is it worth getting an Athlon 64 right now?

[seanjuan]

I'm in the market for a new computer and want something that is going to be very good for video editing and at the same time stay under the $2000 price tag....

I found a site monarch computers that puts together custom systems and flashes the bios and runs diags for 24 hrs and stuff before they ship to ensure the computer is up and running and they also offer a 3year part and labor for $50

I set up a relly sweet system with an Athlon 64, 1gig of memory, 240gig of Seagate HD [too bad I can't get an employee discount on the drives], and a nice 128mb video card and dvd burner for $2046 {no monitor}

seems like a good deal to me but I'm not sure if it's really worth getting the 64 chip because I don't know home much software is out there that would actually benefit from having a 64 bit processor and so most of the time it would be just doing 32 bit processing and then I might as well save a little money and buy a dedicated 32 bit like a 2.8 gig P4 with HT

anyway, any of you have appinions about processors?

 

[phunky.buddha]

If you're buying a new system and really need the power, maybe- but you're going to need to run a 64bit OS and get the 64bit software to really take advantage of it. I would recommend you get a P4 HT or a higher level AXP if you're worried about cash- especially since the software really isn't out there to take advantage of the A64 yet. The only real world advantage it has right now is slightly different pipelining and a larger cache.

I doubt that Monarch could actually get the CPU to you immediately anyway- the A64 is mostly a paper launch right now, along with the P4 EE.

 

[liquid00meth]

noone has 64bit software yet, however XP64 (64 bit windows XP) is coming out soon I guess.

 

[seanjuan]

that is pretty much what i figured

I think i'll either go with a AXP 3000 or a 2.8 P4 with HT

I can save a few hundred bucks that way and use that for a monitor

this is my dad's money by the way, he want me to put a good computer together for him
I wish I had 2k to spend right now

 

[phunky.buddha]

Just get a P4 2.4C and overclock the hell out of it.

 

[CRX-YEM]

I'd say it ain't worth it right now until there is more support for it.
and the prices come down. Then it'll be worth every penny.

 

[phunky.buddha]

Originally posted by CRX-YEM@Oct 2 2003, 03:35 PM
and the prices come down.

 

[liquid00meth]

dual p4s y0