Urgent PC upgrade advice

[Cotterik]

_____________________________

Hey guys I'm needing an upgrade for my system in the next month because I'm a gamer and i can no longer play all the new games on full settings.

I'm considering upgrading my motherboard,processor,memory and graphics to this:

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ 2.0GHz Socket AM2 1MB, BOXED w/fan

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-M57SLI-S4,nForce 570 SLI,ATX ,Socket-AM2,GbLAN,DDR2,Firew, 2xPCI-Ex16

Memory: Corsair XMS2 6400 DDR2, 1024MB PC6400 64Meg x 8, CAS 5-5-5-15, 800MHz, 240pin

Graphics: Sapphire Radeon X1800XT 256MB GDDR3, PCI-Express,ViVo,Dual-DVI-I,Lite-Retail

For those of you who are experienced. Is it worth paying an extra £100 for the X2 dual core processor? and investing in the DDR2 Memory? Any other comments?

Thanks for the help

[P3RG4R3C]

What's your current configuration if I may ask?

[Cotterik]

Processor: AMD Athlon 3200+ 2.2GHz

Motherboard: (realy dont know, about 4 years old. AGP. integrated sound etc)

Memory: Corsair 1gig pc3200

Graphics: Sapphire Radeon 9600XT 256MB

[Alastor]

_____________________________

Hey guys I'm needing an upgrade for my system in the next month because I'm a gamer and i can no longer play all the new games on full settings.

I'm considering upgrading my motherboard,processor,memory and graphics to this:

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ 2.0GHz Socket AM2 1MB, BOXED w/fan

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-M57SLI-S4,nForce 570 SLI,ATX ,Socket-AM2,GbLAN,DDR2,Firew, 2xPCI-Ex16

Memory: Corsair XMS2 6400 DDR2, 1024MB PC6400 64Meg x 8, CAS 5-5-5-15, 800MHz, 240pin

Graphics: Sapphire Radeon X1800XT 256MB GDDR3, PCI-Express,ViVo,Dual-DVI-I,Lite-Retail

For those of you who are experienced. Is it worth paying an extra £100 for the X2 dual core processor? and investing in the DDR2 Memory? Any other comments?

Thanks for the help

I am looking at building a new system and considering similar hardware. I settled on the X2 3800+ Socket 939. I like the idea of the multi-tasking benefits of the dual cores and think it is worth a little extra for daily computing. I have a dual processor machine at work and it is great.

I am in no hurry to build a new system so I am waiting on the new duel core Intel processors. It seems as though they have the performance edge but I wonder if they will be priced competitively.

I decided against the AM2 because I do not think that DDR2 is worth the premium over DDR. Some of the DDR2 800 modules are on par with the current low latency DDR 400 modules but why pay more for the same performance? If you are going to over-clock then that is different story, but for out of the box performance I cannot rationalize it.

Here is a comprehensive review of a lot of processors, it makes it easy to compare different models.

http://www.behardware.com/art/imprimer/625/

[Gtek-i]

...my cousin could give some advice but unfortunatly I don't know a lot about computer stuff. YAY!!! 500TH POST!

[adamfraser]

Go to the local shop's Forum, Here. Youll get answers pretty quick, and are a very helpful bunch of guys.

[Cotterik]

cheers guys. I'll see what answers i can get.

[NuclearCrap]

Not worth the X2 for that price, I'd rather go for a 3700+ San Diego S939. And what the hell are you gonna do with an ATi card on a SLI motherboard? Lol, get a Crossfire motherboard or just get nVidia graphics card.

And try finding another XMS with lower timings, works best with AMD.

[Cotterik]

ok but why wouldnt you go for the X2? and that motherboard was a random pick-off for an example. Im sticking with Ati for now.

when you say lower timings work best with AMD how do you mean?

[my porsche]

Not worth the X2 for that price, I'd rather go for a 3700+ San Diego S939. And what the hell are you gonna do with an ATi card on a SLI motherboard? Lol, get a Crossfire motherboard or just get nVidia graphics card.

And try finding another XMS with lower timings, works best with AMD.

Was that english?!

[clutch-monkey]

Was that english?!

it was english, just not as we know it.

[Souljah]

Ok..,...My advice if your going 2 run a Windows operating system It's allways(and i mean always) better 2 run it on A Pentium procceser cuz it programmed for(on) a pentium procceser....the procceser acts a different way, but thats more technical 2 get into....and then get a mainboard with an intell chipset....but yeah i know there is a price diffrent.....if you decide 3 go for the x64 or whats its called make sure 2 get a mainboard thats supports it...i would look for an ASUS mainboard wit ATI chipset....but thats what i would do....

[Alastor]

and that motherboard was a random pick-off for an example. Im sticking with Ati for now.

I think his point is that if you are sticking with an ATI graphics card should not waste money on an SLI motherboard unless you plan on running a pair of nVidia cards in the near future. You are paying more for SLI support, and if you are not going to use it you are wasting your money. If you want dual ATI graphic card support you need a Crossfire motherboard.

when you say lower timings work best with AMD how do you mean?

Again speculating but the AMD on-die memory controller will benefit greatly from a lower latency memory. DDR2 has plenty of bandwidth but tends to have poor latency compared to DDR.

[NuclearCrap]

Lol believe me, 3700+ and X2 3800+ isn't much different in performance. Keep in mind that not every software's fully compatible with dual-core technologies yet, and you're saving yourself 100 bucks and some headaches. 3700+ San Diego is very easy to overclock and it has tons of potential at it, and overall it's a great processor for the money. Anyway I wouldn't recommend switching to AM2 yet, S939 still has a long way to go if AMD doesn't just give up on the entire platform.

[Cotterik]

ok cheers. I'll have a look at the prices for the 3700+ and 3800+ on an ASUS pci motherboard.

The only other thing i need to know, is what memory am i best going for? I know now that its probably not worth choosing the AM2 option for DDR2 and just going for the 939 but which memory should i opt for? thats all i need to know cheers