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Need Upgrade Advice for Socket 939 System

J

jagatucci

Junior Member
Without switching out my MOBO, I?m looking to get the most out of the upgrade potential for my current Socket 939 system. By the middle of next year, I will build a new system around an AMD AM2 board or Intel Core Duo CPU, but I don?t want to jump into that until then. In the meantime, again, I?m looking to figure out the best upgrade options for my current system.

My main priority is to get the most gaming potential from my current system as possible: I play BF2, COD/COD2, Oblivion, Red Orchestra, Day of Defeat? mostly FPS games. For my job I also multi-task quite a bit with internet browsers and the Office suite (I don?t really do any DVD/CD burning or anything like that).

With the fall of the AMD 64 X2 prices, my immediate reaction was to grab a 3800+ X2 (or higher) and another gig of ram. However, I?m unsure about the performance gain I?ll get from the new CPU and I?ve heard that if I fill up all four of my memory slots that my system will only run my RAM at 333 rather than 400 (is this true).

So, I?m wondering if I can get a significant performance gain by

1. only upgrading my CPU with an AMD X2

2. or simply buying a pair of Nvidia 7600 GTs to run in SLI and just forget about upgrading the CPU and Ram.

These are the two options that, to me, are more budget friendly (trying to stay at around $400 for upgrades).

Would either of these options be worth it in terms of performance gain, or do I just need to bite the bullet and shell out the dough for both a new AMD X2 and a 2 gig DDR400 dual channel RAM kit (that kills me, though, cause then my current ram just goes to waste).

My system specs are as follows:

ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

2 eVGA 128-P2-N368-TX Geforce 6600GT 128MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail running in SLI Mode

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice 2000MHz HT Socket 939 Not Overclocked

CORSAIR XMS 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model TWINX1024-3200C2PT - Retail

HITACHI Deskstar 7K80 HDS728080PLA380 (0A30356) 80GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

ENERMAX Whisper II EG565P-VE FMA(24P) ATX12V 535W Power Supply - Retail

 
You'd have to upgrade to an X2 4600+ for a noticeable jump in current games since most don't use the second core. A single core 3700+ - 4000+ might make more sense. Multitasking will improve with those even though they are single-core.

It seems a shame to buy more DDR when you know you'll need DDR2 next year, but if you buy 2x1GB you can sell your current 2x512 to help pay for it. 2 GB will help with some popular games.

You could buy one fast card like a 7900GT and sell the 6600's to help pay for it. A 7900GT is as fast as the 2 x 7600GT and costs less.
Newegg.com 7900GT:
$274 - $30 rebate = eVGA 7900GT
$279 - 40 rebate = XFX
$270 - 30 rebate = MSI
(plus many others for $250-300)

With what you get from the RAM and 6600's you might be able to afford all 3 upgrades, at least if you get a single core A64.
 
Your current mobo is a good mobo, are you sure it will downclock your ram if you fill all the slots? I have an abit a8n SLI and it came out roughly the same time as your mobo and I can have all slots filled with no downclocking. I would expect a company like asus to do the same on thier hardware.
Adding the cards will probably let you game better but the X2 will boost system performance across the board, including gaming.
Of those 2 options if it were me choosing, I would upgrade the processor. 🙂
 
No, I'm not sure about the downclocking issue; I have simply heard enough that it made me wary. In turn, I hadn't really thought about the resale value of my current parts. Can you recommend a good venue from which to post them for sale (something beside Ebay, maybe).
 
For $400 you can get a 7900gt ($250) and an X2 3800 ($150). That'd be a big improvement over what you have. Sell your 6600's for $80 each and your 64 for $40 and now you've only spent $200. If you want to go to 2g of RAM buy two 1g sticks and sell your 512 sticks. Nothing has to "go to waste." Just be smart. You'll probably get more for selling two 512 sticks than a 1g stick will cost you.

Edit: You'll get the most for your stuff on eBay, but this forum has a for sale/trade forum if you want to try that. If you don't have a reputation though you'll probably have to ship before you get paid.
 
The Forasle/trade forum here works pretty well, just be sure to read the rules (see the first threads on the page). For eBay I'd suggest selling each video card separately but the RAM together as a matched pair.

I've listed some cheap prices on 7900GT's above. One 7900GT is roughly as fast as a pair of 7600GTs or 6800 Ultras. Also look for deals in the Hot Deals forum here.

An X2 3800+ is only slightly faster than a 3000+ in games, if you go with a dual core pay the extra $30-40 to get an X2 4200+ instead.
 
The down-clocking to DDR333 issue was with early Athlon 64s. Mostly s754 models IIRC. I do not believe any s939 Athlon 64 has trouble running 4 DIMMS in Dual Channel Mode at DDR400.

But, 4 DIMMS will push you down to a 2T Command Rate. It's like .2% performance vs 1T, and it's not enough of an impact to consider not doubling your RAM to 2GB. In other words, moving to 2GB will MORE than make up for it where 2GB is needed (ie: games).
 
Oh yeah, and I moved from a 6800GT to a 7900GT recently, and HOLY CRAP is that worth the $250 it costs to get it.

And then a buddy bought my 6800GT for $100 to top it off (overclocked to Ultra speeds hehe). Woohoo!!
 
Let's say I want to spend my $400 on an X2 4800+ and another gig of Corsair Ram (while I wait on new cards to come out). Do you think such a allocation of funds would be more worthwhile than combining new vid card(s) with a new CPU?
 
Originally posted by: jagatucci
Let's say I want to spend my $400 on an X2 4800+ and another gig of Corsair Ram (while I wait on new cards to come out). Do you think such a allocation of funds would be more worthwhile than combining new vid card(s) with a new CPU?
Click to expand...

To be completely honest, I think spending $400 on an X2 4800+ would be a horrible waste of money. Allow me to elaborate...

You need to factor in the future value of any item you buy. In a year from now when you're looking to upgrade to AM2 or Conroe, that 939 chip is going to have depreciated FAR more than the Conroe chips (because it won't be the premium 939 X2 chip at that time anymore and AMD will have to push prices down on the high end in order to compete with Conroe). Additionally, stock performance of the X2 4800+ is about on par with the Allendale E6300, which is available for around $200 right now if you shop around. Additionally, E6300 on the right motherboard (say, a $145 Gigabyte P965 DS3) will overclock WAY more than the X2 4800+. The OEM chip + motherboard + better aftermarket heatsink/fan would come out to around $400.

Long story short, others have already recommended that you sell off the CPU, RAM, and video card in your system...if the 939 X2 3800+ (~$149) isn't enough for you, then you should really just make the switch to Conroe right now.

If I were you and wanted to keep my 939 mobo, I would:
Sell the CPU, RAM, and both video cards.

And then buy: X2 3800+ (~$149), Radeon X1900 XT (~$290 after $100 mail-in rebate), and 2x1gb RAM.

Your total net upgrade cost would likely be under $400 and with the X1900 XT (which in most games is faster than the 7900 GTX, including Oblivion) you could play almost any game at high settings (depending on your res). I'm not an ATI fan-boy by any stretch of the imagination (I just bought my first ATI card), but right now their prices on the high-end are quite a bit better than what NVidia is offering.
 
Will my current power source (Enermax 535) need to be upgraded if I buy an X1900 XT (I've heard they're power hungry)?
 
Upgrading the CPU will have little impact on gaming performance, if thats your primary concern, you should upgrade the video card. I would go with a 7900GT over 7600's in SLI. Internet browsing and office aren't really CPU intensive multitasking, so the dual core wouldn't make a huge differance there either. Several of the more current games would benifit from 2gig of ram, so if you could afford it, I'd go with a 7900GT and another gig of ram. Since you have a venice core, it won't downclock to 333mhz, it will still go to 2T timings, which has little impact on performance(3-5% typicaly).
 
Thank you for the advice. Your theory is well-supported by other posts (here and in other forums) and has helped my confirm and clarify what might be the best course of action. I will prioritize the video card/ram option over the new processor, though I think I'll go with eh ATI 1900XT over the Gforce 7900. If you have any further comments/advice, I'd be more than happy if you sent them along. Thank again.
 
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