Amd X2 3800?

[Shafra]

Hi,

I've always been an Intel person. I'm using a 3.2e P4 right now. Can I expect a big difference if I upgrade to an AMD X2 3800? I see each core operates at 2ghz. Would that make each core an AMD 3000 since I see that also operates at 2ghz? Any help on educating an Intel guy is appreciated as well as what type of performance I could expect to see. I mostly game or encode video. I just really want to make sure even on current single core games that I won't run slower then my P4.

Thanks!

 

[jolancer]

whats the rest of your system specs?

a X2 3800 is of course better then a 3.2 P4, but the P4 isnt that bad either.

and in my opinion, if you realy need to upgrade for some reason... you may as well wait for AMD new Slot to be released this year... Intel's new Slot type will also be released probably soon after AMD's... and this time Intels new slot/Cpu's are rumored to be comperable or better then AMD's.

in any case, all the new hardware release's will bring down the prices on this current hardware... i would imagin?

 

[infiltrator7]

whats the rest of your system specs?

a X2 3800 is of course better then a 3.2 P4, but the P4 isnt that bad either.

and in my opinion, if you realy need to upgrade for some reason... you may as well wait for AMD new Slot to be released this year... Intel's new Slot type will also be released probably soon after AMD's... and this time Intels new slot/Cpu's are rumored to be comperable or better then AMD's.

in any case, all the new hardware release's will bring down the prices on this current hardware... i would imagin?

i would also wait since the prices will probably drop. i have the x2 3800 and if you get it you won't be dissapointed at all. dual core is amazing - multitasking is so much faster. I'm using my dad's computer right now which is a pentium 4, and its nothing like the x2. get it, you won't be dissapointed.

 

[meefle]

I was also lookin at the X2 3800+ but i changed my mind and i'm goin to go with the Opteron 165. it has two times more L2 Cache and has amazing OC abilities, most people get 2.6GHz if not above on air cooling. Look into the 165, great CPU

btw, each core does not run at 2GHz, both cores work together to get 2GHz but still dual-core is better than single cores. I've heard the X2 3800+ is equivalent to a 3.8GHz P4. Either the Opteron 165 or the X2 3800+ are good choices

 

[infiltrator7]

yeah basically if you don't want to deal with overclocking, get the x2, if you want to oc and get some amazing speeds, go with the opteron.

 

[Timaphillips]

ESPECIALLY if you're an Intel guy,wait until Julyish from what I hear for Intel's Conroe to hit the market like someone else said. I run a dual-core 820 and I'll never go back to anything less. Intel is dumping the "pentium" line, so you can immagine what that says about their confidence in that product since the arrival of dual-core and the upcoming quad-core next year.

 

[Shafra]

Thanks for the replies. The rest of my system is 512MB Ram, 5500 Geforce 256MB, 75GB Western Digital HDD, and a Lite-on DVD writer. One of the reasons I wanted to go X2 3800 was for a motherboard with PCIE so I could get a nice high end graphics card, and some dual channel ram. I've seen many people say dual core CPU's are poor for gaming, or at least not going to work well with backward compatibility.

I really want to go ahead and upgrade now, but for gaming would I be better going with an AMD single core (and if so, which one?) or stay with the X2.

Thanks again, I don't understand how to compare AMD CPUs to Intel, and now trying to compare an AMD dual core to and Intel is a bit more confusing for me.

 

[Timaphillips]

If you can't wait to upgrade, then go with and AMD FX series instead of the dual core. Although, you should note that the future of gaming will be better suited for dual cores. Current games do not take advantage of the dual cores, but they will. So it's up to you. The Intel Conroe coming out is supposted to beat the AMD best chip by 20% across the board. Intel chips use PCI-E motherboards also by the way and use the faster DDR2 RAM, so that shouldn't be the issue.

But again, if you can't wait....and you can afford the top of the line chip, get the FX-60. Those things are coveted around here.

 

[infiltrator7]

games run perfectly fine on dual core processors, the only disadvantage is that both cores are not being utilized by the game. there are no compatablility issues with any programs and playing a game will be just like playing it on a single core.

 

[Timaphillips]

Like I said, I LOVE my dual-core. You'd understand after using one for 5 minutes. It's a worthwhile investment in a dual-core, especially if you're looking ahead in the future. The 3800+ Dual Core is a good buy and MUCH better than an Intel.