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Upgrade CPU or whole system?

Forum CPU & Components : CPUs - Upgrade CPU or whole system?

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Hi all, hoping I'd be able to get some advise or tips.

I want to upgrade my system and was planning on a complete overhaul (mobo, cpu, ram, hdd, psu, etc.) though cash is a bit tight at the moment.

Is it worth me just upgrading the CPU? It'll save a lot and I can do it straight away though I don't know how much of an improvement I could expect.

Anyhow this is what I currently have:

AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3500+
Upgrade Socket 939
MultiCore 1 Processor Core
Level 1 128 KB
Level 2 512 KB
Level 3 0 B

NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS Driver 6.14.11.6218
Total Local Video Memory 256 MB
Total Local Texture Memory 625 MB

2Gb RAM:
Memory Slot 1/4
Installed Enabled Size 1.00 GB
Form Factor DIMM
Frequency 400.0 MHz
Slot DIMM0 [BANK0]
Type DDR
Type Details Synchronous
Enabled Size 1.00 GB
Total Bit Width 64 b
Data Bit Width 72 b
Memory Slot 2/4
Installed Enabled Size 1.00 GB
Form Factor DIMM
Frequency 400.0 MHz
Slot DIMM1 [BANK1]
Type DDR
Type Details Synchronous
Enabled Size 1.00 GB
Total Bit Width 64 b
Data Bit Width 72 b

Supported Slot Types ISA, PCI, PCI Express
Manufacturer ASUSTeK Computer INC.
Model A8N-VM CSM

WDC WD3200JD-22KLB0
Device Drive Type Hard Disk
Name WDC WD3200JD-22KLB0
Capacity 298.09 GB

System is used mainly for gaming and the CPU seems to be the current bottleneck. Should I grab a better socket 939 CPU or wait a little longer and go the whole system?

Any feedback appreciated.

David

Message quoted 1 times

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Your CPU should not be bottleneck with 8600GTS, if you are running many processes in the background a upgrade to a X2 would be worthwhile.

Reply to rolli59

If I were you, I would grab a X2 4200+ and another 320GB HDD and then go for RAID 0.
Then I should be happy with the system for another 2
years probably...well, maybe another Radeon HD 3870 and sell the
8600GTS if you play game...

Message edited by mahoumatic on 01-13-2008 at 04:05:36 PM

Reply to mahoumatic

Agreed, if you don't want to spend much, the 4200 might be worthwhile, maybe overclock it for some longevity. I can tell you once you go to dual core and the higher speeds, it's night and day. I just moved from a 3500+ to a 5200 x2 socket AM2, and man it is a difference. You may also see if you can get your hands on a cheap socket 939 dual core opteron, as those are supposed to be great overclockers.

Reply to ohiou_grad_06

Kendrite wrote :

I want to upgrade my system and was planning on a complete overhaul (mobo, cpu, ram, hdd, psu, etc.)

Damn, Dave. What are you gonna keep? The case and the vid card? That's some overhaul. Around here we call it a new system. Official Chopper Advice: Wait a week and go get the cheapest Wolfie you can find. Hook it up with a decent but cheap mobo (check for BIOS upgrde), plug in $40 worth of 2GB RAM and rock on! Your too nice of a guy and you deserve beter than AMD. :lol:

Reply to OlSkoolChopper

Upgrading the socket 939 CPU can be expensive. The lowest prices found on pricewatch.com are as follows:

Athlon X2 3800 -> $79
Athlon X2 4200 -> $189
Athlon X2 4400 -> $204
Athlon X2 3800 -> $435

As you can see the sweet spot is the X2 4400 for $204, but that is pretty expensive for an "old socket" CPU.

For that amount of money you can buy a socket AM2 Athlon X2 4800 for about $85, 2GB of DDR2 RAM will be about $50, leaving, $69 for a socket AM2 motherboard, which is doable.

Going the Intel route, you can pick up the Pentium E2180 Allendale 2.0GHz for $88. Truthfully, I never research this budget series so I can't tell you if it will out perform the X2 4800 in both stock speed and overclocked speeds.

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