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Another Ram question.. and an AMD CPU question as well.....
Okay. I have pretty much decided to go the AMD route for my new build as it looks like the Intel route is a little faster, but considerably more money for that little improvement.
Soo, I think I have narrowed my CPU choices down to the AMD Dual Core 6400+ -or- the AMD Phenom Black 9600 (which is about $40 more then the 6400+)
I think I want to use memory with a 1066 bus speed versus the 800. But I read somewhere that if I buy a motherboard with the 1066 memory slots and ram with the 1066 bus speed as well, that the 6400+ Dual Core will not be able to take advantage of those speeds to the ram and I will only get 800. I heard that only the AMD Phenom chip can take advantage of the 1066 ram and actually give me that improvement.
...Is this true?
And secondly, is it worth the extra costs to move up to the 1066 ram, motherboard, and AMD Phenom chip over say the 6400+ dual core, and 4 gigs of high end "800" ram vs. the 4 gigs of high end "1066" ram.
Also how much better/faster is the Phenom 9600 Black then the Dual Core 6400+? Is that worth the extra $40 or so just for that CPU??
Thanks for answering all my pretty newb computer building questions everyone...
- Zaxx
Comments
The phenom right now is a bad investment until the new phenoms hit the market due to a TLB error in the current phenoms that hit performance. The new phenoms should be released sometime in the next month. Also 1066 really isn't necessary. It does have an advantage if you are trying to epeen, but not necessary.
I say no to phenom for right now as well. For the same price if not less wait for the intel e8400 or e8500
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx
It beats the pants off phenom and can oc to 4Ghz on the stock cooler plus runs cooler and on less wattage.
I have an e8400 and my friend has a 6400+ we both with 4gb of ram and I can notice a big difference in speed between them.
This site got the e8400 to 4.4ghz and they pit it against an AMD 9900
www.legionhardware.com/document.php
If you still want AMD I would go with the 6400+ it's a pretty good cpu for the money.
As for the memory I would go with ddr2 1066 if you plan to overclock but you can easily reach 4ghz on ddr2 800.
Hope that helps somewhat.
http://azhrarn.deviantart.com
You can get the phenom 9750 for about the same price. The black editions are fror people who want to overclock as the only difference between them and the normal ones is that the black edition has an unlocked multiplier. If you don't intend to overclock then get the normal version.
the difference between 800MHz and 1066MHz memory is noticible when multi-tasking. If all you are doing is running a single application like an MMO for instance then you wouldn't really notice the difference.
The phenom is a quad core so a little more future proof than it's dual core counterpart but it all depends on how often you intend to upgrade the rig. If like most people you upgrade every 4 or 5 years or so then get the quad. If you upgrade more frequently then the dual core will do just fine. As with all new systems build to a price, to what you can afford. Get the best that you can afford at the time because if you hang around until you have enough for that next step up another step always appears before you get there
Im sticking with the 5600+ fx 64 dual core n 4 gigs dual channel Corsair gaming memory till the quad core cpus get the bugs ironed out.
If you wait a few more months, the Intel e8400 should be down to around $180. Considering how fast it is and can be overclocked easily to 4ghz on air, it's definitely worth it. It also might pay off in the long run considering it uses around half the power of the AMD 6400+