Is A CPU Upgrade Worth It?

[Guest]

I currently have a AMD Athlon dual core running a 3.2GHZ and I was looking at a Phenom 960T quad core processor. I do some gaming, word documents, internet browsing, etc. but is it really worth the upgrade? Thanks.

 

[sosofm]

Depends on the games you play , for multitasking , the answer is yes.

 

[truegenius]

athlon is a very old cpu , and if you can afford the upgrade then it really worth.
Or you can try to overclock it
by the way if you want to upgrade or want to try overclock then you need to post more detailed specs and full sys spec (like motherboard , cpu, and model of cpu)

 

[phatbuddha79]

If you do only some gaming, I do not think it's worth it. Save a few hundred more, build one next year.

 

[jitpublisher]

I think it is worth it, as I have been down this upgrade myself in the past. The new Phenom is quite an improvement generally over the old Athlon dual core CPUs, however to make a more accurate assessment, we do need to know what the rest of your hardware is. Your motherboard may not even support the new Phenom.

 

[Guest]

Here is what I have:
Asus M4N68T-M V2
GTX 550 TI
4GB RAM
500W PSU
AMD Athlon II X2 260 @3.2GHZ

 

[de5_Roy]

Here is what I have:
Asus M4N68T-M V2
GTX 550 TI
4GB RAM
500W PSU
AMD Athlon II X2 260 @3.2GHZ

here's your motherboard's cpu support list:
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM3/M4N68TM_V2/#CPUS
i don't see the 960t so i can't confirm if it'll support the cpu.
anyway, a quad core phenom ii x4 would be a good upgrade over the old athlon because the phenoms usually have l3 cache, higher clock speed, overclockability. get a good cpu cooler if you oc your cpu.

 

[jitpublisher]

I personally would be more willing to save a little money, get a new board and i5 setup if I felt I needed to upgrade from what hardware you have. The Phenom would be somewhat of an improvement overall, not so much for gaming, but it would make the PC generally "smoother" feeling.

 

[rds1220]

At this point I would say wait for the Ivy Bridges. It won't be a huge jump from the Sandy Bridges but it will give a slight increase in performance.

 

[de5_Roy]

yeah, ivb would be the best choice if it turns out as good as it seemed so far.
you can try saving up and wait till ivb comes out (in march/april) and decide then.

 

[rds1220]

Sandy Bridge VS Ivy Bridge test

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Benchmarks-Intel-Ivy-Bridge-CPU-sandy-bridge,14144.html

 

[truegenius]

a regor core , no unlocking, but you can try overclocking, and it will be sufficient for many games,
as far as upgrade is concern then NO NEED TO DO THAT since you do only some office work and minor gaming.
and if you still feel to upgrade then phenom 2 x4 980 is best choice without switching the motherboard

 

[Guest]

here's your motherboard's cpu support list:
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM3/M4N68TM_V2/#CPUS
i don't see the 960t so i can't confirm if it'll support the cpu.
anyway, a quad core phenom ii x4 would be a good upgrade over the old athlon because the phenoms usually have l3 cache, higher clock speed, overclockability. get a good cpu cooler if you oc your cpu.

Should I be concerned that it is not listed or should I be good to go?

 

[Lfluxx]

Should I be concerned that it is not listed or should I be good to go?

it should work, i can't see why not, i mean it is essentially a phenom ii x6 so it should work. Try contacting asus and ask them, that is a good chip though, alot of OC headroom and can unlock to 6 cores if your lucky.

 

[Guest]

it should work, i can't see why not, i mean it is essentially a phenom ii x6 so it should work. Try contacting asus and ask them, that is a good chip though, alot of OC headroom and can unlock to 6 cores if your lucky.

Thanks for the idea. I talked to them and they said that if the CPU is not listed it is not supported, but I don't see why either it should work, but i'd suppose that I would rather be safe and get a CPU that is supported. Maybe a phenom 970 or 980? Any suggestions? To the other guys, I do like the idea of Intel, but I just built this system not too long ago and I would rather not switch motherboards just yet.

 

[de5_Roy]

if you don't want to switch motherboards, you could get a 970 b.e.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103894 @$140
imo the x4 980 is a bit too costly @170 and the x4 975 @$160.
according to this hierarchy chart, the phenom ii x4 would be a good upgrade over your current athlon.
that is an unlocked cpu, so you can overclock it with the help of a good cpu cooler.
ass for intel... if ivb turns out well, it'll still be a good upgrade over your current system when it comes out.