March 2004 Extreme Gaming PC Buyer's Guide - Page 2

Intel CPU: Pentium 4-3.2 GHz Extreme Edition OEM

Current Cost: $855
Months on List: 2
Price Change: -$66

Despite the release of Intel's Prescott core, the Pentium 4 Extreme Edition, which is based on the Northwood core, is still Intel's highest performing enthusiast CPU and a formidable opponent to AMD's Athlon 64 FX series. Intel supposedly released a 3.4 GHz version of the Extreme Edition CPU, but our effort to locate one has yielded only a few results, and prices are in excess of $1,000. As we're still looking at a $4K budget and availability is a major concern, this month we are sticking with the 3.2-GHz version we recommended last month.

The Pentium 4 3.2 GHz Extreme Edition maintains all of the great features of current Pentium 4 Northwood processors, including a high-end 3.2 GHz clock speed, an 800MHz FSB, 512K L2 cache, and Hyper-Threading technology. To add the Extreme Edition touch, Intel includes a whopping 2-MB of L3 cache, while maintaining compatibility with current Pentium 4 platforms. The OEM version of this chip is still rather pricey at $855, but thankfully we could accommodate this CPU in our budget again this month.

AMD CPU: Athlon 64 FX-51 OEM

Current Cost: $732
Months on List: 2
Price Change: -$16

Since their introduction the Athlon 64 and Athlon 64 FX series of processors, AMD has given Intel a real run for their money. The Athlon 64 FX-51 has proven to be an excellent contender to Intel's Pentium 4 Extreme Edition, and can best it in many benchmarks. This month AMD released the Athlon 64 FX-53 as a response to Intel's 3.4-GHz revision. However, both processors are extremely difficult to find, and as with the Pentium 4-3.2 GHz EE, we're sticking with the Athlon 64 FX-51 in this month's guide.

One the surface, the Athlon 64 and Athlon 64 FX appear very similar, as both have 1-MB of L2 cache, an integrated Northbridge, and support for advanced instructions sets such as 3DNow! Professional and SSE2. However, the Athlon 64 FX-51 has a 128-bit (64-bit dual channel) onboard memory controller, while the standard Athlon 64 is single-channel only. Athlon 64 FX-51 is clocked at 2.2GHz (equivalent to the Athlon 64 3400+), allowing it to perform on par with the Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.2-GHz, and in most cases surpass it.

One of the most important, and certainly most talked about, feature of the Athlon 64 FX-51 is its support for both 32-bit and 64-bit instructions. Full 64-bit support may not seem all that important right now, but there are a number of 64-bit programs on the horizon (64-bit Windows XP, Unreal Tournament 2004) in which the Athlon 64 will be able to show its 64-bit abilities. In the meantime, the 32-bit support of the Athlon 64 FX-51 is exceptional, and is more than enough to equal or surpass comparative Pentium 4 scores.

AMD and Intel Heatsink-Fan: Thermalright SLK-948U w/Vantec Stealth 92mm

Current Cost: $45
Months on list: New
Price Change: N/A

As AMD and Intel processors increase in clock speed, heat dissipation becomes a major factor in maintaining a stable high-performance computer. There are generally two options that the enthusiast is presented with; air cooling and water cooling, the latter of which is a bit too expensive and beyond the scope of this guide. However, a hefty solid copper heatsink and fan should do the job nicely for both our processors this month, and we're the Thermalright SLK-948U. This HSF unit is not only a high-end cooler that has gotten high marks across the Net, but it is also compatible with both Intel and AMD platforms.

The Thermalright SLK-948U is a large all-copper heatsink that is universally compatible with AMD Athlon XP, 64 and 64 FX CPUs, as well as Intel Pentium 4 processors. The heatsink can support a fan of up to 92mm in size, which offers the perfect balance between ambient noise and cooling capability. Opting for the quieter approach, we chose to go with the Vantec Stealth 92mm fan this month. This fan can push 28 CFM of air at only 20db, making this a very efficient, yet quiet fan. On the other hand, if you're looking to do some heavy duty overclocking (and don't mind wearing ear plugs) you may want to look into the Delta FFB6912EHE 92mm fan as a high-performance alternative.