xt. It would only cost $80 more. Is there really not much difference between a 3200 venice and a 3700 san diego?
  • tmh88tmh88 Pittsburgh / Athens, OH
    edited April 2006
    no, theres definately a difference between the 3200 and 3700. check out the tomshardware interactive cpu charts.
  • Omega65Omega65 Philadelphia, Pa
    edited April 2006
    Caxus wrote:
    I might just end up getting the san diego and the x1900 xt. It would only cost $80 more. Is there really not much difference between a 3200 venice and a 3700 san diego?
    Theres a definate noticable difference (@ stock speeds) between L2 512K and L2 1024K. BUT the 3200 is more OCable than the 3700. If you OC its a wash.

    My Advice grab a Opteron, they're the best OCers (but YMMV) and they all have 1024K L2 cache.
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