Core 2 or AM2 + Other Questions

[aidanjt]

Hard Drive
Naw, the Seagate is fine, you could save a bit of messing around with RAID and get 1 750GB, it's very dense so it should have almost compairable performance, and speed isn't a great nessesity imo when you're using a disk for storage, and I would highly recommend having a raptor as a system disk, they're just silly fast.

Case
The old style CM Stacker, or Antec P180 are both pretty spacous cases, the P180 doesn't handle Tagen EasyCons afaik. Over-clock.co.uk is getting them Mountian Mod cases in, but they're still rediciously priced :/

PSU
Tagen EasyCon, couldn't recommend them more, a 530W would be ample for that system.

Monitor
Samsung SM-215TW 21" LCD Monitor? - url=http://www.samsung.com/uk/products/monitors/lcd/largeformatdesktop/ls21dpwasqedc.asp?page=Specifications]specs[/url]
It's hard to get good quality widescreen panels below 20" range, that one has a 8ms responce time.

[Xaneden]

Thanks for the reply Aidanjit, I think I'll be getting that EasyCon - I love the modular system it uses.

I think I'd probably go for the hard drives too, though I'm still unsure about the case. Unfortunately, that screen isn't WUXGA, which is the resolution I'm looking for. Thanks for the suggestions though, and I'd appreciate anymore you could give.

[YorkieBen]

AM2 will be becoiming cheaper after Conroe gets released, so price v performance may well change

[Xaneden]

One more thing for now guys, could you possibly suggest the most powerful PCIe graphics card I could get in the following price ranges:

£100 to £150
£150 to £200


Thanks.

[aidanjt]

I know what you mean, cases are really an hard thing to get perfect, I personally love working with the Akasa Eclipse 62, but obviously it's not as massive as the previous two I mentioned.
I can't imagine looking at a laptop panel with a resolution of 1920x1200, it'd be like looking for a pixel when looking for an icon :/
but if you want something with that kind of resolution, maybe this: SM243T.

Did you change your mind about the graphcis card btw?

[Xaneden]

1920x1200 isn't actually as hard to view as people think; it's definitely much easier to use Windows with.

That SM243T looks good, but I didn't realise quite how expensive screens with that kind of resolution would be. As for the graphics card, I definitely like the one you suggested, but as pointed out by FatalSaviour, it's a lot of money, and with DX10 around the corner, I'm wondering whether it'd be more sensible to go for something maybe a little cheaper. I think perhaps something in the 100 to 170 pound bracket would be best, so I could afford to upgrade later?

[aidanjt]

Depends on if DX10 brings any significant new features, i don't know, i havn't really looked.. I suppose if you want to wait for DX10, a cheapy x800GTO2 would do the job until the end of the year or whenever they're released... and yes, widescreen tft's of that size are reallyyyy expensive lol.

[Olly1234]

The core duo looks pretty cool, however the AM2 sems to have a bit of a trick up it's sleeve..
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=32589

[sawyen]

Why not go for an Akasa Eclipse? I just got one yesterday and its soooo much more spacious than my cramped up Thermaltake Tsunami..

[aidanjt]

The core duo looks pretty cool, however the AM2 sems to have a bit of a trick up it's sleeve..
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=32589

Even if AMD manages to get 'reverse threading' working, it's only a temporary ugly hack for single threaded applications, to be honest such a thing is counter productive, it's taken this long to wake up developers that good use of proper threading is a nessecity, if AM2 based CPUs pretend to be a single core CPU to singled threaded applications, then where's the incentive to write proper programs?

[Neil-UKWSD]

Hi,

I'd would also recommend the Akasa Eclipse or even the new Akasa Mirage, I used the Eclipse for my current system and just had another delivered for my new system (going back for replacement due to an issue with the internal paint work being tackysticky - also affecting the removal of side panels where they touch the internal framework and stick).

Very spacious and easy to work with/in.

The Mirage however would be no good if you ever planned to stick anything that would stick out of the drive bays due to the door sitting flush.

[this_is_gav]

Even if AMD manages to get 'reverse threading' working, it's only a temporary ugly hack for single threaded applications, to be honest such a thing is counter productive, it's taken this long to wake up developers that good use of proper threading is a nessecity, if AM2 based CPUs pretend to be a single core CPU to singled threaded applications, then where's the incentive to write proper programs?

How's it ugly? If it's single threaded, it works faster than previously, if it's not it'll work as fast anyway. It's win-win. It gives users 2 completely different roads to run down. Assuming it works flawlessly, it'll be faster than Conroe in single-thread, and slower in multi-thread. That's a dead heat, before we look at benchmarks.

If it doesn't work flawlessly, or the gain is stupidly small, then fair enough, but we've nothing to suggest it will fail yet...

Overall, bang-for-buck, it'll still wipe the flaw with Conroe, as all you'll need to do is download a driver and an OS update...

[aidanjt]

How's it ugly? If it's single threaded, it works faster than previously, if it's not it'll work as fast anyway. It's win-win. It gives users 2 completely different roads to run down. Assuming it works flawlessly, it'll be faster than Conroe in single-thread, and slower in multi-thread. That's a dead heat, before we look at benchmarks.

If it doesn't work flawlessly, or the gain is stupidly small, then fair enough, but we've nothing to suggest it will fail yet...

Overall, bang-for-buck, it'll still wipe the flaw with Conroe, as all you'll need to do is download a driver and an OS update...

It's an ugly hack because it's pretending to programs that it's a single CPU, while software developers should be writting multithreaded (read 'real) applications, even *IF* it works flawlessly (which isn't very likely), it still doesn't change the fact that it will only work for programs with 1 thread, how many programs only use 1 thread these days?.. none that are worth mentioning.

And assuming every program on earth was single threaded-only (which of course they are not), conroe would still have higher bang per buck, since a 250 quid conroe beats a 730 quid FX-62, the math still works out cheaper.

And to be perfectly honest, I don't see how AMD plans on running instructions in parrellel to seperate cores for a single thread of code, especially with the caches seperated, trying to automatically fragment CPU instructions is messy and highly error prone. Assuming there's any truth in the news article at all.

[this_is_gav]

And assuming every program on earth was single threaded-only (which of course they are not), conroe would still have higher bang per buck, since a 250 quid conroe beats a 730 quid FX-62, the math still works out cheaper.

And what about bargain hunters? The budget gamer who can't afford a Conroe, someone who can't afford a total upgrade. They've just got a AM2 3600 - it's free performance that can rival a similar Conroe in a lot of things, potentially rival a higher grade Conroe. No-one expects it to be a Conroe killer, but it'll give the AM2 more life and might persuade a few not to defect to the other side.

Like it or loathe it, single-thread apps are still very much in the majority. It won't hurt the trend of moving to multi-thread - mass produced bundled software won't be redesigned to multi-thread (can you imagine EA releasing multi-thread games in the next year?), while any company who was to move forwards in multi-thread still will. Intel has the majority of the market, they have the clout.

This leaves the door open for the individual to choose the path they want, the one which will best suit their needs. It's not aimed at the OEM market. This is something for individual enthusiast on a budget.

I'll be grabbing myself a Conroe in around 7 months I expect, and don't have an AM2, but that's not to say others can't get a benefit from it.

[aidanjt]

All games from the last 4 years use more than 1 thread, they simpily don't do so efficently, which is the problem.

And the technical issues are still way too vast for it to be a reality.
However, I hardly see this being an "AM2" feature, AM2 is just a socket to let CPUs with a DDR2 memory controler to sit in a DDR2 motherboard and a few pinout changes for the chipsets, AMD might just be incrediably mean and not let pre-AM2 users enjoy the same feature, but that's marketing buzz and not a technical limitation, which would give further more reason to wave byebye to chimpzilla.

[Xaneden]

Although in theory this reverse-hyperthreading sounds a good idea, I can't help but feel it's similar to SLi/Crossfire in the reasons why it's been brought forward; it seems to be more of a gimmick to get more out of technology which hasn't been updated.

With SLi though, I think the idea of doubling up on graphics cards seems ludicrous (multi-core seems the better way).

Anyway, can anyone suggest the best graphics cards I could get in these price ranges:

£100 to £150
£150 to £200


Thanks for your continuing help guys.