S 754 + Sempron gaming rig ...

PC Hardware & Gaming PC Building
1

Interesting article : “Building a low cost SLI gaming system” here :

http://www.motherboards.org/articles/guides/1486_1.html .

… I really looked closer at what was affordable and yet kick-ass enough to play the current FPS game F.E.A.R. …

… in many cases, games are CPU limited using SLI cards, so the need for an expensive CPU is really not as major of a factor in the systems configuration …

… Sempron and Celeron class CPUs, that often just get sour looks from people when you mention them, have all the firepower needed to play games when using VGA cards that the GPU does most of the graphics work for anyways …

The Motherboard: EPoX 8NPA+ SLI Socket 754 AMD
The CPU: AMD Socket 754 Sempron 3100+
The VGA Cards: Dual EVGA 6600GT 128MB

Performance :
3DMark06: 2441
3DMark05: 6173
3DMark03: 13828

Quake4
1024x768
no AA no AF: 79.0
4x AA 16x AF: 63.9

FEAR
1024x768
no AA no AF: 62
4x AA 16x AF: 33

2

I am building a similar rig for my bro based on a 2800+(to be oc’ed to atleast 2.0ghz),1.5gb ddr,ECS NF4-4X.
The SLi is not necessary as a single 6800GS or 7600GT can match the performance of two 6600Gts with ease.
The 256kb Palermos are essentially the same as S754 Venices and perform wonderfully when overclocked(almost all hit 2.2ghz+).

3

undertaker,
Let us know the performance benchmarks when complete. Should be interesting/useful.

4

Yup, 2*6600GT is a waste as it comsumes more power + more heat + more noise.

As Sid mentioned, a single 7600GT would be a lot better.

5

Where can i get this motherboard from:

EPoX 8NPA+ SLI Socket 754 AMD

I am looking to upgrade my A64 2800+ to PCI express platform with SLI functionality.

Problem is Epox is not available in India.

6

hmm i can make a decent gaming rig outa mine if i had a good graphics card
:stuck_out_tongue: any 7800 gs donations ??? BTW is 256 kb cache enough? coz i think the 512 kb cache on my cpu sucks

7

^ AMD procs arent that reliant on the amount of L2 cache they have, owing to the low latency the on-die memory controller provides for RAM access. The primary purpose of L2 cache is to serve as a low-latency storage medium, but the on-die mem controller does a good job complementing it.

512KB of L2 cache strikes the right balance, since going up to 1MB of L2 cache shows very minimal performance differences. However the difference in performance between 512K and 256K/128K L2 cache is notable enough.

  1. It would make better sense migrating to a Socket 939 (or Socket AM2) SLI platform instead. If you can afford an SLI setup, i’m sure you can afford the above 2 mentioned sockets as well :wink:

  2. SLI isn’t really worth it . Would make much better sense getting a single powerful card and upgrading to the next faster card as it is released.

8

hmm so how long do u guys think i can stick with my s754 setup …coz i have absolutely no upgrae plans for a long long time…:frowning:

9

a 7600GT definitely over a 6600GT … much better at newer games …

10

EPOX in india ? anyone ? :-0

11

^ Ain’t available chum.

AFAIK, the only Epox’s that got here were through Darklord’s hands - how he works his magic, I do not know :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

12

A 6600GT can play FEAR @ 1024*768 med, but over that the performance may not be that great. I have seen many benchamrks and have seen them fail, when it comes to practical, you play yourslef and decide.