FX-55 San Diego / X2 4800 cooled via XP120 w/Nexus 120mm or WaterCool (Probably an EXOS II)
2 x 1 GB Corsair XMS Pro 2-3-2-5 PC3200 DDR RAM
Antec P180 SPCR Edition
ABit AN8-SLi
2 x eVGA 7800GTX KO w/ACS3
2 x 74 GB WD Raptors in RAID 0
S12 600W PSU
Assuming that price is no objection, would a X2 4800 be a better investment? I dont multitask much, but I'm just worried that if I got the X2, would I be able to stay up to date longer than I would with the FX-55 (which is multiplier unlocked)? With the X2, I would have to manually try to overclock it, which is something I've never done in my life, so to me seems somewhat risky.
acaurora's plan
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
Wouldn't mind having one myself. I would definitely say the X2 would be a better investment. In a couple of years time, we should start seeing multithreaded software become more common, and then the X2 will have aged a lot less than any single core CPU.
If you aren't planning on having the nForce4 chipset in the WC loop, I'd go for the A8N-Sli Premium.
If you aren't planning on having the nForce4 chipset in the WC loop, I'd go for the A8N-Sli Premium.
overclocking a 4800 X2? That seems an excess,since it is the fastest stock cpu already. OC that thing and you could wind up with overkill power-but she'd put out a lot more heat and then you either have more fan rpms-or spend $ to watercool. For a Max Horsepower Gamer Wetdream rig,with 2 high end vidcards,you're beyond what the relatively quiet WC setups handle well,so the quietest pump and a passive radiator might not suffice.
If it was me,and I wasn't playing DoomIII for money or something, I'd maybe do a MILD OC,would shop for vidcards ALSO considering there heat output. Probably do a big Ninja with a 120 and at least 1 case fan would be a thermal control,like the Artic Cooling TC,that has a 1000 rpm low speed but will ramp up if things get hot...sort of a safety valve thing.
The fact you are HERE tells me that raw speed is not the whole thing-that quiet...or in this case,relative quit also matters. The 4800 X2 puts out more heat than an FX. The 3800 X2 puts out the same 89watt heat as the FX 55 or the Venice 3800,but the 4800 is over 100 watts,cooler than the fastest Prescotts,but still hot relative to a 3000 Venice. At a max overclock,a 3000 Venice's heat output is up 60% or more,if that's the ratio with a 4800,you got quite a space heater if you do a heavy overclock
If it was me,and I wasn't playing DoomIII for money or something, I'd maybe do a MILD OC,would shop for vidcards ALSO considering there heat output. Probably do a big Ninja with a 120 and at least 1 case fan would be a thermal control,like the Artic Cooling TC,that has a 1000 rpm low speed but will ramp up if things get hot...sort of a safety valve thing.
The fact you are HERE tells me that raw speed is not the whole thing-that quiet...or in this case,relative quit also matters. The 4800 X2 puts out more heat than an FX. The 3800 X2 puts out the same 89watt heat as the FX 55 or the Venice 3800,but the 4800 is over 100 watts,cooler than the fastest Prescotts,but still hot relative to a 3000 Venice. At a max overclock,a 3000 Venice's heat output is up 60% or more,if that's the ratio with a 4800,you got quite a space heater if you do a heavy overclock
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acaurora
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Sorry, but I made the mistake of telling my parents of my plan to spend half my savings for this, and even after boiling it down to just two 7800 GTXs and a San Diego 3700 and OCing it, my mom said no. So! I still have a Pentium 4 550 and a 915PBLL mnotherboard, all i have to do now is get a 7800 GTX and DDR2 memory and then I'm all set. =[
Your mother sounds sensible. It tends to be much cheaper to buy under the bleeding edge, even if you end up buying slightly more often. Anyhow, computers are much faster than you need them to be.my mom said no
How did you run your PC without DDR2 memory?I still have a Pentium 4 550 and a 915PBLL mnotherboard, all i have to do now is get a 7800 GTX and DDR2 memory and then I'm all set.
If you get the A8N-SLI Deluxe, the chipset fan may be doomed to fail. I bought 2 of these boards, one failed (it basically melted) and I didn't give the other enough time to fail and immediately replaced both chipset fans with a Zalman northbridge coolers which work fine. The BIOS did not tell me the fan had melted (bios 1008 didn't, but 1011 did, but crashes my WinXP...) and just by coincidence I discovered the failed fan before the board went up in flames (that is, I didn't let it go up in flames 
).
Personally whenever I buy a CPU, I create a table of performance per cost ratios. The X2 4800 in my books would be way to much for not enough extra performance, particularly if multitasking isn't a big issue.
).Personally whenever I buy a CPU, I create a table of performance per cost ratios. The X2 4800 in my books would be way to much for not enough extra performance, particularly if multitasking isn't a big issue.