A little help please........

[pcdoc1]

I'm building a new box. I have no budget limitations and want to build the meanest MF on the planet…….. One stipulation: Air cooling!

I’m an Asus freak (currently using an P4C800 dlx–E), and I love my WD Raptors! Any and all suggestions well be greatly appreciated.

I’m thinking 3.4 EE, but wanting someone to tell me I’m wrong!

Is it time to go to AMD (FX-53)?

Regards and Thanks-

[pik-ard v1.1]

if you wanna stick with intel, ya, get the 3.4EE... but the FX-53 i believe is better for gaming, though you wont really be able to tell the difference...

get a gig or two of OCZ EB PC3700.

not sure what mobo, heard something about a dfi comming out soon, but i really dont feel confident enough to suggest a socket939 mobo, as i really dont know which is best, or whats expected of the dfi.

air cooling, get one of those new style coolers that are held out by the heatpipes, then have a box shape of heatsink fins.... uh.. the ones that look like this (http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=35-106-044&depa=1). not saying get that specific one, but they seem to be proving to be an effective method.

now just wait for everyone to tell you this mobo or that mobo is best for s939. ;)

[pcdoc1]

Thank you........

[shafty]

Asus K8N-E Deluxe
AMD FX-53
OCZ EB 3700
Pc Power Cooling 510 Deluxe Power Supply
2 X74 Raptors
CoolerMaster Hyper6

[lutjens]

Pentium 4 EE 3.4GHz
Gigabyte 8KNXP Ultra 64
2 GB of low latency RAM (OCZ is good)
4x 74 GB Raptor (Raid 0+1)
Seagate Cheetah X15 15k.3 74 GB (however many you want)
Geforce 6800 Ultra
Monitor of your choice...Samsung 213T and 243T are good
Enermax 660W server power supply (EG851 I believe)
Lian Li PC70 case (one of the biggest and nicest out there)

The only reason I recommend this combo is that the Ultra 64 allows you to use 64 bit PCI-X slots which are very handy when using more than two hard drives.

If multiple hard drives are not a concern, get the Gigabyte Socket 939 board (can't recall the model # off hand) and an Athlon FX 53. An alternative is the Thunder K8W server board from Tyan and a couple of high speed Opterons.:)

No overclocking on the Opterons though (AFAIK)...:(

[pcdoc1]

There's always been a battle between AMD and Intel. If I was gaming I'd have to do the FX-53, I'm sure it rock's! :smileysex

But generally I just rip DVD's, f*ck around, run a few benchies, and that's 'bout it...... Guess the 3.4EE is the best choice....... Thanks all-

[masterofpuppets]

Dude, the FX-53 isnt all that great FFS. I have seen a benchmark (cant remember where) and even an a64 3800 beats it by a few fps. I am a proud member of the anti a64 association. Members: me.

[pik-ard v1.1]

just because a 3800+ beats an FX-53 means all a64's are bad? that doesnt make sense at all, considering a64's stomp all over p4's (of any breed) in pretty much all tests someone on xtremesystems.org would be worried about...

sure, p4's still offer awesome preformcance, and im not bashing them at all, im just saying your logic as to why a64's are bad is quite faulty.

[masterofpuppets]

Have you heard about how many people get dead a64's from running stock? Well then. a64's aren't bad, but that doesn't mean that I have to like them. My 4.2GhZ P4EE could beat the fx53 face down ias (I am sure). The 90nm EE's with new cores would beat them even better probably. And think about when they release 90nm, new cored, 64bit versions. Theres even more chance of AMD being beaten to a green, bloody mess then.

[pik-ard v1.1]

nope, havnt heard of people killing a64's running stock... like people said, you can kill anything with a voltmod, which is what ive heard people do before the cpu goes >pop<.

course your 4.2ghz EE beats a 2.4ghz a64, but what about one under the same cooling?

[masterofpuppets]

A64's are so poorly made that they would pop before even reaching 4GhZ. Pff. My opinion is bad quality production.

[pik-ard v1.1]

why would you even expect a a64 to hit 4ghz? that sounds like something kanavit would say...

you know an a64 at 3ghz will at the LEAST equal your 4.2ghz p4EE... they dont need to hit 4ghz...

eventually maybe, when they hit 3ghz stock(first half of next year...), though even then, they wouldnt need to hit 4ghz to stay in the lead.

a64's are a more efficient processor, and thus, harder to get up to the same raw ghz as pentium4's, so i see your reasoning as invalid.

[Iridium192_217]

I'd go with a 3.4 EE, x800, defintely a gig of ram (maybe more), & a good 450+ watt psu.

[Lithan]

You want high bench scores? It's hard to pick a master.

A good EE will get you the best scores in p4-optimized benches.
A good FX will you you the best scores in standard benches.
For air cooling, I'd really recommend the FX. A locked 3.4ghz EE won't give you much FSB room. Also, I believe the EE's are a good bit hotter than FX, (though not as hot as prescotts).

[pik-ard v1.1]

good point about the FSB, since the thread starter is staying with air cooling, the locked 3.4ee will give a fsb limit of around 220-225, whereas the unlocked FX-53 will give a HTT limit of whatever the motherboard can do ;)

though, since your getting lots of ram, your probably not gonna be getting mindblowing FSB's.

you said you wanted a gig or two of ram, i suggested earlier a the OCZ EB pc3700.

i say get either one, or two 1gb (2x512mb) kits, as all three of the 939 mobo's out have 4 dimms so you can have 2gb DC easily, dunno how well s939 plays with that much ram, but ya could still try it. ;)

[Charles Wirth]

No budget limitations... enough fighting guys, he said the magic words.

From a hardcore gamer I use the P4 3.4EE

As a benchmarker I use P4

2K3 and AM3 the P4 EE is king.

[masterofpuppets]

I can nearly get 4GhZ stable on the stock cooler. Load temps are only about 60C and unstable. Which is enough for one run of super pi then the it freezes. Which is actually pretty good for the stock cooler.

[Lithan]

Of course, you assume it's heat that's killing your stability at 4.0 MoP. I'd wager that few EE's can even hit 4.0 stable without subambient temps even if they aren't overheating. What's your max 100% stable clock on stock cooling?

And fugger... 2k3 and AqM3, EE does well on extreme cooling. How well does it do on air?

Where the hell can I see top scores on futuremarks website? I can't seem to find them.

Edit: found the 2k3 but can't find 2k1. Why is a stock 3.0prescott at top position in 2k3?

[masterofpuppets]

My max fully stable clock is around 3.75/3.8 with 55C load.

[masterofpuppets]

to find top scores, search for all scores 0-99999 which will display all scores.

[Lithan]

Yeah, I actually posted that I expected he'd get ~3.8ghz on air, but I deleted it.

Looking through 2k3, The highest Aircooled score I can find is an A64. 15665 3dmarks. The highest (possibly, since cooling isn't mentioned) aircooled P4 I can find is just below it at 15359.


Edit: Can't see 2001se, because I've forgotten my account info (Last score I uploaded was when I broke 15k on my ti4200. ;) )

[pik-ard v1.1]

highest aircooling for 3dmark2k1 is stormPC's FX-53, cant remember exactly what it is, but its like 32k or somethin...

EDIT: ya, here it is, a 2.6ghz fx-53 breakin 32k
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=8019914