PLatform Upgrade / Core 2 or Phenom X4

[x2 3600 rules sazakky]

As you can see in my signature, thats my current rig:

AMD Athlon 64 4200+ X2 Brisbane at 3.0ghz
HIS HD4850 512mb GDDR3 680/1120
ADAta 3 gb 533MHz DDR-2 ram at 667MHz
Asus M2N-E Nforce 570 Ultra
500gb Samsung HD501LJ SATA2 16mb HDD
Antec NSK4480B Case
ANtec Earthwatts 380w PSU (17x2 12v rails)


I am running on the AM2 platform and my CPU is not doing my HD4850 justice and video encoding is pretty slow. I was thinking, If i upgraded, what should I upgrade to for maximal and future upgradeability.

I want to upgrade the whole platform to an AM2+/AM3 platform with a Phenom x4 or a socket 775 platform with a low end Intel Quad core (q6600, 9300, etc). I'm tight on budget so I'd like suggestions.

I'll overclock the system so I want maximal OC capability. Also, i'd like motherboard suggestion of mobos which overclock well and cheap priced.

 

[ShawnD1]

Originally posted by: x2 3600 rules sazakky
I want to upgrade the whole platform to an AM2+/AM3 platform with a Phenom x4 or a socket 775 platform with a low end Intel Quad core (q6600, 9300, etc). I'm tight on budget so I'd like suggestions.

I'm thinking AM3 with a cheap quad core might be the best value. AMD's cheapest phenom II on newegg is the 2.6ghz X4 810 for $140. Intel's cheapest quad core is the 2.33ghz Q8200 for $160 on newegg. That just seems like a no brainer, but I could be wrong.

I can't recommend any motherboards. I usually just go to whatever website and sort it by price. Look through them one by one until you find one that suits your needs. Lots of the $50 cheap motherboards are actually quite good. AM3 is a little bit more expensive than AM2+ or 775, but the cheapest board on newegg is $80 and it looks pretty good. It has gigabit ethernet, 6 sata slots, lots of expansion slots, 4 memory slots instead of 2, maximum of 16gb ram. IMO that's a damn good budget board for your Phenom.

 

[x2 3600 rules sazakky]

yeah thanks man, i live in australia so can't buy from newegg. most probably from ebay i will purchase.

so i'm guessin i'll have to change over to ddr3 if i get phenom, so i';ll have to get new ram as welll.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

An AMD system might return margins that are faster than a Q6600 or Q9300

 

[imported_Asianman]

Try MSY, they are normally pretty cheap, www.msy.com.au
phenom 2's probably the way to go, unless you wait a few more months

 

[Eureka]

If you are on budget, definitely go with Phenom IIs. Since they're clearing out inventory for the next line of Phenom IIs, you can probably score 940s or 955s for cheap (I got my 955 for about $140 through a combo deal). Motherboards for the 955 are also ridiculously cheap and you can get pretty good combo deals. A generally good combo is the Gigabyte MA-790xx-xxxx boards, with the 790 northbridge and 750 southbridge, with one of the Phenom IIs.

 

[soccerballtux]

Yeah I'm loving my setup; my Ph2 feels faster than my e8400 at 3.9Ghz that I had; probably the 4 cores. I like that multi-core (>2) games (ET-QW and UT3) I can keep my processor at 2.2Ghz (cool n quiet) and 1.07v without any performance loss, and the fan never spins up (past 25% which is silent).

 

[drizek]

ya, on my X3, one of my P states is 2.5ghz at 1.075v. This setting is basically fast enough for just about anything and it stays really cool even when doing relatively demanding tasks. WHen I need more power, it goes all the way up to 3.5ghz without getting at all hot, and up to 3.7 ifI push it(no reason to really). My lowest P state is 900mhz, and this is good enough for watching movies and web browsing, and the CPU reports temps below room temperature with teh fan on the lowest setting(the temps are a little buggy, in reality they are just slightly above room temperature).

 

[plonk420]

all i can say is don't bother with phenom 1. get a phenom ii-based chip at minimum... will save power (voltages will go a LOT lower), is computationally an improvement (phenom 1 feels like Athlon 64 x NoOfCores on distributed computing projects), and along the lines of saving power, cooler, if Windows is running "balanced power"

 

[x2 3600 rules sazakky]

i was just thinking, when will the Core I3's be released and what kind of price and performance can be expected from them?
will the mobos for socket 1156 be cheap.

also, will they be a good improvement over the phenom II processors

 

[DeepThought86]

People have gotten an X3 720 to work with that board, so you could save a whole bunch of money and just get a new CPU

http://vip.asus.com/forum/view...=M2N-E&page=2&count=41

 

[x2 3600 rules sazakky]

Originally posted by: DeepThought86
People have gotten an X3 720 to work with that board, so you could save a whole bunch of money and just get a new CPU

http://vip.asus.com/forum/view...=M2N-E&page=2&count=41

so do am2 boards work with am3 processors. im confused about this whole compatibility thing, could someone explain it to me

 

[drizek]

Yes, they do. AM3 processors support both DDR2 and DDR3. You can use it in your current board just fine. It really is the best option.

 

[DeepThought86]

AM3 cpus work in:
AM3 mobos
AM2+ mobos
Some AM2 mobos

AM2 cpus work in:
AM2+ mobos
AM2 mobos

AM2 cpus do NOT work in any AM3 mobo

 

[dennilfloss]

I just upgraded from an Athlon 4200+ to a PhII 955 and the system definitely feels zippier.