Should I upgrade my processor?

An Asus motherboard and 2Gb Corsiar XMS for ram.

Such a proposed rig would perform well, and since you've chosen a GTX256, I'd presume gaming is indeed a concern....(I personally find $460 for most GTX256 cards unwarranted considering their cost/performance ratios when compared to a single $280 7800GT, but, to each his/her own)

Your current rig, although perhaps a little slower than a dual channel/PCI-3 equipped NF4 board, could easily last a bit longer with an upgrade from the rather attrociously performing X700...(no offense, but any games beyond Quake3 MUST be difficult at above 800x600x16!)

You could save considerable dollars simply forking out $195 for a 6800GS in AGP format, and your current rig's gaming life would be extended for at least one year....

I thought that there was finally going to be an AGP 7800GS. If so, I wouldn't waste my time with the 6800.

But it's overpriced.

Yeah, i'd have a hard time spending $300 on an agp card when i can get the same one for pci-e for the same price. So that isn't an option. (bottlenecking = bad)

You'll probably want to wait until the next cpu socket from amd arrives and see what it has to offer. Until this happens buy a bit better VC(x800 gto, 6800gs even 6600 gt would do it) and save money(so when the pricier new tech arrives you could have the money for good gaming machine). If the new tech proves to be no better-at least the prices would have dropped considerably, so you should be able to buy even better s939 machine than the one you would like to now. That's my advice.

I can't I must upgrade now, Oblivion is coming! haha. But seriously I plan on this computer to hold me off for a while, maybe about 2 years or so. Can anyone advise on some good motherboards? I'm not very savvy when it comes to the chipsets on motherboards...don't know a ton about em. I have a Gigabyte k8ns pro, which isn't a bad board, so i'm favorable to a nvidia chipset and I do want an SLI board.

MB: the new MSI diamond plus.

I'm looking at cpus and i've decided not to go with the x2 right now, it's more than I want to spend on a cpu right now. And the mobo I choose will let me upgrade later if I want. So here are the 2 processors i'm trying to decide on:

AMD 64 3700+ San Diego 1GHz FSB 1MB L2 Cache Socket 939
*90 nm process type, 2.2 ghz
$233

or

AMD Athlon 64 4000+ ClawHammer 1GHz FSB 1MB L2 Cache Socket 939
*13 um process type, 2.4 ghz
$333

I don't think i'm willing to spend $100 just on a .2 faster proc, but I don't knwo alot about the process type 90nm v.s. 13 um. I'm guessing for a $100 it wouldn't really be worth it. Also can anyone suggest a good cooling for this puppy? I've only ever used stock cooling.

go witht he 3700 sandiego or venice
look at the zalman 7700cu

aslso look at the dfi nf4 boards sli or not. either the lanparty series or the infinity series will get the job done. have built many computer w/ dfi boards never had any problems

Looks like people really like those DFI boards, i'll definatly check it out.

Why do you need to upgrade? Your system isn't that far behind the performance curve, and you have not yet amortized the cost of your existing components adequately to justify the expense. Do you make a lot of money, and just don't care about the cash? If so, then bully for you, and good luck with your upgrade.

If however, you are like most ordinary folk, then you require the initial cost of the gear to amortise over a period of time, until such point has been reached that the new gear provides a truly significant performance increase, at a cost which doesn't make your eyes water.

To my way of thinking, your "upgrade" is more of a "sidegrade" without a large enough increase in overall performance (even considering your single channel memory - the socket 754 performs very well, particularly at the 3200+ product point) to warrant the large expense.

If you can bear it, I recommend waiting for socket M2 (or whatever AMD are calling it this month) which is less than 6 months away: the socket 939 platform is very close to becoming deprecated in any case.

Whatever you choose to do - good luck with it.

honestly - yur CPU really does have some life left in it - as has already been stated

put yur mind in FF>> a year from now (new CPUs are all over the place)
chances are there will be a new(er) value line. Hell look at the socket 754 sempron - it performs better than the previous generation socket A top of the line. There may veru well be a cheaper CPU that performs better than or real close to the top of the live socket 939 - and if you buy a socket 939 motherboard right now - yur looking at buying yet another new motherboard.

myself i would buy the 6800 agp card or hold off and see what happens to the price of the 7800 agp card its bound to drop in price.... worse case senario - you will have held off a little bit longer and save some cash on a socket 939

rashod0, if you are upgrading DO NOT get a clawhammer core. It is older and crappier in every respect; based on a slower process, worse memory controller, more expensive, lower overclock. however, if you really want to save money you could pick up a 3500 venice and just go for 2.8 on stock cooling (yes it is possible  )

Well i'm not going to be able to afford to upgrade my computer for probably 2 years so here are my 2 options:

Gigabyte k8ns pro mobo
AMD 64 3200+ (socket 754, doesn't support dual channel ram)
*x700 ati 256 mb video card (agp) upgrade to: nvidia 7800 gt agp*
2x 512mb Geil Ram pc3200
Audigy LS sound card
2x seagate 7200 rpm 80 gb drives (raid0)
windows 64 xp os

cost about: $300

or

-DFI LANPARTY nF4 SLI-DR Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX
-AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 1GHz FSB 1MB L2 Cache Socket 939
-eVGA 256-P2-N517-AX Geforce 7800GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16
-CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200)
2x seagate 7200 rpm 80 gb drives (raid0)

around $950+

Since i'm going to have the money, I may just upgrade...but I should see a big improvement in games right? Also i'm debating on going the SLI route or not. From what it looks like SLI is good in some games and in those it is good in not by a whole lot.

you would go from low/medium graphics to very high/maxed out settings...

Thats what I thought, wouldn't be worth investing $300 on something thats going to last another 6 months maybe, lol. Eye candy here I come. Thanks for everyones feedback!

I'm looking at power supplies and I at least need a 450w one for my video card. The mobo I'm going to get is going to be the ASUS A8N5X Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX and it requires a 24 pin power connector. My question is that some of the power supplies say 20+4pin is that the same as 24 pin?

I just thinking i'd save a ton of money right now if I just upgraded my mobo to a pci-e board (still socket 754). And went with a 7800gt, kept my 2x512 geil ram pc 3200 (i have a stick of crucial 512 but pc 2100) for 1.5 gigs total. I'd only spend about $400 maybe and I should see a big jump in graphics right?