3600+ and a high end video card...

[erocker]

How well would a AMD X2 3600+ and a TForce550, overclocked work with a 8800gts or possibly one of ATi's new cards? Would they bottleneck it? Any better suggestions for someone on a budget?

 

[x800professor]

How well would a AMD X2 3600+ and a TForce550, overclocked work with a 8800gts or possibly one of ATi's new cards? Would they bottleneck it? Any better suggestions for someone on a budget?

Well...depends on how much you overclock it. It WILL bottleneck it, but it will still run better than anything from the 9.0c generation.

 

[erocker]

I would like to stick with AMD. What processor would work better, and for a good price? Heck how about 4300 or 4400 C2d's?

 

[x800professor]

I would like to stick with AMD. What processor would work better, and for a good price? Heck how about 4300 or 4400 C2d's?

Well, the core 2 is going to kick the crap out of anything AMD has to offer. They overclock like crazy and are far, far more powerful. However, the cheapest core 2 is about $50 more expensive than a 3600+. However, you really aren't going to notice a huge difference between a 3600 clocked at around 2.5+ and a low end core 2 in gaming. For an 8800, you might get 65fps instead of 80fps. If a game is unplayable at certain settings on the 3600, it will probably be unplayable on the core 2 as well.

 

[wazzledoozle]

Well, the core 2 is going to kick the crap out of anything AMD has to offer. They overclock like crazy and are far, far more powerful. However, the cheapest core 2 is about $50 more expensive than a 3600+. However, you really aren't going to notice a huge difference between a 3600 clocked at around 2.5+ and a low end core 2 in gaming. For an 8800, you might get 65fps instead of 80fps. If a game is unplayable at certain settings on the 3600, it will probably be unplayable on the core 2 as well.

Not true. The E4300 can easily clock to 3.4 GHz+ with its 8x multi (vs the E6300's 7x). Very overclockable chips, and the E4400 has the same architecture as any other Core 2 Duo. The 2mb of L2 has zero to unnoticeable performance impact in gaming.

You have to decide if this is worth the extra $$ though. I would estimate it would be about $100 more dollars to get an E4300 and a good OC'ing board, vs an X2 and a decent board.

 

[x800professor]

Not true. The E4300 can easily clock to 3.4 GHz+ with its 8x multi (vs the E6300's 7x). Very overclockable chips, and the E4400 has the same architecture as any other Core 2 Duo. The 2mb of L2 has zero to unnoticeable performance impact in gaming.

You have to decide if this is worth the extra $$ though. I would estimate it would be about $100 more dollars to get an E4300 and a good OC'ing board, vs an X2 and a decent board.

uh...you just said not true and then repeated everything I said more or less. Yes they overclock well, yes they are faster than any X2...but the gaming difference isn't that extreme. If he runs something that is heavy enough to strain an 8800, it's going to strain it on an X2 or a c2d. Most of the gaming advantage of C2D comes in the lower resolutions where it really doesn't matter. 185fps vs 120fps. Sure, it's a big advantage, but it doesn't mean anything. Take a look at this:

and this:

That's with 2 X1900XTs...so somewhat near what you'd get with a single 8800GTS. The results in oblivion were right around the same. Sure, there might be a few occasions where you might need to turn the settings down SLIGHTLY more on the X2 than you would on a core 2...but this is a BUDGET build. In other words, it isn't worth $100. Overclock the X2 to at least 2.5 and you'll be fine.

 

[DaMulta]

Do you have the link to both of those test?

 

[x800professor]

Do you have the link to both of those test?

Of course.

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2014654,00.asp

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2795&p=15

The point is, for a budget build, an X2 is perfectly fine. If he was looking for the most powerful CPU possible, then I'd say Core 2 all the way. The X2 running at around 2.5 should suit him just fine. It's not even $70, which is great.

 

[Ketxxx]

An OCd X2 3600+ would be a very decent choice, can likely hit 2.8-3GHz+, which wont actually bottleneck the graphics too much, as longs you have at least some decent PC6400 to feed a relatively high FSB with good timings.