Socket 939 upgrade advice needed

Well, the overall opinion and proof for the moment is that Vista sucks; I'd still stick with XP but for not so heavy multitasking, I'd still chose a FX 57;
1-more perceived and single-threaded speed that a dualcore
2-939 dual core prices are getting beyond $50+ over the corresponding AM2 chips
3-Free multiplier can easily go from 14 to 15 with a good aftermarket cooler and a 3.0G K8 still makes your muscles flicker when it boots. :wink:

In my opinion, I think its really best to wait a long while for Vista. There's no data base to really compare app performance, since its pretty rare to find 64 bit programs for Vista, not to mention beta drivers. I do even recall problems running programs/games on vista that worked on XP.

I think as far as ram, as long as you have available free ram, when you have most or all that you normally run, you should be okay. Getting more ram will not really improve performance. Only time you really need to look at your ram capacity, is when you know your PC is using the swap file more often, meaning your system is out of free ram, and using the hard drive to make up for it.

For the PC to run smoother, I'd say go for the dual core of your choice (upgrading your current or building a new PC). To make your current PC better, or go with what is best out there. One thing you can go by is the CPU charts that Tom does have:

CPU Charts

From that you should be able to determine what is best for you and family.

ok, if they aren't into heavy gaming and they only do basic tasks then adding another gb of ram will suffice. Since they probably don't do much multitasking either that will be fine for now. Even then if they need to upgrade in the future they can always upgrade to athlon x2 when it is much cheaper to add some life to the system. 2gb ram will increase system responsiveness significantly. I have 2gb of ram and even when just surfing the web vista uses up almost half of my ram!

i know everyone says 1gb is enough for vista, but

i had 1gb (i had to send one stick back to crucial when my ballistix broke)

and i really was struggling with vista


right now, ive got ie7 open, winamp, and word open, and im using 55% of my 2gb ram.

i really wouldnt recommend 1gb and vista. it is painful.

definately get another gig, and think about an x2 3800 and overclock it.

i just made one for a friend, and without increasing the voltage and stock cooling, i got it to 2.4ghz. no probs.

Is there room for a dual boot system? I'd stick with XP becasue of all the bugs, but if Dad is getting used to Vista, better to have some continuity. That's why I think a dual-boot setup would be the way to go. You'd have a fallback. Vista REALLY shines with 2 gigs of memory. If they're doing somewhat intensive apps, memory would definitely help.

Having a dual core is very nice. Now that I'm on my second one, working on single core comps is absolutely painful. IF you're going to award them with a dual core, better make it quick. They're not going to be available much longer, if they are even on shelves now.

2 gigs or dual core? um....both?

I would try to go with both. Simple as that, I don't need to post reasons, it's pretty obvious, improved performance.

rand: suggestd an opteron or optotron (it sounds better then operon sounds like a singer) in this exact same post 2 days ago - i said fx-60 well no more el cheapo fx-60's from tiger.

my question is? is the optotron optimized for servers? or will it make a good gaming chip. tiger is out of cheap fx-60's so i might have to buy these to drop in the 3 939 mobos i got.

AMD Opteron Dual-Core 165 1.80GHz / 2MB Cache / 1000MHz / Socket 939 / Hyper-Transport / Dual-Core / Processor with Fan

tiiger says: Dual-Core Processor for Servers and Workstations
The AMD Opteron™ processor, enabling simultaneous 32- and 64-bit computing, represents the landmark introduction of AMD64 with Direct Connect Architecture. The AMD Opteron™ processor is designed to run existing 32-bit applications with outstanding performance and offers customers a simplified migration path to 64-bit computing. This evolutionary processor provides a dramatic leap forward in compatibility, performance, investment protection, and reduced total cost of ownership (TCO). The AMD Opteron™ processor is offered in three series: the 100 series (1-way), the 200 series (Up to 2-way), and the 800 series (Up to 8-way).


will these optotron's overclock to at least 2.6ghz like a core 2 1.8ghz chip?

Vista sux.
If you want to upgrade you can get an Optron 150 -boxed- shipped to your door for only $209 USD (if you live in the US).
Stock it is 2.4Ghz but swap your RAM out with PC-4000 and it has no problem running 1:1 @ 3Ghz on stock volts...thats like a P4 running at 4.38Ghz,and that without even overclocking the RAM.

I run Optron 146's @ 2.95Ghz stock volts (950Mhz OC) and they sold for only $77 -boxed- last week.

EDIT: Just noticed your PSU....worst brand I ever used. Happy for you that it still works!