new gaming system

[CurseTheSky]

Clock for clock, the X2 5200+ will probably win at STOCK speeds. The E2180 only shines if you're planning on overclocking. You should hit 3GHz without too much trouble, at which point it will definately surpase the 5200+.

Again, if you're not interested in overclocking, grab the X2 5200+, any decent AM2 board, 8800GT, and see if you can squeeze in 2GB of memory. That should do just fine.

 

[CurseTheSky]

Originally posted by: mrchan
8800gt is $183 AR here: http://www.ncixus.com/products...X/Galaxy%20Technology/

at that price point, do i even need to bother looking at the 8800gs/hd 3850?

No. The 8800GT is a more powerful card, and if you're looking to play future games, I'd definately recommend it. Be careful, though - I've seen a couple of 8800GTs that are only 256MB. That one is 512MB, and I'd recommend it.

 

[mrchan]

Originally posted by: CurseTheSky
Clock for clock, the X2 5200+ will probably win at STOCK speeds. The E2180 only shines if you're planning on overclocking. You should hit 3GHz without too much trouble, at which point it will definately surpase the 5200+.

Again, if you're not interested in overclocking, grab the X2 5200+, any decent AM2 board, 8800GT, and see if you can squeeze in 2GB of memory. That should do just fine.

my first system was a celeron 300a @ 464. ah the memories, lol.

i have no problem with overclocking as long as it is worth it. but if $70 more is only going to net me AMD 6000+ speeds, then we're talking about a 10% difference for an almost 70% price increase.

 

[mrchan]

Originally posted by: harpoon84

Originally posted by: mrchan
where would an OC'd e2180 put me on this chart: http://www23.tomshardware.com/...4&model2=912&chart=418

It depends how far you overclock of course!

At 3GHz (a common overclock), you'll be around X2 6000+ / E6750 levels.

3DMark06 ain't a very good CPU benchmark though, it's more a GPU benchmark. It does have a seperate CPU benchmark that shows more gains from a faster CPU.

http://www23.tomshardware.com/...4&model2=883&chart=419

true, but im only playing games on the system so thats 90% of what i am concerned with, heh.

 

[harpoon84]

Originally posted by: mrchan

Originally posted by: harpoon84

Originally posted by: mrchan
where would an OC'd e2180 put me on this chart: http://www23.tomshardware.com/...4&model2=912&chart=418

It depends how far you overclock of course!

At 3GHz (a common overclock), you'll be around X2 6000+ / E6750 levels.

3DMark06 ain't a very good CPU benchmark though, it's more a GPU benchmark. It does have a seperate CPU benchmark that shows more gains from a faster CPU.

http://www23.tomshardware.com/...4&model2=883&chart=419

true, but im only playing games on the system so thats 90% of what i am concerned with, heh.

Actually, at 3GHz it would be faster than an X2 6000+, you just happened to asked where it would fall in that particular GPU limited 3DMark benchmark, which only shows marginal improvements from faster CPUs.

3DMark06 ain't a very good benchmark for judging gaming performance anyway. It's much better to pay attention to the games your actually playing and look for benchmarks from those particular games than to use 3DMark as a guide, because performance can vary drastically from game to game.

 

[SickBeast]

If it helps, my 8800GTS 320mb runs COD4 extremely well with all settings maxxed out at 1920x1200 w/ 2XAA & 16XAF.

I only have an Opteron 165 so I would imagine any new system would have a better CPU than what I'm using.

 

[CurseTheSky]

The 2.4GHz E6600 is almost on par with the 3.0GHz X2 6000+. There's quite a few differences (cache, FSB, multiplier) between the E6600 and E2180, but that should give you an idea of how your E2180 will perform if it hits 2.6, 2.8, or 3.0+ GHz. That 70% price increase ALSO includes the motherboard, though - the one you're getting with the 5200+ is nothing to write home about.

Just to play Devil's Advocate, the X2 5200+ is also guarenteed speed, whereas no overclock is ever guarenteed. Basically, do you want a system that runs faster right out of the box, or do you want the chance of having greater performance overall, with some tweaking? Core 2 Duos overclock VERY well, X2s aren't as flexible.

 

[mrchan]

Fair enough, e2180 system would come with a nicer motherboard, but its just a motherboard.... if it holds all my crap and runs, i'm happy. i think i'm set the with 5200 system, pocket the $70 for the next upgrade. i just don't see the boost from 5200 -> e6600 with the extra cost.

 

[mrchan]

and thank you very much everyone, especially curse and harpoon.

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: mrchan

there's an e2180 combo for $82?

if the 4200 is too slow, frys also has amd 5200 combo for $104. is that enough of a difference?

Oh my bad, I misread what you said. No the $82 is just the cpu itself which makes it more expensive than what I said. However, 4200+ is just not fast enough for 2008 since generally speaking E8400 is 90-100% faster today and that's not even top of the line. But if you are really on a tight budget, then I suppose it makes sense for you to keep the $70 for your next upgrade and grab the 5200+ like you said if you only intend to play these 2 games.

Starcraft 2 is for sure nothing to worry about since historically every single blizzard game tends to run extremely well on older hardware. I remember I played Warcraft 3 on a Radeon 8500 (a card from 2001!) and it ran the game with everything on high at 1600x1200. Also, blizzard will want to attract as many gamers as possible and will therefore develop an engine that is very flexible to target the largest possible user base.

Check out this LINK. They mentioned units will be slightly more detailed than in Warcraft 3 with shadows similar to Age of Empires 3. You'll also be able to turn off dynamic shadows and lighting, which will give you a nice performance boost according to Blizzard. So you have nothing to worry about. => but there are currently no "official" system requirements yet.

What about Call of Duty 4?

1280x1024, Maximum Quality with 8800GT 512mb

C2D 2.93ghz = 77fps
C2D 2.4ghz = 77
C2D 1.86ghz = 54
A64 FX-60 dual core 2.6ghz = 60 <------- X2 5200+ is 2.6ghz
A64 FX 60 dual core 2.0ghz = 48 <------- X2 4200+ is 2.2ghz (but it'll still deliver under 60 frames)

Therefore, it can be deduced that X2 5200+ at 2.6ghz will be sufficient for COD4 but X2 4200+ will not be without overclocking.

 

[mrchan]

ended up getting this card:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...329&CMP=AFC-C8Junction

can't wait!

 

[mrchan]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation

Originally posted by: mrchan

there's an e2180 combo for $82?

if the 4200 is too slow, frys also has amd 5200 combo for $104. is that enough of a difference?

Oh my bad, I misread what you said. No the $82 is just the cpu itself which makes it more expensive than what I said. However, 4200+ is just not fast enough for 2008 since generally speaking E8400 is 90-100% faster today and that's not even top of the line. But if you are really on a tight budget, then I suppose it makes sense for you to keep the $70 for your next upgrade and grab the 5200+ like you said if you only intend to play these 2 games.

Starcraft 2 is for sure nothing to worry about since historically every single blizzard game tends to run extremely well on older hardware. I remember I played Warcraft 3 on a Radeon 8500 (a card from 2001!) and it ran the game with everything on high at 1600x1200. Also, blizzard will want to attract as many gamers as possible and will therefore develop an engine that is very flexible to target the largest possible user base.

Check out this LINK. They mentioned units will be slightly more detailed than in Warcraft 3 with shadows similar to Age of Empires 3. You'll also be able to turn off dynamic shadows and lighting, which will give you a nice performance boost according to Blizzard. So you have nothing to worry about. => but there are currently no "official" system requirements yet.

What about Call of Duty 4?

1280x1024, Maximum Quality with 8800GT 512mb

C2D 2.93ghz = 77fps
C2D 2.4ghz = 77
C2D 1.86ghz = 54
A64 FX-60 dual core 2.6ghz = 60 <------- X2 5200+ is 2.6ghz
A64 FX 60 dual core 2.0ghz = 48 <------- X2 4200+ is 2.2ghz (but it'll still deliver under 60 frames)

Therefore, it can be deduced that X2 5200+ at 2.6ghz will be sufficient for COD4 but X2 4200+ will not be without overclocking.

i had a radeon 8500 with my amd sempron 2400, lol.

 

[taltamir]

I have been parroting the claim that all new games are GPU limited...
But I recently got the chance to try to run half life 2 on a x2 3800 with a 7900GS, an X2 3800 with 8800GTS 512MB. and a E8400 with the 7900GS... (i upgrade the video card, returned it, upgraded the CPU with the old video card, and now recently upgraded the video card again to an 8800GTS but have yet to try it)...

Max settings with no AA at 1280x800 I Was getting ~20FPS on the 3800 cpu with both video cards... (less then 5 FPS faster on the GTS)
On the E8400 with the 7900GS I was getting 30FPS on 1920x1200...

This is hardly what I would call GPU limited...

Also my load times for neverwinter nights 2 levels went down from over a minute to around 10 seconds (I also tested with an X2 6400 downclocked to a 6000 because I did NOT know it doesn't come with a fan, and was running it using the stock fan from the 3800 CPU... anyways it was 20 seconds or so compared to over a minute despite clocking on 50% faster on the mhz.. go figure)