Upgrading in the next month.

Post by **Psyche911** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 6:11 am

I could place the order tonight but when doing so I realized how there aren't any motherboards for Socket 939 I'm 100% happy with.

I think I'm gonna go with the ASUS A8N-SLI Premium. It's the same price as the Deluxe now and has the passive chipset cooling and all. I've been really happy with my current ASUS mobo (P4C800-E).

I wanted to get the A8R-MVP, but nobody has it in stock and it'll probably take a couple months for the issues to be ironed out with it.

With the A8N the only real area I think it lacks is overclocking. But since I traded my high voltage RAM in for a 2GB set, I'm not too worried about running high vdimm. Since I'll be on air cooling I don't need high vcore either. Thinking of getting a San Diego 3700+ with it and a 7800GT (eVGA o/c'd to 460core 1100mem, lifetime warranty).

Thoughts, suggestions?

Post by **MidnightQ4** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 9:57 am

Wait for the new ATI RD580 chipset crossfire mobos in Jan and the R580 GPUs which should be out around then also. Anyway that's what I'm doing.

Post by **Psyche911** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 2:25 pm

I'm not spending $600 on a GPU alone. My whole upgrade only costs $200 more than that including PSU and all. And I generally don't buy first release motherboards, so that would mean I'd have to wait until summer or so, and that's when socket M2 comes out. Not that I'd buy a first release product then either, so that would make it this time next year and then something better will be right around the corner...

lol

Post by **shadd_** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 2:54 pm

bad move not going dual core imo. why would you pass it up for hardly any extra cash?

both ati and nvidia have dual core support and they both have room for improvement in this regard. so you could look forward to even more free gains later on.

do i even have to mention the new q4 patch?

Post by **+JuggerNaut+** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 6:06 pm

please mention the new q4 patch.

Post by **shadd_** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 6:19 pm

id Software and Raven have worked with Intel to dramatically improve QUAKE 4 performance on systems with HT Technology, multiple processors, or dual core processors. Players who have a system with one of these configurations will notice performance gains in QUAKE 4 of anywhere from 25% - 87% depending on processor type.

mentioned.

mention edit: quake4->quake wars. hmm

Post by **+JuggerNaut+** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 6:23 pm

nice! all i need now is a new pc and the game!

Post by **shadd_** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 6:27 pm

+JuggerNaut+ wrote:nice! all i need now is a new pc and the game!

it's fun. good as q3 other than tech probs.

Post by **+JuggerNaut+** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 6:46 pm

my bro's got a pc that'll run it and i was playing the demo the other day. not happy with default fov, but i'm sure you can change that.

Post by **shadd_** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 6:50 pm

yeah you can change it. after a little practice you'll be moving like q3(almost).

Post by **Tormentius** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 6:57 pm

shadd_ wrote:yeah you can change it. after a little practice you'll be moving like q3(almost).

IMO the movement in Q4 (after I got used to it) actually feels better than Q3's movement.

Post by **+JuggerNaut+** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 6:58 pm

yeah it feels like the physics aren't EXACTLY the same, but i do like it. thx for the head's up.

NICE DERAILMENT SHADD_

Post by **+JuggerNaut+** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 6:58 pm

Tormentius wrote:
shadd_ wrote:yeah you can change it. after a little practice you'll be moving like q3(almost).
IMO the movement in Q4 (after I got used to it) actually feels better than Q3's movement.

:icon6:

Post by **Tormentius** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 7:10 pm

+JuggerNaut+ wrote: :icon6:

I downloaded and tested a Q3 map last night for the first time since Q4 was released. Having played Q4 before and after (both Q4W and vQ4), I thought that it's movement and "feel" was better.

Post by **+JuggerNaut+** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 7:17 pm

interesting. if you were just about anyone else, i'd laff you off of the internet for that statement.

Post by **Tormentius** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 7:20 pm

+JuggerNaut+ wrote:interesting. if you were just about anyone else, i'd laff you off of the internet for that statement.

Heh. I'm not saying that it's a popular opinion but so far I'm really diggin' Q4. Once id/Raven put out a couple of point releases and the mapping/modding community starts kicking into high gear I think it's going to top Q3.

Post by **Psyche911** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 1:35 am

shadd_ wrote:bad move not going dual core imo. why would you pass it up for hardly any extra cash?

L - O - Fucking - L
Hardly any extra cash? The cheapest dual core is a 3800+. It's $325. It's essentially two 3200+ which each cost $150-160. So it's twice the price. I was going with a San Diego 3700+ which is a full $100 cheaper and has twice the cache, overclocks better, and has an extra 200MHz to boot.

shadd_ wrote:both ati and nvidia have dual core support and they both have room for improvement in this regard. so you could look forward to even more free gains later on.

That's the only reason to get dual core right now. It's not worth 200% the cost for a 10-20% performance improvement. A 3500+ over a 3200+ will get you that extra performance for $130 cheaper.

shadd_ wrote:do i even have to mention the new q4 patch?

Quake 4? Meh. I wish it wasn't so, but I prefer Quake 3.

Post by **Oeloe** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 8:42 am

If you want to overclock, get an Opteron 146 or 148.

I'd go with a DFI mobo btw. I've got great experiences with one of their socket A mobos.

Post by **shadd_** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 10:53 am

Psyche911 wrote:
shadd_ wrote:bad move not going dual core imo. why would you pass it up for hardly any extra cash?
L - O - Fucking - L
Hardly any extra cash? The cheapest dual core is a 3800+. It's $325. It's essentially two 3200+ which each cost $150-160. So it's twice the price. I was going with a San Diego 3700+ which is a full $100 cheaper and has twice the cache, overclocks better, and has an extra 200MHz to boot.

shadd_ wrote:both ati and nvidia have dual core support and they both have room for improvement in this regard. so you could look forward to even more free gains later on.
That's the only reason to get dual core right now. It's not worth 200% the cost for a 10-20% performance improvement. A 3500+ over a 3200+ will get you that extra performance for $130 cheaper.

shadd_ wrote:do i even have to mention the new q4 patch?
Quake 4? Meh. I wish it wasn't so, but I prefer Quake 3.

good to see you find it so outrageous. whatever man do what you want. why ask in the first place?

It's essentially two 3200+ which each cost $150-160.

what the fuck kinda comparison is that?

Post by **Psyche911** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 5:57 am

Sorry, shadd. No offense at all, the wording of what you said just really struck me as a bit off.

And about the 2x3200+ comment. Where I was going with that is that in single-threaded applications, you're paying twice as much for the same performance. Sure, newer drivers claim to improve performance with multiple cores, but I've yet to see any benchmarks that demonstrate the substantial performance increases both ATI and nVidia are claiming.

But anyways, I just placed my order.
ASUS A8R-MVP
Athlon 64 3700+ (San Diego)
eVGA 7800GT (N516 = 460MHz core / 1100MHz mem)
Enermax Liberty 500Watt PSU
Thermaltake Big Typhoon heatsink

I can't wait.

Post by **Canis** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 9:58 am

You gave up your mac....for shame.

Post by **Psyche911** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 2:41 pm

Yeah, over 2 years ago.
I couldn't afford a $5,000 computer like you.

We still have a PB.

Post by **Psyche911** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 2:34 pm

Well, it's all here and installed and kicks ass.

Still a couple kinks to work out which is a bit difficult as almost nobody has the motherboard yet. But it's only just become available so I'll sit it out.

It's nice running most of my games at 1600x1200 with 4xFSAA+AF. Quake 4 multiplayer still runs like shit with high settings though. Kinda pisses me off. Other than that I'm real happy with the upgrade.

I must say this HSF is amazing. With a closed case, only 1 exhaust fan, and my overclocked 7800GT dumping all it's heat into the case, I'm still getting only 37C load temps, LOAD. With Cool & Quiet enabled, I'm getting 25C idle right now. :icon28: