PERFORMANCE Doom 3: CPU and Motherboard
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 FX53 (2.4GHz 1024K L2 cache)Motherboard: Abit AV8 (VIA K8T800 PRO)
Price: CPU - $825 shipped (Retail). Motherboard - $121 shipped
Performance CPU
For the best performance possible in Doom 3, the Athlon 64 FX53 is an easy choice. The FX53 tops all of the benchmarks in the Doom 3: CPU Battlegrounds review. This is also why the FX53 was our reference CPU in Doom 3 Graphics Deathmatch. The Athlon 64 is currently the fastest processor that you can buy, the Dual-Channel Socket 939 is the top-performing A64 Socket, and the FX is the fastest 939 processor. The FX series also has the distinction of being the only Athlon 64 processors that are completely unlocked. That means you can adjust multipliers both up and down, to obtain the highest possible speed at the fastest DDR400 memory timings, or to obtain the highest FSB that your high speed memory can run or your CPU can reach. Most FX53 that we have tested can easily reach 2.6GHz at default voltage with air cooling, and some do even better. This pegs performance at a clock speed that we won't see in a retail CPU until late this year.
Performance Motherboard
If we could find it for sale anywhere, our recommendation would have been the excellent MSI K8N Neo2, which was our Gold Editor's Choice in our recent Socket 939 Roundup: Battle at the Top. However, just as we were going to press, we received word of further delays in retail availability of the K8N Neo2. Quite frankly, after two months of recommending the K8N Neo2 and no one able to buy it, we are not going to recommend again a board that you can't buy today. The K8N Neo2 is a great board, if you are willing to wait for it, and the nForce3-250 chipset is a bit faster with an nVidia 6 series video card than VIA.Of the boards you can buy today, the Abit AV8 PRO and Asus A8V Rev. 2 were our Silver Editor's Choices in the Socket 939 roundup. The Asus Revision 2 is not yet in the market, but should be available in the next couple of weeks. The A8V that we have seen for sale are still the original revision, which performs quite well at stock, but does not have a completely reliable AGP/PCI lock. If overclocking doesn't matter, then the current A8V is an excellent choice, but if you want to overclock, wait for the A8V Revision 2.
The Abit AV8 is available today and is quite a value at $121. The AV8 performed very well in our Socket 939 roundup and will work very well with the FX53 and up to 4 Gigabytes of Dual-Channel memory. Even though the AV8 is one of the most reasonable Socket 939 motherboards that you can buy, it still includes Firewire ports, 6-channel on-board audio, and 2 SATA ports that support RAID. It also features one of the best selections of overclocking options that you will find on any Socket 939 board, so you can squeeze the most from your Doom 3 system.
For specifications and test results on the Abit AV8, please take a look at the AnandTech review at http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2128.
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Wesley Fink - Sunday, August 8, 2004 - link
#21 - A recent storage article said there was no need for RAID on the desktop. It did not say there was no need for Raptors. In fact the title of the first article using the new storage benchmarks was "WD Raptors vs. the World"Avalon - Sunday, August 8, 2004 - link
On another note, you just had an article a while ago saying that there are no need for Raptor HD's on a desktop system, yet you recommend it for the performance segment. May I ask why we should waste $175 on this drive when you yourselves said we had no need for it? Especially if the main goal of this rig is just to play Doom 3.Avalon - Sunday, August 8, 2004 - link
I'm most definitely complaining about value, not crap. Mainstream Doom 3, while higher than general, is definitely not that freaking high. Who would buy a Dell for a GAMING system? This guide is for those who BUILD there own, so Dell has absolutely nothing to do with this, nor do their horrendously expensive computers. For a mainstream Doom 3 experience, a 6800GT was quoted as being required. This is a $400 card that allows you to practically play the game at 16x12 with AF and AA. Are mainstream Doom 3 users going to run at this setting? No. Even the value recommendations will run Doom 3 at 12x10, no sweat. Value should be those looking to play the game, but not having to spend much money and not caring about high res and eye candy. This is why I dissagree with the recommendations and pricing. If you think I'm wrong, that's your opinion and I could care less. My own personal rig was about $800 with the monitor included, and it runs the game at 10x7 on high detail. I'd consider that more mainstream than what the value recommendations would get you.Pollock - Sunday, August 8, 2004 - link
May I ask what the point is of having a 12x DVD burner on a mainstream system devoted to playing Doom 3? And by the way, I agree with #1...this is just too much hype. Who would spend $1900 so that they could get "mainstream performance" on another $50 purchase?Myrandex - Saturday, August 7, 2004 - link
I agree with the CRT recommendations over a LCD. LCDs are coming to amazingly low response time, but I don't think I have ever seen one as good as a CRT. Good recommendations though. Maybe a 5900XT would be an even more value alternative, as I thought if I remmeber correctly it performed alright, overclcoekd a lot on average, and is pretty inexpensive.Randawl - Saturday, August 7, 2004 - link
It is pretty amazing that you can buy such a powerful system with such a fantastic video card for around $1000. Things have come quite far in such a short time.Zanfib - Saturday, August 7, 2004 - link
Good enough article, a few typos, but helpful. Still kinda hurts to know that even the value system recommends needs a new (almost next) generation video card, but I can't argue with the value price. $1000 for a pretty good system is quite acceptable.BornStar18 - Saturday, August 7, 2004 - link
It's a minor correction but you mention that the Chaintech VNF3-250 doesn't have GbE (correctly) in the article but in the table, you mention it has onboard 10/100/1000.Good article, I just wish I had $1000 to be able to play Doom3...
Wesley Fink - Saturday, August 7, 2004 - link
#10 - We had technical problems with posting today and I did not get to make final changes as usual before the review posted. In fact the Performance system does now have a 2GB memory recommendation since we finally found 1GB dimms that could still give us 1T Command Rates with timings that were still pretty decent. The Guide has been updated with the 2GB recommendation, the revised price, and several other planned edits.kmmatney - Saturday, August 7, 2004 - link
So looks like I'll be playing Doom3 around April 2005...Its been 10 years since Doom 2, so whats another year.