Recommendation on CPU.. HEADACHE!

[sawyen]

I was about to get a new rig that runs A64.. but I can't make up my mind on which is the best bang for my $$...

1. A64 (939) 3500+ Winchester
2. A64 (939) 3500+ Venice

Venice would cost about 15 quids more... and I know Venice would have added support for SSE3.. but how much faster is a Venice compared to a vanilla Winchester?

I'll be coupling it with a 9NDA3+ and a Corsair TwinX 3200 C2PT

[Rave]

If you'll be running them stock, there's very little in it mostly. For overclocking though- definitely get the Venice. A Venice will also have better resale value if/when you come to upgrade.

[alexander]

Don't think there would be much speed difference but Venice sounds good.

I've just upgraded from my 3500+ Newcastle to a 3800+ Venice, can't see any performance difference (minus benchmarks) but Venice sounds kinda cool.

[sawyen]

ooo... how far can a venice OC? Will a stock fan work fine on light OC? Or should I get a better one?

[nvening]

The stock fan should be fine for light OC, anymore and its off to the shops tho

[Rave]

Plenty of people have gone past 2.5GHz on a stock fan. YMMV, but the chances are good.

[BUFF]

Originally Posted by sawyen

and I know Venice would have added support for SSE3.

don't forget the improved memory controller with support for 4 slots at 400DDR

[iranu]

Read this before you make a purchase. A64 3000 venice stable at 2.8Ghz on air courtesy of Hexus.

[sawyen]

so are u guys suggesting that i get 3000+ rather than 3500+ venice?... Hexus reveiwed that 3000+ can do 2.8Ghz on stock fan... does it mean 3500+ can do higher than that? or at least at 2.8Ghz...?

[Steve]

Originally Posted by sawyen

so are u guys suggesting that i get 3000+ rather than 3500+ venice?... Hexus reveiwed that 3000+ can do 2.8Ghz on stock fan... does it mean 3500+ can do higher than that? or at least at 2.8Ghz...?

Lower rated products in the same range are often just as capable as doing clocks like their more expensive counterparts. This is because they get marked down to meet market demand.

The point is, you can pay less, and still get as many GHz a lot of the time.

[Rave]

Yeah, but an NForce3 board may struggle to get much past 300MHz HTT, so he might need a higher multiplier to max out the CPU.

[StormPC]

I believe it's always a good idea to buy the newest technologies if you are going to buy a NEW computer. NOS is good if you are buying electric guitars but it's a bad idea where computers are concerned. There will not be any difference in the stock performance unless you run a program that uses SSE3 (which you don't because there are none). There may be some in the future though.

It is possible the Venice will overclock better than a Winchester but it is also possible that it won't. The Winchesters are no slouches when it comes to overclocking.

[sawyen]

say if i bought a 3000+... which cooler would you guys recommend if I were to OC it to an FX55 speed? Was initially thinking I might get a 3500+ to FX55 speeds with a stock fan.. since 3000+ seems to tempting... and ££ savvy.. I might consider getting a 3000+ with a good CPU fan.. what do u guys think?

[sawyen]

another things... is 9NDA3+ better? or an ASUS A8V Deluxe K8T800Pro? Juggling between the two...

[pumpman]

The asus is a great stable board but you can sometimes stuggle to get a good overclock out of it theres a link if i can find it dedicated to the Asus A8V deluxe and other peoples experiences with it and the setting etc that they use from reading it.

It could do with another bios update that hasnt arrived yet to sort out a few things in regards to getting a better oc out of it , Read good things about the Epox but ive never used it.

Hows about going for the DFI NF4 jobbie the money you save on the cpu can go to the extra cost youl get better voltage options for ocing plus you keepiing up with the flow of things, of course itll mean you ditching your gpu , and getting a pcie gpu.

If you want to keep your gpu theres always the msi neo platinum 2 that gives good results for ocing
hth

[sawyen]

yea... could be a possibility... ive also heard good things about msi neo2 plat