Upgrade advice?

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nome

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May 23, 2006
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Just trying to see if it's worth upgrading my old system.

Motherboard: Asus M2N-E
CPU: Athlon XP 4200+
RAM: 2GB Corsair DDR2 667
GPU: E-VGA 9800GT 512MB Superclocked Edition
PSU: 500W
OS: XP Pro

Is this worth upgrading the CPU and RAM? I would like to hit 8gb and try a 64bit OS maybe as well. I primarily game on this system and do some web development as well. If I don't upgrade this I was thinking about upgrading to a system with Intel E8400 or Q6600 but I don't know what is the best use of my money. I know the ball is pretty much in Intels court so I am hesitant to upgrade AMD again. Just looking for people's thoughts. If I go the intel route can anyone spec a budget build, SLI capability optional(is it worth it?). Either way I should be good on Case, PSU, GPU and Drives at the least.

Thanks
-Tim

 
boulard83

boulard83

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Low budget can be something like E5200+P45 mobo and an artic cooler 7 and you can hit 3.6-4ghz EZ for about 200$ MAX

Your ram can still do it, you dont need 8gb, you only need 4 for what you told your doing. Upgrade to 2x2go ddr2 800 and your fine ! can be found for 50$ with 4-4-4-12 timing.

Your GPU is fine depending on EYE candy you want and game you play.

PSU is ok too if its not a generic one !

Thats my opinion ... other can have their own ...
 
Zenthar

Zenthar

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Worth might depend on your budget and goals. If you want to go "cheap", You could probably get a 6000+ and another 2GB of RAM for under 100$. How much of a boost it would give depends on the games you play.
 
N

nome

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Haven't done a lot of OC'ing but isn't there more than just ghz to consider with the cpu? Doesn't the e8400 have other features which make it better like higher cache and optimizations? I understand your talking budget but I'm just curious what the differences would be :)

The 8gb ram was just if I move to 64bit vista or windows 7 later. Ram is pretty cheap anyway. :)

Yea, think GPU will hold up for a bit still. :)

PSU isn't generic but I can't remember which one it is. I'll have to look at home. Should be solid.

Thanks for suggestions!

 
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nome

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Yes, I agree this would be cheapest but would it satisfy me long enough to be worth it is what I'm worried about. AMD seems so far behind in performance that it bugs me. How are the phenoms price/performance going to be?

Thanks for your thoughts.
 
Zenthar

Zenthar

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The other reason why I think you should just upgrade your CPU + RAM is the new i7. Intel is slowly moving away from Socket 775 and therefore a P45 build isn't as "future-proof" as one could hope. I think the P55 chipset is planned for Q3 2009 and by that time we might even have new of the 32 nm i7, so i7 upgrade could be much cheaper and more future-proof than today.
 
geofelt

geofelt

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You have a reasonably well balanced system right now. That's both good and bad.

It is good because you did a good job with the current build.
It is bad because if you significantly upgrade any one part, then you will want to upgrade all the other parts too.

The only cost effective upgrade I see is adding 2gb of ram. It is so cheap these days.

I think I would save up for a new build.
 
N

nome

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good points both of you. I tend not to buy the latest greatest but I do want to be able to upgrade at least once when I make new builds. So maybe it isnt a good idea to go intel yet... I'll examine the amd option some more. anyone else want to chime in?
 
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ugk3401

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It all depends on how much you want to spend i suppose. But if you were wanting to just upgrade a few things and switch over to intel look at the E8500 with a P45 or X48 motherboard. Get some ddr800 or ddr1066 ram and you will be just fine.
 
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ugk3401

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4gb ram is enough, and don't go to XP 64-bit if you are wanting a 64-bit OS go with Vista 64 instead as Xp 64 doesnt really have support. They don't make software for it. Vista 64-bit is the way to go of course until Windows 7 comes out (which the beta version rocks by the way)
 
N

nome

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Yea the benchmarks seemed pretty good and the price is great. But, I like to hear real user accounts if I can get em too. :) I think I'm going to go for it and save up for a better build next year. I think this will hold me over til then. I'm looking to see if the mb supports it. It's an asus m2n-e if anyone knows for sure let me know.
 
N

nome

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Seems it is supported.

I just hope the ram is fine, I can't find anything about 1066 ram. board says it supports 1066 with am2+ cpus but there is no certified ram list above ddr2 800. so...i guess ill just hope...im thinking it will be fine. it's a good mb havent had a problem with it so far.
 
boulard83

boulard83

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Go with ddr2 800 ... pretty much the same thing. youll see about 4-5% increase perf from 800 to 1066

If i OC my ram on this settings (as you can see i run it @ stock 800mhz) when i benchmark theres NO difference at all. This just rpove that my ram ISNT my bottleneck. OCing it just dont worth it. depend on your bottleneck ...
 
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Blacklyte

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I've got the 7750 upgraded from a x2 4800. Mine defaulted to 2.5Ghz so had to change it in bios also it does not support dual channel with 4 sticks of ram other than that it has ran fine. OC to 3.1 with AC Freezer64 +.025 V idles at 45C
 
captaincharisma

captaincharisma

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I'd just go for another AMD chip an x2 or phenom. heck if i were in this spot i definetly see if that mobo can get a bios update for a phenom and replace the CPU with that. anytime you can get a good and current CPU with old hardware is always good for a cheap upgrade
 
N

nome

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The ram situation is holding me back. I have the 1.95v limit which is worrying me about overclocking potential and if I have to get a new mb I'm thinking I might as well go Intel...kind of bummer here. Maybe I'll just hold out another month and go the Intel route.

I'm looking into whether this board can flash to the m2n-e-SLI bios as that mb is capable of 2.5v I believe. Also is it possible to get some 1066 2.0v ram and underclock it with tighter timing at 1.95v? Still have a lot of research to do on overclocking and I think my mb isn't the greatest oc'er anyway :(
 
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