ddr2 am2 vs. ddr 939

[felony]

Hey guys -

Building a new computer and have been out of the loop for awhile since I last looked at prices. Now that am2 is out and ddr2(800) there is another part of the equation for me.

I am looking to spend about 1200 bucks on a new rig and one thing that I am not sure of is the ram/socket. this like, http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2741&p=4 shows that there is not that much performance gain from the ddr2 ram and based on the price, I would either end up 1 gig of ddr2(800) or 2 gigs of ddr(400).

What do you guys think I should do - this is mostly for games.
Also, how long is socket939 expected to be around?

Thanks
dan

 

[Bobthelost]

First thoughts are that if you're overclocking you don't want AMD. If you're not overclocking then maybe. However your choice of DDR2 800 screams overclocking so unless you get money off AMD parts i'd be looking at a C2D system.

939 is not long for this earth, they have already cut back the range of CPUs being made for it and production ceases completely as of christmas for 939 CPUs.

 

[dBTelos]

Take a good look at C2D, they blow AMD out of the water in benchmarks.

 

[Gautama2]

Originally posted by: Bobthelost
First thoughts are that if you're overclocking you don't want AMD. If you're not overclocking then maybe. However your choice of DDR2 800 screams overclocking so unless you get money off AMD parts i'd be looking at a C2D system.

939 is not long for this earth, they have already cut back the range of CPUs being made for it and production ceases completely as of christmas for 939 CPUs.

What are you smoking? AMD proc's are great overclockers! Sure, they cant get to 400 fsb like a conroe, but you can easily squeeze a 30% overclock out of amd!

 

[jhill1]

well socket 939 is getting outdated very fast, and i wouldnt reccomend getting it. for the prices you can get a nice 2gb set of ddr2 667 maybe 800. the performances are not that different, but when K8L comes out, socket am2 will have the compatability for them, so its definatley your best bet to get am2 at this point in time

 

[Bobthelost]

Originally posted by: Gautama2

Originally posted by: Bobthelost
First thoughts are that if you're overclocking you don't want AMD. If you're not overclocking then maybe. However your choice of DDR2 800 screams overclocking so unless you get money off AMD parts i'd be looking at a C2D system.

939 is not long for this earth, they have already cut back the range of CPUs being made for it and production ceases completely as of christmas for 939 CPUs.

What are you smoking? AMD proc's are great overclockers! Sure, they cant get to 400 fsb like a conroe, but you can easily squeeze a 30% overclock out of amd!

Yes you can. A 2Ghz 3800X2 may be able to hit 3.0Ghz if you're really lucky, 2.6Ghz + is reasonable.

However a 1.83Ghz 6300 C2D is already faster than that 2Ghz 3800X2 and can hit 3.5Ghz if you're lucky, 3Ghz+ as a more reasonable target.

How have you missed this information? Do you live in a cave?

 

[Gautama2]

Ahh, the way i interpreted your orignal post made me think you were saying AMD suck ass at overclocking.

 

[felony]

thanks for the replies guys - i appreciate it.

so you guys recommend a C2D system?

I feel at my price range, no matter what I want to do, I will have something that is outdated - yet better then my current system.

Ill look around at monarch for some C2D system setups..

suggestions still welcomed

dan h

 

[felony]

checked out some prices - and it seems that all the prices are pretty equivalent.

i will be looking into the C2D systems since you guys have suggested it - one thing though is that it still takes ddr2 ram which is significantly more money then ddr ram and doesn't show performance gains from what I understand.

would 2 gigs of ddr be better then 1 gig of ddr2 in their respected systems?

dan

 

[Bobthelost]

DDR2 doesn't help A64 designs, however Core 2 Duos do need it (there is an Asrock board that will take DDR instead but i don't think you can get good overclocks with it) to shine.

If that $1200 is for the base unit (ie no monitor/speakers/keyboards/software etc.) then it's enough to get you a very nice machine. Look at one of the other "how's my build" threads.

 

[felony]

yep - 1200 for just the core..

already got the extras

thanks
dan

 

[hagi607]

yup