Which AMD chip would you recommend for those of us who won't use Intel chips for stupid religious reasons?

Are the X4 (??50 series) chips worth the cost premium over the X3 chips?
perlhaqr | Email | Homepage | 08.26.08 - 10:14 am | #

I too like the Coolermaster cases - I wanted to get one of their skyscraper like "Stacker STC-01" cases, but I think they've been discontinued.
HTRN | Email | Homepage | 08.26.08 - 12:13 pm | #

Chris, you are the man!!!
Is there anything you don't know? Guns, a/c units, machining, cooking, and of course computers. Anything you turn your mind to, you seem to master (or at least grasp the fundamentals very quickly).
You are truly a blessing.
JP | Email | Homepage | 08.26.08 - 12:37 pm | #

I have one followup question: having read your article last year re: SLI/CrossfireX, and why it's not really useful because of the limitations of standard LCD monitors, does that opinion still hold with current HD monitors (HDCP capable LCD monitors with HDMI input)?
JP | Email | Homepage | 08.26.08 - 2:08 pm | #

Monitors haven't changed a bit in the last year and neither have games.

Next year maybe.
Chris Byrne | Email | Homepage | 08.26.08 - 2:39 pm | #

chris, i cant argue with anything you said there... though i would add, that if you are interested in system performance, replace the 500gig OS drive with a 150Gig raptor...

i have the p180 case myself and i swear by it
chris | Email | Homepage | 08.26.08 - 2:59 pm | #

I got a CoolerMaster relatively-cheap case to quiet down my server/router machine and am happy.

I second the suggestion of the P18x series Antecs, as well; they're very nice and very quiet (assuming a quiet CPU fan, and ideally a silent video card...).
Sigivald | Email | Homepage | 08.26.08 - 4:17 pm | #

Chris,

Most people aren't going to bother. I mean if you REALY want top performance go to a pair of 15,000 rpm 146 gig FC drives; but the $1400 it'll cost to do so (including controller) puts people off.

The performance difference going from a 7200rpm to a 10k hard drive is there, but barely noticeable in comparison to most other performance enhancements.
Chris Byrne | Email | Homepage | 08.26.08 - 7:41 pm | #

Perlhaqr, the ONLY AMD processor that seems worthwhile from a price/performance perspective, at least in the consumer markets, is the 9600.

At $150 for a 2.4ghz quad core; for some workloads it will be a very good choice; and better than many equivalent price dual coares from Intel.

Also, any of the sub $100 AMD processors are excellent value at this point; but if you're going to go that cheap, there's no point in building your own box.
Chris Byrne | Email | Homepage | 08.26.08 - 8:00 pm | #

Question on cases.....is there one (or a way to modify one) that will do a better job at keeping cat hair out? Right now I'm opening my case up once a month to remove quantities of cat hair. Drives me nuts. I suppose its not an entirely related question, but you have enough animals yourself you might have an answer for me!
Ruth | Email | Homepage | 08.26.08 - 8:10 pm | #

Yes, buy a case designed to be very quiet, and that has heavy duty filters on the OUTSIDE of the case.
Chris Byrne | Email | Homepage | 08.26.08 - 8:14 pm | #

Do you have any opinions on TV tuners? I'm thinking of adding a second tuner to my media center box because current Hauppauge tuner does do ATSC and when home from school I only have access to over the air broadcasts.
M | Email | Homepage | 08.26.08 - 8:52 pm | #

I don't know if this is worth mentioning, or even 100% true any more, but from my own personal experience I've found that ATI has pretty shitty linux support. At least, compared to Nvidia.

So for those .0001% of you like me who feel like playing NWN on your linux box, heads up.
Seeks | Email | Homepage | 08.27.08 - 8:03 am | #

Modular power supplies are a good recommendation I would add to that they probably need to look at some other factors as well. I'd recommend that the power supply has dual +12V rails and is a high efficiency (80 Plus). I've seen some pretty skeezy power supplies that sell for $150 simply because they have flashy LEDs and fans. Also there is s direct correlation between the weight of a power supply and its quality.
dpatten | Email | Homepage | 08.27.08 - 10:43 am | #

Also take note... If you do get the antec p series cases, you have to make sure that you have a power supply that has a long enough 4 pin power cable to reach from the P/S to the motherboard. A lot of the power supplies do not have a long enough cable.
chris | Email | Homepage | 08.27.08 - 7:13 pm | #

I have an Antec Nine Hundred case that has very similar layout to the Cosmos, without the front door (Hate them). Being all 120mm or 200mm fans lets you run them at low RPMs for similar throughput, and thus less noise; the default front/rear 120mm's have blue LEDs for bling factor; probably bad if you sleep in same room with it.

Re: cat hair, the front case intake fans seem to collect most of the cat hair on the grillwork, every now and then I run my fingers around and collect it and throw it away. There seems to be some space, and I've been tempted to pick up some better filters to slide in front of the intakes to catch what the screen doesn't. My cat and 2 dogs seem to leave short hairs everywhere like it's their job.
Raptor | Email | Homepage | 08.28.08 - 1:48 am | #