AMD 64 3200 or 3500

[riverpl8]

I want to upgrade my cpu and mobo

Now I have a AMD 2600 and ASUS mobo..

I want to buy either a 3200 or 3500 and a mobo..Both cpus are Venice cores.. I will not be doing any over-clocking..I also have a 6800 GT agp and 1gig of ram pc3200..I also need a mobo that has s939..

Will I see alot of performance improvements with any of these 2 cpus over my current one.

My main reason for upgrading is becasue I play alot of games...

Please leave suggestions...THANKS

 

[Furen]

I would, personally, go for a socket 754 3400+. Since you dont plan on overclocking you want to buy the highest clocked chip in your price range and the 3400 newcastles are dirt cheap ($170ish for a 2.4GHz K8 is a great deal ^^). The only reason to get socket 939 is if you plan to upgrade your cpu at a later time, but even then you could just buy a new motherboard, since new sockets are coming out soon.

 

[christopherzombie]

Originally posted by: Furen
I would, personally, go for a socket 754 3400+. Since you dont plan on overclocking you want to buy the highest clocked chip in your price range and the 3400 newcastles are dirt cheap ($170ish for a 2.4GHz K8 is a great deal ^^). The only reason to get socket 939 is if you plan to upgrade your cpu at a later time, but even then you could just buy a new motherboard, since new sockets are coming out soon.

I disagree! 939 is still much better than 754. $170 is better spent on a 3200+(939) rather than ANY 754 CPU. Can you say "DUAL CHANNEL"?
Get the 3200+ and go with an MSI K8N Neo2.

 

[Furen]

I wouldnt know about that, just think about it: 2.0GHz with Dual-channel DDR or 2.4 GHz with Single-channel DDR. The Dual Channel wouldnt make up for the 20% clockspeed difference. Socket 939 cpus run cooler but if you enable cool and quiet on a stock 3400 heat shoudnt be a problem anyway.

That's at stock, anyway. If you think you might be tempted to overclock later or you think you might want to upgrade to dual cores, then socket 939 is much better.

 

[n7]

Furen's advice is actually not bad, especially since he currently has an AGP video card.

When he wants to upgrade, he can go PCI-e, dual-core, etc. all at once.

 

[drifter106]

For my way of thinking the 754 does have a lot to offer but it dies at the 3400. Really don't think they intend on taking it further. If you opt to go the 939 you do have some head room down the road. For me, I am going to build another system and looked at the cost peformance of the 754 but in the end will go with the 939...have so much more to work with...

good luck...

 

[Zebo]

3400 beats 3500 in every benchmark let alone 3200. Get the 3400 and Abit NF8 mobo = $250 total. Keep ram and video card.

http://behardware.com/articles/531/page7.html

 

[Furen]

well, it truly depends on when he plans to upgrade later on.

A year for now, socket m2 will be the one to get, since not many new chips are going to come out for socket 939 (seriously, at most we can expect the fx57, fx59 and MAYBE 2 new X2s). Now, assuming that he bought his current cpu 2 years ago--it might be more but I think 2 years is a good estimate--I'll assume he wont upgrade again until early 2007. By then we'll probably have nice little dual-cored K10s which will probably be more desireable than just upgrading to dual core x2s (not to mention all the nice stuff on the intel side, as well, so he might not even want to stay amd). Of course, if he does go from agp/754 to m2, he'd have to upgrade his ram, mobo, cpu and video card at the same time (ouch).

EDIT: on the motherboard side, I'd get any nf3 250 motherboard, since you dont plan on overclocking, you'll save some bucks and have SOME ability to overclock (if you decide to do so at some other time). Also, you can always buy yourself an audigy 2 as well, that'll probably give you more of a performance boost than dual channel ddr.

 

[Zebo]

Big deal. 939 will be extinct next year too with skt 1271.. and by then hell definity need new ram new board new Vcard. A skt 754 setup will last him 2+ years anyway and by then who knows whats out. Bying for future is stupid. Buy what you need now. Buy fastest at lowest cost, and thats skt 754 and 3400 if you're not overclocking.

 

[Furen]

bah, but it's soo much cooler to plan ahead, lol.

Anyway, I truly do agree with you, that's why I recommended the 3400 in the first place.

 

[o1die]

I say go for value. I chose socket 754 2800 cause the board with it was only $9.95 extra (Fry's combo special). I've never upgraded the cpu and used an old board. New cpu= new board always.

 

[sangyup81]

Go for a skt754 mobile CPU

 

[drifter106]

Originally posted by: Zebo
Big deal. 939 will be extinct next year too with skt 1271.. and by then hell definity need new ram new board new Vcard. A skt 754 setup will last him 2+ years anyway and by then who knows whats out. Bying for future is stupid. Buy what you need now. Buy fastest at lowest cost, and thats skt 754 and 3400 if you're not overclocking.

a 754 may last him 2 years but where do you go from the 3400...can you get an x2 to years from now and put it on the 754 board? can you go beyond the 3400 two years from now? saying it is stupid to buy for the future leads one to be very narrow minded... ur saving some $ now but will you be in a position later where you are not able to do anything?

anyway, its not so much as buying towards the future, its a case of using your money wisely to provide you with as much fexibility as possible...

and you talk about benchmarks...in the real world applications are they significantly noticable? ? NO... so a person needs to ask themselves if they are content to save some $ and be strapped or spend some and have some headroom...

 

[Furen]

2 years from now... That would be the equivalent to "upgrading" to an athlon xp3200 right now. In two years the X2s will have been replaced by something that will be (hopefully) much better. I truly dont think that any newer dual core cpus will be released on socket 939 because AMD will want to give socket M2 a "killer app", otherwise everyone will just go with the cheaper socket 939. Furthermore, he wouldnt be saving "some $" right now, he'd be getting a CPU with performance between a 3500+ and a 3800+ spending only $170 dollars and he would be getting it right now, not merely a promise of upgradeability for the future.

I mean, sure he could buy a 3200 for the same price but since he doesnt plan to overclock he would end up being stuck with a lower performing cpu just to have a viable upgrade path later on. If he wants to upgrade to a socket 939 cpu later on, he can just buy a new motherboard with the money he will save by buying a 3400+ and a cheaper motherboard, and he wont be "investing" on something he might not even use.

I cant count the number of times I've bought something that is upgradeable and ended up not even upgrading because something much better came along and I just replaced everything. Who knows what kind of extras motherboards will have two years from now, and who knows what kind of programs we'll be using.