Athlon64 3000 (winchester) to Athlon64 4000 (San Diego) upgrade questions

[Schadenfroh]

CPU in question

Current Specs:
CPU: AMD Athlon64 3000+ (Winchester core, 512K L2 Cache) with Retail HS/Fan, not overclocked
Mobo: Gigabyte K8NS Ultra-939 (nForce3 Ultra Socket 939)
RAM: 4 X 512mb Corsair XMS PC3200 DDR ram (2gb total)
Video: Geforce 6800 Ultra 256mb (run games at 1600X1200)

Duration: I need this to last me 8 months in the latest games and I will be doing some c++ compiling and movie/audio ripping.

Note: I am skipping dual core and going directly to quad core when it becomes reasonably priced (along with DDR2 ram) in the future. My Mobo has a bios update that supports the A64 4K San Diego

Questions:
[*]Will I notice a difference in games?
[*]Am I currently CPU limited?
[*]Will the Socket 939 Winchester AMD retail HS/Fan work on an OEM San Diego socket 939?
[*]Do San Diego's have locked (up) multipliers like my Winchester?

thanks

 

[BassBomb]

Yes in non-gaming. For new games such as oblivion you wont get a world of difference but there will be some and should be marginably noticable.

Are you CPU Limited? No. You are very much GPU limited (for gaming at least)

Will the HSF work, yes it will. But it may be not as effective as a stock 4000+ cooler.

Yes the multipliers are locked.


I am in a similar boat as you, I am going to sit tight for awhile.

 

[deadseasquirrel]

That's a tough spot to be in. Normally, I'd say hold off on the CPU upgrade and pour money into a faster GPU than the 6800, especially if you're wanting to play at 1600x1200. BUT, being on an AGP board, your GPU upgrade options are both limited and expensive, and might not be worth it for just 8 more months. So, it might not be wise to put any money into a faster AGP card that you will only keep for 8 months.

It's only $80 and the CPU would be faster (especially since you're not overclocking the 3000+), but, overall, it might end up being $80 that doesn't buy you too much at the moment, and you would be better off just holding on to that $80 for a while longer until your complete overhaul.

 

[VooDooAddict]

At 1600x1200 you are mostly GPU limited in the newest titles ... though depending on the game some scenes with massive amount of AI and objects could certainly also be CPU limited.

4000+ and an ATI X1950Pro would be your best bet on extending the life of the system. $300 ($80 CPU, $220 Vid) would breath some serious new life into that gaming system and should last you @ 1600x1200 till DX10 cards and Quad core is a little more reasonable.

 

[CurseTheSky]

Just to give you an idea, the computer in my signature has trouble with Oblivion at max settings in 1600x1200. I had to turn a few sliders (mainly terrain and underbrush draw distances) back to about half to run decently, and I still get choking framerates from time to time.

Honestly, I'd go for a cheap upgrade at this point. If it were me, I'd go for a cheap X2 3800+ if I could find one, if not a X2 4200+ or Opteron 165. I know you said you didn't want to go with dual core yet, but it would probably make the biggest difference at this point, allowing you to max out one core with a game while keeping the background programs running on another core. If you can't find anything cheap (under $100-150), go with the most megahertz for the money - a 3400+, 3500+, 3700+, or 4000+.

As others said, you will probably notice a minimal difference when upgrading to a faster single core chip. If money is an issue, just keep saving it, and deal with turning the graphics all the way down in games for now. You could always buy a new motherboard, new DDR2 memory, new PCI-E graphics card, and a cheap Pentium 4, Pentium D, or E6300 for now, and upgrade to quad core later. PCI-E and DDR2 shouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: VooDooAddict
4000+ and an ATI X1950Pro would be your best bet on extending the life of the system. $300 ($80 CPU, $220 Vid) would breath some serious new life into that gaming system and should last you @ 1600x1200 till DX10 cards and Quad core is a little more reasonable.

I take it that video card is PCI-E only, I have one of the few Socket 939 / AGP systems, for I did not want to throw away my recently bought $400 Geforce when I got my new CPU/Mobo. (that and I got a really good deal on said CPU/Mobo).


Most of the AGP cards I see are sidegrades.

On the other hand, there is my laptop that I could switch over to as my primary gaming rig if you guys think it might run Oblivion and NWN2 better than my current (without the CPU upgrade)...

Intel Core Duo (not the conroe) 1.8Ghz (I assume that this is about the same speed as my 3000 when not multitasking?)
Geforce 7900 GS 256mb dedicated (this is not much faster than my 6800 ultra, right?0
Slow 4200 RPM HD (if only Seagate would release a 7200 RPM Notebook drive with Perp tech)
Integrated audio (which actually sounds alright, thanks for the Intel HD Audio standard)
1Gb DDR2 (Would have to shell out $266 to get the 2gb)

 

[deadseasquirrel]

Both the lappy and your desktop would be extremely similar in performance on NWN2 and Oblivion. Are you using an LCD that forces a 16x12 resolution? With your setups, it will be difficult to play those games with high details at 16x12. If your monitor will allow a lower resolution, use that and up the details as much as your hardware will allow.

But for that resolution, your best bet is to upgrade to the x1950 AGP card. I think there's one available with a rebate that brings it to around $200 right now. Kinda steep still, but it will definitely show you performance improvements, while the 4000+ chip will likely show you very little in gaming. It's just that spending that much on a dead-end video solution for a computer you don't plan to keep more than 8 months might not be the best idea. Then again, I'm sure someone out there will want to keep holding on to their AGP system at that time and you could likely sell off that card to them, albeit at a much reduced price. (I have a secondary system with a 6600gt agp in it right now and it will likely end up with one of the x1950 AGPs a year or so down the road to keep it alive as it moves to a tertiary system (the current tertiary system has a 5900ultra in it)).

 

[VooDooAddict]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh

Originally posted by: VooDooAddict
4000+ and an ATI X1950Pro would be your best bet on extending the life of the system. $300 ($80 CPU, $220 Vid) would breath some serious new life into that gaming system and should last you @ 1600x1200 till DX10 cards and Quad core is a little more reasonable.

I take it that video card is PCI-E only

Nope it's a rare bread that's in both AGP and PCIe.

 

[Stumps]

I had a similar setup before christmas it was as follows.

AMD 3000+ skt 754 Venice E6
GA-K8NS PRO nf3 250
1gb ddr400
Asus 6800GT

I have my CPU overclocked to 2.87ghz which lifted performance to slightly higher than a 939 4000+ (the extra clockspeed more than make up for the lack of dual channel memory).

I upgraded my 6800GT to a BFG 7800GS OC....not a big upgrade at stock speeds...but I was able to overclock my 7800GS from the stock 400/1250 to 550/1350 which pretty much puts it in between a 7900GS and a 7900GT now in terms of performance.

in terms of CPU performance there is a slightly noticable difference, I would say go for it if you can get the CPU cheap enought, every little bit helps out.

Unless you upgrade you video card along with the CPU, it proabably won't make a major difference in how your system performs.

 

[nyker96]

I think for your usage pattern ypu better get a opteron 165 for upgrade that 4000+ not gonna last you eight months. You hardly will notice any change in say video compression etc. On the game end 165 won't help much but it has larger cache so you will get a boost. But the biggest gain is in applications like video encoding and even compiling stuff since it will be much faster on multitasking.

To the point yes you are CPU limited for apps. But a 4000 won't be enough for eight months.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Well, ended up just taking the cheap way out, I bought the A64 4000. I am just not ready to drop $250 on a new AGP card, and going PCI-E is out of the question because of the current DDR2 ram prices I would need for Conroe. I will just not buy any new games (NWN2 will be as nasty as it gets) and I will just not install Oblivion, it will give them some more time to fix all those bugs. I will play PlaneScape: Torment and fallout 1 / 2 in the meantime, I have those on order (never played them before) and should be in soon, I probably need to study anyways, so this will give me summer break to catch up on gaming when I get my new system. At least I will be able to rip audio /video stuff and compile faster.

 

[Arglebargle]

Probably for the best, at least economically. I am looking at the same sort of choices, and will probably go with an Opteron165, 'cause my main gaming does use dual cores. Should keep my system going for another year.

Good game choices by the way. Fallout and Planescape Torment are very deep, and better written than most.