Just an upgrade

[Manvol]

The last day I was thinking of upgrading my old PC.
The upgrade packages that I have in my mind are mainly two:

1. CPU ---> Venice A64 3000+ (to be oced)
VGA---> Sapphire X850XT 256MB
MOBO-->ASUS A8N-SLI

COST: around 770 euros (european prices)

2. CPU--->Venice A64 3000+ (to be oced)
VGA--->MSI or Leadtek 6800GT 256MB (to be oced)
MOBO-->ASUS A8N-SLI

COST: around 600 euros

The cost has pretty much a big difference between these two packages and it puts me into thoughts...what's the difference between the two cards horsepower? Is it worth the extra 170 euros?

Also about the CPU. Is it a good choice for upgrade at this time? It seems to be too little for todays needs (3000+ you see) but on the other hands it overclocks like hell.

What do you suggest me to do?

PS: 1 Euro = $1.17

 

[_xxx_]

Those few more fps are not worth 170€, no way.

 

[Manvol]

OK, and what about the cpu? Is it a good choice?

 

[hey69]

"Also about the CPU. Is it a good choice for upgrade at this time? It seems to be too little for todays needs (3000+ you see) but on the other hands it overclocks like hell."


what ARE your needs? I rarely play games on my barton 3000+ and it does the job perfectly

since faster cpus are really expensif, if that one overclock well, i think it would be the ideal cpu for the time being.

 

[digitalwanderer]

The trick with getting a 3000+ Venice is you have to make sure you get memory that will OC well as you won't be able to change your multiplier and a mobo that will supply lots of juice to your RAM. (Hey, it came as a surprise to me. I didn't know they were multiplier locked and my new K8NS only goes to 1.8v on RAM )

I just recently jumped from a barton to an AMD64 set-up thanks to the help of a melty-downed mobo and I'm very impressed so far....2.052Ghz and I think I'm being held back pretty heavy on my lack-o-RAM voltage so I was going to toss an OCZ booster I got on me desk somewhere around here to see if that couldn't help.

 

[MasterBaiter]

As mentioned before... If you plan on overclocking.. you better have the memory to back it up.

Are you planning on buying another video card @ some point to justify buying the SLI board? Why would you buy an SLI board if you opt for an ATI card ? You could save some money there if you don't need it.

 

[trinibwoy]

As mentioned before... If you plan on overclocking.. you better have the memory to back it up.

What are you guys talking about? There is no reliance on memory for A64 overclocking. Running async doesn't have a hit as it did with the XP's. I'm currently running my 3000 venice at 2.7 300x9 - with a 2/3 divider - memory is still at stock 400 DDR.

 

[digitalwanderer]

What are you guys talking about?

Stuff we don't know very much about.

There is no reliance on memory for A64 overclocking. Running async doesn't have a hit as it did with the XP's. I'm currently running my 3000 venice at 2.7 300x9 - with a 2/3 divider - memory is still at stock 400 DDR.

I'm really confuzled by this and think I could REALLY benefit by understanding it a bit better, could you please explain it/link to an explanation?

I'm running mine straight at 225 I think right now but the CPU temp hasn't risen very much at all. (Got a decent TT Venus 12, I just liked the idea of being able to say I had a Venus on a Venice. <--twice in the same post, not good)

 

[epicstruggle]

it could be the lack of sleep, but arent the 3200+ chips better overclockers? If true, you might want to spend the few extra (around 40) euros to get that instead.

epic

 

[Manvol]

it could be the lack of sleep, but arent the 3200+ chips better overclockers? If true, you might want to spend the few extra (around 40) euros to get that instead.

epic

Yeah I think I read that somewhere. I just need to find an A64 3200+ with the Venice core.

Apart from that, I'd really like to have some more clues about the gfx cards horsepower.

I mean there is also the X800XL solution which seems to be around the 6800GT - based on benchmarks results, but the 6800GT overclocks better and is a bit more pricey...Also there is the PS3.0 thing which I don't know if there is of any importance for the next 24 months (the time this upgrade is meant to last).

What do you you think about the battle between these two chips?

 

[digitalwanderer]

What do you you think about the battle between these two chips?

An X850XT against a 6800GT? The X850XT is the flat-out winner unless you're a Linux user or plan to go with dual cards as ATi has yet to prove their ability in that field.

But the X850XT is better than a 6800GT for straight up gaming on XP, easily.

 

[Pete]

Yeah, but the 6800GT is the far better price/performance choice. 170 euros more is a lot--both by itself and in relation to the total system cost--to spend on an SM2 card. Take the GT's slower speed with an eye toward buying a new card next year.

Actually, how much is a 7800 GT? A lot more than the X850XT?

 

[kyleb]

Heh, Manvol was talking about 6800gt vs x800xl in is last post, not the x850xt. Between the 6800gt vs x800xl, price should be about the same as well as performace, I'd say that it really comes down to personal prefernce based on what functionality and features one sees as more valuable.

The trick with getting a 3000+ Venice is you have to make sure you get memory that will OC well as you won't be able to change your multiplier and a mobo that will supply lots of juice to your RAM. (Hey, it came as a surprise to me. I didn't know they were multiplier locked and my new K8NS only goes to 1.8v on RAM )

I just recently jumped from a barton to an AMD64 set-up thanks to the help of a melty-downed mobo and I'm very impressed so far....2.052Ghz and I think I'm being held back pretty heavy on my lack-o-RAM voltage so I was going to toss an OCZ booster I got on me desk somewhere around here to see if that couldn't help.

Before you get the OCZ booster you might want to check what voltage you have been turning up. DDR voltage is 2.5v by default, so when you say your board only lets the ram up to 1.8v I have to wonder if you are confusing your settings.

it could be the lack of sleep, but arent the 3200+ chips better overclockers? If true, you might want to spend the few extra (around 40) euros to get that instead.

They aren't necessarily better overclockers. but since you can't turn up the multiplyer up on a these newer processors, having a higher by default cane cone in handy. If you hit your motherboard's HTT(FSB like thing) max on when turnning up a 3000+, then a 3200+ might have gotten you a higher clock.

 

[digitalwanderer]

Before you get the OCZ booster you might want to check what voltage you have been turning up. DDR voltage is 2.5v by default, so when you say your board only lets the ram up to 1.8v I have to wonder if you are confusing your settings.

2.8v, sorry...it was early.

I'm still chewing on this divider thing, it seems to me almost a cheat around the locked multiplier.

 

[Sxotty]

My 3000+ is a 220 FSB I think with no increase in voltage. My board does not allow voltage adjustments for either mem, or cpu but it still overclocks nicely. BTW I got ddr at 500mhz so it would not stop the cpu since I canot boost voltage. I might be able to go higher with a weird divider, but now it is cranking along perfect and is cool as cna be with a crappy heatsink that came with it. Someday I will fix my water system again though...

 

[kyleb]

2.8v, sorry...it was early.

Fair enough, I was wondering if you might have been playing with chipset voltage instead as am pretty sure that does top out at 1.8v.

2.8v, sorry...it was early.

I'm still chewing on this divider thing, it seems to me almost a cheat around the locked multiplier.

[/QUOTE]
It doesn't really get you around the multiplier lock, but it sure lets you get around memory limitations. We have had such options for years, but it is just that much more usefull with the a64s as they have such efficent memory controllers that it doesn't really hurt much to turn the memory speed down.

I run my 3000+ winnie at 2.43 ghz by turning the HTT up to 270mhz and running my memory at 2/3s. I had the memory at 5/6 before I added a second gig but now it doesn't like 225mhz for the mem. So my memory is at 180mhz now, but turning it down really didn't do much of anything to game performance at all.

 

[digitalwanderer]

My 3000+ is a 220 FSB I think with no increase in voltage. My board does not allow voltage adjustments for either mem, or cpu but it still overclocks nicely. BTW I got ddr at 500mhz so it would not stop the cpu since I canot boost voltage. I might be able to go higher with a weird divider, but now it is cranking along perfect and is cool as cna be with a crappy heatsink that came with it. Someday I will fix my water system again though...

Which mobo you got? I got the K8NS 939 and I have to hit ctrl-f1 to get my advanced options, and there is NOTHING in the manual about it. (Kind of smart actually, if you need to know about it you should be able to find out about it.)

 

[digitalwanderer]

It doesn't really get you around the multiplier lock, but it sure lets you get around memory limitations. We have had such options for years, but it is just that much more usefull with the a64s as they have such efficent memory controllers that it doesn't really hurt much to turn the memory speed down.

I run my 3000+ winnie at 2.43 ghz by turning the HTT up to 270mhz and running my memory at 2/3s. I had the memory at 5/6 before I added a second gig but now it doesn't like 225mhz for the mem. So my memory is at 180mhz now, but turning it down really didn't do much of anything to game performance at all.

Ok, the HTT up to 270 and memory at 2/3 means your really running your 178.2....at 5/6 it's 224.9999 .......

OMG, I think I get it....I really do, I think I get it now. Thanks, I should be able to use this well.

 

[trinibwoy]

2.8v, sorry...it was early.

I'm still chewing on this divider thing, it seems to me almost a cheat around the locked multiplier.

Only higher than default multipliers are locked on A64's. That's why some people say the 3200 is better than the 3000 - because of the additional 10x multi. But it's a moot point if you have a board that can do high HTT. Then you can just apply one of the many dividers to get your memory speed where it needs to be.

 

[digitalwanderer]

So I could set my HTT to 270 and divider to 5/6 and would be keeping my memory at the same level it's at of 225 but pushing my HTT & CPU?

Keep my HTT setting at 4x?