Time for a New Processor

[slayt12]

Right now I have an AMD 3500 with an ASUS A8N-E Mb. I am fed up with the Mb so i am going to buy a new one. Should i stick with my 939 or get a new Mb for a Core Duo? Money is not an issue. I need something good for high-end gaming.

 

[Viditor]

Originally posted by: slayt12
Right now I have an AMD 3500 with an ASUS A8N-E Mb. I am fed up with the Mb so i am going to buy a new one. Should i stick with my 939 or get a new Mb for a Core Duo? Money is not an issue. I need something good for high-end gaming.

Some points to help you decide...

1. 939 chips will reach their peak at the X2 5000+ (2.8 GHz). However, staying with 939 is the only way for you to keep both your RAM and CPU still functional.

2. While new platforms (AM2 or Conroe) will cost you significantly more (because you must replace most everything), They are also easier to upgrade going forward and will get you a little more speed eventually. Conroe will give a nice speed jump and K8L next year will probably do the same, and you will be able to go with DDR2 upgrades for another year or so (until DDR3).

3. AM2 platforms should be in stores sometime in the next few weeks...however for Conroe, you must make sure that it's a "Core 2 Duo compatible" 775 mobo (most are not) when you shop. Also, the Conroe chips themselves (even though they are shipping out in July) will probably not be available until ~Sept in stores.

4. If you do decide to stay with 939, I would probably suggest the Asus A8n32SLI as the premier mobo...it has everything you can possibly want on-board (Raid 5, external SATA connector, 8 phase power, SLI 2x16, etc...).

5. For Conroe, I would look at ASUS P5WD2-E Premium. Some caveats here though...NONE of the motherboards have actually been tested with Conroe yet, so it's NOT a guarantee that it will work...also, the P5WD2 is an ATI mobo so be sure that you have an ATI XFire compatable video card to get the best performance here.

6. If you want to try some overclocking, you might check out the upcoming Nvidia "Tritium" platforms...they will do automated overclocking according to the literature. However, they are AMD platform only.