Well, I ran into an old friend the other day who wants to upgrade his P2 450mhz PC. Well, I told him I'd look around for some good deals. I think I'll tell him to go with an AMD, but there are 2 I'm deciding between. An AMD XP 3000+ , and an AMD64 3000+ . the XP sells for 130 USD, and the 64 sells for 216 USD. So the XP would save him a big chunk of money. But will the 64 be much better in the long run?

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"Whats your name"
Cody
"No, whats your real name"
Arkon............
Proud member of the Co-op

The AMD Athlon 64 is the best (feasible) gaming chip around at the moment, so if you can afford it then go for it. Just remember you're going to have to pay a little bit more for a socket 754 motherboard.

Another option you might want to think about is the reasonably cheaper Athlon 64 2800. The 64 2800 actually outperforms the plain 3200 (confusing, I know), and it's essentially the same chip as the 64 3000 except with a core speed of 1.8ghz instead of 2ghz. With a little FSB manipulation it can be overclocked to as good as 2ghz, where it performs on par with the 3000.

If you really want a faster chip, it's definitely worth shelling out a little extra for the 3200 model instead of the 3000. The 3200 has 1mb of L2 cache compared to 512 for the 3000 (and 2800), and that much cache does a lot for improving overall performance.


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The Massassi-Map
There is no spoon.

[This message has been edited by Spork (edited May 24, 2004).]

Also, if he's upgrading, I suggest holding off and getting either the 6800 Ultra or GT, or the X800XT or X800 Pro. After ~6 months these cards will DEFINITELY begin to show their worth. Don't bother with PCI-Express though, it's all a bunch of hype, even if it sounds faster.

Basically get 1-1.5 gigs of ram (it's needed, trust me) 512MB at the LEAST, the AMD Athlon 64 2800/3000/3200(hopefully), if he's not looking to play new new games on ultra high, a 9600XT or 9800 pro is fine, nforce3 chipset mobo, DVD-Burners are prime (80 bucks for single layer!), and that pretty much covers it. Rinse, repeat.


Oh and I forgot, sometime this summer they're changing the socket for AMD64s and Athlon XPs so they can both be put on the same board. Just something to keep in mind.
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[This message has been edited by Dj Yoshi (edited May 24, 2004).]

thanks for these quick replys guys.

I have one more question

- Since the new Windows, Longhorn (and don't tell this guy to use linux, I doubt he's ever heard of it ) , is a 64bit operating system, will an regular 32bit AMD XP work with it?

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"Whats your name"
Cody
"No, whats your real name"
Arkon............
Proud member of the Co-op

Probably. But why would you bother getting it unless you have a 64-bit system?

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The Massassi-Map
There is no spoon.

Yah, but trust me it won't run NEARLY as fast. I'd say go with Longhorn non-palladium, just for security reasons. Also, if he's going to start gaming, he's going to have a steep learning curve if he's never HEARD of linux. Heheh.

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thanks again, and yeah this guys just going to start PC gaming. He's been a console gamer almost all his life. Slowly but surly I'm easing him into the world of PC games, where things are more fun, and a hella lot more complicated.

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"Whats your name"
Cody
"No, whats your real name"
Arkon............
Proud member of the Co-op

... and have infinitely better controls. Just make sure he never considers getting a pre-built hellbox.

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Sometimes it's better to light a flamethrower than to curse the darkness.

If he has to get one, HAS TO, then Alienware, while priced the worst, has the best PCs. Even if they ARE nVidia only. Also, make it a point that whenever you hear the word "gamepad" and you are around him, he gets hit. Hard. Console gamers like to think that playing with a gamepad is easier...for some reason. It makes me giggle.

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