Upgrade worth it options? 9500amdphenom x4 asus m3a

[bmh60u]

Hello here is my system specs currrently not sure wether to simply go from my current amd pehnom x4 9500 to amd 9800 cpu and add another 4gb of corsair dominator ram upping my total to 8gb for about $200 usd total or should i simply scrap my current mobo and go with a new mobo cpu as upping the ram from 4gb to 8gb and uppingthe cpu wont be much of a difference?
main problem is i put in windows 7 and my pc seems to lag on some multitasking issues now and i never had that with windows xp.

any helps tips or suggestions would be greatly apreciated. would prefer the $200 budget option but if not feasible could do $300-$400 if it was a mobo cpu upgrade but would want one where i could end up adding in another radeon 5750 down the line i suppose thanks for looking!!

system setup is amd phenom x4 9500
4gb of corsair cominator ram cm2x2048-8500c5d
2tb hdd wd 64mb cache
1024mb ati radeon hd5750
asus m3a motherboard

cpu-id computer jargon details ram timings and such below..

Chipset
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Northbridge AMD 770 rev. 00
Southbridge ATI SB600 rev. 00
Graphic Interface PCI-Express
PCI-E Link Width x16
PCI-E Max Link Width x16
Memory Type DDR2
Memory Size 4096 MBytes
Channels Dual, (Unganged)
Memory Frequency 400.0 MHz (1:2)
CAS# latency (CL) 5.0
RAS# to CAS# delay (tRCD) 5
RAS# Precharge (tRP) 5
Cycle Time (tRAS) 18
Bank Cycle Time (tRC) 23
Command Rate (CR) 2T
Uncore Frequency 1800.1 MHz

Memory SPD
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

DIMM # 1
SMBus address 0x50
Memory type DDR2
Module format Regular UDIMM
Manufacturer (ID) Corsair (7F7F9E0000000000)
Size 2048 MBytes
Max bandwidth PC2-6400 (400 MHz)
Part number CM2X2048-8500C5D
Number of banks 2
Data width 64 bits
Correction None
Nominal Voltage 1.80 Volts
EPP yes (1 profiles)
XMP no
JEDEC timings table CL-tRCD-tRP-tRAS-tRC @ frequency
JEDEC #1 4.0-4-4-13-16 @ 270 MHz
JEDEC #2 5.0-5-5-18-23 @ 400 MHz
EPP timings table CL-tRCD-tRP-tRAS-tRC-CR @ frequency (voltage)
EPP profile #1 (full) 5.0-5-5-15-22-2T @ 533 MHz (2.100 Volts)

DIMM # 2
SMBus address 0x51
Memory type DDR2
Module format Regular UDIMM
Manufacturer (ID) Corsair (7F7F9E0000000000)
Size 2048 MBytes
Max bandwidth PC2-6400 (400 MHz)
Part number CM2X2048-8500C5D
Number of banks 2
Data width 64 bits
Correction None
Nominal Voltage 1.80 Volts
EPP yes (1 profiles)
XMP no
JEDEC timings table CL-tRCD-tRP-tRAS-tRC @ frequency
JEDEC #1 4.0-4-4-13-16 @ 270 MHz
JEDEC #2 5.0-5-5-18-23 @ 400 MHz
EPP timings table CL-tRCD-tRP-tRAS-tRC-CR @ frequency (voltage)
EPP profile #1 (full) 5.0-5-5-15-22-2T @ 533 MHz (2.100

 

[bmh60u]

for some reason noticing alot of slowdown and issues multitasking after i popped in a new 2tb hdd and did a clean insttall of windows 7

 

[jj463rd]

According to ASUS you could upgrade to the Phenom X4 9850 BE on that motherboard.
That would be the most powerful CPU available for it.

http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=M3A&product=1&os=25

Tiger Direct still has this CPU (on sale right now)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4082332&Sku=A79-9851

Whether this is worth it to up to you to decide however the Phenom X4 9850 BE doesn't have the TLB bug like the slower Phenom X4 9500.


You could perhaps instead opt to get a better AM2+ motherboard that's capable of using Phenom II series processors and still reuse your DDR2 RAM.

Here is a much better one with pretty high performance at a very low cost.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103644

It's up to you to chose a AM2+ motherboard capable of supporting this CPU.
Look up the CPU support at the manufacturers support website
By the way many of them are disappearing quick (being phased out).

 

[enzo matrix]

for some reason noticing alot of slowdown and issues multitasking after i popped in a new 2tb hdd and did a clean insttall of windows 7

If your computer is slower than it used to be, that is not an issue that can be solved simply by upgrading. You have a problem that needs to be looked at.

What brand and model is the 2TB drive?
Did you reinstall your OS to the same hard drive as before or to the new one?
What is your idling CPU usage? Is there anything suspicious in the task manager/process manager?
Can you be much more specific as to the slowdowns?
Did you redo all the optimizations you had originally?
What operating system are you using?

If you still want to upgrade, I do not recommend going from an old, outdated processor that contains a major bug that the fix for caused a 10% performance drop to the same processor with a slightly higher clockspeed.
Your motherboard likely supports the Phenom II. That could be a better choice. How much do you want to spend?

 

[jj463rd]

No his motherboard apparently doesn't support Phenom II CPU's not Athlon II's either.

 

[enzo matrix]

No his motherboard apparently doesn't support Phenom II CPU's not Athlon II's either.

Reference? I just assumed with a 770 northbridge. He didn't mention his motherboard model or did I miss it?

Anyway, in that case if you really want to keep your current motherboard, go with a 9x50 not a 9x00. The 9x50 models were where they fixed the TLB bug.

This is a good choice and they seem to really want to get rid of it with free shipping:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103286

It's not a huge CPU speed bump but it is something. Another possibility is replacing your motherboard at additional cost with another AM2+ motherboard.

 

[jj463rd]

Yes, He mentioned the model number ASUS model M3A.
I previously posted a link to the supported CPU's

No wait looking at that list it does support one Phenom II a Heka 715 or Phenom II X3 715 with a beta BIOS.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103679

 

[enzo matrix]

Yes, He mentioned the model number ASUS model M3A.
I previously posted a link to the supported CPU's

Oh that's why. I responded right after ct's response but took a bit to type.

 

[jj463rd]

Well the Phenom II X3 715 would be a worthy upgrade.
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=AMD+Phenom+II+X3+715

Anantech's bechmarks don't have the 715 but only the 710 (which is slower) or the 720 (which is faster) than the 715.

Here is the 720 compared against the 9850BE
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/83?vs=29

Here is the 710 compared against the 9850BE
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/84?vs=29

 

[enzo matrix]

Well the Phenom II X3 715 would be a worthy upgrade.
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=AMD+Phenom+II+X3+715

Anantech's bechmarks don't have the 715 but only the 710 (which is slower) or the 720 (which is faster) than the 715.

Here is the 720 compared against the 9850BE
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/83?vs=29

Here is the 710 compared against the 9850BE
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/84?vs=29

Hmm. If it were my computer I would go for that upgrade. 2.8GHz 3-core vs 2.2GHz quad with the quad being older tech with less cache.

 

[jj463rd]

Yes,also the 9500 was defective too and if the user had the fix for the TLB bug enabled his system would even perform less.