3400+ to X2 3800+? Worth it? Or e6400?

[o29]

I'm really thinking about upgrading my 3400+ to an X2 socket 939 3800+ now. I need a new motherboard anyway, so why not go ahead and get a socket 939 (currently using 754)? My case has pretty good cooling (2 90mm exhaust fans in the back, one 250mm fan on the side...thinking about installing a 120mm in the front, but my CPU already idles at 31-29C and my case temperatures are good). I've heard that the 3800+ does some good overclocking, and I'd definitely try to push mine as far as it could go.

It's just that the more I think about it, the less I'm sure that it'll actually make a noticeable difference. I don't multitask that much, so I'm not sure if I'd notice (I'm used to closing all applications that I'm not using anyway because I have a single core, so I might just stay in that habbit...I really don't find myself using that many programs at once anyway).

I was also thinking about the 4000+ because it's single core and would be faster in more linear applications not optimized for dual cores.

I do some gaming, so I know that CPU doesn't affect performance all that much, but I'm hoping I'd notice a difference in some of the more recent games. Or just when just running applications, really.

Basically, I'm just unsure. I'm trying to decide between the 3800+, the 4000+, another AMD processor, or maybe an e6400. The only problem witn the e6400 is that it's a good $100 more, and I can't find a good DDR motherboard for it for sale. If I wanted to upgrade my RAM to DDR2, that would be another $200 (I'd feel obligated to go for 2gb).

So:
3800+ and good motherboard: ~$250
4000+ and good motherboard: ~$230

The e6400 alone would probably cost that much...and after a motherboard and RAM upgrade, I'd be talking about maybe $550. That's a good bit more than I'd planned on.

I've considered the D805 or D930, but from what I hear the 3800+ is actually better at overclocking in the end.

What do you guys think?

 

[Giraffe]

there wont be a big difference in performance. especially 4 games.

i would prefer the 3800+x2 coz dual core is the future(not really, but couldn't think of better words)
more and more games will be optimized 4 dual core.
just running general programs such as browsers/msn/firewall ect. u dont need a dualcore coz they dont use much cpu anyway.
dualcores are best 4 things such as audio/video encoding.

u probably wont notice a difference even in the latest games

i wouldn't think this upgrade is worthy. i would spend the money on upgrading something else. post your specs and i might make suggestions.

even a c2d e6300 will be better than the x2-3800+ and u could get 1 of the asrock boards that have ddr and ddr2.

if u go with amd then u should get socket am2 not 939. no more cpu's will be made 4 939. but if u don't want ddr2 then 939 will be ok. however this still leaves u with an old platform.

 

[m25]

1st: Don't even think about the D805 or D930, they're going to be crap sooner than you think (they are hotter, noisier cooled and perform worse than the X2s).
E6400 or an AMD X2; the choice is yours. They're all great and until you won't use heavy arithmetics software (rendering, computing, graphics exc), each of them will be just fine, then just keep an eye on prices.

 

[NEO3]

Go for an X2...is always nice to have an extra cpu there, for such a little dif. in money. 8)

 

[o29]

Thanks for the advice guys.

I was thinking about the ASRock 775Dual-VSTA, but I know that it doesn't have a vcore adjustment for overclocking. However, even at stock speeds, an e6400 would beat an overclocked X2 3800+, right? So maybe I should go for that. It would only be about $50 more (I was going to go for the DFI Lanparty if I went 939, but the ASRock is only $50), and I could always upgrade the motherboard later when a better DDR board came out that you could overclock a little better.

What do you guys think about that idea?

Does the ASRock 775Dual-VSTA support Core 2 out of the box, or is a BIOS update or something of that sort needed?

The only other foreseeable problem is that I'm going to have 2 different types on RAM in the board. With a 939 this wouldn't be a problem because I could overclock one of the sets of RAM to match the timings of the other set, but with this board if there's no overclocking options for RAM, I'm not going to be able to match the timings.

 

[Anoobis]

Anandtech has quite a bit of useful info on those nifty Asrock boards.