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

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.