Quote Originally Posted by [XC] Kayin View Post
Yeah, well, when you're working 70 hour weeks for just that AMD rig, I think it's pretty Xtreme. Last I checked, this wasn't about who's Xtremely rich, but who's Xtremely good. Rich I am not. Good, I have been since I started.

However, when I started, it was in the 1700 JIUHB days (in overclocking, had been fixing them since 98-99) and we could afford to get them a few at a time and screw around till we found what we wanted. Chips were 40 bucks, my board was 35 (Shuttle AN35N Ultra, anyone?) and el-cheapo Buffalo had BH-5s on it. My 5950 Ultra, while a review sample, was priced at like 250.

Going intel was close to triple price on board/proc for less performance, and back then I ran my balls to the wall 250+FSB 1:1 (swapped to DFI boards that summer, about the time of the 2500 AQXDA) and popped boards and didn't mind, cause 35 bucks wouldn't break me.

Moved to K8, on a 100 dollar board (Chaintech VNF4-Ultra ZENITH) and a cheap CPU (3000 Winchester) and while it wasn't as cheap, I could still afford to play the game. Got a good clocker out the gate, and ran with it for a long time at 2.9 from 1.8 stock. When I moved to a 3800+ and A8N-SLI, I felt it in the wallet, but hit 3GHz on air, too. Stock cooler. I could still justify it.

Now Conroe comes along, and I'm expected to pay up to 400 for a board, 3-400 for a chip, 3-500 for RAM, a grand for graphics, another 600 or so in water cooling, and I'm supposed to top it off by buying a damn MM case? THAT'S what it takes to be Xtreme? Fsck that, you can pretty well have it at that point. I remember when P4 used to be on bottom, and the guys that ran it were still Xtreme cause they had skillz. Now I run AMD and people practically pity me. Pity me cause I got a dog chip and board, don't cry cause I ran with the underdog. Somebody has to do it to keep that competitive Intel you want so bad.

I think we need a complete redefinition of Xtreme around here. We got guys with whole fscking housefuls of stock computers, but they're pushing massive points on WCG, I moved from overclocking/benching to overclocking/watercooling design and theory, lots of us can't afford to swap boards like we swap underwear, and the gap between each of us gets a little bigger every day.

When I came to XS, it was run wht you brought. Now it's if you don't have what I've got, you're a n00b.

The last place I heard that was an MMO, from somebody who Ebayed their gold. I handed his ass to him. Repeatedly.

Don't cry for AMD. We still have the skills to pay the bills, and we have more left in our wallets when we do.
Right on bro, I had an AN35 Ultra myself...best 50 bucks I ever spent on a computer part. I got a mediocre 1700+, but again for 50 bucks I wasn't complaining. That Socket A system lasted me three years.

When I went to 939 I got an ASRock939Dual for $70 which was considered a great deal at the time (still a ripoff compared to the AN35). It was practically the only choice for me because I couldn't afford to upgrade the 9800Pro as well, and the $150 for the Opty144 was way more than I'd like to pay for a CPU anyways ($150 is my absolute maximum spending limit on any single component).

Then when we were well into the C2D era, my PSU conked out ant took my 9800 with it. I used an FX5600 for a while, and then my mobo started dying. When I was looking for new parts I was considering the C2D because it was crushing in benchmarks. But the cheapest C2D at the time was $180, and I could get an X2 3600+ and a good ocing mobo for that much. Seemed like a no brainer to me.

I don't understand why people feel like the arrival of the C2D suddenly makes the K8s crappy chips. Sure the C2D is significantly faster, but that doesn't all of a sudden make the K8 slow. People can have their ridiculous SuperPi times, I'll keep my money and keep using my computer for games (which are GPU limited) and school work.

I am not really loyal to AMD though, if Intel truly offered better performance within my budget then I would roll with them. Usually though their motherboards cost more and their chips cost more.

I also realize that AMD is usually cheaper because they are firmly in second place. If they could charge higher prices for their chips they would in a heartbeat, and they did with K8. Before C2D came out, the 939 prices were ridiculous, $330 for the cheapest dual core, $140 for your cheapest single core? Competition is good for everyone, and hopefully AMD learned something from their time on the ropes.