Need Advice for Upgrading my Socket 939 System

Hi all

Here I am, just after one and a half year that I bought my Asus A8N SLi deluxe, I am here considering an upgrade... but that's it: looks like there are no cost-effective 939 processors out there at the moment, and I am left considering switching to an Intel chipset for the first time.

My system is currently as follows:

• Asus A8N-SLi Deluxe nForce4 SLi (Socket 939)
• BFG GeForce 8800GTX
• AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Winchester 90nm
• Corsair 512MB DDR XMS3200 X 2
• Thermaltake Xaser II A5000A +
• Enermax Infiniti 720W

I understand that I cannot use the full power of the 8800GTX with a single-core Athlon. However I also saw that I can get at most an Athlon X2 4500+, or an Athlon FX60, to fit into a socket 939 mobo. Both options are not easy to find, and as far as I can see also very expensive.

My problem, then, is: do I stick with the 939 and pay at least £300 for new processor and memory, or go for a new mobo for the Intel Quads and spend slightly more to get a better system? and if I went for the Intel, what mobo would you advise me to get to fit into my system?

Thanks a lot

£300?! Where are you buying your parts?!

I am afraid I am not really qualified to advise whether you should bother upgrading that system or not (I am still a bit of a n00b myself ), but if you do want to upgrade you can do it a lot cheaper than that!

Quick look (first site I thought of) brings up:

Processor - Athlon 64 X2 4000+ (£35)
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/125398

Memory - 2GB OCZ DDR-400 2-3-2-5 (£100)
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/132905

Or if you want some lower quality memory for cheaper, you could try:

2x Corsair Value Select DDR-400 3-3-3-8 (£74)
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/66405

My limited knowledge would suggest saving your money for a new system, and salvage parts such as your GPU and PSU, but I'm sure someone else will come along and give better advice

If the x2 4500 is too expensive, get a slightly slower version and just overclock it a bit. Here in the US, the x2 4200 is available for $74: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103543

I did notice that you have much too little RAM. Upgrading to 2GB total (or better yet 3GB for Vista should you upgrade) should be an upgrade priority.

At this point, I would build a new system and keep just the 8800GTX. Unless you're sentimentally attached to your old rig. And yes, 1GB is not enough, 2 is OK