Need opinions for a CPU choice

[Justin216]

Greets All,

I am preparing to build a new desktop tower. Last machine I had was a A64 2800+ that I gave to my brother a couple months ago, so now that I have funds, I'm wanting a new tower. Problem is, it's been a fair amount of time since I built a tower, and am not sure what would be the best route to go for what I need to do.

I am currently looking at the following:

Pentium D 820 (2.8ghz, 2x1M L2 Cache)
Pentium D 830 (3.0ghz, 2x1M L2 Cache)
Pentium D 920 (2.8ghz, 2x2M L2 Cache)
A64 3700+ (2.2ghz, 1M L2 Cache)
A64 X2 3800+ (2.0ghz, 2x512kb Cache) (Highest cost, may not be feasible in my budget, but I'd like opinions on this one aswell)

Prefer to not get into Intel v AMD battles, just looking for opinions on the technology and which is the best bang for the buck. Processor will be used for light Photoshop and Website development work, but Gaming is also an issue that I strongly care about (New machine will have a mid-$300 video card that I would like to stress a bit).

Thanks for any opinions on what I should take!

 

[Maximilian]

A64 X2 3800+ Its the best for gaming, not that pentium D's are BAD for gaming theyre not, but the A64 will perform better in games and there is a significant difference. They run cooler, and use less power too. Also in the future more and more games will support dual core.

But you might want to wait for socket M2 or conroe. Personally ive had my fill of jumping on new products... like M2 and after buying them finding out they have some crippling flaws etc and then they get replaced not long after release. Go for the A64 3800+, its a good CPU and socket 939 is mature and will be around for a while yet.

 

[Munky]

Do you plan to OC? If so, you could just get a cheaper A64 3200, and OC it - they will usually do at least 2.2ghz. Otherwise, I'd go for the 3700, unless it's priced close to the x2 3800. Since you plan on gaming, the A64's are definitely a better choice than the P4's. Also, before anyone jumps in and starts preaching how you NEED a dual core cpu, let me clarify that I went from a 2.6hgz A64 venice to a 2.4ghz dual core opteron, and aside from encoding movies I've seen no huge difference from dual cores. Some games like civ4 run smoother with dual cores, and other games like FEAR develop stuttering issues with dual cores. There are some fixes for the stuttering, but they dont always work, and it's a PITA to deal with.

 

[WA261]

Yes, for a cheap, fast CPU go with the 3200. Mine here at work runs 2.6 on air!
Or an Opti 148 (another cheap cpu that oc's like mad) and oc it. Mine is runing 3Ghz on air now.

 

[Justin216]

Generally speaking, no, I don't plan to OC from the get go. As time goes on, I will probably consider it, however. I listed the dual core processors primarily because I had heard that support is growing for them gaming wise, but I also do dabble in non-gaming related programming and image design, and think that this technology may benefit me in those areas.

 

[WA261]

I would go Intel then if doing Image design. Did not know what you were doing (guess I should have read ll your post =P), so I just thought of a cheap little rig with nice performance.

 

[Centoros]

Well, for starters, I would definately get dual core and rule out the singles. Application developers are shifting to dual core and it will benefit you in the long run.

I have a PD930 and it's awesome. It games very well and does a nice job. Plus the overclocking potential is there in case you ever decide to go that route.

 

[coolpurplefan]

Originally posted by: Soviet
A64 X2 3800+ Its the best for gaming, not that pentium D's are BAD for gaming theyre not, but the A64 will perform better in games and there is a significant difference. They run cooler, and use less power too. Also in the future more and more games will support dual core.

But you might want to wait for socket M2 or conroe. Personally ive had my fill of jumping on new products... like M2 and after buying them finding out they have some crippling flaws etc and then they get replaced not long after release. Go for the A64 3800+, its a good CPU and socket 939 is mature and will be around for a while yet.

The X2 3800+ sucks crap for gaming. Which benchmarks are you referring to? I gots the 3700+ single core. w00t!

 

[WA261]

He needs it more then for gaming.....

And all Soviet he is saying is that it runs games fine.

 

[evenmore1]

I double posted so I edited this one...

 

[evenmore1]

Best OC Dual Core is the PD 805...Intel Dual Cores are a lot cheaper but are not as good...
Either get a Pentium D 920 or Athlon 3700+.

Later you can OC to 840 levels with 805, 950 levels with 920, and 4000+/FX-57 levels with 3700+. Wow!!!

 

[996GT2]

The 805 is not very good stock, but OC'd it's very nice @ PD 840 speeds

I say you should wait a few months until AM2 and Conroe comes out and see if Prices on the earlier processors are slashed. Then you may be able to get a better processor for the same $$.

 

[stevty2889]

Originally posted by: 996GT2
The 805 is not very good stock, but OC'd it's very nice @ PD 840 speeds

I say you should wait a few months until AM2 and Conroe comes out and see if Prices on the earlier processors are slashed. Then you may be able to get a better processor for the same $$.

On a side note..the stock cooler won't cut it for getting a good OC out of the 805. I'm still hitting 57c on water cooling at 3.7ghz, so that would be throttling on the stock heatsink. But at 3.7ghz it does offer decent performance for a $130 dual core, just not up to par with a 3800+ X2 @2.6ghz or higher. The 9xx series runs nice and cool compared to the 8xx series by far, but they don't OC worth a crap on anything other than the more expensive motherboards like the P5WD2 premium and P5WD2-E premium. I definatly wouldn't go with an 820 or 830.

I wouldn't recomend the 805 unless you are definatly going to overclock it, and it should be able to hit 3.6-3.7 on air with a good heatsink. The 920 will serve its purpose fine, but if you decide to OC later, you'll need a more expensive motherboard. The X2 3800+ should hit 2.6ghz fairly easily without the need for a $200+ motherboard, and will outperform a pentium-d unless you manage to get one to around 4.2ghz. Any of those chips will be more than enough for gaming with a $300 video card, since the video card is the main limiter in games.