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Although I can't say I've really been a diehard Intel loyalist, I have enjoyed my P4 rigs over the past few years. Also, I went from an Athlon XP setup to the P4, so It's not like I have never used AMD before. Well, this new rig is pretty sweet, and from having used it a couple of days I can safely say that the AMD Athlon 64 X2 series of chips is pretty awesome.

I went from:

P4 3.0c @ 3.6
Abit IC7 Max3
1gb PC4000 DDR
PNY 6800GT @ Ultra Speeds

To this:

A64 X2 4400+ @ 2.4 (stock heatsink for now)
DFI LanParty NF4 Ultra-DR
2gb PC4000 DDR
3dFuzion 7800GTX @ KO Speeds

The difference has been pretty substantial so far. Windows loads a good 2-3x times faster, all of my games load incredibly fast, and the relative smoothness while running multiple apps is great. The GTX allows me to enable 4x FSAA and 16x AF in pretty much every game (only FEAR runs a bit slow with these settings). My goal is to hit 2.6 on this chip with aftermarket air cooling (XP-120) and I'll be a happy camper. Also, this chip runs COOL when compared to the P4 I had before. My typical load temps w/ stock cooling are around 48C, compared to my P4 which was about 62C.

Gotta love dropping 1,200mHz which resulted in better perfomance.

Makes you wonder what Intel is doing with the 1.2Ghz.

sweet rig!

Originally posted by rogue
My goal is to hit 2.6 on this chip with aftermarket air cooling (XP-120) and I'll be a happy camper.

Try the silverstone nitrogon cpu cooler. With two 60mm fans the temps will woop the xp120. If your case doesnt have a good "front air intake" then the xp will be even steven. I fold non stop with full load temps of 50c with only two 120mm fans. One in the bottom front and one in the bottom rear (reverse atx case).

Originally posted by RubberDuckie
Gotta love dropping 1,200mHz which resulted in better perfomance.

Makes you wonder what Intel is doing with the 1.2Ghz.

Wow! There is that much difference between the chips?

That's the chip I've been lookin to get. Sounds like your not disapointed!!

what res where you running F.E.A.R in?

Originally posted by 123cool
what res where you running F.E.A.R in?

1600x1200 - the native rez of my LCD.

Originally posted by FanTum
That's the chip I've been lookin to get. Sounds like your not disapointed!!

Not at all, its a great chip. I was either going to get this or the cheaper X2 3800+, but I figure this will last me longer, so its definitely worth it in the end.