Matt, if it would not be too much trouble, do you think you could find some comparison, i am not vv god at finding stuff like this, and usually if its in front of me i dont see it.
http://www.amdcompare.com/us-en/desktop/Default.aspx Look on that and select AMD Athlon 64 from the first drop down menu, then there will be all the Single Core Athlon 64 Models, just find what ones you want check the compare box then click "Compare Selected Items" at the bottom of the list.
http://www.amdcompare.com/us-en/desktop/SideBySide.aspx?opn=ADA3500DEP4AW&opn=ADA3200DEP4AW That's the comparison for the 3500+ and the 3200+ There were a few 3500+ models but the 89W is the one I think you'd get in new retail packs.
Ok i have decided, i will get the 3500+ retail from overclockers.co.uk and AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3500BPBOX) (CP-119-AM)
Here's a good read: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/28cpu-games.html Gives you a feel for what current procs can do, so yeah the 530 (P4 3.0GHz) is usually near the bottom but since you're upgrading it's cool to see how much better the 3500/3200's fare. And man is Call of Duty 2 a GPU hog!
is that really fps, so your saying, with my current processor on battlefield 2, if i get 192 fps, with the 3500+ i will get 333fps? also, stock AMD coolers are not loud are they?
Yeah I doubt those are fps, unless it's a very small time demo or something, maybe it's a point based system for BF2 or something? In my opinion AMD's stock cooler was fairly quiet, I mean I never had the chance to put it under load but at least it's not always roaring.
There's very few motherboards that meet your criteria, and there's several that I wouldn't recommend, like anything from Epox, although the 9NPA+ series is your best bet for what you want and probably within your price range. Jetway, Chaintech, and Soltek also have boards that'll do what you want, but I'm not sure of the availability or tweaking of these boards. The DFI NF3 Ultra-D could work, but that's a pretty rare bird, so I don't know if you find it. My opinion: Grab an nForce 4 board like the Chaintech VNF4 Ultra that's cheap and has some decent tweaks after you've saved the money to change to a PCIe video card. If you went with a Socket 754 rig, you'd have an easier time, and quite honestly, if you're not going to go to Socket 939 and PCIe together, your best to stay with what you have or do an AGP/Socket 754 setup instead.
But Gigabyte isn't really a company I'd look at for overclocking, however, barring that, it would be a good option in all other respects.
As BB said it won't be the best OC'er but for the price it will still give good results. Have fun man.
, what do you mean it wont be the best overclock ever, are you implying that the gigabyte motherboard will not be able to sustain the cpu at 2.6ghz?
Not so much sustain, but get the CPU to that frequency anyway. Some motherboards are oc friendly and are quite flexible with FSB speeds, while others aren't. Abit are traditionally good overclockers, as is DFI LanParty series for overclocking/gaming.
Gigabyte does not cater to overclocking, and therefore, higher voltages and extensive memory tweaks aren't something you tend to find on their motherboards. This isn't to say you can't overclock, but if you look at the highest overclocking motherboards on the market at any given time, Gigabyte isn't on the list.
Don't worry though, as B said, it's not like you can't get decent OC's with it. I mean it wouldn't surprise me if people using the same board have brought the same processor you'll have to higher speeds, it's just that you shouldn't expect getting it there with the same ease as a more OC friendly board. Still it's very possible so fret not dude
While Gigabyte may not be the overclocking king, unlike some companies I know *cough*Epox*cough* they actually seem to start off with stable designs first with overclocking playing second fiddle.
