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Originally Posted by Wetzel
Buying the fastest of anything is not cost efficient. If you look at the prices, there is a definite curve to them, with the newest thing sharply more expensive. The Athlon 64s are now coming down far enough on that for me to consider one, if I were building now. That said, I think it will be 4 years before you have programs that will take advantage of that chip. Linux zealots go away, Ryan is not going to run Linux. Save the money and get ~3000+ Athlon XP with a nicely equipped mobo like the Soyo KT600 Dragon Ultra. Build from there. Get at least a stick of 512 ram. Don't get the latest generation of video card, buy one that is a step down-the price savings are amazing. |
Couple things.
1) I am not even taking linux into the equation here. An Athlon 64 is MILES ahead of the Athlon XP in TODAY'S software. The thing that makes the A64 great is not that it is 64-bit....it is the on-die memory controller. If you go Athlon, and have at least 200 bucks to spend on a CPU, go with an Athlon 64. There is a performance difference in todays software.
2) Again, the new generation is a lot better than the old one, sometimes even justifying the price. If you can afford 400 dollars, the nVIDIA 6800 GT will get you awesome performance, double of many of last generations cards. The new generation of video cards really are screamers. If not though (it is a lot of money to spend on one component), the ATI video cards are the best of last generation. The 9600 pro/XT recommended above by Tom is a good choice, but if you can find a 9800 pro or non-pro for around the same price, it would get you a considerable performance boost.
EDIT:
Just a little proof. Anandtech's comparision of CPU's using Doom 3.
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...spx?i=2149&p=7
In the least video card bound benchmark (the best gauge for CPU power), the slowest Athlon 64 beats the fastest Athlon XP by 11 FPS.
Athlon XP 3200+ (2.2 ghz)= 68 FPS
Athlon 64 2800+ (1.8 ghz)= 78.8
And the Athlon 64 runs 400 mhz slower! The Athlon 64's aren't just about 64 bits.