socket 939

[destrekor]

As the summary states, I am wondering what the best CPU is, specifically in bang-for-the-buck terms, for my s939 DFI LanParty board (not the expert, but I believe its a step below it. At the time when the nForce4 chipset was big, I paid between $130-160 for the board, if that helps.. has a sh!tload of options in the BIOS).

regardless... currently I have a single-core (Winchester?) Athlon64 3600+. I want to upgrade to be more prepared for DX10 gaming, as I also want to get an eVGA GeForce 8800GTS 640mb. But I don't want to get socket AM2, because that's a little more money up front, plus that means upgrading the DDR2, and I already have a single 1gb stick of DDR. So I'd get a matching stick of DDR and have dual-channel.
I was looking at the Operton 165, because I have heard it's easily overclockable, and being dual-core and having 2mb of cache means it would be a good bet, and at under $150 a damn good buy too. Question is, is it a good idea to buy a chip thats definitely the same in performance as what I currently have (I think mine is a 2ghz)?

I wouldn't even upgrade my CPU, but getting an 8800GTS will definitely create a bottleneck that the CPU would be at fault for.

any ideas as to how to tackle this situation?

current specs: (mind you, its been a while since I touched the inside of this system in regards to components, kind of forget the specs of what I put in there, will have to dig up the NewEgg receipt)
A64 3600+ (Winchester core?)
1gb DDR (Corsair I want to say, not sure.. believe its DDR400)
eVGA GeForce 7800GT
soundblaster X-Fi (Fatal1ty edition, and before someone says it was because it was it was branded, it wasn't.. it was actually cheaper at the time and it still had the specs I wanted)

reason I listed soundcard cuz it actually helped my performance in games because I always ran with sound effects and that hogged CPU power, so it had a hand in aiding system performance)

 

[NatePo717]

Opteron 165 is a good CPU. You won't be dissapointed with it's performance. However, your money might be better invested with a X2 3800+ and another gig of ram. Might run you an extra $50 but you will have a lot more head room then just upgrading CPU.

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: NatePo717
Opteron 165 is a good CPU. You won't be dissapointed with it's performance. However, your money might be better invested with a X2 3800+ and another gig of ram. Might run you an extra $50 but you will have a lot more head room then just upgrading CPU.

the memory is something I planned on, especially since I want to upgrade to Vista, either a little down the road or as soon as it becomes available to students here at school. regardless, I'll likely put Vista on my PC sometime during the course of this year and want it to run smooth/fast and keep gaming performance of current games at least equal to how they performed in XP.

 

[NatePo717]

Originally posted by: destrekor

Originally posted by: NatePo717
Opteron 165 is a good CPU. You won't be dissapointed with it's performance. However, your money might be better invested with a X2 3800+ and another gig of ram. Might run you an extra $50 but you will have a lot more head room then just upgrading CPU.

the memory is something I planned on, especially since I want to upgrade to Vista, either a little down the road or as soon as it becomes available to students here at school. regardless, I'll likely put Vista on my PC sometime during the course of this year and want it to run smooth/fast and keep gaming performance of current games at least equal to how they performed in XP.

Oh, in that case go with the Opty :thumbsup:. My 170 is only good to 2.4 but I have a bad core Just my luck I get the one bad OC cpu of the bunch. The 165s are generally good to 2.5+

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: destrekor
regardless, I'll likely put Vista on my PC sometime during the course of this year and want it to run smooth/fast and keep gaming performance of current games at least equal to how they performed in XP.

That's not possible; even with a 3+ Ghz C2D, your gaming performance with Vista will suffer. Stick with XP, and a 2.5-2.8 Ghz dual-core A64 will be plenty, for awhile.

 

[aka1nas]

It's not much worse than XP(Yes it is still a bit slower) at this point, though the RAM requirements are significantly higher to have the same experience you would have had in XP. I'm hitting over 3GB commit charge while playing Oblivion in Vista 64 now!

 

[secretanchitman]

get what i have...runs all the games i play at their max settings at 1280x1024.

 

[Binky]

Is your current CPU overclocked? Have you checked any reviews to see just how much performance you would gain with a $150 CPU upgrade?

Pretty soon...$200 will be able you an E4300 and a low end motherboard. You may want to think about this upgrade more and decide whether it's worth it to upgrade the 939.

 

[Munky]

In most cases the cpu is only a bottleneck if your video card is not stressed enough. If you run games at 1600x1200 or higher resolution, it will put plenty of stress on that 8800gts, and an OC'd opteron 165 will be a good cpu upgrade.

 

[videopho]

I did upgrade from a single core 3500+ to the x2 3800 and haven't looked back
Dual core really helps out on newer game like STALKER. Even my now aging 7900GTO can muster at least ~ 30fps at very much full/max settings (full HDR too)
Pricing on the 939 is at its all time low but it won't last long until retailers are exhasuting their supplies.
You can get the x2 3800 for around $92