Low budget upgrade from an Athlon 2 x4?

[TheMeanestGuest]

My performance simply isn't where I'd like it to be at, and the culprit is quite clearly my processor. Additionally, it seems to have become somewhat unstable over time in that it no longer functions correctly at the clocks it used to, and I can no longer have the cache unlocked without my computer crashing, which it also used to be fine with.

Now, as always I am unfortunately on a rather tight budget. Investigating this matter has led me to believe that the only upgrade that could be of potential significance that is within my price range is the i3 2100. The fact that I would be going from a quad-core (albeit a very weak quad) to a dual core is of some concern, although the presence of hyperthreading does alleviate this to a degree.

Basically the only thing I use my PC for that requires any muscle at all is gaming. There aren't too many new games coming out that I'm interested in playing, for the rest of this year the only things I'm certain to spend significant time on are Borderlands 2 and Dishonored. The only things I play regularly at the moment are Red Orchestra 2, Crusader Kings 2, Skyrim and Men of War: Assault Squad. Looking at reviews I've actually been pretty impressed with the gaming performance of the Sandy i3s, I just thought I'd like to have some additional opinions.

Also! If anyone can recommend a decent sub $100 LGA 1155 mATX board (as sub $100 as possible) that would be pretty sweet. I also just plan to pick up a cheap 8GB ddr3 kit, so basically in a mobo I just want something I won't have problems or degraded performance with. I'm keeping the rest of my components.

Running Windows 7. System is in sig.

 

[Ghiedo27]

If your budget is that tight you may want to consider nabbing a phenom II 965. It's about $10 cheaper than an i3 2100 (on newegg, at least- $110 vs $120) and you won't need to replace your motherboard or ram. It's pretty close to the i3 in gaming performance, as well.

Since you do have an HD 6850 already, it's kind of a shame to not save up a bit more cash and shoot for a 2500k if at all possible. You'll get a nice increase in how long it'll hold up well in games as well as the better performance today.

Regarding 1155 motherboards, I'm using as ASUS P8H61-M LX PLUS ($77 w/ shipping) that seems pretty solid (no pci slots). I've only had it for a few months, though.

 

[ShintaiDK]

IB i3s are also only around 2 weeks away I think. They will give you even more speed.

You can get 7 series boards down to 60$.

 

[lopri]

i3-2100 is it, IMO. The board you have isn't really fit for a 965 BE. And if you are most concerned about gaming performance, i3-2100 is a better choice than 965 BE. Both are much better than Athlon X4. Athlon's lack of L3 cache hurts a lot for demanding games compared to Phenoms, often more than what you see in the benchmarks. Plus, 965 BE's performance isn't exactly optimal on DDR2 platform.

I agree that 2500k or 3570k is ultimately the best CPUs for gaming, but those are twice the price of i3-2100. Thankfully they share the same platform as i3-2100 so he can upgrade to one in the future.

 

[ChippyUK]

I suggest looking at Ebay or something like that, I was able to pick up a 2nd hand mobo and CPU (i3-2100 & ASUS V LX Z77) with about 40% discount of retail price over the last 2 weeks. Memory really does keep it's price so just buy the cheapest 1.50v 2x 4gb sticks you can find. Avoid 1.65v memory, its not worth saving $5 over.

 

[lakedude]

Maybe the 2120 as well, depending on what is on sale when you buy. The 2120 was a "shell shocker" and cheaper than the 2100 for a little while...

 

[AtenRa]

Gigabyte MA78LM-S2

CPU Support list

The motherboard can even take a 6-core Phenom II 1065T and every quad core phenom II up to 125W.

I have also learned that AMD will lower FX and Athlon (FM1) CPU prices shortly and you should wait for the new IB Core i3.

 

[nyker96]

get an used x6 off ebay for about 100.

 

[TheMeanestGuest]

I'm just not sure that I can trust an AMD processor to give me better gaming performance anymore.

Will an Ivy i3 actually be noticeably better than a Sandy i3?

 

[Arachnotronic]

No, not really. Sandy i3's are great.

 

[ShintaiDK]

IB I3s will give you roughly ~10% higher performance and ~20 lower power consumption. Plus they will have newer integrated graphics, should you ever use that.

http://geizhals.at/eu/766343 (3220 - 125$ US price converted.)
http://geizhals.at/eu/766342 (3225 - Got HD4000)
http://geizhals.at/766340 (3240)

Danish shops actually says expected delivery 22/08. Not sure how accrurate that is.

 

[lehtv]

@TheMeanestGuest

Have you actually determined that you're being CPU bottlenecked in games? What's your native res?

 

[Lone Fox]

I just purchased the Phenom II 955 at tigerdirect for $75 + free shipping; OEM so no heatsink or 3-year warranty. Its almost the same as the 965 as suggested earlier.

Tried getting a x6 off eBay but kept getting out-bidded

Just a thought...

 

[guskline]

My performance simply isn't where I'd like it to be at, and the culprit is quite clearly my processor. Additionally, it seems to have become somewhat unstable over time in that it no longer functions correctly at the clocks it used to, and I can no longer have the cache unlocked without my computer crashing, which it also used to be fine with.

Now, as always I am unfortunately on a rather tight budget. Investigating this matter has led me to believe that the only upgrade that could be of potential significance that is within my price range is the i3 2100. The fact that I would be going from a quad-core (albeit a very weak quad) to a dual core is of some concern, although the presence of hyperthreading does alleviate this to a degree.

Basically the only thing I use my PC for that requires any muscle at all is gaming. There aren't too many new games coming out that I'm interested in playing, for the rest of this year the only things I'm certain to spend significant time on are Borderlands 2 and Dishonored. The only things I play regularly at the moment are Red Orchestra 2, Crusader Kings 2, Skyrim and Men of War: Assault Squad. Looking at reviews I've actually been pretty impressed with the gaming performance of the Sandy i3s, I just thought I'd like to have some additional opinions.

Also! If anyone can recommend a decent sub $100 LGA 1155 mATX board (as sub $100 as possible) that would be pretty sweet. I also just plan to pick up a cheap 8GB ddr3 kit, so basically in a mobo I just want something I won't have problems or degraded performance with. I'm keeping the rest of my components.

Running Windows 7. System is in sig.

Define your budget. Without knowing how much you actually are going to spend we are in the dark.

 

[Hits9Nine]

My OCZ Reaper 8gb DDR2 1066, is almost as fast as my 8gb Patriot Viper DIV2 DDR3 1866, so the platform is not the problem. The 955/965 BE is good enough for gaming, maybe you should look into a GPU, what gpu do you have?

 

[Ghiedo27]

I'm just not sure that I can trust an AMD processor to give me better gaming performance anymore.

If you were buying a new computer things would be a bit more straight forward. The thing is, you already have an AM3 platform. So the comparison is spending some money on an AMD processor vs spending more than double that on an Intel processor, MB, and ram that might add 5-10% more performance. In that comparison a drop in quad AMD is a really good deal vs a new platform dual core + hyper threading.

If you could up your budget to (~$300 total) it would be a whole different story. Nabbing an i5 (4 physical cores)would be a significant enough upgrade to warrant a platform change. (IVY is a tad faster than Sandy for a bit more money. Overclocking complicates things a bit). IMO trying to spend somewhere in the middle is just going to be wasting your money.

Maybe you should look into a GPU, what gpu do you have?

He has a 6850 (it's in his sig). I seriously doubt that's a bottleneck unless he has a 30" monitor and likes full shadows and max AA.

 

[TheMeanestGuest]

To answer some questions posed, yes I am certain my processor is the bottleneck. My native resolution is 1600 x 900, and I am of the belief that my GPU is more than adequate given that.

My budget is somewhat fluid, though I must put a very firm upward limit at $300 dollars, and that is quite uncomfortable. I would much prefer to be as close to $200 as possible. Keep in mind that I am Canadian, and thus everything will be more expensive.

I see several Phenom II suggestions, though I am not sure how I feel about those. I am now uncertain. Perhaps I should simply endure and not purchase a new processor, for that is the cheapest option of all.

 

[JWade]

i would recommend the amd 965be, or if you can find one at a good price the x6 1100t, I upgraded my dell from an athlon II to a 1100t and its night and day

 

[Ghiedo27]

If you're in a take it or leave it mood, you might be able to get a nice deal by waiting for a good deal from Microcenter if you have one nearby. They seem to have the best cpu / MB deals around and ram is easy to get cheap.

Right now they have an i5 3570k for $190 (in store only).

 

[infoiltrator]

Canada is different, especially shipping costs.
So far people trying to maximize older AMD rigs are keeping prices on used Phenom IIs high.
NCIX ocassionally offers a good I3 combo deal.

 

[2is]

The most cost effective upgrade would be to browse the sell/trade forum for someone getting rid of a Phemom II quad or hex core. You may even find some people trying to get rid of their 6 or 8 core BD before they depreciate like a rock when PD gets released. The downside of this path is that you may be wanting more performance not long after your upgrade.

The least cost effective but best performing option would be an upgrade to an Ivy Bridge platform. You could go Sandy too, but the cost difference is pretty small unless you find sales on SB, which admittedly is not very hard to do right now. Either way, it will be the most expensive option, but will last the longest before you would need to upgrade again.

Next best option (as far as cost effectiveness is concerned) is holding out and upgrading to PD when available. This is probably the best option out of the three, assuming you can drop one in your mobo with nothing more than maybe a BIOS flash. It'll give you a healthy boost over what you have now, quite a bit cheaper than going to a new platform (again, assuming your current board will support it) and should perform fairly close to an i5.

If you can't upgrade to PD with your current board, I'd just bite the bullet and go with an Intel setup.

 

[birthdaymonkey]

The most cost effective upgrade would be to browse the sell/trade forum for someone getting rid of a Phemom II quad or hex core. You may even find some people trying to get rid of their 6 or 8 core BD before they depreciate like a rock when PD gets released. The downside of this path is that you may be wanting more performance not long after your upgrade.

The least cost effective but best performing option would be an upgrade to an Ivy Bridge platform. You could go Sandy too, but the cost difference is pretty small unless you find sales on SB, which admittedly is not very hard to do right now. Either way, it will be the most expensive option, but will last the longest before you would need to upgrade again.

Next best option (as far as cost effectiveness is concerned) is holding out and upgrading to PD when available. This is probably the best option out of the three, assuming you can drop one in your mobo with nothing more than maybe a BIOS flash. It'll give you a healthy boost over what you have now, quite a bit cheaper than going to a new platform (again, assuming your current board will support it) and should perform fairly close to an i5.

If you can't upgrade to PD with your current board, I'd just bite the bullet and go with an Intel setup.

I think he said he has a DDR2 motherboard, so going with BD or Piledriver isn't an option.

Just to throw another opinion out there, OP, I would get the cheapest black edition (unlocked) Phenom II you can find and overclock to 3.8 - 4.0GHz. Given your current clock speed, this should easily get you a 25-40% performance increase depending on the game for around $100.

That should hold you over for a year or so, I'd imagine, at which point Intel's next gen architecture should be near.

 

[ShintaiDK]

Taking about Pilediver. Not exactly any good or reliable article tho.
http://vr-zone.com/articles/better-...-not-piledriver-to-be-the-saviour-/17020.html

 

[AnonymouseUser]

TheMeanestGuest, I have that motherboard (MA78LM-S2H to be exact) and the biggest issue I've had with it is the Northbridge chipset overheating. Check your temps and you'll see it around 110C when CPU is @ full load. This is probably the reason for your instability moreso than the CPU.

I replaced the chipset cooler and thermal grease on mine and can just keep it around 100C now (yes, it's still very hot). The CPU is an X4 635 @ 3.5GHz and stable. This may be the cheapest upgrade for you if it allows you to get the CPU stable again @ higher clock (and possibly even unlocked cache).