Athlon64 3200+ or 3000+ ???

[Abdul]

Im going to get a Athlon64, not sure if it would be a waste of money to buy a 3200+ instead of a 3000+??

Aren't they the same but clocked down??

Would buy a 3500+, BUT not enough money!

[GrahamGarside]

Depends, I'd wager almost any winchester/venice will do the top clock speed of the range, but for going above that, well then the faster the chip, the more you would expect it to clock above.

So I would expect the 3500+ to probably clock higher on average than 3200+/3000+ chips, probably not by much though.

But when it comes to 3000+ vs. 3200+ I'd say theres little to choose between them, even if a 3200+ does clock higher, you're better off putting the money saved toward better ram or a better motherboard for the overclocking

[unks]

I use a 3000+ and am very well satisfied. With the K8N Neo 2 Plat in auto OC, it will run at 2250 or so, and I must say I'm happy with the results. I know that I could push 2400 or so from what I've read, but like they say, no two units will OC the same. 2200+ gives me all I need to play Morrowind and Rainbow 6-3 at full bore, Nooooo prob!!! When looking at price, I used the money I saved between the 3000+ and the 3200+ to buy a matched set of 512 Corsair PC3200 CL2's, OHHHHH Baby!!! Hope this helps ya out.

[Pandaz3]

My ABIT AV8 and A64 3500 Winchester will not clock worth a darn so the higher stock speed was benificial to me. 1.8 Vs. 2.0 for $40 to $50 difference. I would buy the 3200, but tha's not neccisarily the best decision. I have a socket A beside my A64 right now running at 2.0 on a 1.47 rated 1700+. It was a cheap $42 chip a couple of years ago. I have a $100+ Sempron 2800 running the same speed. That would make the 1700 a much better value.

You might be better off with the 3000....

BTW NewEgg is offering the Venice core for about $10 more than a Winchester and the have both the 3000 and 3200..

Here's the 3200

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103535

[GrahamGarside]

You have a very very good chance of getting a 50% overclock from a 3000+ venice, quality motherboard permitting, and at those speeds memory bandiwdth is the killer, so for me it makes sense to save money on the higher rated chips by going for a slower one, even at the risk of a hundred or so mhz less of an overclock, and putting that money towards better ram which will give you the best gains

[dsio]

Originally Posted by Pandaz3

My ABIT AV8 and A64 3500 Winchester will not clock worth a darn so the higher stock speed was benificial to me. 1.8 Vs. 2.0 for $40 to $50 difference. I would buy the 3200, but tha's not neccisarily the best decision. I have a socket A beside my A64 right now running at 2.0 on a 1.47 rated 1700+. It was a cheap $42 chip a couple of years ago. I have a $100+ Sempron 2800 running the same speed. That would make the 1700 a much better value.

You might be better off with the 3000....

BTW NewEgg is offering the Venice core for about $10 more than a Winchester and the have both the 3000 and 3200..

Here's the 3200

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103535

Panda, you are running an almost identical setup to me, so should easily get 2.6-2.8Ghz out of that CPU on air. PM me with what you are doing in overclocking if you want to talk about it.

[cadaveca]

3200+, for me ,personally. Always get as best a cpu as you can afford...then you get guaranteed performance.

[GrahamGarside]

The problem is the price differance isn't proportionate to the performance increase, less so once the chips are overclocked, even if a 3000+ doesn't overclock as well as a 3200+ the better quality memory you can buy with the money saved will give you that performance, and probably more

[cadaveca]

ok. i'll give you that, but i also like a sure thing. i had 5 3000+'s already, and now have a 3400+, becasue the 3000's died. i stay away from 3000's now.

[GrahamGarside]

I agree if money is no object, if bang per buck is your goal you can't beat a sempron 2800+, a £52 chip that will overclock to about 2.4-2.6ghz

To be honest I really wish I'd gone for a £50 barton instead of a £250 3400+ back when I got my system, but I was just soo tempted by the 64bitiness of it, from now on it's price/performance all the way, I'd sooner have reasonable performance at a cost I can afford to keep current than this weeks cutting edge

[MONKEYMAN]

I agree the old mobile/barton's were much more fun to overclock

[Abdul]

hmmm, im in somewhat of a predicament ^^.

3000+,- Price and performance, but to some extent unreliabilty, and in some cases not!

3200+ - 20quid more Price and performance, similar to 3000+, but sometimes dissapointing

AND lastly, a Venice core or Wichester core!,

I think ill go for ummmmm...........

AMD 64 3000+ Venice core, Should run fine with DFI lanparty Nforce4 and Corsair 3200CPT?

[GrahamGarside]

I'd stretch for XMS3200XL it's TCCD based stuff which means very overclockable.
But good choice with the venice and DFI

[cadaveca]

3200pt c2 can be bh-5, and the DFI board having 4v will almost take the bh-5 as high as tccd, but @ lower latencies(2-2-2-5 BH-5 vs. 2.5-3-3-8 or 2.5-4-4-10 TCCD). the faster your ram gets, the more latencies matter, at least for me.

[Abdul]

Well, in a way i would be saving some money on not buying the 3200+ , so i should really be considering the XL.

Besides its like you wrote at the start, "Your better up saving the money towards memory..."

THE real problem is though, everytime somethings been bought its taken over by summmat better!

WAIT thats not the problem, it seems my budget is.

Btw, could you guys explain about tccd and bh-5, i'd appreciate it thnx.

[GrahamGarside]

If cadaveca is right and the XMS3200C2PT is BH5 then I'd say go for that, the price differance doesn't warrant going for TCCD over it.
The TCCD and BH5 terms refer to the memory chips used, TCCD are samsung and BH5 are Winbond I believe. They are generally accepted as the most reliable and highest performing chips, they achieve the tightest timings at DDR400, and overclock very well, do a search on google for TCCD memory review or BH5 memory review and check out the results.

[Abdul]

Many using BH-5 have reached real close to TCCD timings. Wouldnt 4v be enough to reach these sort of timings, with low latencies.

Btw, what effect would it have on the TCCD based chips, by using 4v, wouldn't it be better then the BH-5 ??

[dsio]

TCCD would go up in smoke with 4V, it can handle decent speed / timing at low voltage, and doesnt make a huge difference after 3Vish. Most of the top speed BH5 heats alot as well. The new Mushkin Redline says it needs to be actively cooled on top of its already ample heatspreaders. If you are willing to have a small fan blowing over it, and go high voltage, BH5 can go past TCCD speeds and timings.

[MietmaN]

I've got nothing to add, after dsio wrote his post, apart from linking this article on Mushkin new Redline modules :

http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=2416

btw. some TCCD memory sticks OC beter even with standard low voltage (2.6v) than with e.g. 3v. Depends on individual set and on their PCB as well.