I want to upgrade my system that is about 3 years old. I want to be able to play the new games coming out like Age of Conan and Warhammer: Age of Reconing. Currently, I have a JetWay 939GT4SLI-G-VC 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard, AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice 2.2GHz 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939, with 2GB of Ram. I want to upgrade my processor and I see that I can get an Athlong 64 X2 4200+ for about $50.
 
Is that a good deal and should I upgrade to that processor? According to JetWay it is compatible with my motherboard. Is there another processor I should get instead? The only other option I see is to get a new motherboard, new CPU, and new RAM...which would be quite expensive. Any advice is appreciated.
 
Thanks,
   Donny

Nonone can help?

Hi,  
 
A short while ago, I had the same Socket 939 nForce 4 Athlon 64 3500+ CPU with an ATI x1900XT video card.  
 
I then upgraded that CPU to an Athlon 64 X2 4200+. I was quite happy with its responsiveness and its ability to playback H264 movies smoothly.  
 
Unfortunately, single-threaded Apps (especially games) had Zero perceivable performance improvement. The X2 4200+ is basically two 3500+ (2.2GHz) cores stuck together...
 
Anyway, can you even find a non-AM2 AMD X2 CPU anymore?
Some may even suggest an Opteron CPU as an option, but in my opinion, I think it might be better to either sell or donate your PC to charity/family and get a new PC...
 
(That is, unless, you are comfortable with playing new games at medium quality settings at a modest resolution. Then the X4200 might - *might* - last you another year or so. Tops.)

Incorrect, all AMD multi-core CPUs have been 'native', Intel is the only one using the two-dies-on-one-substrate method.
 
Otherwise, I agree, you should either find a cheap dual core (read: eBay, since they're pretty much non-existant on the retail market) or upgrade your entire platform.  To be able to play new games you'll have to get a newer video card as well (which you neglected to mention, so I'm assuming it's the same vintage as the rest of your hardware).  GPUs that will play all current and near-future games: nVidia 9600GT, 8800GT, 8800GTS 512MB,  and ATi 3570.  A new GPU will make a huge difference in gaming (so long as it's not hindered by your CPU, which most mid-to-high-end GPUs would be with a single core Athlon).
 
Edit:  If you've found a deal for $50, go for it, that's pretty decent.  But understand the CPU won't make nearly as big an impact as upgrading your GPU.

Sorry I didn't mention my video card earlier, but since its a PCI-E I figured that its and easy upgrade weather I keep my old motherboard or upgrade. The card is a GIGABYTE GV-RX80256D Radeon X800 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16. I think in either case I will need to upgrade my video card.

You would at least need a 9600gt/3870 GPU and probably a x2 CPU. Like said before, you'll be very lucky to find a s939 x2 CPU. If you can get one and you want to go that way, you can. I'd consider getting a newer system, if you can afford it. What is your budget?

For $50 you really can't go wrong, even when it means spending money on a dead platform.

Before you commit to that $50 CPU, check your Power Supply to see if your system can even support a multi-core CPU with a power-hungry high-end video card. You may find that you need to upgrade your Power Supply as well.
 
Once you go down that road, you might as well keep your current system in tact, and just get a new PC altogether.
 
If you do need to swap out the PSU, try to get one with a high efficiency rating. If you are like me, and keep the PC running 24/7, the electricity savings will more than make up for the cost difference of $15-20 in a single year. (As a FYI, I ended up getting the Seasonic). PC Power & Cooling is also good, as is Antec EarthWatts, which is a rebadged Seasonic from what I hear...