Defenders of the Faith

[funnyperson1]

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.

[caligula]

Whatta dummy thread. Faith and patriotism is for dumb nuts. The other of us still have brain.

[PhilDoc]

Whatta dummy thread. Faith and patriotism is for dumb nuts. The other of us still have brain.

Then why not use it.

[caligula]

Good advice, I'm outta here. Enjoy your stay.

[msimax]

Then why not use it.

lol

[informal]

Hehe nice one Phil .

[Sparky]

I think AMD has been quite convenient for me really.

When I was younger and had no money, AMD was cheaper than intel and while it wasn't the top CPU it still wasn't really bad for its time. Went like that for a few upgrade cycles. Then as I got more money AMD ended up on top so I got AMD again and it was cheaper and faster than intel, sweet. Now I have like no money again due to other things going on and AMD isn't on top anymore but the price is good, kind of like deja-vu from at first.

I had intel for the pentium 200MMX CPU, then it was AMD up until my s754 3000+ when I sold my desktop and got a laptop which had an intel P-M in it (dothan I think it was). I noticed it had this "lag" so to speak about it that I could catch only when listening to music (the music would hiccup). Sold the laptop later went back to a desktop with a 939 AMD 3700+ and hiccups went away. Odd.

I've changed my CPU only once since then, when I got my opteron. I'm actually upgrading less now than I was back in the old K6-2 days.

[akaBruno]

I wonder how many of the intel fanboys (bashing this thread) went out and bought an A64 when it was stomping their big gig P4's?

Maybe I just like underdogs. Or maybe I just don't like being suckered by TV commercials. I do like cheap women, cheap beer, cheap chips, and cheap motherboards. Guess that makes me a cheap mother___er. heheheh

[Bail_w]

I think most of us Die Hard AMD FANMEN prolly figure that when the home version of Barcy hits... C2D will still be kickin our asses in SuperPi.

But... DO WE CARE? Hell NO!

It's gonna be close in the things that are important to us... like our hearts.

Can I get an Amen?

Bruno

Whether AMD or Intel all i care is price/performances/overclockable ratio.

[scafT]

I think AMD has been quite convenient for me really.

When I was younger and had no money, AMD was cheaper than intel and while it wasn't the top CPU it still wasn't really bad for its time. Went like that for a few upgrade cycles. Then as I got more money AMD ended up on top so I got AMD again and it was cheaper and faster than intel, sweet. Now I have like no money again due to other things going on and AMD isn't on top anymore but the price is good, kind of like deja-vu from at first.

I had intel for the pentium 200MMX CPU, then it was AMD up until my s754 3000+ when I sold my desktop and got a laptop which had an intel P-M in it (dothan I think it was). I noticed it had this "lag" so to speak about it that I could catch only when listening to music (the music would hiccup). Sold the laptop later went back to a desktop with a 939 AMD 3700+ and hiccups went away. Odd.

I've changed my CPU only once since then, when I got my opteron. I'm actually upgrading less now than I was back in the old K6-2 days.

SOMEONE GIVE HIM MORE MONEY PLEASE!

haha, well like everyone else, its price vs performance. ever sincei assembled my first pc, it was AMD all the way.im a gamer and i dun see any performance differences from a C2D and my venice 3k at 2.2ghz so whats all the hoohaa that people have been talking about with the performance gap?

and im getting a k10 it seems, kind of itchy to get a new rig! and btw, funnyperson1 inspired me to limit my spendings to 150 on each component haha

[Skratch]

I took the jump and left AMD for intel,I was sick of buying different sockets and diff ram.I was with AMD from the get go with there 940pin reg ram setup.

Then I went to tru dual channel regular 939 and then amd was talking about way to many different sockets.AM2,AM2 +,then needing another board to fully suport ddr3 and the little socket F in the back of my mind was pushing me further away.

I don't know where some of you got your prices but I paid like 165 for my dfi 975 board and 320 for my e6600, this was back in 12/27/06

You can build a quad core now for 350...Intel is holding the best bang for the buck right now.I can't see anyone buying a barcelona over a q6600,enless the amd chips will be under 200 bucks.

[learners permit]

Man I thought I was the only one who thought the AN-35N Ultra was the best O/Cing board ever made. What a rippin AZZ board and I still have it on the shelf. Been pondering a single stage phase unit so I can make my Barton keep up with the shuttle.

[akaBruno]

THe AN-35N Ultra was a great cheap lil mofo. I still have a couple in action and a couple on the shelf. Still near and dear to my heart like my lil ASSROCK 939Dual Sata2 is right now.

And, a word of thanks to intel and all their fanboys... Thanks for making my dual core Opteron affordable. When C2D came out, prices dropped in half over nite. It was a blessing for me.

BRUNO

[funnyperson1]

SOMEONE GIVE HIM MORE MONEY PLEASE!

haha, well like everyone else, its price vs performance. ever sincei assembled my first pc, it was AMD all the way.im a gamer and i dun see any performance differences from a C2D and my venice 3k at 2.2ghz so whats all the hoohaa that people have been talking about with the performance gap?

and im getting a k10 it seems, kind of itchy to get a new rig! and btw, funnyperson1 inspired me to limit my spendings to 150 on each component haha

lol, glad to hear it, that little rule keeps me in check, really the best bang for buck for an overclocker is almost always at the low-midrange. Performance scales slower than price with CPUs, at least for general usage and gaming. Sure a Q6600 will kick arse in folding, but for everything else I do I can get 60-70% of the performance for a 1/4th the price with a low end X2.

Video cards are another story, but I would rather drop <$150 on a video card that plays every game on the market than pay twice as much to get slightly better settings and then loop 3DMark to make myself feel like I didn't just waste my money.

Man I thought I was the only one who thought the AN-35N Ultra was the best O/Cing board ever made. What a rippin AZZ board and I still have it on the shelf. Been pondering a single stage phase unit so I can make my Barton keep up with the shuttle.

Imho the AN35N is the greatest bang for buck board ever made. Mine did 235 out of the box, and with a tictac bios I remember hitting 250FSB. There are still AM2 boards that can't hit those speeds (the crippled bios low end MSI and Asus boards).

There was a guy on RebelsHaven that put phase change on his AN35N and hit 295FSB. I wondered what all the noise was about the NF7-S, I was like hay guys, this board is half the price and does close to the same speeds. Only real downside was lack of memory voltage, but that was a trivial mod (I never did it, my Value Select didn't react at all to voltage).

[Skratch]

guys don't forget the dfi nf4 ultra 939. I had mine over 320htt with my tccd sticks and up to over 260 1:1 1.5-2-2-5 with my BH5 sticks running on the 5 volt jumper,boy do I miss those days

[Bail_w]

i had my OCZ plat rev2 at 300 FSB 1:1 with my Opteron 146 @ 3.0ghz (300 x 10), and i actually need some skills to overclock back in the days. unlike now, even a no brainer can overclock on a asus board.

[clon22]

i had my OCZ plat rev2 at 300 FSB 1:1 with my Opteron 146 @ 3.0ghz (300 x 10), and i actually need some skills to overclock back in the days. unlike now, even a no brainer can overclock on a asus board.

I have to agree with what you say.
So true(Especially on the c2d).

[mAJORD]

couldn't give a rats arse what it does in superpi.

It was a good benchmark until about the time quads came along now it's a whole 3 threads too short to make it stand for anything.

[SLi_dog]

I've bought high end AMD, I've bought high end Intel. Even at budget levels both are a much of a muchness for price at their given performance levels.

I'll put my money where the performance is regardless of brand. I whole heartedly support competition but fanboi-ism just sucks, imho.

Also, I've just seen some Aussie pricing for the K10 Opterons and they're AUD$550 each so I'm not sure what all the "price/performance" talk is about.

But as caligula found out, this thread isn't really based on logical sentiments so to quote the best comment so far in this thread "I'm outta here. Enjoy your stay."

[akaBruno]

Oh Ye of little faith. heheheh

[mAJORD]

Also, I've just seen some Aussie pricing for the K10 Opterons and they're AUD$550 each so I'm not sure what all the "price/performance" talk is about.

Seems to be slightly more $$ than an E5335, which sounds pretty competitive to me

[PhilDoc]

I've bought high end AMD, I've bought high end Intel. Even at budget levels both are a much of a muchness for price at their given performance levels.

I'll put my money where the performance is regardless of brand. I whole heartedly support competition but fanboi-ism just sucks, imho.

Also, I've just seen some Aussie pricing for the K10 Opterons and they're AUD$550 each so I'm not sure what all the "price/performance" talk is about.

But as caligula found out, this thread isn't really based on logical sentiments so to quote the best comment so far in this thread "I'm outta here. Enjoy your stay."

I agree with some of the things you said. Certainly there's nothing wrong with going for the best performance.

As far as Fanboyism sucking, well I just believe in live and let live. As long as they don't bother anyone, why should you or I have any objection. Certainly not an insulting one. I fail to see why people take there opinions so personally. Just because someone disagrees doesn't make you or them wrong or an idiot. It's what makes the world go round.

The pricing of Barcelona seems to be below comparable Xeons. I would say thats falls right in line with the price/performance talk. But that's me.

As far as caligula, I hardly find that calling people numnuts or insinuating they don't have a brain, based on any type of logic. Anyone who has put forth a respectful argument has not been bothered

[LIKMARK]

Too many people are lacking both manners and respect for other peoples opinions and views, and in forums like these they have the courage to behave in a way they would't dare face to face. That is sad. For them.

[Morais]

Well i buy AMD because i will never buy Intel, because of the illegal tatics intel praticed all years ago.

[derektm]

I don't know why you guys are using SuperPi to justify... something? What makes you think people with Core 2 sit there and play a game of SuperPi all day? Core 2 just happens to do a lot of things better, like say, gaming performance.