Best 939 cpu for Gaming?

[MrCairo]

Hi guys,

As you can see in my sig it's been a while since I've upgraded. Been looking at going as far as I can with my current mobo, so looking at the AMD 64 Dual Cores and Opteron's...but I've come across several different views as far as gaming goes.

Some have said that there isn't "that" much of a difference and sometimes actually a decrees in performance compared to the +4000

So I thought I'd toss it out here and see what you guys would suggest.

I'm also looking at getting a better video card and switching over to pci with a 8800 gtx.

I'm hoping that with those upgrades I can keep my current rig going for a while longer

Any thoughts or suggestions/advice would be very welcome!

Regards,

MC

 

[Uhtrinity]

The main question is are you going to overclock or not. If yes a 3800 or 4200 would be fine as you can reach 2.4 - 2.7 ranges, if not go for the fastest dual core you can afford. In my experience the difference between 512k and 1 Meg cache is minimal.

 

[cubeless]

in everything but 3dmock06 and supreme commander my 3.0 ghz a64 4000 and 8800gts (oc'd to gtx) beats the same vid with a x2 3800 @ 2.55ghz...

but i have to believe that multithreaded is finally here and dual core is the only reasonable investment...

 

[child of wonder]

Just grab a X2 3800+ and bump it up to 2.4GHz or more. Then starting saving to get a Conroe.

 

[MrCairo]

Well I normally don't OC (/hear's the giggles in the back)

But if I went with the Opterons that's pretty much a given that I would.

With already having a +4000, do you think I'd be best served by getting the better graphics card?

Or do I really have a need to upgrade the cpu at this point?

Newer games are feeling a bit sluggish (at time) for me. Vanguard and Titan Quest:Immortal Throne. Looking forward to playing Hellgate:London, The Witcher, perhaps C&C3...

So I'm just trying to decide whether to upgrade or hold out a bit longer and do a complete system overhaul.

For the most part I'm very happy with the performance I have, just looking at what would be the "best" bang for buck. I know with hardware advances you have to pretty much just draw a line and jump in at a given point, with how fast improvements are happening.

I'm "feeling" like my graphics card might be more of my bottleneck than my cpu...but I'm still trying to get information and find reviews and benchmarks that can give me a better picture.

If all I need atm is a new video card then I'm fine with that too

Thanks for all the info and ideas!

 

[MrCairo]

Originally posted by: child of wonder
Just grab a X2 3800+ and bump it up to 2.4GHz or more. Then starting saving to get a Conroe.

That too is an option

Is there a way to tell how much of a gain that would give me? I know on the Tom's Hardware (can i say that here lol) cpu section there's a comparison chart and my +4000 is pretty low on the list.

It's just that I'm having a hard time finding any real numbers or %'s on the web...

thx

 

[nyker96]

die 939 die!! ... oops didn't mean that, that was my alter ego speaking :]

well, I think while back newegg had a nice FX5o/52 on sale forgot the exact number, massively good gamer I say. You might even condier opty 165 or other ones nowadays, some games run bit faster on dual core.

 

[cubeless]

you r agp, right? the only upgrade path u have is a x1950... it is certainly faster than your 7800gs, and, for the games u mention, will probably be a bigger boost than a faster cpu...

a quick (and simplistic) test...

start task manager; go to the performance tab; start a game; play a bit; alt-tab to task manager...

if the chart shows u r using 100% of cpu, then u could use a faster cpu... that is probably not the case with the games mentioned...

alternately: drop the resolution u play at... if the performance doesn't get a bunch better then u probably can use more cpu...

the $42 msi k8n @ geeks and an 8800, combined with the rest of your stuff, would be a screamer (it's what i have in one rig...)... with a little oc on the cpu it would be a great system for a reasonable price...

 

[child of wonder]

Originally posted by: MrCairo

Originally posted by: child of wonder
Just grab a X2 3800+ and bump it up to 2.4GHz or more. Then starting saving to get a Conroe.

That too is an option

Is there a way to tell how much of a gain that would give me? I know on the Tom's Hardware (can i say that here lol) cpu section there's a comparison chart and my +4000 is pretty low on the list.

It's just that I'm having a hard time finding any real numbers or %'s on the web...

thx

Depends on what resolution you play games at.

If you play at 1024x768 then you'll get a few FPS boost going Conroe.

If you play 1280x1024 or higher then there isn't much of a difference. The GPU is more important.

If I were you, I'd sell your existing CPU/Mobo/RAM/GPU in FS/FT forum and you could net around $320. Then pick up a used Conroe e6300, Gigabyte DS3, nice CPU cooler, 2GB RAM, and a decent video card (7900GT, X1900XT 256MB, etc). Your e6300 should hit at least 2.4GHz at stock voltage or much higher if you're lucky and use more voltage.

If you play your cards right you'll spend about $250 out of pocket. Then start saving for a better GPU (8800GTS, R600).

 

[Zardnok]

Originally posted by: cubeless
you r agp, right? the only upgrade path u have is a x1950... it is certainly faster than your 7800gs, and, for the games u mention, will probably be a bigger boost than a faster cpu...

a quick (and simplistic) test...

start task manager; go to the performance tab; start a game; play a bit; alt-tab to task manager...

if the chart shows u r using 100% of cpu, then u could use a faster cpu... that is probably not the case with the games mentioned...

alternately: drop the resolution u play at... if the performance doesn't get a bunch better then u probably can use more cpu...

the $42 msi k8n @ geeks and an 8800, combined with the rest of your stuff, would be a screamer (it's what i have in one rig...)... with a little oc on the cpu it would be a great system for a reasonable price...

He has the Asrock dual board which supports both AGP and PCI-e.

I am building a new machine now based on the e6400, but while I am doing that, I stuck my new 8800gts into my 939box running at 2.4 with 2gig ram and got a huge improvement in Vanguard over my old 7600gt (mild-oc). I do not think you would see this same size improvement swapping out for a dual core CPU.

My advice, upgrade your video card to an 8800gts/x and start saving for the move to C2D.

 

[StopSign]

Do not buy a 939 CPU at this point in time. Save up for a bigger upgrade later.

 

[MrCairo]

Thanks again for all the opinions/experience and ideas!

I'm sorry I should of mentioned that my board would support pci -e as well, my bad.

Sounds like I should look at the video card first and see what kind of a boost that will give me

Now I only need to decide whether to wait for the DirX 10 versions of the 88XX cards or buy the older card at a lower cost once those hit the market in mass.

And run that rig till I switch cpu/mobo...the C2D does look intriguing

 

[betasub]

Originally posted by: MrCairo
I'm also looking at getting a better video card and switching over to pci with a 8800 gtx

Now I only need to decide whether to wait for the DirX 10 versions of the 88XX cards or buy the older card at a lower cost once those hit the market in mass.

Aren't you getting that GTX after all? Still undecided?

 

[MrCairo]

Originally posted by: betasub

Originally posted by: MrCairo
I'm also looking at getting a better video card and switching over to pci with a 8800 gtx

Now I only need to decide whether to wait for the DirX 10 versions of the 88XX cards or buy the older card at a lower cost once those hit the market in mass.

Aren't you getting that GTX after all? Still undecided?

Opps my bad...yes either a 8800GTX or GTS, just checked www.newegg.com and both cards are DX10, for some reason I was thinking there were Dx9/10 versions. Been a while since I checked into cards, so I apologize for my lack of up to date knowledge or misunderstanding

But yes a GTX would be nice if I can scrape together the cash!

 

[Uhtrinity]

Originally posted by: StopSign
Do not buy a 939 CPU at this point in time. Save up for a bigger upgrade later.

If he has the current hardware why not? DDR2 isn't any faster than DDR in real world apps, and as far as AMD platforms socket 939 and AM2 perform the same. His system already supports PCIe, so is also clear for all the PCie cards on the market and he is running 2 GB of ram. Spending $120 on a dual core chip is much better than dumping $300 or more into a new board and cpu. That isn't even including price of an AM2 or Intel dual core cpu.

Originally posted by: cubeless
in everything but 3dmock06 and supreme commander my 3.0 ghz a64 4000 and 8800gts (oc'd to gtx) beats the same vid with a x2 3800 @ 2.55ghz...

but i have to believe that multithreaded is finally here and dual core is the only reasonable investment...

I bet you wouldn't notice the difference without a benchmark.

 

[aka1nas]

Originally posted by: Uhtrinity

Originally posted by: cubeless
in everything but 3dmock06 and supreme commander my 3.0 ghz a64 4000 and 8800gts (oc'd to gtx) beats the same vid with a x2 3800 @ 2.55ghz...

but i have to believe that multithreaded is finally here and dual core is the only reasonable investment...

I bet you wouldn't notice the difference without a benchmark.

I've heard that SupCom is pretty painful on a single-core cpu.

 

[Uhtrinity]

Originally posted by: aka1nas

Originally posted by: Uhtrinity

Originally posted by: cubeless
in everything but 3dmock06 and supreme commander my 3.0 ghz a64 4000 and 8800gts (oc'd to gtx) beats the same vid with a x2 3800 @ 2.55ghz...

but i have to believe that multithreaded is finally here and dual core is the only reasonable investment...

I bet you wouldn't notice the difference without a benchmark.

I've heard that SupCom is pretty painful on a single-core cpu.

I'm not talking about a single core cpu and neither was he. I was just pointing out that I doubt you would see much of a difference (w/o benches) between a 2.5 and 3.0 Ghz dual core.

The X2 3800+ are running under $120 shipped at Newegg .