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Is it worth upgrading my s939 with a faster cpu?

J

JJ650

Golden Member
I'm wondering if I should hang onto my current setup for a little bit longer by breathing better life into it. I was thinking of an Opteron drop in.
The 3500 I have will be the bottleneck once my 8800gts arrives.

With that said, is it WORTH my time to even do this, or should I move on to C2d, new ram and mobo??

 
If you're lacking in performance, it looks like it's because of your RAM and GPU, not CPU. I wouldn't invest anymore time into 939 personally.

Let's see what some others say...
 
like most AT people here, I went core2 and never looked back with regret

you can do the same. don't have compassion for AMD if you want the fastest for the cheapest.

core2 4meg E6350 with Asus x975 210USD board and XMS DDR800 will turn everything rightside up
 
Eh, I'd just save and go for C2D or AM2 at the very least. It's getting hard to find S939 CPUs where I am, and the ones that do have it are jacking the price up to retarded levels (~$250 for A64 3500 IIRC). I myself have an A64 3200+ stock and I'm going to hold onto it for another year or so then go all the way on an upgrade. Remember, anymore money you put into DDR1 Ram and an S939 is trash. If you were to upgrade to a C2D or AM2, the Ram will not carry over; main reason why I won't buy anymore Ram for my system. And screw brand loyalty🙂, just go for what's best.
 
Originally posted by: Imp
Eh, I'd just save and go for C2D or AM2 at the very least. It's getting hard to find S939 CPUs where I am, and the ones that do have it are jacking the price up to retarded levels (~$250 for A64 3500 IIRC). I myself have an A64 3200+ stock and I'm going to hold onto it for another year or so then go all the way on an upgrade. Remember, anymore money you put into DDR1 Ram and an S939 is trash. If you were to upgrade to a C2D or AM2, the Ram will not carry over; main reason why I won't buy anymore Ram for my system. And screw brand loyalty🙂, just go for what's best.
Click to expand...

I'm not much of a loyalist myself. I just get the best for my money at the time and the last bout happened to be AMD.
DDR ram is getting expensive.
Thanks for the replies. I think I will be going to a C2d setup.
 
You can get an x2 3800 from newegg for $81. If you are considering spending any money on anything beyond just the cpu then you should change platforms. This is what I did recently when I left 939 and went to my current setup. I couldn't see spending any more money on ddr when ddr2 is the current standard.
 
I was having the same delema, Its a shame you cant get any decent X2's for 939 anymore. The only one that you can really find avalable is 3800+. I wanted the 4600 or 4800+. I was considering an opteron dualcore 2.4Ghz, but thats like 270$ and the C2D is so much more powerfull. So ive decided to spend the extra 100-150$ more to go C2D. and with ram prices comming down and July 22 pricecuts for intel you cant lose. Looks like ill be upgrading at the end of july 🙂
 
depends on how much money you want to spend, if you need a quick inexepnsive fix going to an x2 (or opteron) makes sense. Otherwise wait a little while (intels next price drops and hopefully early barcelona benchs) and then decide.
 
I'd go for a drop in opteron replacement as well, that's what I did
It may not be a core², but with a nice overclock (2.6-2.8ghz is doable on all of them) it's often faster than the non overclocked lower end (anything below 6600) core²s. and it's a pretty cheap pgrade
 
drop in a s939 opty with another gig of ram and you will be fine dude. Maybe even the ATI 2900 XT once they fix the damn drivers for the AA
 
Two-year upgrade plan:

1. Upgrade to a total of 2GB of ram (within the next 6 months)

2. Replace videocard with a 8800GTS 640MB (within the next 8 months)

3. Replace CPU with an X2 or opteron (within the next 12 months)

4. Enjoy games for a while.
 
About 3 months ago I upgraded my 3500 with 1 gig ram to my signature. Very pleased with the upgrade and the cost was about $250.
 
I upgraded my A64 3200+ to an X2 3800+ last week. It made a HUGE difference for video editing and rendering. My system was previously unusable while Adobe Premiere or VideoRa crunched video clips, but with dual cores the system doesn't slow down at all while rendering:

Asus A8N-E 2.0
Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Toledo
Corsair 2x1GB TWINX2048-3200C2PT
Radeon X800 XL 256MB
Western Digital 74GB Raptor
Samsung 500GB HD501LJ SATA II

However, I've had 2GBs of RAM for two years. It was almost overkill then, but is now standard. Also, I don't game anymore. The X2 doesn't improve game performance (ignoring heavy multitasking and any multi-core threaded games). None of the games I used to play needed any improving anyway. I needed smoother multitasking, so the choice was simple for me: $50 for a new CPU (I sold the 3200+), or about $400 for a system overhaul after selling my old components.

If you'd benefit from more cores rather than pure speed as I did, consider the cost of upgrading:


From your 3500+ to an X2 3800+ and 2GB's of RAM:

$81 CPU
$100 for more RAM
-$28 profit (sell old chip)
-------------------------------
Cost: $153


To a Core2Duo
$150 motherboard
$167 CPU
$200 RAM
-$25 old board
-$28 old CPU
-$45 old RAM
-------------------------------
Cost: $419


Your decision isn't quite as easy...
 
I'd say if you are content with 1 GB ram, then go with an opty or such. If you want more ram, go to C2D and don't buy overpriced DDR that won't come with you in your next system.
 
I know there are several things to consider, i.e. investing into older ram that is no longer standard or older cpu...etc.
 
The big thing is why do you need to upgrade. Is some Application slow or some game not preforming well. The true is you should go C2D or AM2+. But really if you dont need the speed for some reason dont upgrade. And when you do upgrade only what you need.

I was in similar boat since I have 2 939 systems. I want to upgrade , but thought more on it ans really I had no reason other then I felt it was time. So I got better video card was happy. 99% of games and appl dont need more then 1GB of ram to run well. Now if your using one that needs more then consider upgrade to C2D since ddr ram is more costly then DDR2 and you can't take the ram with you.

I now one of my systems i did upgrade jsut this week to C2D but was only because My parents needed a new systems and I passed down one of my old one.

Really look into what you need. if its a game mostly like a video card upgrade is all you need for now. It rendering then a drop in X2 or opteron of ~100 or less might be good idea.

Personal I would wait until the end od summer when price will be lower on everything and you will have more chooses with AM2+ and much lower C2D prices.
 
Well I will be needing more ram for gaming work. Besides....the guts of what is left will be for my wife or mother's computer. Both of them need/want one. It would be cheaper for them to go that route. DDR is expensive, and I would rather just grab current memor for cheaper and a longer lasting upgrade. I guess that makes my decision.
 
I'd say overclock what you have first. If you haven't maxed out the ram and CPU yet, why upgrade? I wouldn't go the route of staying 939- it is literally a dead end. I'd wait until penryn comes out and then buy the current C2D stuff super cheap. Going from 130nm to 65, and 2.2stock to ~2.6 stock is going to blow your doors off then.
 
Originally posted by: blakehew
I was having the same delema, Its a shame you cant get any decent X2's for 939 anymore. The only one that you can really find avalable is 3800+. I wanted the 4600 or 4800+. I was considering an opteron dualcore 2.4Ghz, but thats like 270$ and the C2D is so much more powerfull. So ive decided to spend the extra 100-150$ more to go C2D. and with ram prices comming down and July 22 pricecuts for intel you cant lose. Looks like ill be upgrading at the end of july 🙂
Click to expand...

Me too! This exactly what im doing.
 
Originally posted by: Comdrpopnfresh
I'd say overclock what you have first. If you haven't maxed out the ram and CPU yet, why upgrade?
Click to expand...

Check my sig. It's already got a hefty overclock. I have a Zalman on there now that really didn't help me since I really haven't bumped the voltages.
 
Originally posted by: JJ650
Originally posted by: Comdrpopnfresh
I'd say overclock what you have first. If you haven't maxed out the ram and CPU yet, why upgrade?
Click to expand...

Check my sig. It's already got a hefty overclock. I have a Zalman on there now that really didn't help me since I really haven't bumped the voltages.
Click to expand...

3500+ (2.2GHz) -> 2.5GHz = "hefty overclock"? Not even for an old Clawhammer.

If you have that Zalman fitted, then try a small voltage increase & put it to good use.
 
Nope, that was it with this one. Even with voltage bumps. I didn't get lucky enough to have the fx clawhammers with the disabled cache.
Anymore voltage and it was rather unstable.

But for you....I'll say it was mild then. 😉
 
Don't forget the upgrade hassle of changing chipsets and motherboard - a reinstall may be needed. For some people, that hassle is enough to keep them with their current motherboard. In that case, I recommend an Opty 165/170, or an X2 3800+, then OC the heck out of them.
 
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