Which budget 939 to buy?

[zyberwoof]

Since I currently have a Socket A Mobo with a Sempron, I figured the cheapest upgrade would a 939 board since I could reuse everything including the RAM I currently have. The PC is used mainly for encoding video. I was looking at buying either a 3000, 3200, 3500, or 3800 since they seem by far better than the X2's as far as price vs. performance goes.

The prices for the for on newegg are like so:
3000: $90
3200: $100
3500: $110
3800: $147

Because of the large jump in price between the 3500 and the 3800 and the small jump between the 3000->3200->3500, I had decided on the 3500. When I added mobo, however, it offered me a combo deal on some of the processors. It offered me $10 off every processor of those EXCEPT for the 3500 (just my luck huh). With this discount, the prices are:

3000: $80
3200: $90
3500: $110
3800: $137

With these prices, which processor do you think is the best one to get? There is nearly a $60 gap between the 3000 and the 3800, so even though the 3800 would be much faster, that $60 could go a long way. I am thinking of building a Conroe system soon, so money saved from this could potentially go to that system.

Oh, one more thing. I don't have my heart set on AMD so if someone can recommend a better Intel solution for the same price range that would be just fine. But remember, I have DDR RAM, not DDR2 and I would have to buy RAM if it needed DDR2.

 

[The_Abyss]

If you really do use this PC for mainly video work, then you simply must get a dual core CPU and only the 3800 X2 will fill your requirements until you make the major systems upgrade later on.

 

[zyberwoof]

The video work is not editing or capturing video , just encoding. So regaurdless of my processor, I will have to do a few quick things and then walk away for a few hours for it to finish. A 3800 X2 will make the time encoding video quite a bit shorter, yes, but not enough for the price difference.

I am not in a situation where high performance is necessary like gaming or capturing video. This is all for personal use and upgrading at all is just a luxury, not a necessity.

My costs for my plan are between $140 and $200 for the Mobo and CPU. I'm not planning on spending any more than that.

 

[The_Abyss]

So why are you upgrading at all?

Save the money and have a little more 'luxury' on your new Conroe system.

 

[m25]

Consider overclocking if you're on a very tight budget. The 3000+ ca go very cool @ 2.2 or 2.4 (like the 3800+) with the retail cooler & a single 75mm case cooler.
I used to throttle my 3000+ to 2.25 GHz and it only ran @ 40° loaded (ambient 23°C)

 

[zyberwoof]

So why are you upgrading at all?

Save the money and have a little more 'luxury' on your new Conroe system.

The reason is that I built this computer for $200 last summer (not including Hard drives) and cutting my encoding time in half for $150 upgrade a year later seems like a good investment.

Consider overclocking if you're on a very tight budget. The 3000+ ca go very cool @ 2.2 or 2.4 (like the 3800+) with the retail cooler & a single 75mm case cooler.
I used to throttle my 3000+ to 2.25 GHz and it only ran @ 40° loaded (ambient 23°C)

That's the kind of answer I am looking for :-D

I do not have much experience with overclocking, but if I could get it near 2.2 without too much difficulty then that sounds like a great plan.

 

[m25]

No doubt you can do it!!!
The venice core is the most lovely overclocker @ the moment. I got an A8V-MX S939 (around $50) and this small 3000+ beast. You can get it to work properly @ 2.4 but usually kept it @ 2.25 (239*9) with the memory divider 166/200 so the RAM was still operating around 400MHz (not OCed). You won't even need to increase the voltage so the CPU will work optimally.
On this setup you will only need an extra $2 for a chipset heatsink because the VIA southbridge on the board tends to get really hot (even not OCed). I fixed this and now my PC is the coolest thing on earth

 

[zyberwoof]

Thanks for the recommendation m25. I have placed my order and I'm really confident about it.

 

[m25]

You won't get disappointed
The A8V-MX also, is a good board that comes with some sweet tweaks like cache scrubbing for L1 & L2. Can decrease bootup times by 1-2 sec with them. With these options activated my benchmarks in Sandra are a bit higher than the standard 3000+ :lol: :lol: :lol:
Good luch & tell me hwen you put it togeather

P.S: And don't forget the chipset heatsink; it's peanuts but very important for long term operation.

 

[busygamer01]

Go with the AMD X2 3800+ processor.

AMD X2 3800+= $297
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103562

 

[quantumsheep]

Go with the AMD X2 3800+ processor.

AMD X2 3800+= $297
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103562

He has already ordered, and only wanted to spend $200 on the whole thing.