VALUE Doom 3: CPU and Motherboard
CPU: AMD Sempron 3100+ (256K cache, Socket 754) $120OR AMD Athlon 64 2800+ (12k Cache, Socket 754) $147
Motherboard: Chaintech VNF3-250 (nForce3-250)
Price: CPU - $120 ($147) shipped. Motherboard - $83 shipped
Value CPU
We finally reach the point in our Doom 3 Buyers Guide where we are sweating nickels. Our Value goal was to put together the best Doom 3 gaming system that we possibly could for as little money as possible. We hoped we could do that for about $1000, but we weren't sure it could be done.
The new Sempron 3100+ certainly helps us out with a Value Doom 3 system. As you saw in our CPU tests with Doom 3, the 3100+ actually outperforms the Pentium 4 3.2 Northwood in Doom 3 performance, at a very reasonable $120. The Sempron 3100+ is also Socket 754, so at least you have some place to go with future processors if you start with the Sempron. Frankly, the Sempron processors are just now entering the market and they're a little hard to find, but AMD tells us that the pipelines will start to fill later his month. This is the reason why we listed an alternate CPU.
The 2800+ is very easy to find; in fact, you can find it in many places with the retail AMD heatsink fan for a little less than $150. The 2800+ also moves you up the food chain with double the on-chip cache to 512k. As you saw in the CPU performance charts in the Doom 3 CPU comparison, the 2800+ moves you up near the performance level of the Prescott 3.4E and the 3.2EE in Doom 3. This gain in performance comes at a cost increase of just $27 over the Sempron 3100.
Either the Sempron 3100+ or the A64 2800+ will make a great heart for a Value Doom 3 system. Either of them far out-distance the Athlon XP processors, and the middle of the current Pentium 4 line. The naming is very confusing, but the 3100+ is actually a little slower than the 2800+. The Sempron was named to compete with Celerons, which have high numbers, but lower performance than other P4 chips at the same speed. Both the Sempron 3100+ and A64 2800+ run at 1.8GHz, but the Sempron has half the cache. The Sempron also does not have 64-bit capabilities, but it is otherwise the same as other A64 processors. Doom 3 is not 64-bit, so the Sempron is a great choice to save about $30 in a Doom 3 value system.
Value Motherboard
The Chaintech VNF3-250 won an Editor's Choice in our Socket 754 roundup for one simple reason - it displays screaming performance at a bargain price. Chaintech designed the VNF3-250 around the latest nForc3-250 chipset for performance, but they chose the basic nF3-250 chipset to save money. This means that the Chaintech does not support nVidia on-chip LAN or Firewall. However, Chaintech made the right use of the basic 250 chipset here because the Chaintech is the only nF3-250 board that we know about that sells for around $80 to $85.
You get all the upgrade nF3-250 performance, and a superb selection of overclocking controls, including a very wide selection of memory, chipset, processor, and AGP voltages. Chaintech also includes Memory Ratios below the rated CPU ratio and a CPU Clock Frequency range from 200 to 400. When all is said and done, the Chaintech VNF3-250 is the perfect motherboard for a value system that performs like the best - with overclocking capabilities that will not leave you wishing for more.
Listed below is part of our RealTime pricing engine, which lists the lowest prices available on the AMD CPUs from many different reputable vendors:
If you cannot find the lowest prices on the products that we've recommended on this page, it's because we don't list some of them in our RealTime pricing engine. Until we do, we suggest that you do an independent search online at the various vendors' web sites. Just pick and choose where you want to buy your products by looking for a vendor located under the "Vendor" heading.
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wjh - Monday, September 13, 2004 - link
Hello, and thanks alot for such a great article! I am currently doing the research to build an FX-53 system with 2 Gb of memory.I'm having trouble locating the OCZ memory that you describe-- it could not be found on pricewatch, so I went to the vendor's site and found this:
2GB Dual Channel Kit PN- OCZ4002048EBDCPE-K
but it has these timings:
CL 2.5-3-2-8
(CAS-TRCD-TRP-TRAS) Available in 512MB (2x256MB), 1GB (2x512MB) and 2GB (2x1GB) Dual Channel Optimized Kits
and you specified default timings of 2.5-2-3.
Did you really mean 2.5-3-2, or do I have the wrong part?
I would appreciate your help in finding the right 2 Gb kit, hopefully at a decent price.
Thanks alot!
MAME - Wednesday, August 11, 2004 - link
You guys are being too critical of the article. $1,000 is a lot for a value system for general use, but this article is about getting a system that can play the highest demanding game DECENTLY.With that in mind, $1,000 is actually a good price for most of the hardware (minus the actual game).
$280 for the 6800 is a lot but that's the price you gotta pay for top of the line performance these days. It's only $80 more than the 9800 pro, and has almost twice the performance.
Wesley, you did a good job with the choices for the most part. Don't worry about these guys.
archcommus87 - Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - link
I agree for the most part with what Anandtech has posted here. True, it seems ridiculous that the value system has a nearly $300 video card, however it doesn't say budget, it says value, and they really are just trying to list the best bang for the buck.For the record though, I'm running an Athlon XP 2100+ overclocked to 2800+ speeds, 1 GB of cheapo memory and a 9800 Pro at stock speeds, and I'm running the game at usually 20-25 FPS or higher at 10x7 res, high settings, 6x AA and 16x AF.
link130 - Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - link
Wesley Fink, think carefully before your responseActually even if we use YOUR definition of the term "value" of performance/price. a modest overclock of an 2400+ xp-M is about 2.4ghz while a modest overclock of a 2800+ A64 is 2.0ghz.
the A64 costs 2x the AXP while by extrapolating the AXP cpu graphs from this site, you can expect them to perfrom within 5fps in doom 3. still a good value for this game?
I actually get an average of around 40 fps at 800x600 medium quality with all the effects on except aa and vsync. in real gameplay on my 2.4ghz AXP-Bobile with a $50 ti4200 64mb @ 300/600 and cheap 512 ddr400 ram. after tweaking the cache settings in the cfg file, the game runs very smooth (almost no jerking effect even opening doors). now THAT is real value.
TrogdorJW - Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - link
I'm actually playing D3 reasonably well on an Athlon XP 2.3 GHz (2500+ XP-M OC) with 1 GB RAM and a 9800 Pro. Still, 1024x768 HQ can be a bit choppy.Honestly, though, timedemo is NOT the way to determine gaming performance. Especially since the timedemo in Doom 3 disables audio. Yes, it's repeatable, but that doesn't make it accurate. And if the AI is actually running during a timedemo, I would be surprised. If you want to give a real recommendation for system performance, you probably need to use a utility like FRAPS and play through an entire level of the game, then report low, average, and high FPS. But then that would take a lot longer.
I also have to wonder how the lack of sound comes into play with the RAM use, as sound effects can chew up a decent amount of RAM. The benchmarking method (run timedemo 3 times and report the highest or average of the last two, I think?) would also negate the advantage of having more RAM. I know the first time I run the timedemo, even with 1 GB RAM, there is a lot of hard drive use and the average FPS is usually 25% or so less than on subsequent runs. In real gameplay, you don't continually rerun the exact same sequence, so you don't always get the benefit of cached data.
But all that's a bit off topic. The main thing is, the recommendations are pretty good, if expensive. I would think that a current Athlon XP system with a high end video card would go a long way to reaching good performance, if that's what you want. If you're building a new machine, the 9800 Pro isn't the best choice, but if you already have one (I do), I'm not sure it's worth $300 or $400 to upgrade to the 6800/GT.
And for you ATI people, I have to wonder how this will affect things:
http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1487...
MercenaryForHire - Monday, August 9, 2004 - link
Doom 3 is playable on ANYTHING.http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=...
Now quit bitching and play. :P
- M4H
Jbog - Monday, August 9, 2004 - link
#45 Runamile, what do you mean by "very playable" and "just fine?" Maybe you could put that into terms that we can all understand, such as FPS and Image Quality? Otherwise your remarks have no objective quality.Runamile - Monday, August 9, 2004 - link
I too also agree that $1000 for a value system is a little steep. It probally should of been around $700 IMHO.But thats cool. Ive already beaten D3 on an AMD 2200+, 512MB 2100, and ATI 8500 128MB. With it all @ 1024x768 w/o bump mapping, the system was very playable and looked just fine. And that rig will run about $350 these days.
Momental - Monday, August 9, 2004 - link
I'd also like a little clarification as to why the 3400+ was recommended over the 3500+. True, the former is cheaper than the latter and actually seems to offer a wee bit better performance, in some cases. However, having a 939-based system allows one to merely upgrade a processor, should they become less expensive rather than replacing the board and the processor. Yes? No? I'm new to all this, so bear with me. ;)Fantastic article, by the way!!
Kung Lau - Monday, August 9, 2004 - link
"The purpose of this Doom 3 Buyer's Guide is take all that we've learned in these reviews and make some basic recommendations for a killer Doom 3 system. Since desires, designs, and pocketbooks are different, you will find three recommendations here - Performance, Mainstream, and Value."It's almost like Wesley saw all these comments coming...
Value= 2004 Honda Civic for $12,000k
Budget= 1967 Volkswagon Beetle for $200.00
They will both get you from point A to point B, but I would hardly consider them synonymous, except for both being vehicles.
I can put together a system for under $800 using Newegg too, but I won't know what works well together for Doom 3 (specifically) until I've assembled the system after delivery. If something doesn't mesh or isn't quite up to par, I would have to send it back for another part.
I think the recommended lists provides for a basic groundwork to build from. Many will have different variations on the builds.
People take stuff too seriously around here.
And btw, I, along with many others here on Anandtech, bought a Dell 4600 system with 9800pro for GAMING for under $500 without monitor (had already) from the Hot Deals forum a while back when the deals were outrageous.