s939 upgrade help please.

necroshine67

Distinguished
Jun 27, 2006
132
0
18,680
i've been reading about the price drop on the athlon chips.
my m/b supports 64,x2 and fx.
will the price drops include s939? what cpu do you think would be the best bang for the buck for gaming.
i currently have an athlon 64 3200+
1 gig of 512 ocz plat rev memory.
500 watt antec smartpower 2.0 psu.
will be using a gecube x1900xt once newegg gets a new shipment in..
everyone says using a x1900xt with a single core isn't good..
sorry if this post has been posted a million times or the discustion is old.

thanks guys..
 

dougie_boy

Distinguished
Jun 15, 2006
596
0
18,990
before you do ANYTHING get another 512 of ram. or just get another 2 sticks of matched ram.

a better CPU or graphics card will be uterly wasted on less than this.

i cant stress this enough.

one gig of ram should be a bear minimum.

then check out the cpu situation.

also what mb do you have???
 

sirheck

Splendid
Feb 24, 2006
4,659
0
22,810
doug is right get more ram and that gpu is great
since you already have 939 the 3200 is good
but if you upgrade the cpu go with a dual core
and yes i think the price drop includes the 939s
 

necroshine67

Distinguished
Jun 27, 2006
132
0
18,680
yeah i will get another 2x 512 on new egg for 120.. thx for that info..
my motherboard is a biostar nforce 4u..
i bought it because i couldn't afford the good gpu i wanted so this mb has a apg slot plus a pci express slot.
it uses nforce4 chips...
it works good, i can run my 3200 at 2.4 at 32c, but my memory goes down to 166 at 2.2.2.5 timings.. it has an auto oc on it...
 

dougie_boy

Distinguished
Jun 15, 2006
596
0
18,990
dont use the auto OC. read up about it and then get your hands dirty in the BIOS. by the sounds of it ur memory you have at the moment is whats holding you back. get some ddr 400 or better. if u want to overclock get a better HSF. (arctic cooling)

dont worry about the CPU too much. spending a load on an already out of date socket type will do you no favours. you will just kick your self down the line as everything is going over to ddr2.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820144141

^^^^thats the ram you should get^^^^

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835185125

^^^^thats the HSF you should get^^^^

your system will feel so much faster. its will be a bigger jump than buying a 3800+ x2 or a 3700+.

(the ram i have suggested will run at 433. which means ur 3200+ overclocked to 433 fsb will run at 2165mhz. which is JUST shy of the 3500+ model. AND your system will be quieter and cooler)

let me know how it goes.
 

necroshine67

Distinguished
Jun 27, 2006
132
0
18,680
sorry i'm an OC dummy, i tried to oc this myself and had to use the bio's jumper to reset my bio's lol.. scared me to death..
i though pc3200 ddr400 was the only ram my mb would use..
 

dougie_boy

Distinguished
Jun 15, 2006
596
0
18,990
even tho it might say ddr 400 thats just too keep it in line with the FSB of your CPU.

the FSB will run at a default of 200mhz, yes? which is the same speed as the ddr 400 ram. (DoubleDataRate)

133 x 2 = 266mhz = ddr 2100
166 x 2 = 333mhz = ddr 2700
200 x 2 = 400mhz = ddr 3200

but if you raise the FSB the ram will get faster too because they are linked. so if you raise you FSB by 10mhz you will also raise the RAM.

200 mhz x 10* = 2000mhz
210 mhz x 10* = 2100mhz CPU speed, see?


*this is because ur CPU's multiplier is locked at x10 (10 x 200 = 2ghz)

so if you buy faster ram you can run it at the same frequency as your FSB.

the max speed for the ram i have suggested is 433 which will run at 216mhz. therefore the max rated speed your CPU would run at is 2165mhz.

buy faster if you want but i think this ram will probly overclock to 220.

is that clear or just very confusing....?


also, i hate to bring it up. but the AGP slot (or XGP as biostar call it) actually runs at the speed of a PCi slot. which is pretty fucking slow. if your wondering why your frame rates suck its the XGP slot, the minimal bandwidth will kill your GPU. get the x1900xt quick....
 

necroshine67

Distinguished
Jun 27, 2006
132
0
18,680
i think i see what your saying, buying higher ram, will allow me to up my cpu but keep my ram speed going below 200.
400 is really 200 x 2. so if i go above 400 it will off set the having the lower ram speeds..
but i do wonder if i could run my memory now at 200 mgh with my cpu OD'd if i loosen the timings..
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146890
heres my ram, people say they can run it at 440...
when i tried to OC my ram i tried to keep my timings and it failed to post.
the timings are 2-2-2-5 maybe i can up the mgz and loosen my timings to maybe 2.5-3-3-6 or something..
 

necroshine67

Distinguished
Jun 27, 2006
132
0
18,680
yeah plus i know the xpg runs at 1x speed. i'm running an old geforce 3 :oops:
everytime newegg gets a good deal ion the x1900xt they sell out..
they had a gecube with a 75 dollar rebate.. total 299.. but its out of stock..
 

dougie_boy

Distinguished
Jun 15, 2006
596
0
18,990
i think i see what your saying, buying higher ram, will allow me to up my cpu but keep my ram speed going below 200.
400 is really 200 x 2. so if i go above 400 it will off set the having the lower ram speeds..

close. by buying faster ram you will be able to over clock it higher

but i do wonder if i could run my memory now at 200 mgh with my cpu OD'd if i loosen the timings..
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146890
heres my ram, people say they can run it at 440...
when i tried to OC my ram i tried to keep my timings and it failed to post.
the timings are 2-2-2-5 maybe i can up the mgz and loosen my timings to maybe 2.5-3-3-6 or something..

Ahhh.... you have 1 gig already? sorry, miss read ur previous post. the ram you have is fucking great ram. dont buy the ram i suggested as this will over clock nicley.

your timings are VERY tight. loosen them up to 2.5-3-3-7 and slowly over clock your CPU. when you get your highest stable overclock then you can tighten your ram timings.

have you got a little gem called "memtest"? it will test your ram and tell you if you get errors. get errors and then go back to the last stable settings.

also check what timing it is 2T or 1T. it should run fine with 1T at tight latencys (you might need to give the ram a bit more juice..)
 

dougie_boy

Distinguished
Jun 15, 2006
596
0
18,990
do it.

good luck mate. just remeber unless you do something really stupid like go over 15% on the extra voltages you will be fine.

go join the elite of the OCers....
 

BaronMatrix

Splendid
Dec 14, 2005
6,655
0
25,790
i've been reading about the price drop on the athlon chips.
my m/b supports 64,x2 and fx.
will the price drops include s939? what cpu do you think would be the best bang for the buck for gaming.
i currently have an athlon 64 3200+
1 gig of 512 ocz plat rev memory.
500 watt antec smartpower 2.0 psu.
will be using a gecube x1900xt once newegg gets a new shipment in..
everyone says using a x1900xt with a single core isn't good..
sorry if this post has been posted a million times or the discustion is old.

thanks guys..


My 3200+ powered a 6600GT at 1024 in Q4 and SplinterCell so you are all good sticking it out. 939 CPU prices are about to drop like a rock - almost a sure sign that Dell has bought a significant amount of AM2/1207 (for the regulars).

Mike, what can I say?

I would recommend a 4600+ for 939, as they'll be around for awhile. That of course depends on your usage and your budget.
 

necroshine67

Distinguished
Jun 27, 2006
132
0
18,680
hey dougie my comp isn't fried lol...
here we go my new settings 8)
cpu @ 2.5 htt 225 x 10
get this :)
memory
@ 225 MHZ timings 3-4-3-8

cpu running at 32C
i'm gonna go play quake3 and see how it runs, lol sad i'm playing q3

thx man, just tell me what's next!!!
 

dougie_boy

Distinguished
Jun 15, 2006
596
0
18,990
hey dougie my comp isn't fried lol...
here we go my new settings 8)
cpu @ 2.5 htt 225 x 10
get this :)
memory
@ 225 MHZ timings 3-4-3-8

cpu running at 32C
i'm gonna go play quake3 and see how it runs, lol sad i'm playing q3

thx man, just tell me what's next!!!

fucking ace.

theres a benchmark tool called sandra 2006 which will stress test all ur system and tell you how fast it it.

http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=75

scroll down the page and you will find the link. its a useful peice of kit.
that and CPUz

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

once you have run the CPUz u can see what core your CPU is and that will give you an idea of how far it will clock. you might be able to hit 2.4 easy. (thats a 3700+)

just watch your temps mate.
 

necroshine67

Distinguished
Jun 27, 2006
132
0
18,680
ok i did a burn and the cpu never got above 42c, so i decided to up it to 2.35
it posted and running at 32c with no load. my fan is running at 2410 rpm's.
almost in the yellow.
my memory is now 235 mhz, thats ddr 470 right?
i have touched the timings yet.
my cpu is a venice brand id 4
stepping 2
revision dh-e6
i've not touched the voltage at all on the cpu or mem..
think 2.4 is safe?
 

dougie_boy

Distinguished
Jun 15, 2006
596
0
18,990
i think more voltage and a better cooler. also you need to really stress the system for a while to find out if your going to get error messages.

there is a program called superpi which will strain you CPU. set it to calculate 32mil digits of pi and if your pc crashes then your pushing it too far.

try uping the voltages for your mb and ur ram not just ur CPU. but make sure u get that HSF. it think you should be safe at 2.4. by the sound of it there an no problems yet...


well done. sounds like ur doing well with this...

also, bit of resurch. the CPU u have is one of the final versions. the venice core was relesed at the same time ass the sandy core. which leads me to belive your only just seeing the start of what it can achive. my geuss is it will hit 2.4 easy as its from the same chip which is sold as a 2.4 (the multipier is just locked higher)

Venice (90 nm SOI)

* CPU-Stepping: E3, E6
* L1-Cache: 64 + 64 KiB (Data + Instructions)
* L2-Cache: 512 KiB, fullspeed
* MMX, Extended 3DNow!, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, AMD64, Cool'n'Quiet, NX Bit
* Socket 754, 800 MHz HyperTransport (HT800)
* Socket 939, 1000 MHz HyperTransport (HT1000)
* VCore: 1.35 V or 1.40 V
* Power Consumption (TDP): 67 Watt max
* First Release: April 4, 2005
* Clockrate: 1800 - 2400 MHz


maybe even 2.5 or 2.6. the heady levels of FX chips.


arent you glad you never bought that new prossesor. you have a perfectly good one sitting right in your PC.