upgrade A8v-vm or build new PC ?

[neo.nirav]

Hi,
I have old Asus A8V-VM based config:
Mainboard : Asus A8V-VM
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3000+
RAM: 1GB DDR400
HDD: Seagate 80GB PATA, Seagate 20GB PATA

The performance is very sluggish (Ubuntu 12.04 LTS)
I tried Windows 7 (No WDDM driver, Vista WDDM 1.0 driver does not work properly with windows 7)

Should I upgrade with following:
1) Upgrade full capacity RAM up to 4GB - (4500 INR) - $92 approx
2) Add entry level PCI-X graphics card (2200 INR) - $45 approx
3) Upgrade processor to Opteron dualcore 180 from ebay - $30

Or
Just create new rig with current configs (dual core processor+DDR3 RAM+SATA HDDs etc)

Machine will be primary used for Software development (Java with heavy multitasking - multiple applications running like IDE, Office, browsers, database server, app server etc)

Please suggest/comment

Thanks ,
Nirav

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Welcome to the forums

Its properbly time for an upgrade. Even a dual-core Celeron G530 is going to be a massive increase in performance. But I think your biggest issue is your HDD. Can you be more specific about the exact model?

That being said, if you can get 4GB RAM cheap, it will make a significant impact when multitasking...

 

[Ouch77]

Personally I reckon you can still drag another year or so out of your current setup.

Each of your suggested upgrade options makes sense:

Your current processor clocks a single core at 1.8Ghz - dropping in a dual-core Opteron or a FX60 and 2.6Ghz will increase your potential throughput by about 3 times at a guess.

More Ram is a must - 1Gb is pretty miserly these days.

Your motherboard supports Sata 2.0 (3Gbps) which would see a slight improvement over PATA, especially when you use it to connect to a SSD - consider the bandwidth of the interface alone: PATA 133Mbps (1064MBps) vs SATA 2 3000MBps

A higher spec video card will see most improvements in video-intensive applications, but I'd consider doing that last, compared to the other upgrades.

As a comparison, I have a similar system: A8n-SLI with Opteron 185 & 3Gb Ram and a HD 5770 Graphics card and it can cope pretty well with most popular games, plus also things like AutoCAD and 3D studio max

Okay, it's not a patch on modern systems (passmark is about 550, compared to 2000+ for entry level modern stuff), however the cost of upgrades to keep it viable, is much less than what you'd spend on a new system, plus if you choose the SSD and video card carefully, they could be swapped over onto a new system in later years when you do choose to replace rather than upgrade.

At the end of the day, how deep are your pockets?

 

[ShadowVVL]

I think you should retire it and biuld a amd a8, a10 quad apu or intel sandy bridge celeron like insert_ username mentioned.


If you are in usa or canada you can get the celeron g530 cpu for about $50 or less.

The amd apu quads are about $100 -$130

 

[infoiltrator]

India, from INR.
Would need your budget and a link to your likely pricing.
Upgrades you list are $175.
I would think an AMD FM1 or FM2 build might be possible.
FM1 A6 3670K or FM2 5600 would offer 4 cores and graphics, DDR3 memory should be low cost. Graphics equal or close to HD 6570 video card,
Alternate, H61 or B75 motherboard and Pentium G620-G630 (Pentium offer better graphics than Celeron).
Without your pricing difficult to say

 

[Insert_Nickname]

(Pentium offer better graphics than Celeron).

Not really, the Pentiums just have a slightly higher (1100 vs 1000MHz) clock on the HD2000. The advantage of the Pentium is that they have an extra MB of L3 cache. The difference in performance is negligible at the same clockspeed...

The HD2000 is adequate for basic use (running Aero and video decoding). DO NOT try and game on one...

 

[neo.nirav]

Thanks all for comments.
I checked some of the reviews, benchmarks of new motherboards/RAM/processors compared to my current possible best upgrade combinations and I think it's better to retire this old config. As mentioned by Insert_Nickname, even G530 easily surpass Opteron 180!

 

[neo.nirav]

Well, just to give an update....
I replaced processor with Opteron dual-core 180 and added new HIS ATI HD 5450 PCIe graphics to this old machine and it's working pretty fast!! I had to upgrade graphics as IGP is not good enough for HD video play. Also added found second hand 4GB DDR1 RAM.
So, finally I guess I spent around $20 (4GB RAM) + $25 (Opteron) + $36 (HD 5450) and this machine is good to go for next couple of years. :biggrin:

 

[tweakboy]

Hi,
I have old Asus A8V-VM based config:
Mainboard : Asus A8V-VM
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3000+
RAM: 1GB DDR400
HDD: Seagate 80GB PATA, Seagate 20GB PATA

The performance is very sluggish (Ubuntu 12.04 LTS)
I tried Windows 7 (No WDDM driver, Vista WDDM 1.0 driver does not work properly with windows 7)

Should I upgrade with following:
1) Upgrade full capacity RAM up to 4GB - (4500 INR) - $92 approx
2) Add entry level PCI-X graphics card (2200 INR) - $45 approx
3) Upgrade processor to Opteron dualcore 180 from ebay - $30

Or
Just create new rig with current configs (dual core processor+DDR3 RAM+SATA HDDs etc)

Machine will be primary used for Software development (Java with heavy multitasking - multiple applications running like IDE, Office, browsers, database server, app server etc)

Please suggest/comment

Thanks ,
Nirav

Wow 92 dollars for 4GB ram kit is insanely high priced. You can grab a DDR3 8GB kit for about 40 dollars.

You need to upgrade and if I were you I would start with a SSD. Then upgrade the mobo , cpu and ram. For about 350 dollars you can get a system 100x faster then what you have now. gl