Need help....

Darknova · Nov 8, 2006

Hey, first time poster long time reader :cool:

anyway I'll get to the point lol.

Currently my set up looks like this

CPU: Athlon 64 3000+ 939 Oc'd to 2.25Ghz
Mem: 1 Gb (512x2) Corsair Value Cas 2.5 1T
Motherboard: MSI K8N Neo 4
Graphics card: XFX 7600GT XXX Oc'd to Core: 594Mhz and Mem: 816Mhz (1632 equiv)

As you can see I need to upgrade my CPU, but I don't have a lot of money. I have a lot of experience with PCs but I just need some opinions.
My HDDs are quite old and will probably need replacing in the next year or 2, so I can either upgrade to AM2 now, or get a 939 and replace my HDDs as well.

I also need a new case, I was looking at going for an Antec P180 Black (I can get one for under £100)

Oh, I'm also looking to spend about £120 on a CPU and about £100 on either a motherboard or HDDs (160Gb and a 250Gb) plus whatever will be necessary on memory if I go AM2.

I hope that all made sense, I tend to ramble on a bit :rolleyes:

Frick · Nov 8, 2006

You can go for a San Diego 3700+.. I'm not sure how much £ they cost, but they're not expensive. It might be a nice boost. The motherboard isn't that bad, is it? If your HDD is VERY old and have developed a suspicious noise or anything you can go for one of those.

Welcome! :toast:

Munkul · Nov 8, 2006

welcome to the forums!
what cpu cooling are you using? if its stock and your chip is the venice core, you should be able o/c it a lot further with better cooling, saving you lots of £s.
better than buying a new athlon would be to go conroe, since you can buy a mobo and the cheapest conroe for under £200. in fact, if i was upgrading now, i wouldnt really think about athlons any more.

Darknova · Nov 8, 2006

The motherboard is nice and solid, and is a pretty decent overclocker. At the moment the FSB is running at 250Mhz, the HT link is running with a 4x multiplier and so is still at 1000Mhz. The RAM is running at DDR400 so I overclocked the CPU without changing what everything else runs at.
I'm using an Arctic Cooler 64 Pro.

The only problem I have with upgrading to a Conroe is I don't like the Intel chipsets, and the only nForce 5 boards are Asus (which again, I don't like). I'm also not completely sure when the nForce 690i is coming out.

I was thinking of going for an X2 3800+, it costs just under £100.

Munkul · Nov 8, 2006

good choice... but the statement "i dont like intel chipsets" ???? the performance difference between the x2 3800 and the cheapest core 2 duo is large enough to make it very worthwhile.
well, each to their own.

:shadedshu

Frick · Nov 8, 2006

Darknova said:
The only problem I have with upgrading to a Conroe is I don't like the Intel chipsets, and the only nForce 5 boards are Asus (which again, I don't like). I'm also not completely sure when the nForce 690i is coming out.

I was thinking of going for an X2 3800+, it costs just under £100.

Well, Conroe still ownz, even if you don't like it.. But the 3800+ is a great choice though. I don't know how big the gain will be in games and stuff that don't support SMP, but it's better then the thing you have now. OCable to and there's no need to upgrade the cooler. I'd go for that and a HD, if the ones you have are going down..

Darknova · Nov 8, 2006

Munkul said:
good choice... but the statement "i dont like intel chipsets" ???? the performance difference between the x2 3800 and the cheapest core 2 duo is large enough to make it very worthwhile.
well, each to their own.

:shadedshu

I see what you mean, but I love the nForce chips, and if I do go for a Conroe then it will be on an nForce board. Secondly, if I do go conroe I have to get the cpu, the mobo AND the memory, and DDR2 isn't cheap.
I'm looking for the most cost effective upgrade really. My setup at the moment can handle all the current games. Oblivion, FEAR etc. it will run them all at a decent fps (40+) at 1280x1024 with minimal AA and AF.

Frick · Nov 9, 2006

Darknova said:
I'm looking for the most cost effective upgrade really. My setup at the moment can handle all the current games. Oblivion, FEAR etc. it will run them all at a decent fps (40+) at 1280x1024 with minimal AA and AF.

Most effective upgrade.. Multicores is teh future, so I think that'd be a good choice (x2 3800+). But then.. The gain in games and stuff that does not support dualcores will be next to zero. They also get warmer than a singlecore CPU.. I don't really know. As said, an San Diego or Opteron will also be sufficient för your needs. Then you can OC the hiney of them.

Darknova · Nov 9, 2006

Ok, well I think I've made my decision now, thanks for all your help

steve258 · Nov 9, 2006

IMO Intel's chipset is the best and highly ocable, not sure about the Nvidia chipset cause I never used one before.

Anyway the Nvidia 680 SLI is already out, but atm only EVGA has the mobo and it's stupidly expensive @ over £200 inc. VAT!! But sounds like it's a good ocer.

If you are not willing to switch platform then you may want to look for Opty 165, too, 2mb cache, dual core and highly ocable. I don't see the point of getting another single core so I won't recommend the sandy 3700+.

Processor	AMD FX 8320 @ 4GHz
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5 rev1
Cooling	Corsair H70
Memory	4 x 4GB DDR3 Ripjawz 1600Mhz
Video Card(s)	Sapphire Vapor-X AMD R9 280X
Storage	1 x 500GB Samsung Evo 850, 1 x 500GB Vrap Data Drive, 3 x 2TB Seagate, 1 x 1TB Samsung F1
Display(s)	3 x DGM IPS-2402WDH
Case	Coolermaster HAF X
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	Coolermaster 1000W Silent Pro M
Mouse	Logitech G502
Keyboard	Logitech G510
Software	Windows 10 Pro x64

System Name	Black MC in Tokyo
Processor	Ryzen 5 5600
Motherboard	Asrock B450M-HDV
Cooling	Be Quiet! Pure Rock 2
Memory	2 x 16GB Kingston Fury 3400mhz
Video Card(s)	XFX 6950XT Speedster MERC 319
Storage	Kingston A400 240GB \| WD Black SN750 2TB \|WD Blue 1TB x 2 \| Toshiba P300 2TB \| Seagate Expansion 8TB
Display(s)	Samsung U32J590U 4K + BenQ GL2450HT 1080p
Case	Fractal Design Define R4
Audio Device(s)	Line6 UX1 + some headphones, Nektar SE61 keyboard
Power Supply	Corsair RM850x v3
Mouse	Logitech G602
Keyboard	Cherry MX Board 1.0 TKL Brown
VR HMD	Acer Mixed Reality Headset
Software	Windows 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores	Rimworld 4K ready!

System Name	Munkuls ol' faithful
Processor	AMD Athlon 64 3200+ @ 2.4ghz 1.45v
Motherboard	ASrock 939Dual-SATA2
Cooling	mixture of Innovatek and Asetek Watercooling w/ Eheim pump
Memory	1gb corsair XMS TwinX PC3200; also two further sticks of noname 512mb PC3200
Video Card(s)	POV 8800gts 320mb @satndard clocks
Storage	500gb hitachi deskstar
Display(s)	2x 17" CRTs
Case	Raidmax Ninja with triple fan radiator mounted on top
Audio Device(s)	onboard AC'97 - yeah, its crap.
Power Supply	OCZ 600w PSU
Software	XP Pro

Processor	AMD FX 8320 @ 4GHz
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5 rev1
Cooling	Corsair H70
Memory	4 x 4GB DDR3 Ripjawz 1600Mhz
Video Card(s)	Sapphire Vapor-X AMD R9 280X
Storage	1 x 500GB Samsung Evo 850, 1 x 500GB Vrap Data Drive, 3 x 2TB Seagate, 1 x 1TB Samsung F1
Display(s)	3 x DGM IPS-2402WDH
Case	Coolermaster HAF X
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	Coolermaster 1000W Silent Pro M
Mouse	Logitech G502
Keyboard	Logitech G510
Software	Windows 10 Pro x64

System Name	Munkuls ol' faithful
Processor	AMD Athlon 64 3200+ @ 2.4ghz 1.45v
Motherboard	ASrock 939Dual-SATA2
Cooling	mixture of Innovatek and Asetek Watercooling w/ Eheim pump
Memory	1gb corsair XMS TwinX PC3200; also two further sticks of noname 512mb PC3200
Video Card(s)	POV 8800gts 320mb @satndard clocks
Storage	500gb hitachi deskstar
Display(s)	2x 17" CRTs
Case	Raidmax Ninja with triple fan radiator mounted on top
Audio Device(s)	onboard AC'97 - yeah, its crap.
Power Supply	OCZ 600w PSU
Software	XP Pro

Need help....

Darknova

Frick

Fishfaced Nincompoop

Munkul

New Member

Darknova

Munkul

New Member

Frick

Fishfaced Nincompoop

Darknova

Frick

Fishfaced Nincompoop

Darknova

steve258

New Member

System Name	You name your computer!?
Processor	Intel E7200 @ 3.8Ghz 475x8 1.42V
Motherboard	ASUS P5Q Pro m-bios 1613
Cooling	Arctic Freezer 7 Pro
Memory	G.Skill F2-6400CL4D-4GBPK @ 950Mhz 5-5-5-15
Video Card(s)	2x HIS HD4830 Crossfire @ 700/1000
Storage	2x Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500Gb 32mb Raid 0
Display(s)	BenQ T2200HD
Case	Cooler Master Centurion 590
Audio Device(s)	Creative SB X-Fi Extreme Music
Power Supply	Antec Earthwatts 650W
Software	Windows Vista Home Premium SP1