At $190, is it worth the upgrade?

[SunnyD]

Currently, I'm running a Sempron 64 2800+ on a S754 DFI Infinity nF4X PCIe motherboard with 2GB of memory. It's also mismatched with an 8800GTS. The thing is, I have a second 8800GTS sitting new in box with no place to put it - no SLI on S754.

With that in mind, I've been toying with the idea of an upgrade, but have been patiently waiting for AM3 to show up. Also, recently, since the prices have come down a bit, an E6300 + maybe a 650i motherboard is a thought. I would even be happy with an AM2 590 system... but the catch is the upgrade. With memory prices constantly going up now, I'm sitting on a pair of 1GB DDR400 DIMMs in my system. That would be another $200 in upgrades.

On the other hand, Newegg has the San Diego 4000+ combo deal weighing in at $184. It will leave a bit of room for Dual Core when the prices go down further.

Thoughts?

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: SunnyD
no SLI on S754.

Not true.

socket 754 SLI @Newegg

Of course for $100 more than the socket 754 SLI board, you're getting 4x the cache, dual channel (you already have 2x1GB), higher default clock... I'd say go for it.

Alternately, go straight to dual core. Though the DFI Expert board isn't available in such a combo, the Abit AN8 32X is available with the Opteron 165 for $260 total, or just under $100 more than just the socket 754 board. The benefits over your current setup is 4x cache, 2x cores, usually really good overclockability, dual channel, 16x PCI-E lanes per video card. The DFI board probably would be able to take the CPU a bit farther, but the Abit board shouldn't be terrible (but use latest BIOS).

Couple of things to think about... socket 939 chips (your best bet seeing as you have a lot of DDR) are going to become rare since they are being discontinued. Also, you may potentially have to upgrade the PSU if you run both the cards in one rig.

 

[customcoms]

^^what he said. My one thought is I would seriously consider C2D-if you can drop $1000 on GPU's, you can

A)Either find the cash for a proper upgrade.
B) sell one of the cards for the cash.

I personally love my DFI motherboard and this Opteron 165, and this computer will be around for a while longer (with a DX10 gpu upgrade it should be good for 2 more years). However, at this point, if you are shopping for a new board AND processor, period, C2D is your best bet. for $260 you are looking at an E6300+Biostar 965PT (granted not sli), which will make much more use of that 8800GTS.

Power supplies are VERY important with high end equipment. OCZ GamerXtreme 6 or 700 watt FTW.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: customcoms
A)Either find the cash for a proper upgrade.
B) sell one of the cards for the cash.

I'm going to assume gaming since that's the whole purpose of those video cards...

A) is a reasonable choice if there are funds. For "budget" get DDR2 667 or 800 (don't get super speed RAM) and wait a month or two for the E4300/4400 CPUs, and use them with a board like this. That is an Asus socket 7754 SLI board for $106. It is "limited" on how high a FSB it can go and people are complaining about it maxing out at around 1300+FSB. That will put an E6300 with its 7x multiplier at under 2.3GHz, which is indeed pretty pathetic. However, an E4300 with 9x multiplier will be just over 2.9GHz, and an E4400 with 10x multiplier will be 3.25GHz. That's putting it in line with most other C2D overclocks. So, a $106 SLI motherboard with a $113/$133 CPU (estimated pricing from roadmaps), 2GB DDR2 plus those two 8800GTS video cards will make for a totally brutal gaming rig.

B) is NOT a reasonable choice for "gaming" since an overclocked A64 4000+ with those two cards in SLI should totally outperform even the highest overclocked C2D with only one of those cards.