Is FX Worth all that money?

[JamesT]

I recently drew up a plan for a new computer and im not to sure wether it would be worth the extra £300 for the FX55 .

Im thinking im going to go with either the

AMD (San Diego) Athlon 64bit 4000+ - £261

OR

AMD Athlon 64 FX55 - £543

Will i notice a huge difference with the FX55?

Also could anyone recommend me some memory to go with those 2 and a DFI Lanparty nF4 SLI .

Cheers

[technobeast]

I'm not sure it's worth buying the more expensive CPU. Most average home users would go with a Athlon64 and I think it's OK. Of course it depends on what you expect to do with the machine, but again it should meet the demands.
About the RAM - Dual kit is a must for NF4. About the brand... hmm. I'll check the prices and post back.

[igalan]

From the reviews that I've seen (mostly at Tom's Hardware) you're much better with the 4000+. This CPU sometimes manages to outperform the FX55, and it's much cheaper.

But how about a x2 3800+? It's a dual core CPU much cheaper than the FX55, but in many circumstances will beat it. It's more expensive than the FX4000+ but I think it's a worh price. Current games do not benefit that much from a dual core, but the OS will run much responsively and running multiple aplications will greatly improve. On the long run software will be adapted, so that means longer life .

[JamesT]

IM probally going to buy a x2 4400 due to some very good reviews. Im also going to get a wd raptor 40GB and 2x512 corsair XMS ram. Anyone recommend me a good stable motherboard for that system. cheers. Cost is not an issue.

[igalan]

My Asus A8N Sli Deluxe is working great, but I would get the Premiun version if possible. The Premium version has a heat pipe for the chipset instead of the crappy fan of the Deluxe version. Also switching SLI modes is done in the BIOS instead of flipping over a card.

[technobeast]

Originally Posted by igalan

My Asus A8N Sli Deluxe is working great, but I would get the Premiun version if possible. The Premium version has a heat pipe for the chipset instead of the crappy fan of the Deluxe version.

The new Deluxe revision has much better fan. Barely hearable compared to the first one

[igalan]

I got a Zalman chipset cooler; as soon as the chipset fan noise becomes audible, I'll remove it .

BTW, something important, it seems that this Asus mobo only supports 3,3v PCI cards. Not a problem for me because I don't have any PCI card, but something worth considering if you have a TV tuner or something that requires 5v on the PCI bus.