Hi all,

I wonder if anyone could please offer some friendly advice on an upgrade I'm thinking of. Please excuse my ignorance things but I'm not a full on techy and only have a basic understanding of this kind of thing.

I currently run an AMD 64 X2 4200+ on a 939 socket mobo, with 2 1/2 gig DDR RAM and an NVIDIA 8800 GTX 320MG GPU. This system has served me well and runs pretty sweet but I'm keen on an upgrade as it does seem to be lagging behind the pack a bit.

What I'm thinking of doing is getting a new AM2 mobo and putting the AMD 64 X2 6400+ Black Edition processor in there and just transferring all my other bits across. My question is , is this a worthwhile upgrade ? The reason I was thinking this is because , correct me if I'm wrong, all AMD's new chips will be compatible with the AM2 motherboards. So, if I wanted to put a new Phenom processor in there in a year or two, I would have no problem ? I've been reading about AMD's yet unreleased Phenom 9900 and it's not getting the best reviews but I for one just don't think AMD are going to get left behind and think there's a LOT more to come from this family of processors. Perhaps it won't match Intel but I heard Intels new range of chips will require a motherboard as they won't be compatible with the current lot.

The AMD X2 6400 Black Edition is just so cheap at the moment at £100. I heard it overclocks pretty sweetly as well. Seems like a good choice to me seeing as it should be good enough for another year or two and I can then insert a new Phenom processor down the line. What do you think ?

Also, is it absolutely necessary to upgrade your ram when moving from a 939 socket (DDR) to AM2 socket (DDR2) ?? I guess it's not that cheap an exercise if I'm buying a new CPU , a new motherboard and new ram but my thinking is that's it pretty future proof and upgradeable going forward. Might as well get a shiny new case while I'm at it.

Any thoughts , advice would be most appreciated. Please, no fanboy comments and the likes. Just some friendly open advice.

Cheers

The 6400+ black ed does not oc well. It has 2 mb cache thou. The 5000+ oc well, but has 1 mb cache only.

If I were you i would wait, you have a system that should run UT3 and the like very well.

If you wait you could get a am2+ mb that phenom is supposed to have.

Yes, you need new DDR2 memory with AM2. It should be DDR2-800.

Your currrent system is still very decent. Dual core,good graphics card,lots of memory.Money burning a hole in your pocket? :-)

Haha .. truth be told yes, money is burning a hole in my pocket and I'm keen on buyng myself a xmas present. That said, I don't want to waste my cash.

My system is performing fine. The only issues I've ever had are with Crysis (some settings have to be on low) and SupCom when there are loads of units on screen. Otherwise, I run most games maxed out. Only at 1280x1024 res though as I use a 32inch LCD TV as a monitor. I can't seem to go bigger than that and figure it is due to the native res on the TV.

Im just not happy having this old mother board and ram and thought, if I upgrade those, I can then update the CPU to the AMD 6400. As I said, it's just so cheap at a 100 quid !

My understanding is , if I do all this, my rig will be ready to put in a Phenom chip as from what i've read, they are AM2+ and can be put into an AM2 mobo.

I also bought the rig to order , but have really got into my pc and am quite keen to do this and put it all together. A bit of project.

But, if it's not worth the upgrade and if opinion is to hold out for something better , then I will. That something better seems to be the new Phenoms (When AMD sort out the issues) and I'm keen to have a rig where I can just plug a new Phenom in.

I have a very similar rig myself. I have a socket 939 running an X2 4200 with four gigs of DDR400 with 2-3-2-5 1T timings and a 7900GT vid card all running on an NForce 4 Ultra chipset. i am waiting for the HD3870 prices to come down to where they were initially. This may not be until after Christmas the way things are looking but I am in no big hurry about it and I am still getting lots of good gaming out of this one ATM.
Sure its a bit behind on processing power (there will always be something faster if you wait just a little while) but it will still run current games well when I upgrade the video card. With that said, why spend the money? I would say for you to sell off that 320 mb card for a 512mb card. That would be the only thing I would do.
I am going to overclock my platform until it can no longer keep up sufficiently and I am forced to build a new box!! I might even make it all the way through DDR3 without building new!

My thoughts

I'd buy a gigabyte P35-S3 board for around £55 and get a Intel Core 2 duo CPU for as little as £55 and
over clock it.

I used to be a AMD lover but sorry to say Intel is way better for the time being.

Kona, thanks for the input mate.

I realise Intel definitely have the upper hand and seem well placed to maintain it for a while. However, I do hear their new CPU's will not be compatible with the current lot of mother boards.

The reason I'm thinking to stay with AMD is due to the fact their AM2+ cpus are supposed to be compatible with the current AM2 boards. So , if I get an AMD 6400 now , I can upgrade that later without having to upgrade my mobo (and more than likely my ram) all over again.

firc_ops_gordo, just bear in mind that although the current AM2 motherboards will support the new Phenom Quad Core, apparently not all of the features of the new CPU will be available unless you've got a AM2+ motherboard.

When you look at it, Intel is currently ahead of AMD. A decent P35 board will take both 65nm and 45nm quad core and dual core CPUs. Intel's next generation Nehalem CPU will use new sockets. A decent AMD board will take the current 65nm dual and quad core parts, and AMD's upcoming 45nm refresh parts. AMD's next generation Bulldozer architecture will require a new socket. Really, whether you go for AMD or Intel now, the system fits the same generation of CPUs.

If I were building a new system now, I'd be using an Intel board with the Q6600 CPU. It's just by far the best bang for the buck right now. Quad core performance and easy overclocking. 3.6Ghz with good air cooling is certainly possible. I've seen a Q6600 do 3GHz with just the stock Intel cooling.

I have Opteron170 in s939 mobo and was thinking about update as my CPU is loaded at 100% most of time.
I though to go to expensive x38 workstation mobo and Qcore intel, but as i read notice from intell about PCI-e having problems with other then graphics cards (namely RAID controlers) and they stating "they dont care" i will go again with AMD as i have realy enough s**t from intel.
They maybe have best CPUs right now, but as for customer care they sucks.

No
AM3 cpus WILL WORK IN AM2+ boards.

lol

Amds new CPUS don't even work correctly on AM2+. They have to have a bios update (if not already) so they don't crash.

I was about to buy a new AM2+ mobo and Amd cpu until this little fact was releaved. Not only did AMD not have a good enough cpu to compete with intel but its not even finish. This kind of attitude from AMD was careless and stupid.

I hope they sort it out sooner than later, otherwise Intel are running away with the CPU market.

Thanks for the info everyone. I'm thinking perhaps to delay a bit longer and see what happens in Q1/2 year with the cpu's. That said, the option Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 is looking pretty good. Especially if overclocked anywhere near 3.0GHz. Would be sad to leave AMD though. They definitely need to get their house in order.

Do people on this site have any idea what is even wrong with Phenom? It is nothing 99/100 people will ever experience in actual usage. Bunch of tards spreading misinformation.

If you want to stick with AMD - I would suggest looking into finding an AM2+ motherboard and then dropping something along the lines of a 5000+ black edition in there for now, and see how AMD's chips work out over the next few months. Then you have the option of putting in a quad-core or whatever. Also, while AM3 chips will go into an AM2 (or atleast will be intended to drop in) I would imagine they'll be somewhat castrated by doing so - and this would be reduced if they went into AM2+ instead.

Whatever upgrade you choose though, you'll need to change to DDR2 memory. And because of this, you may as well go Intel, since their chips are working out a lot better atm and probably will be for a couple of years more. If you do decide on intel, I'd suggest a decent P35 motherboard (make sure it supports 1333 by default) and the G0 stepping Q6600.

I would advice you to hold off and get an AM2+ mobo in about 1 months. January is the official launch of spider and we should get a good ideal of how well 4 GPU's will work. The performance gained from upgrading on the same core design is very limited. I would suggest at least waiting for a mobo which could handle the new quads correctly and possible a octal core K10 if AMD ever does a Kentsfield type glue. The AM2+ spider would really give your gaming a boost as it can hold up to 4 GPU's. The faster 1066 memory that most AM2+ should handle can also come in handy.

I am in a similar position. I still have an 939 AMD 4200+ x2 OCed to 2.9Ghz, 2gig of memory and an xfx 8800gts Fatal1ty.

I want to upgrade soon but am not sure in which direction to go.

I have been using AMD chips for 5 years and have loved them. I still have my AMD FX53 system with an nvidia 7800GT 1gig of kingston hyperx memory, and my xp2500+ system, barton core, which ran as a 3200+ from day one.

With AMD not bringing any performance part to the party this year (well the ATI 3070 is ok) i am, like most people who still have not upgraded yet, looking at INTEL.

Now the question is what INTEL chip do i buy? Dual or Quad? and what chipset do i put it on?

With AMD chips i started out with a VIA chipset but soon moved to nvidia and have run only nvidia nForce for years now.

So choosing a CPU and a motherboard is turning out to be a real pain for me as i just dont know what CPU or chipset to use or if i should SLI or CF.

your idea with the QX6600 is a good one.

The 4200+ clocks straight to 220 / 2.4Ghz (4600+) usually with no vcore increase providing you have good cooling and they are usually stable. They don't like being pushed beyong 2.6 tho the core has the 2 X 512kb cache ...the current fastest 90nm AM2's (6000+ / 6400+ and the old 4400+ / 4800+ / FX60) have the 2 C 1Mb cache ... which are a better performing chip.


You could try a simple overclock while waiting.

Loosen the ram timing a tad.

Such a small problem that the bios fixes reduces the overall power of a Phenom by upto 30%

Yeah small problem - Think most call this a large problem, large enough most websites published the flaw....