is it worth upgrading from an AMD X2 3800 to a C2D?

[Steve325]

I've wanted to overclock my computer, but I don't think my motherboard is capable of it. I'm sitting at 2ghz but I want to increase this a bit without upgrading the HSF. Would a C2D give me a good performance increase or should I just wait a little while until newer technology comes out?

I like to play games, been playing a lot of CS:S, and mess around in photoshop a little bit

 

[Comdrpopnfresh]

Both of the things you listed are mainly graphics intensive. As long as you have a system with DDR2, just pick up some more ram, and maybe a better graphics card. I have a socket 939 x2 3800. I'm in the same boat, but I'm going to wait till AMD has something competitive with Intel so the prices hit rock bottom, and there is more choice.

 

[LightningRider]

I don't think you really need to upgrade this moment unless you are demanding more performance. Personally I'm waiting till Penryn comes out, or maybe at least till prices drop some more on the quads.

 

[mezrah]

Originally posted by: Comdrpopnfresh
Both of the things you listed are mainly graphics intensive. As long as you have a system with DDR2, just pick up some more ram, and maybe a better graphics card. I have a socket 939 x2 3800. I'm in the same boat, but I'm going to wait till AMD has something competitive with Intel so the prices hit rock bottom, and there is more choice.

Exactly. For most games (and I say most, not all) a better video card and 2 GB+ ram would benefit you more than a better processor.

The bottom line is,

What video card and how much ram do you currently have?
What is your performance like now?
Is it unacceptable?

I'm using a Socket 478 P4 and an x800xl and it plays games just fine...HL2, CS:S, FarCry, Doom3, etc.

I'd only upgrade if you need it...unless you have a buttload of disposable income and really want to upgrade now.

 

[Steve325]

I'm running 2gb ddr2 667, x1950 pro

I'd say the performance is acceptable, but I always want to run with the best stuff

It runs most games good at 1680x1050 but I think the performance could be better. It scored a 130 fps on the video stress test, which is nothing to complain about, but I think at certain parts of the game it struggles or something. I experience a lot of skipping which shouldnt be happening. I thought it might be my internet, but I'm usually 20-30ms on the servers. CPU? I don't think that would have to do with it. It seems like it has to be video related

maybe I should just update my motherboard and get one that will overclock and maybe somehting with SLI if the price is right

any cheaper ones out there you guys could recommend? I'm currently using an MSI K9AGM2-FIH

the motherboard has treated me great, but there's no options for overclocking and there's only 2 DIMMs so I'm stuck at 2gb of ram unless I get 2gb sticks

 

[Steve325]

maybe one like this? http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128321

I'm not sure if it has overclocking capabilities though

 

[kalrith]

If you're really wanting to eek the most performance out, then you might want to go with C2D. If you can get an E4300 and overclock to 3GHZ+, then no AMD processor is going to touch it.

It would, of course, cost more. But you can probably lessen the blow by selling your old mobo and cpu.

Edit: I'm personally very pleased with my setup. It never feels slow to me, except in the graphics area. I plan to upgrade the video card in the next few months. When I upgrade the rest of the system, it will be to a quad-core processor and 4GB of RAM. With the way the prices are coming down, that might be by the end of this year.

 

[Steve325]

Originally posted by: kalrith
If you're really wanting to eek the most performance out, then you might want to go with C2D. If you can get an E4300 and overclock to 3GHZ+, then no AMD processor is going to touch it.

It would, of course, cost more. But you can probably lessen the blow by selling your old mobo and cpu.

Edit: I'm personally very pleased with my setup. It never feels slow to me, except in the graphics area. I plan to upgrade the video card in the next few months. When I upgrade the rest of the system, it will be to a quad-core processor and 4GB of RAM. With the way the prices are coming down, that might be by the end of this year.

yeah that's where I feel I'm lagging at too with the x1950, but maybe I'm asking too much trying to run 1680x1050 out of it. Tomb Raider was pretty choppy with 4x AA on

 

[kalrith]

I plan on going with the 8800GTS 640MB to game at 1600x1200. My X850XT isn't even close to your video card, so this will be a huge boost for me. I've been holding off on playing Oblivion until I could have the full experience.

BTW, have you tried ClockGen?

 

[Comdrpopnfresh]

Originally posted by: Steve325
I'm running 2gb ddr2 667, x1950 pro

I'd say the performance is acceptable, but I always want to run with the best stuff

It runs most games good at 1680x1050 but I think the performance could be better. It scored a 130 fps on the video stress test, which is nothing to complain about, but I think at certain parts of the game it struggles or something. I experience a lot of skipping which shouldnt be happening. I thought it might be my internet, but I'm usually 20-30ms on the servers. CPU? I don't think that would have to do with it. It seems like it has to be video related

maybe I should just update my motherboard and get one that will overclock and maybe somehting with SLI if the price is right

any cheaper ones out there you guys could recommend? I'm currently using an MSI K9AGM2-FIH

the motherboard has treated me great, but there's no options for overclocking and there's only 2 DIMMs so I'm stuck at 2gb of ram unless I get 2gb sticks

once again the timing is a problem. If you have am2, I'd wait until the am2+ boards come out, because that way you can either get something new, or get something better than you currently have on the cheap.

or at least by that time c2d will have gone through the july price cuts, and the boards will get less expensive to compete with am2+ socket boards

 

[bryanW1995]

I wanted to wait for barcelona to stay with amd, but I finally gave up last week. With the new intel price cuts on july 22, you can get an e6550 for 133. You can get a p35 mobo for 100 on a budget, too. Sell your old stuff and you're looking at 150-175 total cost to you. Now, about that video card...

 

[bob4432]

changing m/bs, o/cing or moving to a different family isn't going to fix an issue that isn't cpu related since you seem to be mostly complaining about your gaming issues not how long it takes you to apply a filter in ps cs2/3. you need more gpu power plain and simple for you gaming res.

put in a 8800gtx/s and don't look back

Comdrpopnfresh - photoshop is most definitely cpu intensive. and why would you suggest picking up more ram without even asking if the op is peaking atm? he has 2GB already...

 

[0roo0roo]

not everything is graphics intensive, the source engine is a bit cpu intensive actually. still as said, bigger return from gpu upgrade first

 

[A554SS1N]

At the moment I don't see any point whatsoever with uprading to another dualcore on the basis of it being a little bit faster - not enough games will really stress that CPU much anyway, and a slight overclock would be more desirable for now. In the long term, the next upgrade should be for more cores, and another year or so down the line.

 

[Ichigo]

Perhaps you shouldn't expect so much out of your GPU. Play with 2xAA or none. At that resolution, AA's impact on IQ is diminished anyways.