Hi all! I need some upgrade advice. as you can see, my current system is an old athlon XP but i have a [still pretty decent] geforce 7800 GS AGP which i bought last spring when the prices came down a little. I bought the 7800 GS AGP knowing that motherboards such as the Asrock 939 dual PCIe/AGP existed... with the intentions of getting one of these, so I could keep the 7800, while getting a newer generation CPU later (which happens to be now). The CPU that i get right now, I will need to keep for about 2 years (I can never afford to get more than 1 component at once, usually it is once a year, I leapfrog between graphics and cpu)... The most appealing looking CPU right now to me is the athlon 64 x2 4800+ as it appears to be the fastest 939 processor, which means i could keep my current RAM and only spend between $300 - $350 total if you include the asrock (which are a little hard to find these days, but they can be had on ebay). My question is: is this a good upgrade option? I only have about $350 max to spend. I have been a fan of AMD since way back (the k6 days when they were an underdog to intel) and I don't know much about intel platforms. The only thing I have heard is a bunch of people saying that core 2 duo is the current gaming platform of choice, which is such the reverse of 1 year ago. if you do recommend intel, are there any motherboards that support both AGP and pci-e? Or would I have to scrap the graphics card as well? thanks for the advice!
Intel E6300 and ECS P4M800Pro-M V2 http://shop1.outpost.com/product/4970051?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG http://shop1.outpost.com/product/4893640?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG
looks sweet, except the mobo doesn't have pci express. i need it to have pci-e for when i upgrade video card next year. I had NO idea that you could use regular DDR ram on intel platforms though .... i thought it used some kind of proprietary rambus crap? So... you are telling me, this $179 cpu will out-perform a $250 x2 4800+ , AND i can still use my same RAM? sweet deal if i can find a motherboard with agp and pci-e
This board from Asrock (Socket 775) supports both AGPx8 and PCI-e x16. http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=775Dual-VSTA&s=775
yeah i did a little searching and found that as well. also looked at some memory comparison benchmarks and the difference between DDR1 at 333 and DDR2 667 is like , a couple of FPS max in games... I'M SOLD!!!! E6400 AND ASROCK DUAL 775 HERE I COME!!!!
yup, i just noticed that too from this review http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2814 rendering the motherboard useless for upgrading to a better graphics card ... :frown: decisions, decisions ... i'm not sold anymore and still thinking about AMD. i have NO idea!
Then go for AMD. They're still solid processors that will play everything. Especially coupled with that video card.
but now that i think about it... there will be wasted money either way. the question is rather to waste it right now, or waste it later. the 4800+ is more than the e6400, and that's not even including the heatsink/fan for the 4800+. i could probably save $50 just by getting the e6400 the asrock dual intel chipset motherboard is only about $60, whereas the asrock dual amd chipset boards are rare everywhere, and going for about $90 on ebay... that's another 30 dollars wasted right there. $80 more just to get AMD right now and still have crappier performance, when i could just get intel right now, have the better performance.... and use the saved $80 to get a better motherboard at the time of next graphics card purchase. i can't find the smiley with the little light bulb icon but that's what i am feeling right now!
Just going for a socket 939 system would give an incredibly big boost because of dualchannel and hypertransport. Socket 939 mobo and 3800+ X2 would be the best solution if any. And then get 2x1gb ram and sell those you got Even if you bought a new system now you would still need at least 2gb ram in order to play at full quality in games. Even gf6800gt, nforce2 and 3200+ barton, which was my old system, could easily use 2gb ram and run nicely. And remember, you also need a better psu. At least 450w. A proper PSU like seasonic is recommended.
WTF!!! It has to do with that VIA chipset. I'm sure of it. :frown: The ULi chipset on my board can run PCI-e x 16 without problems. Thanks for the warning.
you could just buy a 4600+ for 199 and clock it up a mere 217x12 is 2.6ghz which would be like a 939 5000+ and you dont need to buy anything more, just that,and even at stock clocks a 4600+ is no slouch at 2.4ghz.an opteron 170 is 193 and would prolly go beyond even that.i just know i wouldnt put over 200 bux into a 939 cpu right now, last spring maybe yeah, but not now
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E4300 1.8GHz 800MHz 2MB LGA775 CPU, OEM - $163.77 ASRock 775Dual-VSTA LGA775/ PT880Pro/ DDR&DDR2/ PCI-E&AGP/ A&L/ATX Motherboard - $55.50 Total Price: $219.27 Performance Intel Core 2 Duo E4300: Affordable and Highly Overclockable Cheaper Core Micro-Architecture: Core 2 Duo E4300 CPU Review ASRock 775Dual-VSTA Motherboard Review ASRock Core 2 Duo: AGP/PCI Express Graphics Performance, Part Tres DDR Memory Performance on Core 2 Duo Memory Performance on Core 2 Duo
Correct. However the performance penalty isn't debilitating and it would be suitable for use until the necessary funds are procured for the upgrade to a superior motherboard and the requisite DDR2 memory at a later date. Alternatively: Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E4300 1.8GHz 800MHz 2MB LGA775 CPU, OEM - $163.77 (ResellerRatings) ECS P4M890T-M2 (V1.0B) MATX VIA P4 775 Motherboard - $49.98 (ResellerRatings) 8300 GT: 32 SP, core 500 MHz, memory 1200 MHz, 256 MB, 128-bit - $99.00 Total Price: $312.75
I would save your money as your current system is outdated anyway......save for an all new one......Prices are constantly going down anyway
