I’m thinking of upgrading from an Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego (socket 939) to an Opteron 175, Opteron 180 or Opteron 185 for their dual core capabilities. After performing this upgrade I’d like to then upgrade my video card. I currently own an EVGA 7800GT. This card has served me very, very well, but its starting to show its age.
So I have some…what I hope are simple questions, but unknown to me.
1) The price for these Opterons run around $150-$170. Obviously this seems high when compared to the performance gained by investing in a Core 2 setup with Intel. Am I better off getting a new mobo with a Core 2 processor or just moving forward with my Opteron upgrade for my current socket 939?
2) Is there any significant difference between the Opteron 175, Opteron 180 and the 185? I mean any noticeable difference that should drive my towards one or the other?
3) Is it absolutely necessary to get an aftermarket HSF for this processor or can I use my current HSF that I have on my Athlon 3700+??
4) Anyone with experience overclocking these? Are they fairly easy overclockers? I’m a newb overclocker, but I think I’m ready to dive into the waters.
5) Video card: 8800GT 512mb or 9600GT 512mb? What’s the better card here?
After all of this, I’d like to install Vista for a dual-boot with XP so that I can play DX10 games. Anything else that may keep me from doing so?
Current specs:
ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe
Corsair HX520w
AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego
2GB G.Skill DDR800
250GB Western Digital Caviar
So I have some…what I hope are simple questions, but unknown to me.
1) The price for these Opterons run around $150-$170. Obviously this seems high when compared to the performance gained by investing in a Core 2 setup with Intel. Am I better off getting a new mobo with a Core 2 processor or just moving forward with my Opteron upgrade for my current socket 939?
2) Is there any significant difference between the Opteron 175, Opteron 180 and the 185? I mean any noticeable difference that should drive my towards one or the other?
3) Is it absolutely necessary to get an aftermarket HSF for this processor or can I use my current HSF that I have on my Athlon 3700+??
4) Anyone with experience overclocking these? Are they fairly easy overclockers? I’m a newb overclocker, but I think I’m ready to dive into the waters.
5) Video card: 8800GT 512mb or 9600GT 512mb? What’s the better card here?
After all of this, I’d like to install Vista for a dual-boot with XP so that I can play DX10 games. Anything else that may keep me from doing so?
Current specs:
ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe
Corsair HX520w
AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego
2GB G.Skill DDR800
250GB Western Digital Caviar