help with CPUs

i think im about to build a PC and want some help with CPU and MoBo's
from what i have seen an AMD processor has more power for less money.
im mainly going to be using the computer for watching/burning dvds, tv, and other video stuff.
this will also be my computer for collage for 2006/07.
i have been looking at the AMD 64, i heard they were on the higher end of things.
mainly looking at the AMD 64 3000,~$110, which i found to be compairable to a Pentium 4 3.2GHz Processor.
i also hear of the CPU with 939 pin sets, i was wondering if it gave a great performance boost(939 pin on the AMD 64 3500,~$340)

really just looking for the best Mobo/CPU that plays dvd/tv.

 

im now looking at the
amd 64 3000 ~$160
amd 64 3400 ~$286

found that there compaired to a
Pentium 4 3.2Ghz and
Pentium 4 3.4GHz

and the amd 3400 is about equal with the amd 64 3500
though it dosn't have the 939 pin set.

is a 939 pin set important or can i get by for the next 4 years or so with a 7something or other pin set.
also is AMD 64 3000 easy to upgrade from one CPU to another, say two years down the road i want a performance boost and get a 3400, will i have to upgrade MoBo and power suply and other stuff, or just a simple CPU switch.

 

If you are looking at a 752 pin AMD 64, I would suggest instead going with an Athlon XP and nForce 2 motherboard with dual channel RAM. True 64 bit OSes and applications will not be around for at least a few years. You could get much more bang for the buck with an Athlon XP 3000+ Barton w/ 400Mhz FSB, a reliable motherboard (such as an Abit NF7-S, or Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe, or Gigabyte's, or MSI's comparable board) and 512Mb-1Gb of Dual Channel DDR 400 RAM.

 

"also is AMD 64 3000 easy to upgrade from one CPU to another, say two years down the road i want a performance boost and get a 3400"

P.S. - upgrading processors that are so close together in performance is practically a waste of money. You'd see next to no real increase in speed.

 

how would those specs compair with a AMD athlon 64 3000 with whatever MoBo and a 1Gb single channel memory?

i have heard alot of people talking about how they overclock a xp 2500 to a xp 3200. what could you overclack a xp 3000+ to?.

BUT ALL THINGS ASIDE WHAT'S THE FASTEST CPU/MOBO I CAN GET FOR THE USE OF BURNING AND WATCHING VIDEO????

 

I have a Compaq with an AMD athlon 2600+ with an MSI 6390 mobo with 1GB of PC2700 memory and I have no problems watching video/TV or burning a DVD while surfing and watching TV and not a coaster yet. I hope this gives you some basis of performance comparison

 

do you know how well each of the set-ups will do
is the 64 worth the extra $100 for more of a longterm CPU

 

"do you know how well each of the set-ups will do
is the 64 worth the extra $100 for more of a longterm CPU"

IMO, no. By the time that 64-bit processors actually become useful, (with 64 bit operating systems and applications) you'll be able to get a much better processor and motherboard for the same amount of money.

"BUT ALL THINGS ASIDE WHAT'S THE FASTEST CPU/MOBO I CAN GET FOR THE USE OF BURNING AND WATCHING VIDEO????"

These are not particularly processor intensive operations. Writing DVDs is solely limited to the speed of your burner, no matter if you have an Athlon XP 2000+ or an Athlon 64 3200+. You would need a very slow processor to bottleneck your DVD burning. What matters is the speed of your DVD burner and the speed of the media you are burning the data onto. As for watching videos, the same thing goes, any processor out right now will be able to do DVD and video file playback without any problems whatsoever.

 

so what would be an advantage of going with the 64 3000?
would it just speed up your daily computer activities, like word processing.
i know it would have better benchmarks for gaming..wouldn't it??

 

Everything that has been suggested so far is better than what I'm running now, so you can't go wrong with any of it. By the time 64-bit software becomes commonplace, the AMD 64 3000/3400 will probably be pretty dated. Here is better advice than what I'd give:
Originally Posted by Wyatt_Earp
If you are looking at a 752 pin AMD 64, I would suggest instead going with an Athlon XP and nForce 2 motherboard with dual channel RAM. True 64 bit OSes and applications will not be around for at least a few years. You could get much more bang for the buck with an Athlon XP 3000+ Barton w/ 400Mhz FSB, a reliable motherboard (such as an Abit NF7-S, or Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe, or Gigabyte's, or MSI's comparable board) and 512Mb-1Gb of Dual Channel DDR 400 RAM.

 

"so what would be an advantage of going with the 64 3000?
would it just speed up your daily computer activities, like word processing.
i know it would have better benchmarks for gaming..wouldn't it??"

Word processing? not really, there isn't anything to speed up. If Word loads up in 2.5 seconds with an Athlon XP 2000+, then it might load up in 2.2 seconds with an Athlon 64. There really wouldn't be any advantage there.

As far as gaming, yes, you would get a few more frames per second, but if that's what you are looking to do, I'd suggest taking the $100 you save on the processor and put it into the video card since that will give you a better performance gain.

 

so that would be a great system for more than a few years..
i thought windows already used some 64-bit applications though. how long before this becomes a mainsteam.

and what decides a systems speed, such as start-ups, loading programs, ect.? is it the memory, or the (processor, high FSB, higher L1cache) i hear all these terms on how the computer gets and sends and recives its information (another being hyperthreading by intel) but what would i be looking for for a "fast" computer.

 

One last thing before I go to bed:

If you want to get an Athlon 64 processor, by all means, go ahead. They are great processors and will do anything that their 32-bit counterparts can do, and do it a little bit faster. They are the next step in the evolution of computer processing power. However, don't get it because you want your DVD to play more smoothly (because it won't), and don't get it to speed up your DVD burning (because it won't), or to speed up loading of Word or Excel (because it won't, at least not $100 worth IMO). Get it because it is a new technology, it's fun to play with and because you can brag about it to your friends. Until 64-bit OSes and Apps become available, they really aren't all that much better than the 32-bit Athlon XPs.

 

"so that would be a great system for more than a few years..
i thought windows already used some 64-bit applications though. how long before this becomes a mainsteam."

I wouldn't say 'more than a few years'. It just depends on what you want to do. Gaming is probably the most taxing operation for a computer, and any gaming system will be outdated in 2-3 years. As far as playing DVDs and burning DVDs, that system will be fine for that for, I'd guess, the next 5-10 years as long as you keep the DVD drive up to date.

Windows does not use any 64-bit apps, because Windows XP is a 32-bit operating system. And some people say at least 3-5 years before there is a 64-bit Windows for home users.

"and what decides a systems speed, such as start-ups, loading programs, ect.? is it the memory, or the (processor, high FSB, higher L1cache) i hear all these terms on how the computer gets and sends and recives its information (another being hyperthreading by intel) but what would i be looking for for a "fast" computer."

All those things go into making a computer load up fast; faster RAM, faster processor, L1/2 cache, and FSB speed. It's just a question of how much you want to spend and how fast you want it to be... My suggestion is:
an Athlon XP processor with a 400Mhz FSB
an Abit NF7-S or Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe
and 512Mb-1Gb of Cas 2 latency DDR 400 RAM from a namebrand mfr. (such as Kingston, Corsair, OCZ, or Crucial are some good ones)

Night...

 

WindowsXP does have a 64-bit version. How does it work with current 64-bit processerors, I don't know. Don't have the processor yet. But what is the real benefit of 64-bit processors? Does it just allow for more memory addriesses by having a 64 bit memory bus? Or is there "real" performance boost other than higher clock speeds.

 

"WindowsXP does have a 64-bit version."

I believe it's only in Beta with very little driver support.

"But what is the real benefit of 64-bit processors?"

Theoretically, it allows for twice the amount of data to be passed into and out of the processor at one time. However, no one really will know what the practical increase in performance will be until 64-bit OSes and Apps become readily available.

 

i just heard on the screen savers that new processors will use the 939 pin set
and the older 752 pin sets will fade out.

would it be worth it to buy the 939 pin set for easier upgrades to future CPU's
or get a highend 752 pin set(or one that would be compairable) and wait for the 939 pin sets to drop in price in the next 2 years.

 

ok, now as far as the performance goes... doesn't the data path really determine how much the processor can handle? and thats already at 64bit.

 

whats the data path.
i just rewatched the screen savers, and they said that if you want to upgrade your processor in a year or so, go with the 939 pin set, because the new processors will follow that.
my question to that now is, if i get the 75something like an xp 3000 or 2600 would i have to replace the MoBo CPU cooling and all that stuff if i wanted to upgrade to a faster processor?
because right now overclocking a 2600 or 3000 is really the highest you can go without going into the 64bit processors. and buying a 64 bit processor right now would sort of be a wast of money, unless its a 939 pin set. Right???

 

"ok, now as far as the performance goes... doesn't the data path really determine how much the processor can handle? and thats already at 64bit."

I'm not quite sure I follow, but if you are talking about the 64-bit processors, then no. The operating system needs to pass 64-bits worth of data into the processor in order to get full use of a 64-bit bandwidth...

 

IMO 64 bit Processor are a waste of money right now UNLESS u are a Hardcore Gamer with a Big Budget. When the non beta version of 64 bit windows comes out and ur freind gets a new AMD 64 State of the art at that time...ull get laughed at. BTW if u really want a 64 bit processor u could look at Apples G5 Processor there 64bit and Apple computers are generally better when doing anything with video and music. Like Editing. I dunno if theres a proformance boost for watchin DvD's < not a whole lot too that.