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

Intel CPU: Pentium 4-3.4 GHz Extreme Edition OEM

Current Cost: $989
Months on List: 2
Price Change: -$40

This will most likely be the last month we stick with the Socket 478 Northwood version of the Pentium 4 Extreme Edition. Unfortunately, the newer LGA775 version was not readily available at the time of this writing so we were unable to move to the i925X or i915P platforms this month. The Pentium 4-3.4 GHz Extreme Edition CPU still has more than juice enough to keep pace with our 939-pin Athlon 64 FX-53 on the AMD side. Priced at a whopping $989, this processor occupies nearly one forth of this guide's total cash allowance, making it very likely that we will see any "Extreme Edition" CPUs from Intel outside of our Extreme PC system in the near future.

The Pentium 4 Extreme Edition retains all the features of the standard Pentium 4 Northwood, including a high-end 3.4 GHz clock speed, an 800MHz FSB, 512K L2 cache, and Hyper-Threading technology, all on a 0.13-micron process. In designing the Extreme Edition, Intel added a whopping 2-MB of L3 cache, while maintaining full Socket 478 compatibility. At $989, the OEM Pentium 4 3.4GHz Extreme Edition is quite expensive, but our hefty $4,000 budget has more than enough room to accommodate this CPU, especially in return for the enhanced gaming performance.

AMD CPU: Athlon 64 FX-53 (Socket 939) OEM

Current Cost: $799
Months on List: New
Price Change: N/A

AMD recently introduced processors using the long-awaited 939-pin socket, and took great strides in hopes of unifying the AMD64 architecture. With the socket change, both Athlon 64 and Athlon 64 FX chips are now packaged with the same pin configuration, and motherboards using socket 939 will be compatible with both processors. The new Socket 939 Athlon 64 processors have undergone some changes as well. The Athlon 64 now has a dual-channel memory controller, but loses half of its L2 cache (down to 512K from 1MB). The Athlon 64 FX has the same physical specifications as its 940-pin predecessor, but uses unbuffered DDR memory instead of more expensive higher latency registered DDR memory.

With the Athlon 64 dropping half of its onboard L2 cache, the Athlon 64 FX-53 is now the only 939-pin chip that carries a full 1MB of L2 cache. The additional cache now gives the FX a performance advantage over equally clocked 939-pin Athlon 64 chips. The 939-pin Athlon 64 FX chips are now less expensive to implement as they no longer require expensive registered DDR memory, which gives the AMD64 side a noticeable price advantage over the competitive Pentium 4 EE CPU. On top of all the traditional Athlon 64 goodness the FX series also includes support for advanced instructions sets such as 3DNow! Professional and SSE2. The Athlon 64 FX-53 is clocked at 2.4GHz, which allows it to perform similarly to the Pentium 4-3.4GHz EE, and in many cases even surpass it. Priced at $799, it is also significantly less expensive than the Pentium 4-3.4GHz EE.

One of the biggest selling points of the Athlon 64 series is its support for both 32-bit and 64-bit instructions. Despite a relative dearth of 64-bit applications at the moment, as soon as 64-bit Windows XP is officially released we should see quite a bit of software that will take advantage of the 64-bit instruction set allowing the Athlon 64 to really strut its stuff. In the meantime, the 32-bit support of the Athlon 64 FX-53 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: $38
Months on list: 3
Price Change: -$1

As processors continue to rise in clock speed, heat dissipation can become a real issue. There are generally two options that the enthusiast is presented with; air cooling or water cooling, the latter of which is a bit too complex and expensive, and beyond the scope of this guide. As a result, a nice solid copper heastink and high quality fan should fit the bill for both of our processors this month, which is where the Thermalright SLK-948U comes in. Praised around the web, the Thermalright SLK-948U is not only a high quality all-copper heastink, but it is also compatible with both the Socket 478 and Socket 939 platforms, making it a great fit for both systems.

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/Celeron Socket 478 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 yet again this month. The fan can push approximately 28 CFM air while operating at only 20db. However, if you're looking to do some heavy duty overclocking (and don't mind wearing ear plugs), then the Delta FFB6912EHE 92mm fan as an ultra high-performance alternative.