Upgrade from a Sandiego 4000+@2.9ghz to a X2 4800?

The +4000 is a good single core CPU, at this point in time it really doesn’t seem to me to make much sense spending +$250 for a 939 processor that wont give you any single core equivalent benefit in games.

BUT!

If you could sell your +4000 for at lest half the cost a new X2 +4800 I would give it some thought. If the future is in Dual Cores (and it would seem it is) that will give you a few more years before your next full upgrade.

your not going to notice a big difference in your games once you oc it, but you will notice a big difference when multitasking and it will make your system more future proof since more and more games are being made to run better on dual cores.

I built this rig in december. It's mildly OC'd to 2.42ghz, effectively a A64 X2 4800+. I've been very pleased with it's performance in apps and games, not to mention the OS is a lot more responsive.

I've had it OC'ed up to 2.6ghz, but it didn't make much of a difference in FPS in the games I play, so I dropped it back to 2.42ghz to help extend it's life and reduce heat.

I just saw the X2 3800+ for $146 on zzf.com so I had to get it weather I would like it or not I couldnt pass it up! I currently have a 3700+ Sandy @ 2.4ghz, which is what I plan on running my X2 3800+ at, because I read a review about how with an A64 chip having 2.4ghz is a good speed for not bottlenecking the X1900XTX, which I have, and I have OC'ed my chip all the way to 2.8ghz and I trully only see a difference between my 2.2ghz and 2.4ghz not anything above 2.4ghz as far as actual gameplay, now the apps will be better with the higher clock speed, but I think you made a good decision to upgrade to the X2 esspecially with the prices being what they are and the fact that AM2 requires top notch DDR2 800 ram to compete with 939 systems with ram that has low timing such as mine and probably yours as well!

Best,

3Ball

Thanks for the reasurance! I only had enough $$$ for a CPU anyway and im pretty sure starting next year dual cores are gonna shine in games. I know the 1mb cache X2's are being discontinued and I wanted one so this kinda of forced me to make a decision now.

I hear Crysis will be the first game to truely take advantage of dual core? anyone else confirm this???

I have prime 95 installed on my pc right now, so do I need to install another prime 95 and then assign each one to its own affinity?

I’ve read on another forum that most efficient way is to run "Blend" on one core for some memory testing and "Small FT" on the other to avoid slow-downs between the cores trying to access memory at the same time.

Seems to make sense.

only if you can sell yours at a good price & you do mutitasking, if not, keep what you have & wait a year.

With games like crysis and other future games being programmed for dual core will it not be worth it?


Im afraid I will miss out big time with Crysis and a single core CPU.

You will enjoy the dual core the second you boot into windows and start clicking. Good call and hopefully you get a good price on the 4000 on eBay

Also, from what I have heard, Crysis will be multithreaded and is "supposed" to see a 50-80% FPS boost from dual core. I have no idea if that is accurate and don't quote me on that, being that I read it in the forums and it was posted by someone with no link to prove the statement.

Its not that bad, just make two short-cuts, one will point to "Prime95" the other points to "Prime95 -A1".
Its just one copy of P95, the switch -A1 does the rest. But make sure your running the latest version.
When you select "Torture Test" from the OPTIONS menu on each P95 window, set one of them to SML FFT and the other to Blend.
That’s it, let it run 8-12 hrs and monitor your temps at first.

BTW don’t be too disappointed if 2.8GHz is all you can get on air, 64's are at a wall at 3.0-3.2 or so and that’s on liquid cooling.
On the other hand if you hit 2.8 and are P95 stable you’ve got an FX-60 for X2 +4800 prices

I will be plenty happy if I can get 2.8ghz on the X2 4800 8) btw if I can achieve 2.8ghz thats actually faster than a FX-60 because those are 2.6ghz stock 8)

i would say 2.8 for a 4800+ is feasible... ...even with my s939 X2 3800+ using the stock hsf, was able to be pushed up to 2.71... but being as how it was stock cooling, and i wouldnt say under ideal cooling conditions either, (couldnt stand the noise of all the fans going) heating then became an issue VERY quickly anytime it was under full load (>65C), so i didnt try to clock any higher, seeing as how quickly things heated up at that point

so, its definetly feasible to reach 2.8, you may have to invest in a 3rd party hsf though if you plan to stick with air cooling on an OC that high... ...a better alternative would be water cooling, which im sure you could find quite abit of info on

but, if heating doesnt become an issue, then all the better