Trying to decide if I should upgrade everything!

[Yatenkaiohu]

Hi guys I was wondering if I could get some advice since you all are very helpful here. I've been thinking about going Core duo and Christmas but I don't really wanna pull out the cash for it. I just got a new video card and I don't really see if being pulled down to much by my 3200+. I can't seem to OC it so I'm stuck at 2.1ghz. Well anyways.. I want to go Core duo so I'll be set for the future. But I really don't wanna spend 800 bucks on new computer stuff seeing as I just got a new motherboard. I'm thinking about just buying another stick of ddr400 ram and buying a better processor for my 939 socket motherboard. What would you guys recommend to do? Stay with the 939 socket for another year or upgrade to Conroe at Christmas? Alright any ones help is greatly appreciated as always.


Oh and Sorry if some of this didn't make sense I'm really out of it today.

[XJnine]

What are the full specs of your current system?

[Yatenkaiohu]

What are the full specs of your current system?

Amd athlon 3200+ running at 2.1ghz (That's as high as I can get it :(..)
Asus A8N-E Motherboard.
One gig of patriot ddr400 ram.
Rosewill 550w dual 12v power supply.
Radeon x1900xt 256mb.
Western digital Caviar SE.
Sound Blaster X-FI.

[DragonMaster]

I'm thinking about just buying another stick of ddr400 ram and buying a better processor for my 939 socket motherboard.
That sounds good.

[Yatenkaiohu]

That sounds good.


Well you think it if I get a 4800+ and a new stick of ram it will last me another year and keep me up to date with games?

[DragonMaster]

If I tell you that my Athlon XP 2000 would run every games I found with a newer video card, do you think that an X2 4800 will work long enough? :wink:

Upgrading seems interesting, but at the same time, you can get a Core 2 E6300, a mobo and 2x512MB sticks for ~$500 I believe.

Do you have only one 1GB stick? To get the best performance, you should run twin kits, or at least the same model twice. This way, your RAM access speed will be twice as fast, since there are two RAM channels on DDR motherboards.

[Yatenkaiohu]

If I tell you that my Athlon XP 2000 would run every games I found with a newer video card, do you think that an X2 4800 will work long enough? :wink:

Upgrading seems interesting, but at the same time, you can get a Core 2 E6300, a mobo and 2x512MB sticks for ~$500 I believe.

Do you have only one 1GB stick? To get the best performance, you should run twin kits, or at least the same model twice. This way, your RAM access speed will be twice as fast, since there are two RAM channels on DDR motherboards.


Yeah I only have one 1GB stick. I think I'll go Core 2 duo when it's cheaper. I like to buy the best I can get and that would cost me around 800 to 1000 bucks. Going to try and find some 4800+ vs E6300 benchmarks.

[markkleb]

I am not thinking that there is too much difference between 4800 and 4400.

Also your mobo is probably whats holding ur CPU from OCing, so going to a 4800 wont help as much as you think.(also depends on the Model of memory)

I would probably stay with what you have and save up for Conroe later (after Xmas there will be better deals and big changes)

[tomato]

Yeah, I gotta agree with markkleb there... a newer CPU and/or RAM won't give you that much of a performance gain... just wait it out til after Xmas if you can ;) Most likely newer hardware will have been released :)

[Kougar]

Guys, he's using a single-core 3200+, not a X2 4400 unless I am missing something... ;)

Well you think it if I get a 4800+ and a new stick of ram it will last me another year and keep me up to date with games?

I would suggest this. You should be able to find a X2 4600+ pretty cheaply if you look around.

I would most definitely suggest that you get a second stick of RAM. Your computer was designed to run Dual Channel, and it cannot do that with only a single stick of RAM. So I would definitely say buy a second, matching 1gig stick, and down the road buy a X2 4600 or X2 4200 since OCing is out of the picture. With both a faster dual-core and 2gigs of dual channel mem you should notice the difference easily. ;)

[whatever]

i've a pc just like yours(but with only 512 ram and abit mobo).
for some reasons i've decided to get the asrock dual sata2, and suddenly i brought a new mobo, cpu, gfx card and ram:grin:
i think you's better change your cpu only and get x2 4600(as Kougar said) it's a very good cpu and get more ram.

[DragonMaster]

He's using a single core, he doesn't have my 4400 ;-)

mark is right when he's telling that an X2 4800 is not much better than an X2 4400 once you overclock. You could buy an X2 4400 and get better RAM or something else. Is your RAM supposed to overclock well? If not, you might look into replacing it rather than adding more to it.

[Yatenkaiohu]

Guys, he's using a single-core 3200+, not a X2 4400 unless I am missing something... ;)



I would suggest this. You should be able to find a X2 4600+ pretty cheaply if you look around.

I would most definitely suggest that you get a second stick of RAM. Your computer was designed to run Dual Channel, and it cannot do that with only a single stick of RAM. So I would definitely say buy a second, matching 1gig stick, and down the road buy a X2 4600 or X2 4200 since OCing is out of the picture. With both a faster dual-core and 2gigs of dual channel mem you should notice the difference easily. ;)


Sounds good to me. Or maybe I'll just get another gig and stick with my 3200+ and wait till after xmas for deals. I think I'll do that.

[Yatenkaiohu]

Ugh I dunno what to do! I'll just get another stick and go Core 2 duo when the time comes >_<!

[DragonMaster]

1 GB of RAM is still considered good. Before anything else, look for an X2 4400 to 4800.

[werty316]

Go for a dualcore CPU as they are cheap and games in the future are suppose to take advantage of a dualcore CPU.
I am not thinking that there is too much difference between 4800 and 4400.

Also your mobo is probably whats holding ur CPU from OCing, so going to a 4800 wont help as much as you think.(also depends on the Model of memory)

I would probably stay with what you have and save up for Conroe later (after Xmas there will be better deals and big changes)
I doubt that since I have the same board and can OC my 3000+ (1.8GHz) to 2.4GHz @ 1.4V with ease.

Also the A8N-E boards suck except for the Premium board as they all suffer form a 1T bug as mine does.

If you think your memory is holding your OC back or you suffer from the 1T bug use a memory divider. FYI the 1T bug limits OC'ing to around 225-240MHz.

[Yatenkaiohu]

Go for a dualcore CPU as they are cheap and games in the future are suppose to take advantage of a dualcore CPU.

I doubt that since I have the same board and can OC my 3000+ (1.8GHz) to 2.4GHz @ 1.4V with ease.

Also the A8N-E boards suck except for the Premium board as they all suffer form a 1T bug as mine does.

If you think your memory is holding your OC back or you suffer from the 1T bug use a memory divider. FYI the 1T bug limits OC'ing to around 225-240MHz.


I sure wish I would have known that before I bought this motherboard.

[Gray]

I'm just stopping by but did someone see if his mobo supports Dual Channel?
And hell I would wait a bit with that new Videocard, seems like a decent system, in AMD vs Intel terms same as mine. I may be grabbing a new CPU soon for the right price but I think that is nto a bad system to use untill Quad core comes out, I would like to skip Duo core altogeather and jump to Quad myself.

[werty316]

The A8N-E supports Dualchannel memory and dualcore CPUs ;)

I think its better to wait when quadcores are cheap but that'll be a long time.

[Kougar]

I'm just stopping by but did someone see if his mobo supports Dual Channel?
And hell I would wait a bit with that new Videocard, seems like a decent system, in AMD vs Intel terms same as mine. I may be grabbing a new CPU soon for the right price but I think that is nto a bad system to use untill Quad core comes out, I would like to skip Duo core altogeather and jump to Quad myself.

Part of the upgrade from socket754 to socket939 was AMD processors/memory controllers were upgraded to dual-channel memory capability. It's built into the processor, so the vast majority of socket939 boards should support it.

To add to the general thread/original question: I'll add that unless you are having issues with your current system and it's simply not fast enough then ya should upgrade... but if it's fine for what you do with it then holding off on upgrading might be better. This is why I'll probably never buy a 4mb cache Core 2 Duo now like I planned... I'll probably skip it and get a QX6700 or Q6600 Kentsfield instead next year and save until then, since what I have meets my needs just fine. ;)

[Yatenkaiohu]

Well I guess I'll pick up a 4800+ and a new stick of ram! Thanks for all your guys help. I'd rather get a new bed then spend 800 bucks on new computer hardware =p. Thank you very much!

[werty316]

A year or two from now the quadcore CPUs should be more affordable ;)