Need some Socket 939 Advice, worth upgrading?

[kman79]

Been out of the loop for a while now. I had big plans for a Conroe build, but then reality hit me, with school and work, I don't really game as much as I used to. I don't feel it's practical to spend over a thousand on a new build right now. At the same time, I understand that Socket 939 X2s are on their way out, and the fastest CPU I can get at a reasonable price is a 4800X2. Would the upgrade be worthit? I mean, would I just be better off putting that money aside and slowly save up the cash for a new Conroe Build around December, if I really had to? If I was to upgrade to a 4800X2 and run SLI with 7900GTX, would I still have a box that could play games a year or two down the line at around 40 FPS at minimum @ 1600X1200? I know nobody can tell the future in terms of what is needed for gaming hardware down the line, but does anyone have some educated predictions? Excuse my ignorance on this matter, I haven't been keeping up with the new tech stuff lately, but any help and input is greatly appreciated, thanks

 

[BoboKatt]

Hey there. First of all the X2-4800 paired with anything will do you JUST fine for a while yet. I have one and upgraded myself when the prices dropped. I got very lucky and got a great price (even as far as the prices dropped) and currently run it OC'ed to 2750ish give or take with an ATI X1900XT.

There isn't a game right now I can't play not that I play many -- mostly work, video and audio and lots and lots of web development. Anyhow I had the same issue as you -- dump my current 939 setup, including great DDR ram or get a complete new mobo, DDR2 RAM and CPU or just upgrade my older CPU.

I don't care that the Conroe can OC like mad... clock per clock the AMD X2-4800+ can still hang on and do very well. Honestly I have the core to 1.374 and it runs like an FX, rarely goes anywhere close to 40c and it's rock stable.

I mean you are right, 939 is a dwindling setup in the sense that everything now is AM2 and Conroe? but still it?s great performance and will remain great performance for a while yet. Again I could not imagine even in a year my 4800 looking or feeling like a Celeron 2Ghz or something compared to what will be out. It?s still a dual core so you will always benefit from that.

 

[kman79]

I appreciate the response. Actually, lately my PC has tunred into the Family's Video Editing Studio. I've always foundit a burden to do video editting/encoding, because it left me with no computer to do the things I wanted or needed to do, so that would be a big plus.

 

[BoboKatt]

Based on what video encoder you use, you will see quite a nice upgrade speed wise with dual core. I actually had the luxury for a while to have my x2 3800+ (now my baby system) right next to the system I upgraded from... AMD64 3200+. This system ran at the same speed... ie... 2000mhz as my newer X2-3800+. I was blown away at how much faster the new dual core was in encoding IF you used apps that were designed for it.

However to this day what I notice most is the ability to do something, such as burn a DVD and still be able to listen to music or download and play a game in the background and then open up various webpages, check my word document, check email, write email etc etc etc. As I've said before once you go dual core, you just simply cannot go back. Mt dad now owns my older 3200+ and when I sit on his and do stuff... and start running multiple tasks, checkers, burning etc I can REALLY notice a huge diff.

The X2 4800+ will serve you well. However keep in mind my suggestion is based solely on trying to reduce costs and keep most of your hardware. Trust me though, I might have gone Conroe if I had to start from scratch and/or if I had to buy RAM anyway and DDR2 was roughly the same price of DDR. My decision was simple when I did not want to dump my costly DDR RAM and expensive DFI 939 mobo. I don't think however anyone would suggest you buy an AMD X2 if you are buying everything new and if you are willing to overclock. As we have all seen an e6300 on a good board can do wonders.

 

[kman79]

Yes of course, I completely understand where your coming from. My plan was to build a Conroe System around the e6700, of course that was before seeing how the e6300 performed, but that would have consisted of a whole new build. I spent close to top dollar when I first built this system and I just didn't really believe that my current setup was completely outdated. I'm hoping that the upgrade to the 4800+ will keep me at "current" for a good year or two. I gave up on having top tier hardware, because you only seem to stay on top for a few good months. A new Conroe build is just too much money to spend for something I would only really use at most 24 hours a week. But it would be nice.

 

[lopri]

I think there is Socket 939 Opteron sale going on. If you want to keep your current setup sans the CPU, check it out.