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CPU Upgrade - Worth It?

J

Jeff H

Golden Member
Guys,

This is one of those wishy-washy questions re a processor upgrade. I'm not looking for quantitative responses as much as I'm looking for yea that'll be a good upgrade, or nah, don't bother type responses.

I'm currently running an Athlon64 3200+ Venice core (not o/c'ed) on an EPoX 9NPA+Ultra board, w/ 1GB PC3200 DDR, Leadtek 6600GT 128MB video. I'm considering the following two options for an upgrade. One is an Athlon64 4000+ 2.4GHz San Diego core for $84, the other is an Athlon64 FX-55 2.6GHz San Diego core for $135.

Main reason I'm even considering the upgrade is I'm expecting that Socket 939 cpu's won't be around for a lot longer. Main reason I'm hesitating is I don't know what real world improvement I can expect to see. I'm not into gaming anymore. Main use of computer is internet, email, Office, etc. So, maybe I'm best off just sitting on my $$. I'll eventually sell this board/cpu combo to someone on a short list of mine that buys my used stuff. Will an upgraded processor make this a more palatable buy to someone?

Here's where I'm looking for opinions. Go or no go?

TIA,

Jeff
 
It doesnt sound like you are gonna be running any cpu intensive programs, i'd stick with what you have or get the cheaper one.
 
There is absolutely no reason not to overclock that cpu to 2.5-2.6Ghz easy.

Except that you just don't want to. A little bit of effort will get you the upgrade

you want, no use to put money into 939 now.
 
only upgrade worth thinking about for you is an X2.

your 3200+ will OC well enough that buying a faster single core would be wasting money.

And going dual-core is only worthwhile if you do a lot of multi-tasking or want to play the newer dual-core games coming out next year.
 
Guys,

Thanks for the replies. You helped confirm what I pretty much knew, that $$ toward a new processor isn't going to get me much, given what I do w/ this system.

For those of you recommending overclocking, I've avoided that to date, as my wife uses this system, and if anything were to be out of the ordinary I'd have to deal w/ that.

Jeff
 
Originally posted by: Jeff H
Guys,

Thanks for the replies. You helped confirm what I pretty much knew, that $$ toward a new processor isn't going to get me much, given what I do w/ this system.

For those of you recommending overclocking, I've avoided that to date, as my wife uses this system, and if anything were to be out of the ordinary I'd have to deal w/ that.

Jeff
Click to expand...

If you do a little research and get some advice here, she wouldn't ever know.

It seems you have overclocking and instability generalized together. If done properly, that just isn't true, many inexperienced computer users wrongly assume this.

You could probably raise the fsb to 240Mhz, drop the Htt multiplier to 3X, and drop the memory divider one notch. Without touching any voltages or memory timings you should be able to run a very easy 2.4GHz. There are programs out there to measure stability and push your system probably much harder then you use it everyday.
 
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