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Sharky Extreme : Monthly Extreme Gaming PC Buyer's Guide |
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Monthly Extreme Gaming PC Buyer's Guide |
June Extreme Gaming PC Buyer's Guide - Page 2By Ryan "Speedy" Wissman June 9, 2005
Current Cost: $1,025 With Intel's dual core processors finally hitting the retail market, this may be the last month that we feature a single core Intel chip in this guide. With support for up to four threads (two per core) the Pentium Extreme Edition processors look very exciting, especially for those of you who like to do heavy multitasking. However, for the time being, Intel's Pentium 4-3.73GHz Extreme Edition has everything we can ask for in a high-end processor. The Pentium 4-3.73GHz EE features a massive 2MB L2 cache, full support for 64-bit instructions (Intel EM64T), a 1066 MHz FSB, and Execute Disable Bit support. In Windows XP, this feature enables hardware DEP (Data Execution Prevention) which prevents malicious code from running by performing additional checks on system memory. Additionally, the Pentium 4-3.73GHz EE processor features a 90nm core and is supported under Intel's latest LGA775 PCI Express (1066 MHz) chipsets. The Pentium 4-3.73GHz Extreme Edition is Intel's fastest enthusiast level chip, and it has no trouble holding its own against AMD's Athlon 64 FX-55, but in media intensive applications such as video encoding and decoding, the CPU really shines. Featuring Intel's much-touted LGA775 packaging, the Pentium 4-3.73GHz EE maintains the features of the Prescott 2MB-based Pentium 4, while running the bus speed to 1066MHz and a clock of 3.73GHz. In the coming months, we'll be taking a very close look at the dual core Pentium EE and Pentium D models, as well as the 3.8 GHz Pentium 4 670.
The Pentium 4-3.73GHz Extreme Edition is priced at a whopping $1,025, and occupies over one fourth of our overall budget. While this processor is very expensive, our $4000 budget has more than enough room for this CPU, especially considering its enhanced game performance over standard Pentium 4 processors.
Current Cost: $981 Like Intel, AMD is busy readying their dual core desktop processors for a full retail assault, and this could also be the last time we use single core processor for our AMD system. Currently, the Athlon 64 FX-55 is the fastest enthusiast level chip AMD has to offer, and its inclusion should come as no surprise. This month we are making a minor upgrade by moving to the San Diego version of the Athlon 64 FX-55, which features a 90nm core, and runs cooler than the 130nm version we used last month. In addition, this processor has support for Intel's SSE3 instruction set, meaning that some applications, especially media encoding, will receive in slight boost in performance. The Athlon 64 FX-55 is more than an even match for Intel's Pentium4-3.73GHz Extreme Edition CPU as it surpasses Intel's best in all but media-intensive applications. The Athlon 64 FX-55 and Athlon 64 4000+ are currently the only 939-pin processors that feature a full 1MB of L2 cache, and other 939-pin Athlon 64 chips dropped down to 512K last year. The additional cache now gives the Athlon 64 FX series a noticeable performance advantage over equally clocked Athlon 64 processors. The Athlon 64 FX series also features hardware DEP (Data Execution Prevention) in Windows XP w/SP2, 3DNow! Professional and SSE3 support, as well as dual-channel DDR400 memory. Athlon 64 processors can also handle both 32-bit and 64-bit instructions, which will come in quite handy for the newly released Windows XP 64-bit edition and the upcoming Longhorn operating system.
The Athlon 64 FX-55 is the highest-clocked AMD processor, and at 2.6 GHz, allows it to perform similarly to the Pentium 4-3.73GHz Extreme Edition we featured on the Intel side, and in most cases even surpass it. Priced at $981 for the retail edition, it is not quite as expensive as the Pentium 4-3.73 GHz EE is, but still packs quite a punch.
Current Cost: $66
As processors sport ever-increasing power and thermal requirements, heat dissipation has become a real issue for high-performance systems. There are two cooling options that the enthusiast has to choose from; air or water-cooling, the latter of which is beyond the scope of this guide. The Thermalright XP-120 stays on as our favorite AMD-based heatsink, not only due to its excellent cooling capability, but also for its price and ease of use. The Thermalright XP-120 is a copper and aluminum hybrid heatsink that offers best in class performance for our AMD system. The XP-120 uses an all-aluminum fin design set on top of a nickel-plated copper base, which translates into extremely efficient cooling solution for our Athlon 64 FX-55. The Thermalright XP-120 is universally compatible with AMD Athlon XP, 64 and 64 FX CPUs, as well as Intel Pentium 4/Celeron Socket 478 processors. The heatsink's massive surface area offers enough room to fit a whopping 120mm fan which greatly increases raw cooling potential well beyond that of the Thermalright SLK-948U. Priced at about $66 with 120mm Vantec Stealth fan, the unit can be expensive, but well worth it for the extra cooling potential.
Current Cost: N/A
Due to the high cost of the Pentium 4-3.73GHz Extreme Edition, we are sticking with the heatsink provided by Intel in the retail package. Saving the $50 and going with the bundled retail cooler is our best option, especially as the price of the retail CPU is close to that of the OEM model anyway. Intel has gotten into the habit of including some relatively nice heatsinks in their retail packaging, so the absence of a high-end third-party cooler is not too much of a drawback on the Intel side this month. For Intel fans a bit jealous of the AMD heatsink-fan selection and with the extra cash for an XP-120, Thermalright offers a $5 LGA775 RM bracket that allows the Thermalright XP-120 and XP-90 heatsinks to be used on LGA775 platforms. It installs similar to current Socket 939 HSF brackets, and could be the answer to some Intel enthusiast cooling requirements.
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