Is Upgrading To 64 Bit Worth It Yet?

[barney_2k]

lol im on a tight budget though

ordering the AMD 64 3000+ and a motherboard this week

Im so excited!

woohoo

lol soz

Barney

[StormPC]

If you compare clock for clock (instead of rating for rating) you'll see an even larger difference. All Athlon XP's run higher clocks than A64's with similar ratings. Clock for clock there is really no comparison. Even with equal ratings they are not very close.

[athlon_xp_2800]

But is it worth it, say going from my 2800 XP to a 64 bit 3200 ?

I have done just that myself last year, and especially in terms of gaming performance it's quite a noticable leap forward, indeed. Seeing is believing!

[barney_2k]

just ordered a Athlon 64 3200+ Clawhammer (skt 754)

and a MSI Neo Platinum Motherboard

from the buy/sell/trade forum

What you think people??

Barney

[Allen]

It's a matter of personal opinion I suppose. I would class myself as an enthusiast in IT, but I won't go and spend around £200 upgrading to A64 yet when I feel there is no need to.

My XP2500+ and 6800GT run everything I want at the top settings with no problems, so gaming is not an issue. I no longer need to worry about numbers given out by 3DMark software or how quickly my computer can calculate PIE as they mean nothing to me in real world activities, so that isn't an issue.

Basically, if you are worried about people thinking less of you coz you have a 32bit system then upgrade. If your current system doesn't handle the games that you play at the framerates and settings you want then upgrade. If not, then there really is no need to IMO, especially not considering how much it is and when the "need" to upgrade comes around, the technology will be more advanced and a lot cheaper.

[sawyen]

It's a matter of personal opinion I suppose. I would class myself as an enthusiast in IT, but I won't go and spend around £200 upgrading to A64 yet when I feel there is no need to.

My XP2500+ and 6800GT run everything I want at the top settings with no problems, so gaming is not an issue. I no longer need to worry about numbers given out by 3DMark software or how quickly my computer can calculate PIE as they mean nothing to me in real world activities, so that isn't an issue.

Basically, if you are worried about people thinking less of you coz you have a 32bit system then upgrade. If your current system doesn't handle the games that you play at the framerates and settings you want then upgrade. If not, then there really is no need to IMO, especially not considering how much it is and when the "need" to upgrade comes around, the technology will be more advanced and a lot cheaper.

nod... nod.... I so totally feel that way. Having said that, A64 ratings still rocks. I'll always be the happiest person when AMD smacks Intel from La-la Land...

[StormPC]

It's a matter of personal opinion I suppose. I would class myself as an enthusiast in IT, but I won't go and spend around £200 upgrading to A64 yet when I feel there is no need to.

My XP2500+ and 6800GT run everything I want at the top settings with no problems, so gaming is not an issue. I no longer need to worry about numbers given out by 3DMark software or how quickly my computer can calculate PIE as they mean nothing to me in real world activities, so that isn't an issue.

Basically, if you are worried about people thinking less of you coz you have a 32bit system then upgrade. If your current system doesn't handle the games that you play at the framerates and settings you want then upgrade. If not, then there really is no need to IMO, especially not considering how much it is and when the "need" to upgrade comes around, the technology will be more advanced and a lot cheaper.

Nobody can tell you what you need. If you say you don't need a faster computer then I'm sure you don't. Even so there is no denying the slowest A64 will slap the fastest AXPs silly in games and most other applications whether a person needs it to or not.

Your 6800GT is not realizing it's potential on your system though. Your CPU is the bottleneck for sure. That's to be expected though when your videocard is worth 3 times your CPU and motherboard combined.

Worried about people thinking less of you? You've got to be kidding. People who get their sense of worth from their computers are very sad. Computers are for running software. Without programs they are useless. If your computer does what you need it to do it's stupid to upgrade.

[Allen]

Nobody can tell you what you need. If you say you don't need a faster computer then I'm sure you don't. Even so there is no denying the slowest A64 will slap the fastest AXPs silly in games and most other applications whether a person needs it to or not.

True, I never once mentioned they would not be more powerful, just stating that you may not have the need to upgrade, and I bet plenty of people have upgraded just because they could.

Your 6800GT is not realizing it's potential on your system though. Your CPU is the bottleneck for sure. That's to be expected though when your videocard is worth 3 times your CPU and motherboard combined.

I still deny that arguement. A ford chassis with a Ferrari engne in it would still be a damn fast car. The performance increase (visual) from my 9600XT is astounding and I got very good performance figures, back when I was into benching and overclocking, compared to a whole host of other systems.

Worried about people thinking less of you? You've got to be kidding. People who get their sense of worth from their computers are very sad. Computers are for running software. Without programs they are useless. If your computer does what you need it to do it's stupid to upgrade.

There are some people around who could also be classed as sad as they think they are above everyone else coz they have A64 and SLI setups with dual TFT's etc when they don't need them, the same goes for cars and a lot of other "materialistic" things.

[nvening]

btw you can now download the x64 trial instead of having to pay 20$ to get it shipped.

[StormPC]

True, I never once mentioned they would not be more powerful, just stating that you may not have the need to upgrade, and I bet plenty of people have upgraded just because they could.


I still deny that arguement. A ford chassis with a Ferrari engne in it would still be a damn fast car. The performance increase (visual) from my 9600XT is astounding and I got very good performance figures, back when I was into benching and overclocking, compared to a whole host of other systems.


There are some people around who could also be classed as sad as they think they are above everyone else coz they have A64 and SLI setups with dual TFT's etc when they don't need them, the same goes for cars and a lot of other "materialistic" things.

You can deny all you want but on an A64 your framerates would be much higher. Also, the videocard is not the engine, the CPU is. The videocard is more like the headers if you want to use the car analogy.

People are not materialistic just because they can afford the best material things. Many times the rich are less materialistic than the poor. Envy does nasty things to people.

[rajagra]

There are some people around who could also be classed as sad as they think they are above everyone else coz they have A64 and SLI setups with dual TFT's etc when they don't need them.

Eh? What? Why are my ears burning?

[Scarlet Infidel]

Also at the end of the day, to most people on these forums buying hardware and tweaking it is a hobby. I enjoy looking for parts when i need them and even dreaming of parts that i dont.

[zaphod]

The benifits of 64bit CPU's are very small at the moment but if you are planning on an upgrade, in my opinion 64Bit is the only way to go.

One major benifit of 64 Bit is having the ability to address more ram and allowing one single process to use over 4 Gbs of RAM. (4 gigs for one process...!) Currently this is never going to be use. Still 64bit is deffinitly the way forward I think its worth it in many cases but in some cases its not. Its nearly a fancy marketing scheme which makes people feel the must upgrade.

[StormPC]

The benifits of 64bit CPU's are very small at the moment

If you don't need a fast computer they are small I guess. If you do the differences are quite profound.