Another will it be worth it threads... But hey :D

[NitOxYs]

Hey Guys,
I was wondering, as like alot of people I currently have a rig of this setup:
Dual Core AMD Athlon 165 @ 2.0GHZ (Thats as far as the board will let it go)
2GB of DDR400 2.5 CAS
XFX 8600GTS XXX Edition

I'm limited with my graphics card on CPU none the less, would dropping say an Opteron 185 in there help me at all? Or should I wait till 08' for the barecelona core?
Newegg has a free SLI board with it onsale.
$320 with shipping (if you can find it cheaper, tell me)
My Gigabyte K8NXP-SLi board isn't cutting it and won't overclock that Opteron 165 any higher, and I've tried different RAM and heat sinks. If I try to clock it higher, its very unstable and windows will not boot or it won't post every other time.
I've tried voltages increased and loosened the ram timings and nothing, so I'm considering dropping in a new CPU.
Unless I can get it to 2.6GHZ...
Any help would be nice.

 

[Noubourne]

Well you have 2Ghz now. Another 600Mhz will make a difference, but not a big difference. Worth $320? Not in my opinion, even if you got 3Ghz out of the 185.

If I was going to do anything right now, I'd move to a cheapo E6300 w/ a P5B and some decent (but not insane) DDR2, OC the heck out of it, and then slap in a QX6600 when it drops to $266 July 22. I THINK the P5Bs can take the quads.

 

[NitOxYs]

How do you have your opteron at 2.8?
Could I have a defective mobo?
Should I replace it and spend like 100 bucks and get a nice one?
Why would I purchase 600 dollars worth of stuff, when I plan to purchase barcelona cores when it come out?

 

[gobucks]

personally i wouldn't spend a bunch of money on a total replacement right now, seeing as how new generation hardware (barcelona, penrynn) is on the horizon and we have know idea which will win and how they will overclock.

Besides, I'm not really convinced that an 8600GTS will even bottleneck a 2GHz DC opteron anyways. if you had an 8800GTS, then I would recommend upgrading your CPU or mobo, but considering that the 8600GTS only has around the performance of a 7900GS, it just doesn't seem like you would gain a whole lot.

If you do have to upgrade, I wouldn't spend a bunch of money on overhauling your socket 939 system, especially considering you plan to upgrade to barcelona (or, if it ends up being a stinker, then maybe penrynn or something). I would search the forums under the for sale/trade category, and look for somebody with a good overclocking motherboard, like an nforce4 ultra. They should be cheap at this point since i'd imagine a lot of people are selling off their old stuff to upgrade to a core 2 system. I don't really think you should bother upgrading your CPU, since that 165 should hit at least 2.6-2.7GHz with proper cooling and a good motherboard.

 

[Amaroque]

wait, and get a barcelona (A64) or a penryn (C2D) when they come out.

 

[RussianSensation]

You are far more graphics card limited. We are talking about 7600GT performance or so.

 

[Amaroque]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation
You are far more graphics card limited. We are talking about 7600GT performance or so.

is 2.0 GHz limiting? I don't really know, as I can't game too much anymore. I have a newborn... I used to game a-lot, but my last GPU upgrade was an X800XL.

I can only give CPU opinions, as I build computers every weekend or so (on the side).

 

[996GT2]

I think maybe you should try to overclock your 165 higher...unless you have an extremely horrendous dud it should go above 2.0 GHz on any decent OCing board.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: NitOxYs
Could I have a defective mobo?
Should I replace it and spend like 100 bucks and get a nice one?

No, you just need to learn how to overclock. The instructions on this page will give you some ideas of what you haven't been doing right, in the overclocking department. Good luck, anyway. Oh, and welcome to anandtech.

 

[lyssword]

if you do want to buy an opteron, wait at least a week. AMD will drop prices on their Opteron prices soon

 

[Noubourne]

I don't know much about the Gigabyte boards in particular, but the board is using the NF4 SLI chipset, which is essentially the same one I have on mine.

You should be able to get MUCH higher with that. If you're concerned about a dud component, first post the rest of your hardware. The motherboard isn't the only determining factor.

Also, pop off the heatsink and post all the numbers listed on the top of your CPU. Most Opty batches/steppings are well known for their OC potential, and reading those numbers can give you an idea of what you'll be able to do with it.

As you can see by mine, CCBBE = good.

 

[aigomorla]

lol...

S939 AMD -> to a more expensive S939 AMD is never worth it.

So you say your budget is 320.

If your going to upgrade this is better:

E4300 + Gigabyte P965-DS3 + 2gig Crucial Ballastix <--- you can recycle this for your barcelona.


So how much do you really pay for the upgrade

E4300 + p965

http://www.xpcgear.com/e4300oem.html 111.99
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?p=MB-965...58ce51445cde89270a5007a64073155e5a673b 115.50


Ram, you dont need to get crucial, but there my personal favorate. Best overclockign ram ive ever owned on a DDR2.

But you can always get cheap supertallents:
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=T800UX2GC4 105.06

Grand total ~332

And it will pwn your current system, and most definitely hold you past AMD's BS delays on barcelona if you do go that route.

If you decide to jump on the Q6600 bandwagon this july like everyone else and say screw you AMD. Then that board is Quadcore Ready.

 

[gobucks]

i just thought of this, but i noticed you tried playing with memory timings, but didn't mention underclocking your memory. maybe you should try dropping your base memory speed to 333MHz (5/6 multiplier) or 300 (3/4 multi) which should allow for more flexibility in OCing if your memory isn't very overclockable.

I definitely do agree with aigomorla that there is no reason to spend a bunch of cash on dead technology, i.e. socket 939 stuff. I know you would like to re-use your DDR memory, but memory prices have bottomed out and it is pretty easy to find 2GB kits of DDR2 in speed up to 1000MHz for $100 or less. AM2 is also not a good bet since we don't know if it will run Barcelona chips. That means that if you upgrade now, aigomoria's suggestion to go Core 2 Duo is the wiser choice.

However, I really don't see the point of spending $300+ to slightly improve the performance of your $200 graphics card. It's like buying a $3000 used honda civic and spending another $3000 souping it up to get another 20% horsepower out of its 100HP engine.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: gobucks
i just thought of this, but i noticed you tried playing with memory timings, but didn't mention underclocking your memory. maybe you should try dropping your base memory speed to 333MHz (5/6 multiplier) or 300 (3/4 multi) which should allow for more flexibility in OCing if your memory isn't very overclockable.

I definitely do agree with aigomorla that there is no reason to spend a bunch of cash on dead technology, i.e. socket 939 stuff. I know you would like to re-use your DDR memory, but memory prices have bottomed out and it is pretty easy to find 2GB kits of DDR2 in speed up to 1000MHz for $100 or less. AM2 is also not a good bet since we don't know if it will run Barcelona chips. That means that if you upgrade now, aigomoria's suggestion to go Core 2 Duo is the wiser choice.

However, I really don't see the point of spending $300+ to slightly improve the performance of your $200 graphics card. It's like buying a $3000 used honda civic and spending another $3000 souping it up to get another 20% horsepower out of its 100HP engine.

its also financially better.

And as i said, incase you do decide AMD doesnt have what your looking for. 266 dollar quadcores, Seem VERY TASTY.

And once again, that board is Quadcore ready, and that is the Rev. 3.3

Unless the older revisions came ROHS?

 

[NitOxYs]

Here Goes.
Opteron 165 @ 2.0GHZ (1.35 Volts Vcore)
Kingston DDR400 2.5-3-3-8
Gigabyte K8NXP-SLI Motherboard with the latest BIOS
XFX 8600GTS XXX Edition
Windows Vista Ultimate
I'm a big source player, and I get roughly 35fps in combat situations.
80fps-120fps depends if I'm not doing much.
The CPU itself never hits 90% cpu usage when playing (I have a G15 keyboard with the cpu/memory reader on it)
I have played with the memory dividers and underclocked the memory. Yes I was able to get a higher clock, but it would do the exact same thing.
Either not post or windows would crash. Vista I have now, XP I had before, and it was the same symptoms.
I've ran mem test.
CPU runs at 29 celcius, 39 load.
I've increased voltages to the ddr and to the HT link.
I've also dropped my multiplier to 8 and increased it, and still no go.