Should I upgrade??

[vexun11]

Hello, I am curious about a few things here and I know i'm in the right place to ask them.

I recently did a case swap from a dell inspiron 531s with an asus motherboard and amd 64 X2 4000+ 2 gigs of ddr2 667, radeon 4650 low profile and a brand new Thermaltake 430 watt psu and a thermaltake supranors case which I am very excited about. What I am curious about is would it be worth upgrading this thing? It handles the games that I play pretty good, cod4 max settings at 1650x1080 runs smooth.. it's not too bad. Would it be a good idea to slap a new cpu in? amd 64x 6000' is 54$ on newegg right now. The motherboard can handle 800mhz memory, 4 slots 1 gig max in each one. I currently have 2 667 mhz chips, should I get 2 more 667's or just get 2 800's to replace these two. I cant spend a lot of money right now. Would it be a good idea to do this until the high end motherboards go down in price or would it be worth doing this for now then holding off for 8-9 months and buy quad core... Any ideas??? would running 4 gigs of ddr 667 be better then running 2 gigs of ddr800? Mostly for gaming. Also tried overclocking my radeon 4650 even just a little bit but it bugs out and it's running very cool. never gets above 45º even in hardcore games.. Sorry this post is about so many things.

Any advice would be great, thank you

Nick

 

[gkay09]

^ Frankly why do you want to upgrade when you feel that it plays games pretty good...
I would suggest you to save more money and replace the CPU + Mobo + RAM + Graphics card altogether or CPU + Mobo + RAM and stick with the graphics card for a while...
Upgrading an old platform is not worth it IMO...
And populating all the 4 RAM slots wont help...It might actually slow down the PC because now the 4 sticks have to share the same memory controller's bandwidth, which only 2 had to share...
And also DDR2 667 to DDR2 800 ? Not worth it also considering the RAM prices currently...Upgrade to DDR3 is more worth it...
For about $200-$220, you can get a good Quad CPU + AMD3 Mobo + 2GB DDR3 RAM

 

[vexun11]

Thank you for your feedback, I want to update my system a little bit and save up a lot of money and in a year or whatever get all new hardware, So the 2 gigs I have running right now would run better then having 4 gigs of the same memory? I think I can run 2 dual channels with my computer. Are you saying it would slow it down? also would I notice a difference in general if I went from this amd x2 4000 to a amd x2 6000? I just want to max out what I can do to this motherboard which would only cost me like 100$ and work out ok until I can afford to get a new up to date system. I really want to get new memory, I had 3 gigs of this same type of memory and my windows score went down but I noticed when I was in games my fps being a little higher, I took the memory out though and returned it and bought a new case. I could get that amd x2 6000+ for 54$ + free shipping.

thanks

 

[vexun11]

Where can I get a quadcore new ram and mobo for around 200$ ? I looked on newegg at combo packages, for a decent mobo+ram it was around 200$ with memory around 60-70

 

[gkay09]

EDIT: Dint refresh before posting...check the config in the next post...

^ Just make sure your mobo supports that CPU as it is a 125W TDP CPU...And also if you want to upgrade your RAM, sell all the stick and get 2x 2GB kit - hope you are using a 64-bit OS else it wont recognize the full 4GB RAM...
After these upgrades, there might be slight improvement but dont expect it to be significant jump...
And like I said that the populating all the 4 memory slots, will slow down the memory because now 4 sticks would have to share the same memory bandwidth, that was being shared by only 2 sticks - hence they would run slower...

 

[gkay09]

CPU - Athlon X4 620
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103706

ASRock 770
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157176

RAM -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231134

Total - ~$215

 

[vexun11]

my mobo only supports 1 gig max for each slot, and I have read that any x2 processor will work with this mobo.. So what should I do about the ram considering it has 1 gig max per slot.

Wow 215$ for those 3 thats insane, prices are going down to much its crazy

I would rather wait a while and save up to get something nicer mabey when they come out with 6 or 8 core cpusor whatever. but I want to do something minor in the mean time, this way I will have a decent spare pc.

 

[gkay09]

^ Could you give the mobo model no. ?

 

[vexun11]

Dell Insipron 531 with ASUS M2N61-AX motherboard socket am2

Thanks so much for your help

 

[gkay09]

^ The PC can take 6000+ and as for the RAM, Yes it seems that you are limited to 1GB per slot...So you can try populating the rest of the slots DDR2 667 as I dont think you would benefit by going from 667 to 800...

 

[vexun11]

Do you think its worth doing this just for a year or so when prices have gone down and I can get something really good? Also for that 6000+ what would be a good heatsink?

Thank you

 

[gkay09]

^ Just noticed that the 6000+ that they were talking in the support forms is a 89W TDP one and not the 125W TDP...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103272
So on the safer side, just make sure it even support that 125W TDP one...

And as for the HSF -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835200014

And also update you BIOS if you have a old one..,
http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/driverslist.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&ServiceTag=&SystemID=INSP_DSKTP_D531S&os=WLH&osl=en&catid=&impid=

 

[vexun11]

I have read on a few different threads about people running a 6000 on this mobo, but now you got me worried lol

 

[vexun11]

Does wattage have to do with motherboard being compatible or is it the Psu?

 

[gkay09]

^ The PSU will not be a problem, but the mobo will(If it doesnt support the 125W TDP one)...
And I said that because later on after you buy that CPU, if it doesnt work, then it would be a waste...
So try starting a thread on the Dell forum...

Or for about $113(Including rebates), you can do this -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.315695

or
that CPU with this mobo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128342

 

[vexun11]

Damn i'm so disappointed that 54$ cpu might not work, ill look into it but in the mean time im gona get some new memory thanks a lot for your help

 

[vexun11]

I found this if it helps http://en.community.dell.com/forums/p/19305152/19622778.aspx ] Forum [/url]

 

[vexun11]

I have been looking online for the 89w 6000 dont see it from anywhere I trust, newegg doesnt sell it anymore.

 

[gkay09]

^ Well it seems that the 125W TDP CPU might be supported by the 531...Heat is only the main concern here I guess...
And if you ask me, instead of spending $54 + $20 HSF - Total - $74 for just the CPU alone, I would again suggest this config for $100...
Athlon II X2 240
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103688
MSI K9N6PGM2-V AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130187

Total - $100 - For just about $26 more, you dont have to worry about the compatability, heat and this CPU would easily outperform that 6000+

 

[vexun11]

are there any other cpu's that arent too expensive that are compatible with amd x2 mobos? like http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103681&nm_mc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r&cm_mmc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r-_-Processors+-+Desktops-_-AMD-_-19103681

 

[gkay09]

^ Those wont be compatible with your mobo...that is why I had listed the above CPU + Mobo...

 

[vexun11]

woops I missed that, thanks

 

[vexun11]

I think im just gona pick up the amd x2 6000 and get a good heatsink my Thermaltake supranors case has very very good cooling

 

[gkay09]

^ Its your call...

 

[vexun11]

it looks like I will have to flash my bios in order to get a new cpu... which worries me ive read about people having issues with it.. what do you think? I really want to get http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=19-103-279&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&Pagesize=10&SelectedRating=-1&PurchaseMark=&VideoOnlyMark=False&VendorMark=&Keywords=%28keywords%29&Page=2 but only if I dont need to flash my bios..