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Sharky Extreme : Monthly High-end Gaming System Buyer's Guide |
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Monthly High-end Gaming System Buyer's Guide |
January 2005 High-end Gaming PC Buyer's Guide - Page 2By Ryan "Speedy" Wissman January 28, 2005
Current Cost: $449 While it seems that Intel has been unable to push the clock frequency of their Pentium 4 processor much further, it surely hasn't stopped them from making the transition to their new LGA775 socket configuration. Aside from a new the new packaging and chipset support, there isn't much different between LGA775 and Socket-478 processors. Of course, LGA775 is also the place where Intel offers their two highest clock speeds, with the Pentium 4-3.46 GHz EE and Pentium 4 560 (3.6 GHz) models outpacing the top-end 3.4 GHz Socket 478 speed. A move this month to LGA775 also brings with it Intel's corresponding high-end i925X chipset, which supports the latest technologies such as PCI Express and DDR2. The 3.6 GHz Pentium 4 560 is Intel's highest clocked processor, and is built on the cooler running 90nm process. While the Pentium 4 560 maintains many of the same features of the previous Prescott-based processors, such as an increased 1MB L2 cache, and support for SSE3, and offer some improvements on the older Northwood core. The Pentium 4 560 is more than capable of keeping up with the AMD Athlon 64 3500+, especially when it comes to media encoding and decoding performance. Priced at $449, the processor is certainly expensive, but the increase in clock speed and added benefit of i925X/PCIe support more than offset this extra cost.
We prefer to use retail processors when possible as they come with a free heatsink and fan as well as a much beefier warranty. Such is the case with the retail Pentium 4 560 3.6 GHz. The retail version of this processor ships with a relatively good HSF (although we sometimes prefer to use our own, budget permitting), and a much better 3-year warranty, making it worth the few extra dollars in our book.
Current Cost: $329 AMD has enjoyed great success with their Athlon 64 line, and continues to push the Socket 939 design against the Intel LGA775 in a head-on battle. Along with a new pin count, the new Socket 939 interface is designed to support both Athlon 64 and Athlon 64 FX processors with a common interface and core-logic chipset. Now, Athlon 64 processors riding on the new interface feature a dual-channel memory controller, and a decreased 512KB L2 cache, half of what was previously used on the early 754-pin models. AMD has also moved to the 90nm core for several of their 939-pin models, so we're naturally taking advantage and nabbing the Athlon 64 3500+ 90nm model. The Athlon 64 3500+ offers the best overall value for AMD buyers, and is comparable to the Pentium 4-3.6 GHz we use on the Intel side. The Athlon 64 3800+, which would have been the next step up on the Socket 939 platform, is priced approximately $250 higher than the Athlon 64 3500+, and is simply too much of a step to take. Currently priced at $329, the Athlon 64 3500+ can be considered a relative bargain, especially in light of its high-end performance. We always prefer to use retail versions whenever possible as they come with a beefier 3-year manufacturer's warranty and a decent heatsink/fan combo. Although we are going with a third-party HSF this month, the included retail unit can come in handy for those on a tighter budget.
Following the continued AMD price cuts, we hope to move to the Athlon 64 3800+ in an upcoming edition of this guide. Ideally we would like to see AMD fill the gap between the 3500+ and 3800+ (there is a 3700+ but it is only for Socket 754) as the price difference between the two is very high making upgrades more difficult. Perhaps the upcoming release of dual core chips will pave the way for a better coverage of all price points and slide an AMD processor into the all-important $400-$500 range.
Current Cost: $0 This month we are sticking with the retail heatsink-fan combo that is packaged with the retail Pentium 4 560. Due to the increased cost on the Intel side of the fence, we are unable to afford a more expensive third-party cooler, but this is tempered by allowing 3.6 GHz of Pentium 4 power. The retail heatsink that Intel bundles are sufficient so long as you are not into hardcore overclocking, not to mention they're a snap to install.
Current Cost: $63 The lower cost of our AMD system afforded us with extra dough needed to buy a higher-end heatsink-fan, and is an improvement over what comes in the retail bundle. The Thermalright XP-120 is the latest and greatest in a long line of high quality heatsinks from Thermalright, and will be more than enough to cool our Athlon 64 3500+ at 2.2 GHz and beyond. The XP-120 expands on the design of the SLK-984U by dramatically increasing raw surface area, through an incredible number of aluminum fins on top of a nickel plated copper base.
The end result is an ultra high quality, easy to install behemoth of a CPU cooler. However, don't let the XP-120's huge size fool you, as the all-aluminum fin design makes the heatsink significantly lighter than its all copper counterparts without sacrificing one bit of cooling capability. Priced at approximately $63, including a 120mm Vantec Stealth fan, this cooler is expensive, but it's still a relative bargain considering the raw cooling potential.
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