Does this upgrade worth?

[mirceaizvoran]

Hi,

My current PC configuration is:
CPU AMD Dual Core Opteron 165 @2.7 ghz 2*1MB Cache
ASUS A8N-SLI SE MB, NF4 SLI HT 2000
2*1 GB OCZ PC3200 DDR400 CL2 * 2-3-2-5
MSI 8800 GT Zilent OC
Seagate 500GB 7200RPM/32MB Cache
SB Audigy SE.

Does it worth upgrade my MB, CPU and RAM to these?:
AMD Opteron 1218 2.6 ghz
MB Gigabyte GA-M750SLI-DS4, Nvidia NForce 750a SLI, S-AM2/AM2+
DIMM 2Gb DDR2, PC-8500, 1066MHz, Corsair TWIN2X2048-8500C5D, CL5, (5-5-5-15), ( Kit 2 x 1Gb )

I's an gaming PC. The upgrade would cost 150 EURO's. Would this upgrade improve gaming quality or should I stay to my old platform?

Thanx.

 

[orangegator]

Hi,

My current PC configuration is:
CPU AMD Dual Core Opteron 165 @2.7 ghz 2*1MB Cache
ASUS A8N-SLI SE MB, NF4 SLI HT 2000
2*1 GB OCZ PC3200 DDR400 CL2 * 2-3-2-5
MSI 8800 GT Zilent OC
Seagate 500GB 7200RPM/32MB Cache
SB Audigy SE.

Does it worth upgrade my MB, CPU and RAM to these?:
AMD Opteron 1218 2.6 ghz
MB Gigabyte GA-M750SLI-DS4, Nvidia NForce 750a SLI, S-AM2/AM2+
DIMM 2Gb DDR2, PC-8500, 1066MHz, Corsair TWIN2X2048-8500C5D, CL5, (5-5-5-15), ( Kit 2 x 1Gb )

I's an gaming PC. The upgrade would cost 150 EURO's. Would this upgrade improve gaming quality or should I stay to my old platform?

Thanx.

How would you think this would be an upgrade? The cpu is actually slower. And pc8500 CL5 will only perform a little better than pc3200 CL2 ram. You will see little, if any gain is performance from this "upgrade".

 

[th_username]

every upgrade worth if you are going to gain performance

 

[APieceOfCheese]

Get 4 gigs of ram instead of two and go with a desktop dual core or quad core instead of the opteron server part. Then it would definitely be worth it.

 

[jimmysmitty]

How would you think this would be an upgrade? The cpu is actually slower. And pc8500 CL5 will only perform a little better than pc3200 CL2 ram. You will see little, if any gain is performance from this "upgrade".

You just said DDR 3200 CL2 would be just as fast as DDR2 8500 CL5. You basically just stated that DDR would be faster than DDR2.

OP if you want a real gaming performance upgrade get a HD4850 or HD4870. That will give you a better boost than the CPU. Although your system is old it can still handle games just fine.

 

[orangegator]

You just said DDR 3200 CL2 would be just as fast as DDR2 8500 CL5. You basically just stated that DDR would be faster than DDR2.

OP if you want a real gaming performance upgrade get a HD4850 or HD4870. That will give you a better boost than the CPU. Although your system is old it can still handle games just fine.

I know what I said. And it it is true. Do you even know what CL is? ram at 400mhz CL2 will perform close to ram at 800mhz CL4 or 1066mhz CL5 (I can use bold letters too.) The LOWER the CL, the better. There will be some difference, but certainly not enough to make it worth upgrading to what's proposed.

 

[mossberg]

It is a known fact that unless you use low latency ddr2 800 a K8 chip of the same basic model number was faster in S939 than in AM2. Honestly save yourself the headache. Get an E2180 and a Gigabyte EP35-DS3L or even an Asus P5Q pro. The chip easily hits 3.0ghz and will easily outperform the AMD chip you have and the one you were asking about. Also with core 2 you do not need to spend money on lower latency ram. It is not adversely affected by latency, within reason, like AMD chips are.

 

[mirceaizvoran]

I ment my stock CPU speed is 1.8 ghz...it's oc'ed to 2.7....anyway....I would not go for the E2XX series. I's known that the E2XX (the new pentium dual core) is slower that the Athlon X2s and Opteron beats the Athlon. The Opteron is the best Dual Core AMD chip u can get. I will remain to Opteron (939 or AM2). I can't trade a good chip for an average dual core.

 

[B-Unit]

You are mis-informed mirceaizvoran, the Pentium Dual-Core is faster than AthlonX2 or Opteron dual core parts at equal clock speeds. Also it is known that L2 cache has little or no effect on the power of K8 (AthlonX2 and Opteron dual core) processors, meaning in effect that the Opteron is not any 'faster' than an Athlon at the same clock speed.

The AM2 Opteron you are looking at will not be noticably faster than your current setup. If you are going to upgrade, your options are moving to an Intel Core2 setup (Maximum performance) or getting a new AM2+ and PhenomX3 or X4(Low cost route). Should you choose a new Phenom system, hold off a few weeks and get one of the new motherboards featuring SB750, as these will allow overclocks to the 3.0Ghz and up range.

As previously mentioned, your current machine is still fairly viable. An upgrade in the GPU department may be your best bet for the time being. I know I picked up a second 8800GT for my Opty 165 system (I got 2.9Ghz out of mine tho ) and am satisfied with the results. Another 2GB of RAM, although now obsolescent, can also help out

 

[cjl]

I know what I said. And it it is true. Do you even know what CL is? ram at 400mhz CL2 will perform close to ram at 800mhz CL4 or 1066mhz CL5 (I can use bold letters too.) The LOWER the CL, the better. There will be some difference, but certainly not enough to make it worth upgrading to what's proposed.

While this is true as far as latency is concerned, latency is not the only thing that matters. The bandwidth of 800MHz CL4 is double that of 400MHz CL2, and that does make a significant difference.

 

[jimmysmitty]

^Not only that but 800MHz DDR2 has twice the bandwidth as 400MHz DDR had and with timings as low as CL4 the bandwidth will more than make up for the higher latencies.

 

[radnor]

While this is true as far as latency is concerned, latency is not the only thing that matters. The bandwidth of 800MHz CL4 is double that of 400MHz CL2, and that does make a significant difference.

Yes, but ill give ya a good example of the same performance.

DDR 400Mhz CL2.5 = DDR2 533Mhz CL5

I would check (even in wackypedia) the working of PC133 RAM where the DDR (Double Data Rate) comes from. Latency is the enemy of memory performance. In the OPs case, he wont feel the different, because the difference is minimal to none.

I guess in his case, the original CL2 would be faster.

 

[cjl]

I don't quite get what you're trying to say in the first part of that post. As for the second part, in his case, the CL4 will be faster. At 800MHz, 4 clocks = 5ns. At 400MHz, 2 clocks = 5ns. The latency is equal. Because of this, any performance difference will come from the bandwidth, and the DDR2 800MHz has twice the bandwidth.

Will it be noticeable? Doubtful, but it will be faster.