What new CPU / System?

[joshwa]

Hi,

I'm very keen to get a new system: CPU/RAM/Case+Mobo/GFX - but can't really decide - there's so many different types of AMD / Intel CPUs nowadays!

What do you think of:

Shuttle XPC SN95G5V2 Aluminium Barebones System - AMD 64 (Socket 939) (NForce3 Ultra)
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - OEM
Crucial 1GB DDR PC3200 CAS3.0 Dual Channel Kit (2x512MB)

Total about £460

The CPU is "only" 2.2ghz - but will this be quicker than a P4 3.2ghz Prescott ? and allow me to run Windows 64? (I would save about £160 if I went for a small form factor P4 3.2ghz system...) Whats the fastest CPU/System I could get for around £460?

Also - should I try get a Hyper Threading P4? And what's the deal with AMD FX chips? What about the Nforce4 Shuttle? (is there a big difference)

Should I save up for a dual core P4 or dual core AMD64?

Thanks

Josh

[oralpain]

NForce 4 is a PCI-E chipset and the NForce 3 is an AGP chipset. There are other differences, but that is by far the biggest one.

A64 use far less power and put off far less heat than P4s. A64s are better for SFF. A 2.2Ghz venice will be noticeably faster than a 3.2Ghz presscott for gaming and the majority of other single threaded tasks. The presscot will be a moderatly better multi-tasker and, probably a faintly better encoder.

The AMD FX chips are the gaming/enthusiast line. Their only notable feature beyond high clock speeds is that they are totaly multiplier unlocked. Unless you have lots of money to blow I do not feel the FX line is worth it.

As for wether you should save up for dual core totaly depends on what you are going to be doing with your system. If you are goingot be running many applications at once and still want the system to be responsive, or are going to be doing tiem sensitive work with progams that are multi-threaded you will want to go dual core. If you will be doing more generall useage and gaming, single core is more worthwhile. AMD clearly has the better dual-core implimentation, but Intel's lower end dual core is quite possibly a better value, at least untill AMD releases a slower dual-core chip.

Concerning memory you may want to get 1GB dimms as most SFF baords only have two memory slots and the day is not far off when 1GB won't cut it for much more than general useage.

[joshwa]

Cheers that's very helpful - I think the main (cpu intensive) uses would be UD/Seti/Photoshop/Gaming. (if it was dual - does the OS see it as 2 CPUs - so I could run UD on one and Seti on the other?)

[Kef9]

mate get your self a pentium d 820 for around 170 quid. this is the best bang for your buck you could possibly imagine. I would be getting this if i were to be putting a new system together.

[joshwa]

mate get your self a pentium d 820 for around 170 quid. this is the best bang for your buck you could possibly imagine. I would be getting this if i were to be putting a new system together.

Sound very tempting but - Wouldn't a dual core P4 have really major heat issues? (twice the cpu, twice the heat?)

[oralpain]

Dual core pentium Ds do run rather hot, but the 820 is a good deal. Still, I'd be tempted to avoid it for a SFF computer.

if it was dual - does the OS see it as 2 CPUs - so I could run UD on one and Seti on the other?

Yes, the OS sees it as two cpus, cause thats what it is.

[joshwa]

Dual core pentium Ds do run rather hot, but the 820 is a good deal. Still, I'd be tempted to avoid it for a SFF computer.



Yes, the OS sees it as two cpus, cause thats what it is.

Yeah - as far as I can tell you can't get Dual-core capable AMD or Intel SFF?

Priced up a Dual Core P4 system at £508:

Intel Pentium 4 820 Dual Core "LGA775 Smithfield" 2.8GHz (800FSB) - Retail
Crucial 1GB (2x512MB) DDR2 PC5300 667MHz Ballistix Dual Channel Kit
Arctic Cooling T1 Silentium Silent Midi Tower Case - 350W Seasonic Silent PSU
Abit AW8-MAX Intel 955X (LGA775) PCI-Express Motherboard

Plus the case is huge compare to SFF

[oralpain]

Any recent 939 SFF system should have support for dual cores, though it might need a bios flash.

That list you've got doesn't seem too bad, but I would really consider a different powersupply. A pentium D can take 10A of +12v by itself, so you are going to want a quality PSU.

[Kef9]

you can get intel dual core in a shuttle. Yes the pentium d is hot but the shuttle is designed to cope with hot prescotts.

[joshwa]

you can get intel dual core in a shuttle. Yes the pentium d is hot but the shuttle is designed to cope with hot prescotts.

Which shuttle? I thought Pentium D's needed the 955 intel chipset?

[Kef9]

This one!

http://eu.shuttle.com/en/DesktopDefa...70_read-11119/

[joshwa]

This one!

http://eu.shuttle.com/en/DesktopDefa...70_read-11119/

Cheers But it's a bit expensive! (£350!)
http://www.dabs.com/uk/channels/comp...quicklinx=3RML

[Kef9]

Flippin Heck so it is. But really its only 100 quid more than a normal shuttle.

Personnally I wouldnt go for a shuttle again. My next pc will be a tower. They always seem to have niggling faults.

[webbyman]

ever thought about what you might be doing on this system?

if you going gaming then AMD64 all the way, but if you multi tasking with more than a couple of programs or doing things like video edditing then it might be a better idea to go with an intel.

however the gaps shortening between the performance gap over how much faster some things like encoding are on intel rather than amd ones

personally i would go with AMD64, if your not going sff then it may save you a nice amount too, along with a couple of % performance increase too.

[joshwa]

Well I've decided to get the following:

QBic EQ3901A SFF (VIA chipset) S939
AMD 64 3500
2x 512mb DDR400 RAM
2x 80GB SATA Hitachi 7K250 8mb (for RAID0 striped)
(with a Radeon 9700 128mb agp card)

all for £444 inc vat

Mainly be doing SETI/UD/Photoshop/Gaming

[Kef9]

My advice

Get a cheaper processor. The 3500 is way overpriced, get the 3200. Get 1 hard drive. Raid 0 hardly does anything. Spend the money you have saved on a better gpu.

For the price of the 3500 you could get a dual core intel.