Processors

[Zelig]

I thought getting a RAM upgrade would be much better than the difference between a 3000+ and like 3200+

Yes, it will be.

 

[pman67]

Since no one else has asked, I will:

What else do you do with your box?

Yeah, we all love to play games. And we all want them to run smoothly and fast as hell.

But what else? If you run multiple programs a lot, and that includes the system tray, then hyperthreading is very hard to beat. If you play games with other programs running at the same time, like ripping mp3's, then the only thing that'll beat hyperthreading is a dual core cpu. Or a dual with hyperthreading! A full 4 virtual cpu's can do a lot of things at the same time. The real fun will be when AMD releases their dual core.

 

[Strider]

Since no one else has asked, I will:

What else do you do with your box?

Yeah, we all love to play games. And we all want them to run smoothly and fast as hell.

But what else? If you run multiple programs a lot, and that includes the system tray, then hyperthreading is very hard to beat. If you play games with other programs running at the same time, like ripping mp3's, then the only thing that'll beat hyperthreading is a dual core cpu. Or a dual with hyperthreading! A full 4 virtual cpu's can do a lot of things at the same time. The real fun will be when AMD releases their dual core.

Well, I usually have my winamp agent and IRC chatrooms running in the background WHILE playing games. Usually, my computer has atleast 3 programs running at all times, regardless of wether I'm playing a game or not.

 

[gonzo_for_civ]

I'd say wait until the AMD dual-core 64-bit gaming machines come out . Then you'll have one hell of a machine . If you can't , then go for a single-core AMD 64-bit 4000+ machine .

You wont see any real advantage yet until games are optimized for dual core. Multiple threads/cores don't do any good if they are going unused. If you are going to keep multitasking then a P4 with hyperthreading might not be a bad idea. The other option would be to wait for a multi-core amd64 and pay out your ass for it. If 64 bit support is important then you will be paying more, but there are solutions available from both the big boys.

 

[Zelig]

Multitasking doesn't really refer to playing music/IRCing while playing a game though, it's more relevant to users who have urgers to render videos and the like at the same time as playing games.

 

[HAND]

If your set on going intel then i would go for the P4 6XX series... they have 2mb L2 cache and emt64 tech which means you'll be able to run Windows 64 etc..
I personally would go for an Athlon64 at 3200+ or 3500 on the 939 socket with Nforce4..
I have an Athlon64 3200+ on a socket 754 with Nforce3 250 Gb... and it runs everything very well.

 

[gonzo_for_civ]

Multitasking doesn't really refer to playing music/IRCing while playing a game though, it's more relevant to users who have urgers to render videos and the like at the same time as playing games.

I was thinking more of the "at least 3 programs" comment. Although certainly if it's only IRC and music, you're fine without hyperthreading/multiple cores.