Best processor for under 200 quid?

[kalniel]

Seems so much choice out there.

Computer would be used for: Gaming, game development, scientific analysis, rendering.

Multitasking would be a bonus - quick/smooth responsiveness would be very nice too

How much does hyperthreading help with the responsiveness thing?

[junglejim]

The AMD64 Venice cored chips seem the best value at the moment. People are getting 3000+ (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=209793) and 3200+ chips overclocked to 3800+ on stock cooling (there is a review on the hexus homepage).

Otherwise there is the new X2 3800 dual core coming out soon at around the £200 mark. Anywhich way, I think the AMD64 is the way to go until Intel get off their backsides.

Cheers,

JB

[rajindergill]

Lowestonweb and xtsit have the X2 3800 for £235. Its oem, but XTSIT also throw in a Coolermaster/Akasa Heatsink/fan.

I've ordered from lowest and will be building my rig over the weekend. Will tell you how it runs.

[kalniel]

Thanks for the replies.. budget is very tight so unfortunately the X2 3800 is kind of out of the question for now.

You wouldn't consider the intel 640/650 at all? The 640 seems cheap at the moment. I guess I'm also concerned about socket upgrades - the 939 seems to be coming to the end of it's lifespan and I'd like to able to drop in a cheap second hand processor as an upgrade a few years down the line.

[kevpuk]

I say a Venice 3000+ if you are prepared to do a little overclocking.....many are getting them to speeds as high as 2.8GHz on air.....I run mine with absolutely no mods or voltage boosts at 2.3GHz - my first ever overclock !

Why spend more ? Unless of course you wanna go faster.....

[nvening]

This http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=211678 free delivery as well

[sawyen]

It really depends on how ur using that horsepower.. intel are really jsut one big MHz giant, and it works well with stuff that crunches alot of stochastics, data looping and content creation programs.

If you're primarily using it to run GAMES and number crunching intensive programs (like me), say Maple, Analyist QS or Matlab, AMDs are much more efficient. (My 3500+ @ 2.8Ghz clocks a product loop simulation about 20% faster than me labs Dell Precision dual Xeons)

The best bang for the buck at the mo should be the 3200+ venice. Many would have their point on the 3000+ venice but I feel running 300 MHz HTT to get the chip to run at 2.7Ghz is far too stressful for the integrated memory controller (not to mention the amount of boards that are capable of attaining that HTT clock). The 10x multi in 3200+ is far more flexible and able to hit 270HTT (2.7Ghz-should your CPU allow) in almost all of the boards available today.

Unless you're going to get a 955X board.. You wont be running intel dual core any sooner as well. AMD are only introducing M2 as a flagship socket solution, they are not phasing out 939 completely.. most of the new chips coming out would still be in 939. So rest assured you're not out of luck yet. Besides, the community supporting 939 is still much larger.. I bet AMD wont be leaving all its 939 fans in the cold.

[kevpuk]

Good argument for the 3200+......to be honest, I don't really like the idea of maxing out a FSB for speed either...
I guess my point was that for <£100 you can get a 3000+ Venice that will happily and relatively stress-free run at 2.3GHz (my experience) and save your self £100 for something else.......that said, the 3200+/3500+ and 3700+ are all great options too !

[rajindergill]

I've seen in Ebuyer's clearance corner, Intel Pentium 4 Socket 775, some 530 3.0GHz processors for £75+vat and delivery. Given these are retail boxes, they will still carry the intel 3 year warranty. worth a look out for a budget rig.